Amazon Fire TV Stick or Airtel Xstream Box

[MadAxe]

I am planning to convert my Full HD TV into a Smart TV. I already have a Airtel Digital TV connection so thought of going for the Xstream box upgrade. But i got to know that i cannot sideload Jio TV or Airtel TV on it. So what should I do?
I do not want to pay for the channels separately just for the sake of keeping my TV connection. (You need to pay for Live channels separately in Airtel Xstream)
Which option would be best for me?

 

[vignesh_venkatesan]

If it officially releases in India then it would be a great buy.
Flipkart's product is not as appealing compared to the rest of the competition given that pricing is not that great.
The same goes for the airtel xstream box.

 

[vignesh_venkatesan]

@vignesh_venkatesan issues with wifi could be easily solved using a TP-Link ethernet usb adapter.. That would be a bit costly affair but still. Mi box got a android 9 beta update last week. Heard prime support came in by default. Lot of stability issues were found in the first built. But by 3 build it's almost solved out.
Have ordered one from AliExpress for ₹3.6k will report my experiences over here.

That will be lot helpful for the people who are considering to buy it.
They should have included an ethernet port,it would have been great for the people who have wired connectivity to the tv.

 

[Ameen]

Should have for sure. That usb ethernet is around 600₹ I guess from TP-Link.
Have you used the box b4 @vignesh_venkatesan?

 

[Ameen]

I was also thinking about getting a mi box s but i don't really watch much content on my TV and for some reason it feels like it is due for a updated version now as Walmart was selling them for cheap on black Friday in the US. If they do launch a new mi box then i hope it officially arrives in India. Flipkart also has a android tv stick link which is out of stock.

I saw that sale too but do they ship it from us to India?

 

[vignesh_venkatesan]

@Ameen Yes, I have used it before, my cousin had imported it from china.
The performance was good but the only problem was with the wifi. We ended up using a USB gigabit ethernet adapter which works only at 100 Mbps because of the USB 2.0 port.
Other than that, it's quite good.
Walmart's sale is over and if u need one, You can get it from Banggood or AliExpress and it would cost about 3.7k including shipping.
My cousin paid about 3.5k during some sale in aliexpress, the mi box he bought even supports Indian languages.

 

[blueman24]

@Ameen
No they don't ship to India. Even if they did, it does not make any sense with the customs imposed on imported goods. But you can try grabr.

 

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[Ameen]

Na nvm just asked out of curiosity I'm waiting for my shipment from ali.. Bought it for 3.7k.
Hope it doesn't go weird and create wifi problems . Might get my fiber installed tomorrow anyway.

 

[rye]

If you want 100% reliability in watching live TV go for DTH/cable TV nothing can beat that. I have the firestick but IMO watching live channels is a bit of a hit and miss. Sometimes everything will work well for days at a stretch on other occasions there will be issues for several days. Yes side loaded apps like Thop and Oreo do work but they are quite fussy, case in point being JiO tv is down currently on both Oreo and Thop TV for the past 1 week. Just today it made a reappearance on Thop TV but was having buffering issues. Jio TV app used to work initially but now it doesn’t. Now there may be some dude on YouTube who might have figured out how to make it work yet again but then how long it will last is anybody’s guess.

JioTV is down both on Oreo and ThopTV for than a couple of weeks now. So wrote my own Android app to watch Jio Channels on FireStick. This is nothing illegal and works the same way like the official JioTV app for Android. So yes, you need a Jio account (username & password) for the app to work. However this is entirely private and I don't plan to release it anytime soon. The point of the post is it's still possible but definitely takes a LOT of effort.

Spoiler

 

[Ameen]

@rye sharing is caring

 

[ijsa]

Most of the channels are available under TULIP in Thop......... In Oreo also most of the channels are available under Singam/ Star/ SonyLiv.....

And besides that the Jio TV & Airtel Xstream app is there though these apps have orientation issue in the android box. I have been using Beelink TV box for more than 2 years now.

Mi box is also good. I got it for my cousin(Mi Box 3) a year ago. I found installing apps and features better than Firestick.