Give me some advice

[lanvnel]

There is an Android Box, called VidOn Box, will be sold in hardware + software way, Hardware: $ 49 , Software: 1.99 / month. In the first year, I need to spend $72.88. If I still need advanced features, I need to renew my membership and choose monthly or annual renewals after one year. Considering the price, I used to buy other boxes are $ 100 or more, VidOn box is only $ 72.88, it is really cheap. Can anyone give me some advice?

 

[rojo]

What makes it better than, say, a Raspberry Pi, or a Roku / Google TV / Amazon Fire TV / similar?

 

[lanvnel]

What makes it better than, say, a Raspberry Pi, or a Roku / Google TV / Amazon Fire TV / similar?

Vidon Box
Specifications:
Allwinner A31s ARM Cortex™-A7 Quad-core CPU
PowerVR™ SGX544MP2 Eight-Core GPU
1GB DDR3 RAM
802.11b/g/n internal Wifi
Full HD 1080p, Blu-ray Menu Navigation
Android 4.4 Kitkat
Price: $49+$23.88(one year membership)

Fire TV
Specifications:
Qualcomm Krait 300, quad-core to 1.7 Ghz CPU
Qualcomm Adreno 320 GPU
2 GB DDR2 RAM
802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi
Full HD 1080p
Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
Price:$99

They each have their own advantages.

 

[jcparks]

The vidon box is cheap for the first year, but after that first year you still have to spend on the vidon. Plus app support is going to be ehh... If you are looking for cheap, pick up a chromecast for 35 dollars.
Personally I think you can do a lot better then the VidOn. Apple TV, Roku, FireTV will likely all give you a better experience. What exactly are you looking for from a set top as they all have different strengths and weaknesses.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Roku with Plex Plugin and you should be set for both streaming and local media.
Same deal for FireTV - the advantage FireTV has much more power than Roku3

I would shy away from tiny vendors as support for these would be none-existing - aka bug fixing, codec support etc..

I personally use free OpenElec/XBMC on cheap and tiny PC based box and it works just fine, including support for 1080p, BD/DVD ISO (w/lite menus), HD audio pass-thru, mkv etc.....

 

[JanetLeila]

I really confused about the price, I don't think I would use an Android box for more than two years. So I don't care about how much is the hardware price and how much is the software's. Could you tell me how much I need to pay to get the VidOn Box?

 

[rojo]

Roku with Plex Plugin and you should be set for both streaming and local media.
Same deal for FireTV - the advantage FireTV has much more power than Roku3

I would shy away from tiny vendors as support for these would be none-existing - aka bug fixing, codec support etc..

I personally use free OpenElec/XBMC on cheap and tiny PC based box and it works just fine, including support for 1080p, BD/DVD ISO (w/lite menus), HD audio pass-thru, mkv etc.....

+1 this. I think you'd get more use out of this appliance PC + power adapter. Free updates for life, no subscription ever (unless you want Netflix or some other premium subscription-based streaming service), and you can put whatever OS you want on it -- Debian, Windows, Mint, OpenElec, whatever. If you've got a Harmony remote, you can teach it to operate XBMC by means of an MCE-compatible IR receiver. Or you could get an actual HTPC couch keyboard. If you want a different OS from XBMCbuntu and you don't already have an external optical drive, you'll probably need one to load whatever you prefer.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

+1 this. I think you'd get more use out of this appliance PC + power adapter. Free updates for life, no subscription ever (unless you want Netflix or some other premium subscription-based streaming service), and you can put whatever OS you want on it -- Debian, Windows, Mint, OpenElec, whatever. If you've got a Harmony remote, you can teach it to operate XBMC by means of an MCE-compatible IR receiver. Or you could get an actual HTPC couch keyboard. If you want a different OS from XBMCbuntu and you don't already have an external optical drive, you'll probably need one to load whatever you prefer.

Just to drive one point - you don't need to be a linux guru to install OpenElec - while it is linux based, you would never need to get to command line ever.
Install is easy and using it after - it's all done with pretty and easy to use gui

 

[lanvnel]

I really confused about the price, I don't think I would use an Android box for more than two years. So I don't care about how much is the hardware price and how much is the software's. Could you tell me how much I need to pay to get the VidOn Box?

Actually their explain works fine for me.
If you will replace it with a new box after 2 years, then the money you will pay is $72.88 (don't renew) or $96.76 (renew one year).

 

[SEANNN]

Vidon Box
Specifications:
Allwinner A31s ARM Cortex™-A7 Quad-core CPU
PowerVR™ SGX544MP2 Eight-Core GPU
1GB DDR3 RAM
802.11b/g/n internal Wifi
Full HD 1080p, Blu-ray Menu Navigation
Android 4.4 Kitkat
Price: $49+$23.88(one year membership)

Fire TV
Specifications:
Qualcomm Krait 300, quad-core to 1.7 Ghz CPU
Qualcomm Adreno 320 GPU
2 GB DDR2 RAM
802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi
Full HD 1080p
Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
Price:$99

They each have their own advantages.

I agree with you, but the Vidon Box looks most interesting to me, because of the later OS and it's very cheap.

 

[JanetLeila]

Actually their explain works fine for me.
If you will replace it with a new box after 2 years, then the money you will pay is $72.88 (don't renew) or $96.76 (renew one year).

I have another question, I am confused about the difference between VidOn XBMC and VidOn Media Center, could you introduce them to me?

 

[lanvnel]

I have another question, I am confused about the difference between VidOn XBMC and VidOn Media Center, could you introduce them to me?

I learned from their website, VidOn Media Center seems to have all the features of VidOn XBMC except the addons, but VidOn Media Center will have more advanced features in the near future which vidon xbmc don't have.