Testing a new Android TV Box

I currently have the WD TV Live Streamer and had it since they were first introduced. I had 3 other WD models before this one. This current model seems the least stable to me but I manage to put up with it’s bugs and I continue to use it everyday. I was watching some YouTube video reviews for the latest generation of Android TV boxes found for sale on Amazon. I decided to try one out and see if it would be a nice replacement for the WD TV Live Streamer. The model I bought is called Tronfy MXIV. Here’s a link to it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W1H85KM

I read every review (5 at the time) and they were all 5-star. After watching a YouTube video on this product here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn_2ef3xxdY I decided to order it. I have Amazon Prime and received it yesterday (Sunday). I spent 5 hours setting it up and testing it thorougly. It came with KODI 14.2 pre-installed. It buffered and froze playing my video, movies and music files. Every time it froze, it required a re-boot. After a dozen reboots I decided to repack it and send it back. I reconnected my old WD TV LIve Streamer and I was up and running again. I have a wired gigabit network and every device in my home streams flawlessly, even on 40gb blu-ray rips.

Tronfy’s version of KODI is a crippled version that does not support HD audio (DTS-HD MA, Dolby TrueHD). I don’t know if the unit I received was defective or just not compatible with my network but it sure gave me a sour taste in my mouth for these new Android TV boxes.

I sent an email to WD Support last week asking if a new model was in the works and they answered by saying they had no immediate plans for another model.

blueribb wrote:

Tronfy’s version of KODI is a crippled version that does not support HD audio (DTS-HD MA, Dolby TrueHD).  

From what I understand, that’s a limitation of ALL Android / KODI combinations…  It’s not “tronfy” that’s crippled – it’s Android.

blueribb wrote:

I sent an email to WD Support last week asking if a new model was in the works and they answered by saying they had no immediate plans for another model.

No surprise there… WD Support wouldn’t know (or tell the public) even if a new box was ready to ship tomorrow.