Been looking for one of these for ages and perfect timing for game of thrones. Note: this also has a 4K Chromecast built in so that's worth $99 by itself so a pretty decent deal. By the looks its the official Foxtel Store on eBay so fingers crossed its legit - I ordered one so ill keep you posted :)
Does it support Foxtel Now though?
Sideload
Excuse my ignorance, how do you sideload Foxtel (and other apps) on the Voda TV box?
@staz: Google for the APK file, save that into USB then plug the USB in, use a file explorer to navigate to the APK. Install. Enjoy 720p high definition…
@staz: somebody who has access to the app would just export the APK (download file) then you;'d grab it and install it on your device…it's perfectly fine and legal, it's like how you;'d download Betting agency Apps because Google Play doesn't support betting.
How do you display that other apps that you sideloaded on the dashboard? I can only open the app by going to 'Settings' then 'Apps'.
@Bigfella73: All my sideload apps are on the dashboard and I didnt have to install any additional software
I tried to sideload foxtel onto my mums firestick for her, but it came up saying doesn't support HDMI output devices or something (it was a while ago)
Do i need to find a specific version made fore external devices?
Edit: I'm thinking that i installed foxtel Go instead of now which is the mobile app, which could explain it.
Yes, sideloads perfectly (I’m actually watching the Discovery channel right now).
Yes, the Foxtel Box is a crippled Android-TV, while the Voda Box is not.
Only $15 extra for the Voda is money well spent.
See previous Foxtel Now deal: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/419226
Does Vodafone TV support Android 8? Says Android 7 on most websites
It'll probably be Android 7 forever. It's not too bad though. I think there were many problems with Android 8 and the chipset in the Vodafone TV (e.g. MiBox has similar hardware I think, and Android 8 on that was supposedly a disaster)
Can it be uncrippled?
You can side-load. Work around, but no cure.
Does Vodaphone TV also cast at 4k?
I don’t have a 4K TV so can’t tell you (they can pry my F8500 from my cold dead fingers) but from what I’ve read I see no reason why it wouldn’t be when it can easily output 4K resolution.
Will the Foxtel Now Box work with Kayo?
Yes via Android TV app or chromecast
It works but a Gen 3 Chromecast works better.
The Android TV app works perfectly fine. No need to cast.
I tried Kayo for the Easter Monday game, but it was laggy for me and I'm on the proper NBN.
Foxtel Now however has no issues. Even Fetch and Netflix are both fine.
Kayo for some reason kept dropping out.
foxtel now, how long do I have to sign up for ?
Its month to month for $25.
Does it include nrl?
$25 for Reality TV and most well known TV shows (excludes some Drama TV show, that is another +$10) There is a Sports and TV show (Pop) pack for $40 per month. It says $40 is discounted price for 6 months, their site is so confusing when it comes to payments and then it goes to $54 per month after the six months.
Anyone knows how this compare to Xiaomi Mibox?
Crippled.
Get the $72 Voda TV.
But at least my MiBox finally got an update to enable automatic variable frame-rate!
Thanks for reminding me to check update. Hopefully they have fixed the sluggish wake on sleep bug.
Fixed in the penultimate update about 2 weeks ago.
I returned my Foxtel Now Box and bought a Mi Box, and I couldn't be happier.
The Foxtel Now Box is advertised as having 2GB of RAM, but the reality is that only 1GB is available to the Android TV OS. That makes it quite underpowered. They block certain Play Store apps like Kodi, so you need to sideload them.
The Mi Box just works.
So a typical Telstra device by the sounds of it: they took a good if not outstanding device and made it a bit shit and then sold it.
Except it's from Foxtel, not Telstra.
@spaceflight: Yep Telstra hold a minority shareholding in Foxtel, but they're separate companies. Telstra had no hand in developing this box.
Telstra don’t block Plex on the Telstra TV they aonlyballow certified / Estes apps
Consider the Apple TV as well if you have technophobes in your house. Costs more but if it means your partner will actually use it because it has all the streaming apps available out of the box and has an intuitive remote, then it could be worth it. Good home streaming box too, Infuse 6 will play network shared 4k blu ray movie files just fine.
Just purchased on the weekend. Money well spent. And I'm not even in the apple ecosystem!
The apple TV is such a lovely device to use. We have a chromecast and 2 telstra tv's and the apple tv wins by miles in terms of just the sheer joy it is to use as a product.
To watch Game of Thrones we are going to have to "cast" the foxtel now app from an iphone/ipad as there is no foxtel now app on the apple tv store.
The Apple TV remote is so intuitive I had to Google how to click things. Did I feel stupid, lol.
Infuse is amazing, I stream 4k hdr from my laptop, works great.
Yeah, that can happen with apple stuff. Different people approach things differently. There is no one size fits all for 'intuitiveness' but Apple usually does a better job than most.
This is a Chromecast Ultra built in?
As do all Android TV devices.
Nice thanks.
Not all android tv devices support 4k output.
Depends if you mean an Android device plugged into your TV, or a real "Android TV" ?
I'm not aware of a current one without 4K.
From my experience you can't cast everything to these boxes. It won't cast from the NBA app via the Chromecast feature. So YMMV with other apps.
Don't get me started on the NBA app!!! For such a premium app, it's so buggy!
Haha, Yes. The NBA app is a never ending source of frustration for me. It's definitely the Foxtel box in this case though.
I use my chromecasts and Shield for NBA app,
It is very choppy on the Shield, so i avoid using the app.
Its almost perfect on chromecast, until it d/c randomly in games haha.
Glad i was in Mexico when i purchased ;)
Am I able to use this to view free to air channels via my coaxial antenna connection without having to pay for any subscription fees?
You can already do that with your TV. No need to buy this.
I use foreign firmware on my TV to receive better HDR and 4k image settings, and it isn't able to find Australian TV channels with the firmware.
Buy Vodafone Tv then. It also has pvr built in.
What tv do you need to do that on? Why is the Australian tv worse?
Wouldn't you be able to get free to air via the TV's built-in tuner?
I bought a couple of these to use as combination Set top box / android for Plex, chromecast, etc… It works fine for free to air..was forced into a 10 day subscription contrary to the foxtel terms and had to call them again to remove my credit card from the account (needed for login to the box)…These boxes are crippled but I sideloaded aptoide as an alternate store and many of the apps work ok….Unfortunately the launcher can't be changed (and is buggy / crashes from time to time)…
I assume if generic firmware could be sourced (Technicolor Skipper is the generic name, but these are sold through quite a few different companies) they would be a decent box but the Foxtel firmware is awkward, especially with blocking of play store apps - luckily there are forks of some other apps which are a workaround…they also disabled the voice and infra red side of the remote from what I can tell.
Not tried the vodafone TV box but I don't think it had a free to air tuner.
Not tried the vodafone TV box but I don't think it had a free to air tuner.
It does and it's not crippled like this POS.
U new to this country?
Yes you can do everything apart from view the foxtel channels if you don't have a login. This includes use other apps like Plex, FTV TV, Chromecast etc.
Thanks for that! I might have to go to Officeworks tomorrow and price match the JB Hifi price and get one for $56.
Yes, the built-in tuner is much better than the one in my budget 4k TV. I think it upscales to 4k where as the one in my TV doesn't. The picture quality is so much better.
FYI, you can't stream Foxtel Now in 4k through any box.
Foxtel Now is only 720P anyway to any device.
Not quite true. Live TV is 720P, On-Demand is 1080P
Sorry yes, but only some On Demand is 1080P, when I use to use it for mostly the sports channels most of the stuff wasn’t. Obviously could have changed now (barely use it any more as only on the free Telstra offer still from last year).
Considering there was still talk from August last year that a lot of content was still in SD I remember now why I gave up on ever bothering to watch the On Demand stuff.
@Nousernamehere: I previously watched sport via Foxtel Now, until Kayo Sports came along.
Kayo has all their on demand content in its original quality. Get on it if you haven't already!!
@Marty131: Haha yeah, been on it since it first came out don’t worry! So much better now actually getting to watch F1 replays in HD not just crap quality SD! Plus not having to pay for a ridiculous ‘starter pack’ just to get Sports like you have to with Foxtel Now.
Agree with others that the Vodafone TV is worth the extra $15 (keep in mind that Netflix is not officially supported on the Foxtel Now Box, but can be sideloaded).
For those keen, I managed to grab the new Foxtel Now and 9Now Android TV apks a few days ago - get them here:
https://mega.nz/#F!PaJQELqY!dg3wVzOFIybj6an5Yeq7PA
…and SBS also released a native app a few weeks ago too ;)
Sorry noob question - Foxtel from Telstra subscriber - how do I stream “Foxtel go” to a un-smart tv in the second room. I have the chrome cast and Apple TV 3 attached to this tv but there is no cast / Airplay option on the iPhone foxtel Go app to either of those devices. TIA
Try en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaleidoscope
You can't cast Foxtel Go stream AFAIK
You can cast Foxtel Go if you have multiroom or buy Multiroom Casting:
Yes I saw that but I don’t have multiroom. Is there an foxtel go apk that I can sideload to this or Vodafone tv which might work ?
No I don't believe so.
Another option that could work is casting from a PC, which does not require multiroom AFAIK.
What's the best cheapest & legal way to stream last season of GOT? Wait the season to be finished and pay a one off $25 a month subscription to catch up?
Is Foxtel now enough, or need "full" Foxtel?
It seems that sbs and nine app is not supported on the Android TV system which would mean it is not working on the Vodafone tv device. Is that correct?
SBS app recently released and working on Vodafone TV box .
Nine Now — I don't care (but check Whirlpool forum to see status ) :)
Pretty sure Ive had the SBS app running on my Vodafone TV for ages but not sure if I sideloaded it. Great to hear if it’s readily available now.
See kirt’s comment for Nine.
And in case anyone is wondering, Amazon Prime Video used to work fine for me but seems to have stopped playing videos.
if the app isn’t there, download it from the Google/Apple Store and “cast” to the Vodafone TV. Certain voice commands to a Google Home also work on the Vodafone TV… it can turn it on and off, etc (and is possible to rename it to whatever you want under Settings/About).
I’m curious how the Foxtel box compares though - is it better, same, worse?
Perhaps a stupid question….
Does this box allow you to watch Foxtel from two different locations (different residences) but under the one account?
Yes, you can only use up to two of your registered devices to watch Foxtel Now at any one time.
I have a Telstra TV, is this box any better quality of stream? Also is it possible to get the foxtel app on a hisense tv? would prefer no box really
Reading through all this makes me glad my TCL UHD TV has Android TV built in (and updated to 8.0 Oreo) - inbuilt Chromecast Ultra support, Freeview Plus, advanced EPG, supports all the streaming apps etc.
If this box or the Vodafone TV provides all of that "intelligence" to a dumb TV, it's $59 well spent.
Need to get rid of Foxtel, absolute garbage it is now compared to new technology.
If I get this box do I get free cable TV forever or do I need to pay for a month to month subscription??
Are you serious?
Better off just spending the little bit extra on a Vodafone TV.