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What is an Android TV Box and what Can You Watch on It?

Last updated on January 23rd, 2024 at 02:34 am

What is an Android TV Box?

Have you heard about folks watching movies and TV shows on a TV set through an Android TV Box?

If you have and are wondering what it’s all about, this post will explain what an Android box is and how you connect it to your TV,

Android TV box

But before that, let’s look at a little bit of history.

Android TV Box: A Brief History

The history of the Android TV box history could be traced back to 2014. This was when the Android TV device was launched. And the first device to see the light of the day was the Nexus Player (discontinued in 2018) , designed by Asus.

Soon after, smart television with Android OS became popular.
Then came the Android TV and its variations which allowed for the streaming of video content without the need for smart television.

Among them are the Firestick, Nvidia Shield, Google Chromecast, and Fire TV Cube.

The Best Way to Understand an Android TV Box

If you’ve seen an Android TV box but don’t really know how it works, he’s a quick explanation.

CPU

The best way to understand an Android TV box is to think of it as a computer CPU.

Alternatively, if you understand how a smartphone works, you’ll be able to understand how an Android Box works.

Let’s do the comparison. A computer CPU has a processor, it has storage space for data and it also has RAM.

A smartphone has all these features, too.

So, an Android box is another type of CPU. It has a processor, storage space, and also RAM.

A CPU should be able to run software programs. Over a smartphone, these programs are called apps.

Apps

An Android box, too, runs on apps, not software programs. Most of the apps that you can install on your Android smartphone can also be installed in an Android box.

Through these apps you can perform a variety of tasks from word processing, emailing, watching movies, and so on.

Although an Android box can do all of these, it’s mainly used for multimedia entertainment – watching movies and playing games.

Connect to HDTV

This is because the main advantage of an Android Box is that it could be connected to your HDTV.

A computer CPU and a smartphone can also be connected to a TV but it would not be as easy and direct as an Android box.

First off, for your android box to work well on your TV, you would need an HDTV. No matter what kind of HDTV you have, all that matters is it has an HDMI input.

With an HDMI input, you don’t have to worry about transmitting sound and video from the android box to your TV.

It can be done through a single HDMI cable.

What Can You Watch on an Android Box?

TV Shows

You can watch more than what you can watch on your normal television.

You can watch movies and television shows and videos on demand and shows offered by streaming services like YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, Vevo, and Prime Instant Video, among others.

All you’ll need is to subscribe to these services and download their apps (usually from Google Play Store) and install them into your Android TV box.

Videos

When you get tired of watching streaming movies and TV shows, you can watch your own collection of digital videos.

If you have a collection of MP4s or other video files, you can play them through a USB device like a pen drive or an external hard drive.

Just connect your drive to the TV box USB port and you can start playing your video files through the built-in media player.

This is an advantage a TV box has over a set-top box. You can’t always play MP4 video on a set-top box.

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