D905 Android TV Box, 4K Android 9.0 Smart TV Box Amlogic S905 Quad Core 64-bit for Home Entertainment

I just received and configured mine today so this is an early review with very little usage of the product.I was able to quickly login to my Google account and update Kodi to the latest version, which is really what I intend to use the box for. As for the OS its self, it Android 9 and here we are in late 2020, when version 11 has already been released. I honestly don't hink this is going to be a deal breaker for me because again, I just need it for Kodi. Maybe later I'll test steaming apps like YouTube TV, Netflix and so on.Picture quality was rock solid. Right away, my TV recognized the output quality as 4K and adjusted the resolution settings accordingly. We watched an episode of one of our favorite TV shows in 4k and it worked without a hitch. That said, the box was indented to replace a Windows box that I had had for a couple of years, which was much more expensive but could barely play 1080p video in Kodi without stumbling through.Interface seems a little cheezy, not like a higher end Nvidia Shield but I can live with that. Im mainly interested in functionality.Ill update later once I have tested with other apps.UPDATE 1 (3 weeks):Playback is rock solid. Anything else on this thing is sluggish. Specifically, anything that requires any sort of computing power. I wouldn't expect anything much though. I needed something to play media on Kodi and thats what I got. It takes a little while to update my library and resolve new TV shows and Movies across SMB but for this price, I don't expect an Nvidia Shield. Speaking of, everything is the same version as my 2017 model shield, which has been updated. As I alluded to in my first review, I don't expect bleeding edge software. I will probably update Kodi to Matrix once it has a stable release.I did try Netflix and YouTube TV on here. The responsiveness reminds me of a Firestick probably a little slower. Once I got to the content I wanted to try, playback was just fine.UPDATE 2:Works just fine using Express VPN. I was able to install the app, connect and then setup and use an (unofficial) sports addon through Kodi.Watched through an entire american football game with no issue.

UPDATE***This people just charged me for a replacement that didn't work, they just charge me, so I paid twice for those garbages.They want to Continue scamming with those defective devices. DONT BUY IT!!!I received this box on Feb 9th very excited, until realized that it was not android 9.0 as advertised and I was unable to install the apps I wanted from play store. I looked over the internet, and fortunately I found apks and installed them. I bought a wireless mouse to enjoy better, since the remote control was tooo slow. At day five of use, launcher stopped, I tried several times restarting it without success. So I contacted tech support and, after asked me to take out the battery (it does not use battery), and restart, the rep apologized for the defective device promissing to send a good one with android 9.0. Guess what, I received a garbage same as the other, android 7.1.2. I took a deep breath trying to calm, then I started to configure it. It worked, and I cross my fingers expecting that it works well, however, next day until today, it can not find the network, the wifi, hotspot, or any way to connect to the internet. I have lost time and money with them. Both box are useless, I put the in the trash can, money lost.

EXCELENTE

The power cord is no good.once I got it going it started glitching. My guess is HDMI wire probably sucks to. Wondering if it gonna work in the long run.

The main problem with the D905 is that it is not certified by Google via their SafetyNet attestation. Without that you really can not play any legitimate streaming video. Roku and Vudu give:Ineligible Device ConnectedPlaying content is not supported on rooted devicesSafetyNet became foolproof in 2020 and most Andriod TV manufacturers have not gotten their devices certified. The exception seems to the early major Andriod TV manufacturers of Nvidia, AirTV, Xiaomi, and Sony. D905 is an excellent device and very good value and I hope they will make the effort to get their device certified in the future.It did not come with batteries for the remotes, but I have lots of rechargable AAA batteries so that was no problem.As to Android TV versus Roku, Roku has much simplified interface which works OK with a remote, but it is very restrictive. Android TV has a lot more flexability, but it is very hard to run via a remote (practically impossible). With Android TV you can do everything you could do with a Chromebook (totally awesome), but you need a keyboard and mouse. Fortunately Android TV boxes almost always come with USB connections (one USB 1.0 and one USB 2.0 with the D905). I would recommend you get a standard PC USB keyboard with dual USB output ports (to connect the mouse and maybe a webcam). You could also get a simple USB hub if a PC USB keyboard with dual USB ports is a problem.The AV connector is very important as with a $2 cable you can get a cable to convert you AV port to RCA Video output (red, white, and yellow) for older TVs which don't support HDMI.One of the big advantages of an Andriod TV Box is that they usually come with an ethernet connector, often 100 mbps for budget boxes and 1,000 mbps for high end boxes. However, for just streaming video, 100 mbps is fine. The advantage of this connector is that if your WiFi is congested with lots of devices using the WiFi, a streaming video or two can sink the service for all users and devices. Using a cable to connect your streaming devices frees up WiFi for phones and such.The D905 as shipped is not configured to do any streaming video out of the box. To access most of the free streaming services (with and without ads) you need to add apps, but the apps you really need aren't in the Google Play Store. Doh!However, if you go into Chrome on the D905 you can google search for TroyPoint Downloader. Normally that gives you a link to webpages which tell you how to get the apps you need. They have lots of ads and are hard to follow though, but you can skip much of the confusion by going to the domainname/dl (for the downloader you want) and then when you are running the downloader you can go to the domainname/tpapp and get the rapid app installer. The Rapid App Installer is most helpful and get you several useful Android TV apps such as the Cinemax app which is not generally available through other channels.I am sorry that I can't give you better descriptions of how to get the apps, but Amazon policy does not permit external links and there are no internal links which solve these problems.