Media box, streaming, and emulators

[TheDZA]

Background: I have been a physical media guy and never been a big gamer. While I've followed and understood tech through the years I've stayed basic and low tech in life until I had to "move up". I never had any game system past N64, until I got a used ps2 a few years ago just to play GTA and Fight Night 3. With my 2 boys getting older, (7and 4), we got 2 used Wii's one modded and I've been tinkering with retro emulators on it since my boys have enjoyed my old retro systems.

Now main question/discussion. I'm thinking about canceling cable and getting a media box, Nvidia shield or something of the sort, I've been starting the research on what's out there. I've also been looking at Raspberry Pi boxes and similar to run some higher capacity emulators like the Psx and Sega Dreamcast. Would it be best to go in for 1 device, getting a media box to use for media apps and running the emulators, obviously taking advantage of USB or SD cards? Or go media box good enough for the media streaming and tv and then have a secondary device for the game stuff?

[Weismart]

Everything

[TheDZA]

Originally Posted by Weismart

Everything

Great insight. Intriguing discussion and analysis. Very helpful.

[harper1898]

nice

[TheSaunderschild1993]

Try getting yourself a Mecool box. It runs on the Android OS and you can install a lot of games. I'm not sure what version it comes installed with, but you can easily look up the specs. It should be a more recent release.

It's basically a Google approved smart TV box. You use it just like a normal PC in a way. They are pretty good for the money, if you don't feel like splashing out on a pricey computer.

Don't bother with the cheaper ones, as they work okay at first, then begin acting up. When I boot up mine, it constantly gets stuck at the vmade logo, then flashes on the screen dozens of times, until it finally proceeds to the desktop after a lengthy delay. Think of it like a laptop that keeps on rebooting.