Date:  Jan 7, 2019

I have been happily using my Apple TV for many years.  Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Movies, and Toggle is good enough for me.

If I wanted to watch some Chinese movies or TV shows, I will turn to my Xiaomi’s Mibox.  And you know where to get all the fantastic Chinese Apps to watch these.  Even latest Ultraman TV series, such as Ultraman R/B.  I rely on two apps, the one from Youku and the other one from Tencent.  So far these two are quite reliable stream for my home Internet using ViewQwest Broadband.

Now, what if you want to watch English TV series, or movies and it is not available on Apple TV?  Usually there are tons of Android APK apps available on the Google Play Store.  Not sure how legal are those apps, but since it is available on Google Store, I assume is valid bah…

But, one problem here.  There is no Google Play Store on Mibox.  And it is so troublesome to try to learn and find out how to install these APK apps.  You can google any apps you like and most likely you will download the APK for mobile devices or touchpad.  How I wish I can find a app similar to Shafa Market for the Chinese Apps.

Recently, thru some research, I have found one.  And that is the APK app you got to install on your Android TV set top box, i.e. such as Xiaomi’s Mibox.

The App / APK is called Aptoide TV.  This is similar to Shafa Market.

I downloaded “Aptoide TV” apk here.  Click on the “Install Aptoide TV”, and an APK will be downloaded.  Copy this APK onto a USB thumb drive, plug into the Mibox and install.  All you can use the Shafa Market to do remote install.  Go google and you will find out how to install the APK.

http://m.aptoide.com/installer-aptoide-tv?lang=en

This is the name of the APK.

APtoide TV is an app store for your Set Top box and Smart TV.  So, all the APK downloaded here are optimised for your big TV screen.

Of course, you can try to search for example Youtube Apk from the Internet/Google.  But it is likely you going to be disappointed as it is not the “TV version” you want, most of it is for different kind of smart phones or touchpad.  It does not work well with your Mibox remote control, etc.

However, those APK downloaded from Aptoide TV are all “better version” to be used for your Set Top box, i.e. Mibox.

So, it is for “Android TV”.  After all, Mibox is an Android Box from Xiaomi.

Of course, the Android Apk world is so fragmented, some Apps need to use Mouse control.  It will be indicated here.

So, you might want to get yourself a remote control with Mouse pointer feature.  Like this one I have.  The top part is a “mouse pad”.

There are of course thousands of APK available, so, just try out one by one what is good for you.  Because every household use different Internet, so, you have to try out some of the popular one to find out if it is suitable for you.  Don’t ask me about SingTel Starhub, My republic, M1 etc.  My home dont have all the Internet Broadband bands.  So, you might want to ask the forum, may be hardware zone for answers.

I have checked out a few, those popular one, and it works fine.

I introduced Jay The Big Band Theory, and we started to watch from episode 1 of season 1.  And all can be found here.

Basically, most of these APK will search for the Streams from Internet for the show you like to watch, and then, simply play those streams from the Internet.  That is why it is called Streaming.  You don’t actually downloading these shows or movies.  You are playing it on the spot streaming from a source.

You can even select subtitles too.

OMG, I also found an APK called “Adrama”.  And it has all the old old old TVB shows on it.

So, the idea is, install only one single App, i.e. Aptoide TV, and from there, you install the rest of the TV app.

Have fun!