14 DAY TRIAL // Android boxes are rather common these days. With an HDMI output, it lets you run Android apps on a TV. However, few are those that will let you record videos through an HDMI input.
The Zidoo X9 is one of them. Selling at about $120, it allows you to record videos on its internal storage or a USB drive or HDD. Videos recorded can be at 720p and 1080p resolutions and can be saved as MP4 or TS files. The only drawback is you can't schedule recordings. It comes with a special HDMI recording app that will let you set the recording location, the resolution format between VGA, HD or FHD and formats between MP4 and TS. Besides recording TV formats, it can also record PC signals from your graphics card. Although you can program it to start at a certain time, you can't set it to stop, which is unfortunate.
All that money can buy
Tronsmart Pavo M9, the cheaper version of the Zidoo X9 that can be bought for $90 has only 1GB instead of 2GB and has cheaper materials, plastic cover instead of metal and doesn't have Bluetooth and supports 2.4GHz instead of Zidoo's 5.0 GHz. However, specs are quite similar, Tronsmart features a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, Mali 450 MP2 graphics, 8GB of storage, a microSD card slot, HDMI input and output, S/PDIF, 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port, an IR port, and a wireless remote control.
On the other hand, the HDMI-in option - even if it does look attractive for an Android box - won't run as a fully functional digital recorder with support for electronics program guides and scheduled recordings with full capabilities. Yes, it can do a wonderful job occasionally, but for a full digital video recorder Windows or, even better, Linux boxes running MythTV or Media Portal, accepting input from a CableCard or coaxial cable connection will do an infinitely better job.
