Fetch TV Mini G5 review: Plenty of promise

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Although pretty much every screen you buy these days comes with a Netflix and Disney Plus app, I’m still a fan of streaming boxes.

I switched to the first generation of the Apple TV 4K and to be completely honest with you, I haven’t watched Free-to-Air TV since then.

However, I was still particularly interested in the Fetch Mini G5 that was announced earlier this year.

Designed to act as a compact hub across streaming, free-to-air and Pay TV services, the Fetch Mini G5 is as much an old-school Pay TV box as a streaming box.

Plus, thanks to its pioneering hybrid RDK-Android operating system, there’s the possibility of expanding its content lineup beyond the pre-installed apps. It’s still got some time before that becomes obviously beneficial, but the promise is there.

What is the Fetch TV Mini G5 offering?

The Fetch TV Mini G5 is a compact set-top box with Fetch’s traditional matte black design. Measuring in at just 10 × 10 cm, the Mini G5 is compact enough to be discreet among your home theatre equipment.

Connections are limited but sensible. You get the power jack, obviously, plus an HDMI port, ethernet connection and an old-school antenna port so you can watch your free-to-air TV.

On the side of the box is a covered USB-A port as well, which for some reason is designed not for recording, but more for accessing your media files, though sadly, I couldn’t get this to work.

The internal specs of the Mini G5 are worth mentioning as well. You get 8 GB of built-in storage, plus 4 GB RAM. There’s a single digital tuner inside, and the Mini G5 supports Wi-Fi 6 for faster streaming, and Bluetooth 5.0, which lets you connect a pair of Bluetooth headphones to the set-top box for quiet listening.

An entertainment alternative

Fetch is more of an entertainment company than a hardware company, so understanding the platform is important here.

Fetch is all about becoming a one-stop shop for your entertainment, with a detailed Electronic Program Guide (EPG) across both free-to-air TV and its range of free and premium Pay TV channels.

For more traditional streaming options, Fetch supports the catchup apps for all the free-to-air TV channels, plus Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, Prime Video, Paramount+, Stan, YouTube, BritBox, Hayu, Plex, DocPlay, DAZN, and VEVO.

There are also some additional apps on offer, like TikTok, NBA Play and Spotify as well, which are made available thanks to the Mini G5’s hybrid RDK-Android operating system.

Over time, that list of apps is likely to expand, but for now, it’s still quite limited.

Fetch’s platform also includes a digital storefront for TV shows and movies, and a monthly selection of movies in the Movie Box. This is a selection of 30 movies that are free to stream, with a new movie arriving every day and one movie leaving the service each day as well.

So this all adds up to a platform with a mass of content… that’s still somehow incomplete. The most obvious gaps in streaming services come in the form of Binge and Kayo, which isn’t a technical absence but a competitive one.

Because those services are owned and operated by rival Foxtel, I don’t expect to see them arrive any time soon. There’s a certain form of logic that Fetch has gone down the Android RDK path to be able to offer these apps without a direct agreement with Foxtel, but that’s speculation on my part.

What does the Fetch TV Mini G5 do well?

Acting as a central unit to combine free to air TV and streaming is a solid idea, particularly for those who enjoy locally produced reality TV or sport.

The video quality is solid. 4K streaming on a 4K TV looked fantastic, though a lot of the Pay TV channels are being streamed well below 4K standard, so be mindful of that.

While I no longer have the capacity to plug in an aerial, you can still watch a streamed version of the free to air channels and navigate through the EPG for most channels. The only one I couldn’t see in the EPG was Channel 9, though the 9Now app is there for on-demand control.

You do need to sign in to each catch up platform to be able to watch the linear stream.

Current Fetch customers with a Fetch Mighty box can use the Mini G5 as a multi-room box to stream recordings and pay channels in different rooms.

This is probably the best use case for the Mini G5, actually. If you already own a Fetch Mighty but want the ability to stream your shows in a different room, this is an affordable way to achieve that.

What could the Fetch TV Mini G5 improve?

The Fetch TV Mini G5 is powered by an Amlogic S905X4 processor, which frankly is a little slow. If you load up a grid of programs to watch, there is a noticeable lag as it loads up the page.

I’ve also noticed that loading up streaming apps like Apple TV Plus and Disney Plus takes much, much longer than on my first gen Apple TV 4K. It is significantly slower.

The slow loading speed doesn’t make it unusable, though it’s definitely frustrating.

For what it’s worth, I also found that the Mini G5 logged me out of Apple TV+ at least once a week over my review period, which was extremely frustrating.

The ability to track your shows through the interface also doesn’t come through to streaming shows.

If, for example, you want to keep track of watching Ted Lasso, the Fetch interface doesn’t do that. You need to navigate through to the Apple TV app, then find it within the app.

I compare this to the Apple TV, which uses the “Up next” feature to track your viewing across many (but not all) of your apps.

Given how many of the best shows on television are now made and exclusive to streaming platforms, not being able to quickly access a list of your favourite shows on streaming platforms seems like a missed opportunity.

Verdict

The Fetch Mini G5 is best suited for people who already have the Fetch Mighty and are looking for a multi-room solution. It’s not the only use-case, but it’s the one that makes most sense.

It’s also a good fit for those who still enjoy watching Free-to-air TV.

If you don’t have the Fetch Mighty, or watch FTA TV, this is still a decent piece of streaming hardware. It provides you with access to most of the streaming platforms, catch up TV and lets you plug in an aerial for free-to-air broadcasts.

In my opinion, there are better value options out there, either in the form of the slightly more expensive Apple TV 4K, or the cheaper Fire TV.

They cater to slightly different audiences, but ultimately give a similar experience, with a more responsive, more versatile user experience.

Fetch Mini G5

RRP: $149

Check Price @ The Good Guys