Because all of the tv box/tv sticks are base in Android OS, so root is the basic things you need to know.  So what is root? see what’s wiki said:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_rooting

After root,you can install lots of apps which requir root, and you can backup your system, and modify the system.

The root method  maybe a little difference in each device, however, please notice, if your tv box/tv sticks use the same chip, like all rockchip rk3066 or rockchip rk3188, you can follow the same root tools, and method.

Some device is also coming with rooted, such as some allwinner device or amlogic device, you can use “root checker‘ app to check if your deviced is rooted.

Now all of the tv box/tv sticks is rootable, so don’t worry about this!