i really don't know but... i think it's just the way a small china co. works - focus on china and chinese, not ready to expand in a major way internationally and in english. so, they probably just appoint a few distributors worldwide and let them do their thing. but i can say there are distributors/sellers here and elsewhere that do a damn good job in what you described (that's how i get all my good stuff

) and why i always say "buy from a seller who can support you". but not all sellers work that way since some sellers sell all kinds of other stuff, not focused on one or a few devices, no time/motivation to service customers since u can't make money in after sales on a device that cost rm400-500 only.
also, there are online purchase sites, even here in lyn where u buy and be on your own!
himedia will get there, will take time for them to have a strategic plan, maybe partner with some int'l iptv provider, hire the right people.
i do not know what device manufacturers have good sites for on-going support. but i do know ac ryan is one of them. minix probably does a good job since it is hong kong based and would probably have started with an international/english sales plan from day 1.
this android box biz must be a cut throat one - there are hundreds of brands - from usa, china, brazil, south africa, probably russia, estonia, hungary, etc. too....

The key reason is Himedia do not have good English speaking/writing engineer, they merely depend on oversea re-seller to support oversea customers. It is up to the re-seller to maintain the firmware repo.
Similarly, MINIX do not have enough good English speaking engineer in HK and China, they are depend on oversea re-seller to moderate the MINIX forum as well.