Google - Nexus Player Streaming Media Console - Black

The setup was as easy as plugging it in and.. Oh wait that's it. I plugged in the hdmi, then the power and it turned on. The Google Nexus player loads Netflix extremely fast vs some Blu ray players with slow interfaces. YouTube works great, in HD too. The Pandora app is flawless, and there are countless apps for things such as weather, games, news. The included remote has a built-in microphone for voice search. Just say what you want to see and it's there. If you want a smart TV but don't want to replace your old set, then this is a definite buy! I am extremely satisfied with my purchase and with Best Buy for providing excellent customer service and prices.

It was easy to set up and the apps are great better than cable

I love it ,i buy 1 at first and I used it for a week and I love it, so I went back and buy 3 more

The Nexus Player is Google's answer to Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV, and runs Android TV, a specialized version of Android for TVs and set-top boxes, and it delivers (for the most part) in all facets. The design of the actual device is pretty minimal, sporting the "hockey puck" aesthetic, with the ports somewhat hidden in the back and under the device, and the remote is fairly minimal as well, sporting only a few buttons. It's nothing too fancy to look at, but aesthetics weren't my concern when purchasing this over any of the competition. Out of the box, Android TV is pretty impressive, sporting a nice home screen already populated with several apps both by Google and third-party developers to get users right into enjoying content. Among these apps are Google Play Movies, Google Play Music, and YouTube, making it easy for people already getting movies, TV, and music through Google to dive right in. To extend the functionality of the Nexus Player, users can download apps from the Google Play Store, though not all apps are Android TV optimized, and therefore some apps may not be available to download to the Player. However, there are several great apps available in the Play Store, including Kodi (formerly XBMC) that can greatly expand the abilities of the Nexus Player and allow users to truly enjoy the benefits of Android TV over a Chromecast or another platform. Speaking of Chromecast, the Nexus Player is Cast Ready, meaning you can cast content from your phone, tablet, or computer to the Nexus Player through Google Cast where it's available. I've only had one big gripe with the Nexus Player, and that is that the Nexus Player seems to have an issue managing running apps. Some days I'll come to watch something in the YouTube app, and the app won't display any parts of the interface that are necessary to actually watch videos. Furthermore, it seems that Android TV doesn't kill apps in the same way as regular Android, as I'll see decent amounts of lag if I move from game to game which should be eliminated if Android TV kills apps that are no longer being used. So to conclude, it seems that Google may need to further refine Android TV as a product, which means the Nexus Player with the latest version of Android TV as of the writing of this review, less-savvy users may want to steer clear of this device, though if you can learn to restart the device, you'll be fine. Regardless of the aforementioned issues, the Nexus Player is a fairly nice device, and with the optional controller accessory, it's a great device for families that don't necessarily want to spend money on a game console and a set-top box.

I have used almost every single streaming box available (smart TV's, smart blu-ray players, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS4, Roku 3, Chromecast, etc.) and Android TV has become my platform of choice. The performance is always great on these devices, and the interface is much more intuitive and good looking compared to options such as Roku. You have all your great streaming channels on Android TV (Netflix, Hulu, CinemaNow for Ultraviolet movies, etc.), except for Amazon Instant Video, which wasn't important to me considering it usually has similar content to Netflix. Wi-Fi performance is top notch via AC 5GHz Wi-Fi, videos starting almost instantly and I hardly ever saw buffering. The Nexus Player has improved considerably since released, and no longer is as buggy as many reviews would lead you to believe. If you have more money, I would get the NVIDIA Shield Android TV, which costs around $200 and is a considerably better product, but for only $50 at the time of this review, the Nexus Player is much better than a comparable Roku, Chromecast, Apple TV, or Fire TV.

The sky is the limit for this style of android tv box, and for the price it's not much of a risk in picking one up. So far the app selection is limited, but that should improve as the platform matures. Youtube, hulu and Netflix work very smoothly, as does google music. It's almost worth the cost just for those apps. However I have had some freeze ups, and stuttering when it's running background processes the same time a processor intensive app is running. Having more than 1 gig of ram seems like it would have been a nice addition. When apps misbehave, force closing them through settings might be tough to figure out for the android novice. The platform is young, and I expect rapid growth, but for now it's like a Chromecast on steroids, with no need for a second device, and it has a lot of upside.

My logitech revue was getting long in the tooth and I had a $25 off card, so I picked this up for $50 after taxes. The good: Came preloaded with a lot of apps It's pretty fast, on wireless. I haven't had any video issues. It's small and doesn't use much power. It has a mini usb port. It would be better to have a full sized one. Installing Kodi was just a google play install. The remote is pretty good, but limited. Update to latest version worked well The bad: No optical audio out. Only HDMI. (see below for one solution) No wired ethernet port. (See below for one solution) Default installed apps, and recommendations all over the screen. I removed all the unwanted apps I could, and turned off recommendations. It has enough storage if you use someplace else for storing movies, music... The netflix app will deactivate your account (logs you out) if you are on autoplay next episode. You'll have to re-activate the account. (Netflix is supposedly working on this, it's on their end.) Things I've added to make it useful Kodi (I am getting close to cutting the cord.) My home theater only has hdmi passtthrough, so I bought an hdmi switch with optical audio out. I purchased a wireless backlit mini usb keyboard with touchpad so I could type on it. Purchased a mini B male to USB A female cable to hook up the usb wireless keyboard. I am considering a usb hub with ethernet since it's about 2 feet from my wireless router, I haven't had any wireless issues with it (yet). Other users have.

I used a Google Chromecast for the longest time, and loved it. I saw this on sale and figured it would be just as good as a Chromecast, with added functionality. So far, I've found most of the issues I have with it to be App related, not Chromecast related. Pros: - Can cast most everything just like Chromecast. - Smooth and quick interface. - Normal Google OS updates, which means very frequent patching/fixing. - Android TV constantly adding new Apps all the time. - Sleek yet small controller and unit. Cons: - No way of closing apps easily (like on a phone) without a hard reset. - Cannot cast Spotify from your phone, and HBO Go doesn't work for all cable providers (COUGH COMCAST COUGH). Again, app issues not the device issues. - Unlike the Chromecast, you cannot (yet) use your own photos as the backdrops during the sleep mode. It only uses the normal images from the internet. Overall, I'm going to keepusing it. I'll keep my Chromecast plugged in for emergencies (Spotify/HBO Go currently) but I love the remote interface, and the recommendations for videos you might like. And as all Google Products, much like wine, they just get better with time.