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Google Nexus Player
- Thread starter I Am Designer
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I placed my order, it should be shipped in the middle of November. The gamepad sold out really fast. I'd love to see someone come up with a motion detection bar for this thing.
Hoping its UI is good. I also hope that there will be wide availability from third-parties for AirPlay in addition to Chromecast. Many of the player apps in the Play Store already support Air Play.
Apple is missing the boat on this.
And then Google goes and screws it up, by selling the device BEFORE FCC confirmation. They should get it worked out, but why not wait until you get that before selling the device?
My guess.......they announced it early in case Apple released a new Apple TV the next day.
The problem isn't with them announcing it, the problem is with them actually selling it. Several people on here already pre-ordered it. Now, what happens if the FCC doesn't approve the device? (highly unlikely).
The approval was just published 🙂
I'd imagine they had received notice of approval, but were slapped for jumping the gun on sales before publication. Not a big deal, really.
I must be that one odd ball guy.
I do not want any apps on the Apple TV. I actually go through and hide about 75% of all the icons because I only want it to play media and that's all.
Games? Apps? Forget it. And with that remote? I love the remote too, I don't want something bigger.
4K H265 playback would be nice. Better surround sound format support would be nice. But games and apps, no thanks.
I do not want any apps on the Apple TV. I actually go through and hide about 75% of all the icons because I only want it to play media and that's all.
Games? Apps? Forget it. And with that remote? I love the remote too, I don't want something bigger.
4K H265 playback would be nice. Better surround sound format support would be nice. But games and apps, no thanks.
I mainly just want to play media too. But there are many media sources that Apple TV does not provide. For example, in the uk, none of the catch up TV services of the major TV channels are on apple TV (notably no BBC iPlayer). If there were an app store, I'm sure they'd be on there (they are all on Roku). Also, an app store will hopefully increase competition amongst online movie rental providers.
I'm with you on this one. I think the app store is a highly overrated feature. What I would really like to see is some sort of aggregator that makes finding content easily located. Sort of like a channel guide from a cable company but one that I can put in what sort of internet media content I am looking for.
I find I spend more time trying to find good content rather than watching it. More content apps are only going to make that more challenging.
You know what would be good for that? An app, maybe sold through some kind of store? Opening an App store opens up huge possibilities with developers coming up with new ideas and uses for the ATV.
Plus for those of us outside of the US an App store allows us to finally get some local content.
As for the Nexus Player I might have been interested if it had Ethernet connection but meh I'll hold out for that mythical ATV4... well for now.
I agree the lack of Ethernet port is quite a limitation.
But I assume it won't be too long before OEMs make their own android TV boxes with an ethernet port. I'd also like to see the ability to play back direct from USB or SD card, so hopefully someone will release a box with this functionality too (assuming this is supported by the android TV platform).
But when we say apps, that's what we're talking about - media channels you can watch...
sodapop1
Suspended
From apple? Nothing yet, but obviously if they started selling apple tvs with H.265 support, they would start encoding tv shows/movies on itunes with H.265, like they did with 1080p when the apple tv started supporting that.
As far as H.265 in general, all the Netflix 4K stuff is encoded with H.265. Everything will eventually. Under ideal circumstances, it can give the same quality as H.264 at 50% less bitrate, or double the quality at the same bitrate.
sodapop1
Suspended
Well, I guess it would be a good move for Apple just so it could be recognized as one of the early adopters in this space but the number of people with 4k TVs is still really small.
You don't need 4K to use H.265. Their current 1080p offerings would look a lot better encoded with H.265 if they keep the bitrate the same or increase it a little.
I can almost guarantee this will be on the next apple tv.
The interface and the App Store make it look far better than my Apple TV so far. The Apple tv UI looks about 5 years old right now, and considering everything in Apple right now is flat and sleek , the funny shaped apps and the boring back ground and settings menu make it look out of place in the Apple ecostem.
Give the next Apple tv an App Store , new user interface with Siri support and the new A8 chip , with make a redesign to make it fit in with other Apple products ( aluminium design like the Mac mini) , and I would throw my money at Apple.
Give the next Apple tv an App Store , new user interface with Siri support and the new A8 chip , with make a redesign to make it fit in with other Apple products ( aluminium design like the Mac mini) , and I would throw my money at Apple.
would you guys safetly say fire tv > nexus player? looking to purchase one by next week. going more toward fire tv cuz of the 1gb of extra ram and ethernet inclusion
Limited how? And as far as being amazon-centric I fail to see the issue there. The nexus, based on the videos/screenshots so far, is entirely google-centric. Aside from the nexus having less ram and connection options, they seem about identical to me with the edge going to the FTV for being able to support amazon prime video.
RAM is not a big issue, as long as everything is optimized as it should (iOS fans should be well aware of this 🙂 )
But I am under the impression that the apps for FTV are relatively limited compared to what's available for Nexus Play. Am I wrong?
I don't think in the grand scheme of things that the ram is much of an issue. But the fact that FTV has double the amount for the same price (and often even less with the $84 promotion amazon keeps throwing out) certainly is a point.
Based on what I've seen so far, I don't see a lot of difference between the 2 ecosystems. It appears Nexus only runs apps specifically made for Android TV which right now seems even more paltry than FTV's selection. It's possible that you may be able to sideload regular android apps in some way, but the FTV has been able to do that since day one without any hacking. As far as future potential, I think it goes without saying that Amazon has a major incentive to push for continued development and ensure the viability and popularity of the FTV. Google on the other hand, well... we all know what their attention span has been like with previous tv devices. I'm *not* saying the nexus is a dud... just that it doesn't currently seem to be much different from the FTV.
Google have just added Google Play Movies to Roku. This reduces my desire for Nexus player significantly (at least until I see how well Android TV gets supported by local content providers). One of the main issues with Roku outside the US has been lack of a good movie rental service. It's only a partial international roll out, but hopefully will be expanded soon.
Also removes my main need for my Apple TV, which I was keeping around only because I didn't have a good movie rental service on Roku.
Also removes my main need for my Apple TV, which I was keeping around only because I didn't have a good movie rental service on Roku.
Between your post and a couple of reviews I read, I cancelled my order for the Nexus TV. 😱
I got too excited, with visions of a whole Play Store worth of apps available. But as you rightly point out, not quite true.
For now, I'll try installing Plex Connect and see if ATV can be made better. For some reason, lately Air Play doesn't seem too stable for me. Yes, I have the latest Airport Express.
Hah, my main issue with the Roku is the awful user interface. I bought one when they introduced the new design to try, and it ended up in a drawer. It's too ugly, depressing and inconsistent, looks like HT from the early 2000s 😀