2014-11-12, 02:09
I haven't seen any discussion on this yet, so I thought I'd relate my experience so far.
I installed the XMBC Android x86 apk on my Nexus player and it worked just fine, I was able to browse my network via filemanager and find and play some video, audio seemed to bitstream fine also. I played a direct bluray rip, with 1080p and DTS-HD. I also played a few other random videos. Everything seems to work as expected.
In order to get it on there I went into the settings and turned on the option to allow installing from third-party sources, or whatever that feature is called. Then I installed ES File Explorer and browsed my network and installed the apk from where I downloaded it.
So far XBMC hasn't shown up on the home screen, which is a nuisance, but I think that's an issue with Android TV as some other apps aren't showing up right either. I have to go to Settings->Apps and then find the apps and select Open. Hopefully they'll show up in time or after a reboot.
The Player itself I have mixed feelings about. It won't allow me to hook up my two google accounts to it, I have to choose just one. Fortunately most everything I do is out of my gmail account, but I initially synced it with the wrong account. The first time you set up an account it is easy, and directs you to go to a website on your PC and put in a certain code. However if you change accounts you have to type in the email and password manually. I wasn't aware that I had a bluetooth keyboard and that there's an Android app that allows you to connect and use the phone/tablet keyboard until after I did this. To be fair I was tired and in a bad mood when I was playing with it last night, so that colored my initial feelings. Now that I know about the Android TV remote app I'm much happier because for things like Netflix where you have to enter an e-mail and password you need a good interface. It looks like the non-Google pre-installed apps can be deleted and re-added as you like, which is great. It's got all the major apps for audio and video, aside from Amazon's, of course. For me this one device should replace my ChromeCast, Roku, and HTPC running XBMC. I'm going to get a Fire stick to use for Amazon, but I hope that will someday be available on Android TV.
I think the Nexus Player has a lot of potential. It appears to have all the capabilities of a ChromeCast, plus the ability to use local apps that require storage. As far as I can tell it should be able to do pretty much anything with XBMC that we would want it to do. Considering it's a Nexus device I expect it to get plenty of support from Google. I haven't tried any gaming on it yet, which doesn't interest me much. I'll try it at some point though. Youtube, Netflix, and Google Music all worked as expected. I haven't seen any speed problems that I've seen mentioned in some reviews.
Naturally there was a firmware update waiting once I got it connected to the network. And connecting it to the network required using the onscreen keyboard to enter the passcode. Other than that, and me choosing the wrong account, initial setup was straightforward.
I installed the XMBC Android x86 apk on my Nexus player and it worked just fine, I was able to browse my network via filemanager and find and play some video, audio seemed to bitstream fine also. I played a direct bluray rip, with 1080p and DTS-HD. I also played a few other random videos. Everything seems to work as expected.
In order to get it on there I went into the settings and turned on the option to allow installing from third-party sources, or whatever that feature is called. Then I installed ES File Explorer and browsed my network and installed the apk from where I downloaded it.
So far XBMC hasn't shown up on the home screen, which is a nuisance, but I think that's an issue with Android TV as some other apps aren't showing up right either. I have to go to Settings->Apps and then find the apps and select Open. Hopefully they'll show up in time or after a reboot.
The Player itself I have mixed feelings about. It won't allow me to hook up my two google accounts to it, I have to choose just one. Fortunately most everything I do is out of my gmail account, but I initially synced it with the wrong account. The first time you set up an account it is easy, and directs you to go to a website on your PC and put in a certain code. However if you change accounts you have to type in the email and password manually. I wasn't aware that I had a bluetooth keyboard and that there's an Android app that allows you to connect and use the phone/tablet keyboard until after I did this. To be fair I was tired and in a bad mood when I was playing with it last night, so that colored my initial feelings. Now that I know about the Android TV remote app I'm much happier because for things like Netflix where you have to enter an e-mail and password you need a good interface. It looks like the non-Google pre-installed apps can be deleted and re-added as you like, which is great. It's got all the major apps for audio and video, aside from Amazon's, of course. For me this one device should replace my ChromeCast, Roku, and HTPC running XBMC. I'm going to get a Fire stick to use for Amazon, but I hope that will someday be available on Android TV.
I think the Nexus Player has a lot of potential. It appears to have all the capabilities of a ChromeCast, plus the ability to use local apps that require storage. As far as I can tell it should be able to do pretty much anything with XBMC that we would want it to do. Considering it's a Nexus device I expect it to get plenty of support from Google. I haven't tried any gaming on it yet, which doesn't interest me much. I'll try it at some point though. Youtube, Netflix, and Google Music all worked as expected. I haven't seen any speed problems that I've seen mentioned in some reviews.
Naturally there was a firmware update waiting once I got it connected to the network. And connecting it to the network required using the onscreen keyboard to enter the passcode. Other than that, and me choosing the wrong account, initial setup was straightforward.
