Sad, but true.
I guess we’ll just have to look forward to some of the new devices coming on the market!
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I heard Apple is going to release a device…cough.
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The new MiBox will be an excellent upgrade over the Nexus Player. 4K 60fps content for those unwilling to pay extra for the Shield TV.
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It was pretty obvious when all of a sudden it went poof, but I guess an official confirmation is nice
Probably a stupid question, but does the Tablo app run on this box?
Yes, it’s an official Android TV box made by Xiaomi announced at Google I/O. Similar to Nexus Player and Shield.
It’s a shame to see the NP go… I bought mine at the height of the Roku Tablo problems last year, and it worked really well, and did some things that Roku couldn’t, not to mrntion it was a lot faster and incorporated voice search. Unfortunately, it was never really a strong Roku competitor, as it was missing a lot of channels I like. Anyway, I’ll continue to use it for things like casting from my PC and playing videos directly from my network drive.
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I was actually surprised to read this news - despite the absence of a product in stores for quite a while. With the Google Home announcement, I would have thought having a set top box to integrate with a home automation system would be ideal. I know they are touting Chromecast integration, but I just cannot see Chromecast being the way of the future. I could be wrong, but it just has no appeal to me. Of course, AndroidTV of any flavor is a nonstarter for me unless they add Amazon Video into the supported app library.
I wonder what I could get for my NP that I don’t use.
Your Nexus Player will continue to be supported with software upgrades and get new apps all the time, this doesn’t really change anything. This isn’t the end of the platform Android TV, they just stopped selling this box that is almost 2 years old. Other Android TV options like the NVIDIA Shield and the forthcoming MiBox, as well as Sony, Sharp and TCL TVs still exist.
Of course, AndroidTV of any flavor is a nonstarter for me unless they add Amazon Video into the supported app library.
That’s up to Amazon, not Google. And Amazon has strongly said “no”. There are workarounds though: http://forum.xda-developers.com/shield-tv/development/amazon-prime-video-demand-android-tv-t3278778
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Chromecast was never a huge player for me, as I never liked the idea of having to use it with another device (phone/tablet/computer/etc.) to get it to work. I really prefer the standalone devices, as they’re much more convenient for me. I do have a Chromecast, and I use the cast feature built in to the Nexus Player when there is web video I want to see on the big screen living room TV and don’t have another way of getting it on there, other than with my laptop or tablet and an HDMI cable. The only other time Chromecast is convent is when I give presentations from my laptop or tablet to a projector, and again, want to avoid having to use an HDMI cable.
I have heard this both ways - as being Amazon’s fault and as being Google’s fault. Amazon pulled Chromecast and AppleTV devices from Amazon.com because their devices don’t support Amazon Video as if to get some sort of leverage. My own suspicion is that this goes back to the 30% cut that booth Google and Apple want for in app purchases. (Although I can run Amazon Video on an Android tablet, but I am pretty sure I installed that through the Amazon App store and not through Google Play, so that may be why). Personally, I wouldn’t mind if they removed in app purchases/rentals from the set-top box app and instead made you purchase/rent through the computer as I usually do that anyway, but I can understand why they would feel this is too complicated/confusing for the average user who will just want to search for content and pay for it from the app.
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