Because of the Roku problems following the latest update to V7.0 (I can’t get through a recorded show without Roku spontaneously rebooting on me), I decided to pick up a Nexus Player on sale at Best Buy for $50. It was either Nexus or the Fire Stick, and since Nexus incorporates the Cast features, I can use it to replace the Chromecast I have on another HDMI port on the living room TV.
So far, I have to say that I like what I see… the Tablo app is much more refined and complete than the Tablo app on the Roku, and the Nexus Player seems much faster as well, not just on Tablo but on other apps too. The downside to the remote is that my Logitech Harmony 650 isn’t compatible with it, but my initial impression is that the benefits far outweigh that issue. I only got back from the store and hooked this up just a little while ago, and am going through all of the available updates for the player now, but I can see it replacing my living room Roku if it supports all the streaming services I use because it’s so responsive.
I’ll get a better feel for this as I go through the weekend. At least now (I hope) my Tablo experience will be improved over what I had with the Roku.
I’m doing the 6.0 update now, but I was able to connect to 5 GHz right out of the box. It’s a shame they didn’t lump all the updates into one release… I’ve gone through about 5 or 6 so far. Lost count.
Yeah, they certainly should make it a better out-of-box experience. Many people wouldn’t even think of checking that area of settings, and would likely have a poor experience and return the thing. Having set up 6 of these things now at my own house and family members’ I have seen that downloading screen for far too long…
Anyways, I’m glad you are liking the Nexus Player so far, I think it has awesome performance, especially for the price. Check out the voice search as well, it’s surprisingly powerful, and not just for searching for movies, but cast members, weather, google maps, etc.
@RetiredEngineer I used IR with the NP - it works well. It is certainly more responsive than my Logitech Home Control bluetooth remote I use. The IR was a slight step below the remote it comes with I would say, in terms of responsiveness. I bought a $5 IR receiver on Amazon and connected it to the NP via a Micro USB OTG cable.
If your TV supports HDMI-CEC you may be able to control it with the TV remote. I had to go into the CEC menu on my Samsung TV and have it search. It found the Nexus and now I can do everything but the home key (the little circle), and the voice search).
Works the other way around to, If I hit the home key on the Nexus remote, the TV turns on.
@lkahhan I tested watching The Voice simultaneously with my Nexus Player and my NVIDIA Shield to compare picture quality, and I agree that the Nexus Player is slightly more washed out. Blacks are more grey, and colors aren’t quite as vibrant.
The same issue happened with the Shield TV after one update, and an update fixed it a couple of weeks later. That being said, I still switch off between the 2 TV’s and it’s not a huge issue. In a recent interview, an Android TV Product Manager said an update is coming in the next couple of weeks, so the fix might be included in that.
Edit: @lkahhan check out CinemaNow for a VUDU replacement, it hooks into your UV library. Also, you can Cast the VUDU app from your phone to the Nexus Player, or the Flixter app.
Yep, phone or tablet work for a remote. One other thing with it is you can also connect up Bluetooth headsets if you want to watch TV without disturbing anyone. I got to like the earphone plug on the Roku and it is nice to still be able to have the feature. Better even since it is wireless.
I have not hooked one up yet, but a Bluetooth keyboard can also be used.
After all the updates, and playing around with it for a bit, It looks like the video quality isn’t quite as good as what I was getting on the Roku streaming stick, which was really outstanding. When I get a chance, Ill look and see if there’s a setting I may have missed, but I doubt it.
Loaded up Pluto TV and it works really well. The Tablo app, which is why I bought the nexus player in the first place, works super well… blows away the Roku implementation. At least now I can watch my Tablo recordings without LPW, lockups or reboots after fast forward.
Some of my streaming channels from Roku, such as Vudu, don’t appear to be available for the Nexus player.
Still having issues. After a few hours of loading guide, I have 1 channel that has guide info. 1 recording that shows up that was recorded tonight, tv shows has some shows, movies has some movies, sports has blue screen. I can scroll up and down. Some channels have some show slots in guide. Most channels have nothing.
This is after reboot of router, tablo, nexus player.
I used one of those PC Media Center Remote with the USB receiver that I bought many years ago and it worked really well with Nexus Player and the Harmony 700.
BTW, Bestbuy is going to have the Harmony 700 on sale again for $50 during BF sale, in case anyone is interested. I’m still debating whether I should get another one (I already have 4 Harmony remotes in the house but I hate to pass such a good deal )
I am so jealous of everyone that has no issues connecting their nexus player with their tablo. Today I dedicated time to get it working. I turned my router of for 5 minutes. I restarted my tablo. I unplugged my nexus player for 5 minutes. I selected tablo and still my guide and recordings ate not working. I u installed tablo and reinstalled. Same issues. I reset the nexus to factory and didn’t install tablo until all nexus updates were done. Same issues. At one point I thought I was getting close. I saw some shows under movies and TV shows and 2 channels actually had guide data. Only 1 recording showed up.
I am starting to get frustrated. Tablo guide and recordings show up on my two roku 3s, 1 roku stick and on my note 4. But I can’t seem to cracking the code to get it working on the nexus. My main reason to get it working on the nexus is to give my wife another option. The rokus seem to reboot way too often now.
Any advice would be great.
I am at version 2.2.7 beta 4 on tablo. My nexus is at marshmallow.
I really wish I could help, but I really can’t think of any reason why it wouldn’t sync. This might require direct contact with Tablo support so they can see your logs. It sounds like you have already done everything I would have recommended. I have seen it connect just fine with 4 Nexus Players personally, and it seems like no one here has had a similar issue.
Could that be due to unstable wifi connection on the Nexus Player? When it fails to pull the guide and recordings, does it still show strong wifi signal? Also, you may want to double check the SSID to make sure the device is still connected to the correct network.
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