Digging deeper into my Nexus Player

[chevycam94]

OK, so I won the contest not too long ago, and used the money to get myself the prize, a new Google Nexus Player.

After unboxing it, and with little to no setup instructions, I got it up and functional. Its not bad. Not nearly as feature packed as some other set top boxes, but its fun to play with. I use it mostly for Netflix.

Now, being a developer, I wanted to dive deeper into it. So far, I have rooted it, enabled the developer menu, set up debugging, updated it to "Android 5.0", and took a look at recovery.









Now we take a look at the recovery menu:




And the bootloader screen:


My next step, is going to be dumping the whole contents of the device locally, and see what I can pick apart. First things first, I need to make sure I have a way of getting this thing back to working condition, should I screw it up somehow. But for now, a system dump should be a good thing work on.

I'll add more pictures as I take them.

 

[chevycam94]

reserved

 

[pc747]

How are you liking the Nexus player @chevycam94 , been thinking about buying one but have not seen any thing that set it apart or made it worth me buying since I already have a chromecast.

 

[chevycam94]

For what it is, its not bad. The interface is simple, quick, and polished. Games (although few) actually play pretty well. We use it for Netflix mostly. Ive been digging a little seeing what I could change, or possibly theme, but there is the risk that if I break it, there isnt any going back. Theres no way to restore to a working state at the moment.

I havent used Chromecast, so I cant make a great comparison. Chromecast sounds pretty good, but for me, living the simple life, The Nexus Player is pretty good. I especially like how its possibly open to further hacking and development, should the right people come along and push it forward.

 

[pc747]

thanks. I almost want to buy one to compare. But the chromecast is just simple and works with a lot more apps.

 

[chevycam94]

Probably true. Of course I cant complain. I won mine, so it was free for me. Otherwise, you would have to justify spending $100 on it.

 

[CJM]

I have my Nexus Player rooted & bootloader unlocked. It's nice, but if you have a chromecast then the only thing you're missing is the ui of the Nexus Player. Mine doesn't like using wifi. It buffers a lot & gets aggravating to use sometimes. When it does that, I'll switch to the chromecast. It doesn't buffer as much & seems to work better with wifi.
One nice thing I do like about the Nexus Player is that you can use a micro USB to connect a USB hub. I have a 4 hub USB connected to mine. I got some movies from a friend at work & put them on a flash drive & that works great. Also have a wireless mouse connected to the hub. That's needed when using the Chrome browser & ES file explorer. Both apps can be loaded from a browser from the Play Store. So can others, if they are compatible. Many apps aren't now. I've tried sideloading most of my favorite apps from my phone & most don't work.
Lastly, with me being tired of the Nexus Player buffering, I got a USB to ethernet adapter & connected it to my Wifi extender. So far that seems to work better until I crawl through my attic & hard wire it, and all my other rooms, to my router with ethernet.
With all that said, if you're looking for something similar to the Nexus Player's ui without spending the money, get the Amazon Fire TV Stick. It's almost identical to our Fire TV, It'll cast like the Google devices & there an app that you control with your Android device.

P.S. If you have a bluetooth game pad, the Nexus Player will probably connect with it. Which makes playing games more fun. I've connected our Fire TV game pads with it. Gotta have that to play Modern Combat 6

Tapped from a Moto X

 

[pc747]

I have my Nexus Player rooted & bootloader unlocked. It's nice, but if you have a chromecast then the only thing you're missing is the ui of the Nexus Player. Mine doesn't like using wifi. It buffers a lot & gets aggravating to use sometimes. When it does that, I'll switch to the chromecast. It doesn't buffer as much & seems to work better with wifi.
One nice thing I do like about the Nexus Player is that you can use a micro USB to connect a USB hub. I have a 4 hub USB connected to mine. I got some movies from a friend at work & put them on a flash drive & that works great. Also have a wireless mouse connected to the hub. That's needed when using the Chrome browser & ES file explorer. Both apps can be loaded from a browser from the Play Store. So can others, if they are compatible. Many apps aren't now. I've tried sideloading most of my favorite apps from my phone & most don't work.
Lastly, with me being tired of the Nexus Player buffering, I got a USB to ethernet adapter & connected it to my Wifi extender. So far that seems to work better until I crawl through my attic & hard wire it, and all my other rooms, to my router with ethernet.
With all that said, if you're looking for something similar to the Nexus Player's ui without spending the money, get the Amazon Fire TV Stick. It's almost identical to our Fire TV, It'll cast like the Google devices & there an app that you control with your Android device.

P.S. If you have a bluetooth game pad, the Nexus Player will probably connect with it. Which makes playing games more fun. I've connected our Fire TV game pads with it. Gotta have that to play Modern Combat 6

Tapped from a Moto X

Thank You

 

[CJM]

You're welcome @pc747
Also, here's a must have app for side loaded apps on the Nexus Player Sideload Launcher - Android TV - Android Apps on Google Play

Tapped from a Nexus

 

[pc747]

You're welcome @pc747
Also, here's a must have app for side loaded apps on the Nexus Player Sideload Launcher - Android TV - Android Apps on Google Play

Tapped from a Nexus

Well I am going to pass on the nexus TV unless something big come out of the Google camp. I'm happy with the Chromecast and since the nexus TV do not look like a real step up I'm staying Chromecast.

 

[pc747]

Looks like i changed my mind, I'm going to give the nexus player a go.

 

[pc747]

On second thought, at the 11th hour I will be refusing delivery and give the fire TV stick a try.

 

[cr6]

There you go!
You won't be disappointed. good choice!

S5 tap'n

 

[pc747]

Took too long to get a fire tv stick. After writing my article I went to best buy and picked up a nexus player. Figure I can try it out and if I didnt like it much easier to take it back. I am currently rooted and figuring it out.

 

[chevycam94]

lol. Gary Busey scares me. lol No FireTV stick here.