Need help deciding between a Nexus Player or Fire TV?

by Charlox

I have a few questions regarding the nexus player especially from those of you who have had both. I am not heavily invested in either ecosystem so right now I'm still deciding. The problem with deciding is that there isn't a lot of info for the nexus player and I'm having a hard time finding answers. My first question is about sideloading and emulators (Everything maybe up to Dreamcast and PSP): do they run well or better on the nexus player? Is there a site with a list or a way on the play store that tells you whether an app or game is compatible? Minecraft, is it available? Is there any news on a tegra k1 variant of Android TV? Is the game controller better or worst than Amazon's or should I shun both and stick with a dualshock 3?

I don't mind getting an aftv now then getting an Android TV device later when the platform develops further. Truthfully, I mostly want something simple to stream kids shows on Hulu and Netflix for my 2 yr old son but extra functionality would be great. I want to play light and retro games as well. Can anybody convince me to get the nexus player or should I stick with a aftv for now or just simply wait for a better android TV device?

jtenniswood

I have both, I much prefer the UI on the nexus, but it does feel like a beta product at the moment.

whiprush

I have a FireTV and an ADT-1 and the FireTV is more "finished" than the Android TV. That being said the FireTV is also not my favorite device, the homescreen is all Amazon all the time, whilst the AndroidTV will pull in different content from your different sources to populate the home menu. They also don't have the Google Play store so you're stuck waiting (sometimes a long time) for the apps to get updated or for a game to be resubmitted to Amazon's store. By the time you're looking at getting exactly what you want you end up needing to sideload a bunch of things and then it gets not-so-spouse friendly.

It was also pretty much unfinished when it was released too but now it's not so bad.

The Nexus Player only has 8gb of storage, so you'd have to get a dongle for it (or for ethernet it you need that). It's not like the gaming section is overflowing with games either.

Both Razer and Asus have said they're coming out with AndroidTV boxes that will be more oriented towards gamers, which will mean better hardware so it might be worth waiting, if anything for one with a bit more storage. I really like some things about Android TV but it needs a point release or two to get to where it needs to be.