As far as I can tell, the lack of Netflix is probably on Netflix's end, in the form of a device whitelist for the Android TV app; Razer most likely has no control over this situation. Kind of sucks, but if you can get the APK you can probaby sideload it with no issues?
Can you check if this supports hardware mpeg 2...may bite on one if it does. Want to use with an hdhomerun Prime as my main box.
Ouch. I had high hopes for this device. Hopefully this gets sorted out quickly.
Oof. It's amazing to me how Google consistently releases half-baked products and then wonders why they flop.
You can actually use the AndroidTV remote app instead of the forges so it doesn't rely on bluetooth
Tips for side loading apps https://plus.google.com/+CollinPage/posts/HRXgbVTpGBo
Can you cast Netflix to it from a mobile device?
There's a version of Netflix solely for ATVs, and here is the APKMirror link. Should also have the Play Store link, but I could be wrong
I pre-ordered the Forge TV without the controller for two reasons: 1) I’m not a gamer anymore - I purchased this to replace my PS3 as an HTPC / Netflix box, and 2) without the controller it was supposed to ship one week earlier than the controller bundle. Unfortunately the ship date was pushed back with no notification. On the plus side, this did give me time to acquaint myself with my new Logitech Harmony 650. I think Razer missed a huge opportunity by failing to include an IR receiver, but I have a FLIRC on the way so it should work flawlessly.
The box itself is well-made and the gimped Android OS runs very snappily on it. It came running 5.0 out of the box and instantly updated to 5.0.2. I like seeing the little Android update logo with the wiggly ears (he's so cute!) so I didn't mind waiting a minute or two for the update to install. The Nexus Player is on 5.1.1 so we should be getting that shortly. The UI leaves quite a bit to be desired; I have found no way to arrange or remove tiles to my pleasing, and all the big tiles are basically huge advertisements for various Play Store titles and features that I have no interest in. If I wanted a device that I couldn’t customize to my liking I would have bought an iPhone by now. What the hell Google?
It gets worse. The device ships without Netflix. To my surprise, Netflix is completely absent from the Play Store on this device. I did successfully side load the regular (non Android-TV) Netflix app, but I haven’t had enough time to mess around with it. Side loading kind of blows too, because you have to install a separate launcher app and then navigate to that app and then navigate to your desired app.
The Forge remote app is the worst part. If your phone enters the lock screen, the connection drops. So you have to either adjust the display timeout on your phone to stay on and have your battery life drop to all hell, or re-start the app every time you want to press a button.
It’s not all bad news. Apps load in an instant, and the Pandora app is snappier than their HTML5 interface through the PS3 web browser. Kodi seems promising as well, certainly better than loading up videos on a slow FAT32 drive and playing them from the PS3.
tldr: we’re off to a pretty rough start. I’ll give it a week but things need to change quick or else I’m returning the box. I am hopeful that Google and Razer will deliver, but I was also hopeful that Google TV would deliver and it never did. Why didn't I buy a Fire TV again?