The Nexus Player is a

digital media player A digital media player (also sometimes known as a streaming device or streaming box) is a type of consumer electronics device designed for the storage, playback, or viewing of digital media content. They are typically designed to be integra ...

co-developed by

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

and Asus. It is the second media player in the

Google Nexus Google Nexus is a discontinued line of consumer electronic devices that run the Android operating system. Google managed the design, development, marketing, and support of these devices, but some development and all manufacturing were carried ...

family of consumer devices. Originally running the Android 5.0 ("Lollipop")

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

, it is the first device to employ the

Android TV Android TV is a smart TV operating system based on Android (operating system), Android and developed by Google for television sets, digital media players, set-top boxes, and soundbars. A successor to Google TV (operating system), Google TV, it fe ...

platform. The Nexus player supports

Google Cast Google Cast is a proprietary protocol developed by Google for playing Internet-streamed audio/video content on a compatible consumer device. The protocol is used to initiate and control playback of content on digital media players, high-definition ...

, the feature for selecting and controlling media playback on a television that was first introduced by

Chromecast Chromecast is a line of digital media players developed by Google. The devices, designed as small dongles, can play Internet-streamed audio-visual content on a high-definition television or home audio system. The user can control playback with ...

. Sales of the Nexus Player were discontinued in May 2016, and product support ended in March 2018.

History

The Nexus Player was unveiled on October 15, 2014, and made available for pre-order two days later on the

Google Play Store Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sys ...

for $99, and later made available for purchase at retail stores in the US. On May 24, 2016, Google discontinued direct sales of the Nexus Player. In May 2017, Google announced that

Google Assistant Google Assistant is a virtual assistant software application developed by Google that is primarily available on mobile and home automation devices. Based on artificial intelligence, Google Assistant can engage in two-way conversations, unlike t ...

was coming to the Nexus Player later in the year. In November 2017, the device was updated with the Google Assistant feature through the monthly security update. In March 2018, Google confirmed that the Nexus Player would not receive Android 9 Pie and that security updates had also ended for the device. In August 2018, ''Android Headlines'' reported that some Nexus Player were facing an issue where they became inoperable.

Hardware

It is powered by a 1.8

GHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

quad-core

Intel Atom Intel Atom is the brand name for a line of IA-32 and x86-64 instruction set ultra-low-voltage processors by Intel Corporation designed to reduce electric consumption and power dissipation in comparison with ordinary processors of the Intel Cor ...

Z3560 processor with 1 GB of

LPDDR3 Low-Power Double Data Rate (LPDDR), also known as LPDDR SDRAM, is a type of synchronous dynamic random-access memory that consumes less power and is targeted for mobile computers and devices such as mobile phones. Older variants are also known a ...

RAM and 8 GB of internal

eMMC The MultiMediaCard, officially abbreviated as MMC, is a memory card standard used for solid-state storage. Unveiled in 1997 by SanDisk and Siemens, MMC is based on a surface-contact low pin-count serial interface using a single memory stack subs ...

storage.

Remote control

The Nexus Player comes bundled with a Bluetooth remote control, with a direction pad & middle enter button, a back, home and play/pause button. It also features a button to activate the

Google Search Google Search (also known simply as Google) is a search engine provided by Google. Handling more than 3.5 billion searches per day, it has a 92% share of the global search engine market. It is also the most-visited website in the world. The ...

application to search for content by speaking through the remote's built-in microphone. The device can also be controlled by any Android smartphone with Google Play services. The app also features a

Wear OS Wear OS (also known simply as Wear and formerly Android Wear) is a version of Google's Android operating system designed for smartwatches and other wearables. By pairing with mobile phones running Android version 6.0 "Marshmallow" or newer, or ...

counterpart to allow remote input from compatible smartwatches.

Features

The Nexus Player and Android TV allows consumers to use an

HDTV High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...

set to play music, watch video originating from Internet services or a local network, and play games (

Emulators In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use peri ...

and Android Games). The primary interface is interacted with using a remote with a D-pad dial and 5 buttons. The remote also includes a microphone for voice search functions within supported apps and the main system interface. Android TV can be paired with Bluetooth gaming controllers to interact with the system interface / applications, as well as, playing games. Android TV also includes all features and streaming capabilities of the

device. * Users can access the

Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android (operating sys ...

store directly through the user interface to rent / buy movies, TV shows and stream play music. * Live Channels by Google allows users to stream from media sources including the

HDHomeRun HDHomeRun is a network-attached digital television tuner box, produced by the company SiliconDust USA, Inc. Overview Unlike standard set-top box (or set-top unit) appliances, HDHomeRun does not have a video output that connects directly to the u ...

TV tuner with TV Guide functionality *

Kodi KODI (1400 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a news/talk format. Licensed to Cody, Wyoming, United States, the station is currently owned by the Big Horn Radio Network, a division of Legend Communications of Wyoming, LLC, and features programm ...

allows users to access a host of applications and content available through Kodi (formerly

XBMC Kodi (formerly XBMC) is a free and open-source media player software application developed by the XBMC Foundation, a non-profit technology consortium. Kodi is available for multiple operating systems and hardware platforms, with a software 10- ...

) *

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

Hulu Plus Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series l ...

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

TED TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depa ...

App *

VLC media player VLC media player (previously the VideoLAN Client and commonly known as simply VLC) is a free and open-source, portable, cross-platform media player software and streaming media server developed by the VideoLAN project. VLC is available for desk ...

* FX Now *

Sling TV Sling TV is an American streaming television service operated by Sling TV LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dish Network. Unveiled on January 5, 2015, at the Consumer Electronics Show, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor aims ...

Disney Movies Anywhere Movies Anywhere (MA) is a cloud-based digital rights locker and over-the-top streaming platform that allows users to stream and download purchased films, including digital copies redeemed from codes found in home video releases as well as d ...

Crackle Crackle or crackling may refer to: Foods * Cracklings, the tissue remaining after lard and tallow have been extracted from animal fats ** Pork rinds in American English, pork scratchings in British English when served in small pieces as a snac ...

Epix Epix (pronounced ''epics'' and stylized as P) is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by the Epix Entertainment LLC subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a subsidiary of Amazon's MGM Holdings, Inc. The channel's pr ...

* Plex *

HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. As of February 2015, appr ...

Watch *

PBS Kids PBS Kids is the brand for most of the children's programming aired by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Some public television children's programs are not produced by PBS member stations or transmitted by PBS. Instead, ...

Video *

CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

Bloomberg TV Bloomberg Television (on-air as Bloomberg) is an American-based pay television network focusing on business and capital market programming, owned by Bloomberg L.P. It is distributed globally, reaching over 310 million homes worldwide. It is head ...

+ *

HuffPost Live HuffPost Live was an Internet-based video streaming network run by ''The Huffington Post'', a news website in the United States. The network produced original programming as well as live conversations among users via platforms such as Skype and G ...

for Android TV *

TuneIn Radio TuneIn is a global audio streaming service delivering live news, radio, sports, music, and podcasts to over 75 million monthly active users. TuneIn is operated by the company TuneIn Inc. which is based in San Francisco, California. The company ...

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming Computing platform, platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbr ...

Songza Songza was a free music streaming and recommendation service for Internet users in the United States and Canada. Stating that its playlists are made by music experts, the service would recommend its users on various playlists based on time of ...

TV *

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...

Red Bull TV Red Bull TV is a global multi-platform channel owned by Red Bull GmbH, distributed digitally on connected TVs, smartphones, tablets, and on its website. The channel is available globally. Programming is in English (with optional subtitles and clos ...

MLB.TV MLB.com is the official site of Major League Baseball and is overseen by Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P. (a subsidiary of MLB). MLB.com is a source of baseball-related information, including baseball news, statistics, and sports column ...

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

Vudu Vudu is an American digital video store and streaming service owned by Fandango Media, a joint-venture between NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery. The company offers transactional video on demand rentals and digital purchases of films, ...

FCC difficulties

During its initial days on sale, the Nexus Player was pulled from the Google Play Store because it had not passed FCC certification. Two days later, the device returned to the Play Store after receiving said certification.

References

External links

Asus website
{{Microconsoles Google Nexus Microconsoles Digital media players Android (operating system) devices Streaming media systems Smart TV Asus products Set-top box