NEW YORK — I've been a fan of Chromecast ever since Google launched it the summer before last. Plug this compact dongle into a high-definition television, and you can wirelessly stream — or in Chromecast-speak "cast" — movies, TV shows, videos and music from the Internet using Netflix, YouTube, HBO Go, ESPN and other apps on your Chromebook, or Android or iOS smartphone or tablet.
Best of all, it only cost $35.
Which leads to the inevitable question: Why splurge for Google's brand new streamingNexus Player, which Google produced in partnership with Asus, especially since Nexus Player duplicates what Chromecast can already do, and at $99 costs the same as the top-of-the-line Roku player, Amazon's Fire TV and Apple TV?
The extra money is indeed difficult to reconcile, at least right now. And while I like the direction this hockey puck-shaped new entry into the crowded media streaming market is going, it has a way to go.
What Nexus Player brings are games, voice search and apps, though not many of those — I count fewer than 80.
You do get Netflix, Hulu Plus and Google's own YouTube, of course, but how can you not offer such apps nowadays? Amazon and iTunes are among the missing apps (not that the latter should surprise anybody).
Bloomberg TV, Food Network, PBS Kids, Crackle, Huff Post Live, Pandora, Pluto.TV, TED and iHeart Radio apps are among those available. There are also the apps that you can "cast" from a compatible phone, tablet or computer, including HBO Go, ESPN and others, though that didn't always work out so well in my tests.
The Nexus Player experience starts with a handsome Android TV interface that sits on top of Android 5.0 Lollipop. I found it very easy to browse using the basic remote control that is supplied.
Large tiles appear on the TV screen representing movies, TV shows and videos you either own or have been watching, or that Google recommends based on your viewing and search habits. That's potentially the real magic dust that is being applied here, the idea that Google will surface stuff on your TV home screen that you'll want to see, without you having to explicitly ask for it.
Google assumed pretty early on that I'd want to watch some NBA highlights, as well as funny clips from Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and that's fine. I reckon the recommendations get smarter over time.
As you'd expect Google's own app properties — Google Play (for which you get a $20 credit under a current promotion), YouTube, Songza — get prime time treatment on your TV screen, but so do Netflix, HuluPlus and other apps.
Google is also pushing Android games. I bought Pac-Man and Table Top Racing. And it is even selling an optional $39.99 Bluetooth Xbox-like gamepad controller for this purpose. The controller wasn't initially recognized when I tried playing Pac-Man, though I did get it to work after a couple of tries.
The other main feature here is voice search (something Amazon also has) and it performed well with my barked out queries, at least when I was heard properly. You can search for a particular title, actor or director, as in "show me movies with Marlon Brando" or "show me movies directed by Clint Eastwood." You can also ask to see "Oscar winners for 1996."
Search results were delivered rapidly. But they were typically kept within the confines of the Google universe — that is Google Play or YouTube — even when a movie or show was available to watch elsewhere and for that matter elsewhere without having to pay extra to watch. That was the case when I searched The Walking Dead, which is streamed on Netflix.
Nexus Player is simple to set up. You connect an HDMI cable to the TV (which you'll have to supply yourself), choose your Wi-Fi connection, and enter your Google credentials.
But the Google cast feature intermittently misbehaved. I had difficulty, for example, casting HBO Go from a Chromebook and from an iPhone to the TV — I eventually did get it going on the iPhone but as I write this not yet the Chromebook.
The player has an Intel Quad-Core processor and seems zippy enough, but has only 8 GB of storage, not very much.
Nexus Player shows promise and should improve with more apps. It may even justify its $99 price sometime in the future, assuming Google doesn't get around to dropping the price first. But my best advice for now: Stick with Chromecast.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Google Nexus Player
$99, Play.google.com
Pro. Voice search. Handsome interface. Can "cast" content off phone, tablet, computer. Plays games. Custom recommendations.
Con. Expensive. Cast feature didn't always behave. Few apps.
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