By 
With the Nexus Player and Chromecast, we always thought of the Roku as a competing product, one that Google would like to stomp into the ground. That’s not entirely true. Today, Google announced that they’re bringing Google Play Movies & TV to the tiny streaming set top box (Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States only).
Just hop on over to Roku’s Channel Store and you should find it listed. The coolest part? Google Play Movies & TV also supports the Android app’s new Info Cards. Press pause and watch as the actor’s name that appears on screen is revealed on your Android device. Pretty damn cool. Also, Google is giving away a free copy of X-Men the movie for anyone who signs in using their Roku.
Roku says Roku TV support is coming soon and the full list of supported Roku players can be found below.
- Roku 3 (4200X)
- Roku 2 (2720X)
- Roku 1 (2710X)
- Roku Streaming Stick, both HDMI (3500X) and Roku Ready (3400X, 3420X) versions
- Roku LT (2400X, 2450X, 2700X)
- Roku 2 HD (3000X)
- Roku 2 XD (3050X)
- Roku 2 XS (3100X)
- Roku HD (2500X)
via Roku
Awesome news. Now I don’t have to drag my Chromecast down from my other TV. Now, if Amazon would allow casting to a Chromecast, I’d be all set. Can’t wait to try this out tonight when I get home.
One more reason not to mess with a Nexus Player I guess…
Well, not for me. I want to be able to access android apps on my media player and play proper games on it (android style games). Roku’s offerings (and I already own a roku) fall short in that regard. Not to mention they (the rokus) are very slow compared to the horsepower coming in the Nexus Player.
Yeah that’s a good point. I’m not much of a gamer so I don’t think about that very often.
This pretty much makes Roku the true platform agnostic cord cutter device. I still love my chromecast for how easy it is to put stuff on my TV but I’m going to stick with my Roku as our regular media consuming device.
Roku’s unified search is pretty awesome. What can you put on your TV with chromecast that you can’t with Roku?
Everything (with a Nexus device).
Agreed. I like having a dedicated single device to watch TV. Chromecast is cool and all but meh. Roku all the way.
Finally. I cut the cord in March of 13 and with a Roku on each TV I’ve never looked back. I’ve been waiting for this but I didn’t think it would ever happen.
I did the same thing in June of 2013. I’m pretty happy with my Roku 2.
This is why I like Google. They are all about getting their services on any hardware … well, except Microsoft. But I guess all those nickle/diming patents pissed Googs off enough to stick it to MS.
“tiny streaming set top box” ?? is that supposed to be a dig at Roku? They basically invented the streaming marketplace by being the first to bring Netflix to everyone’s home.
Regardless, the Roku 3 is still the best-selling non-stick sized streaming box (according to Amazon US) right now. If you want to use wired ethernet and/or have unreliable wifi, then the hockey-puck sized players are your best choice.
I don’t think your statement is entirely true. I’m pretty sure consoles were the 1st.
http://web.archive.org/web/20080609101753/http://netflix.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=272
EDIT: It’s not very hard to check Google for these sorts of things :)
No, It’s not looks like they were out 1 1/2 yrs before PS3 was streaming but, http://blog.netflix.com/2012/12/playstation-3-leads-living-room-netflix.html
I’m not saying the PS3 wasn’t important or used. It was also a large part of why Blu-Ray won over HD-DVD. But overall people would rather use a non-gaming/console device for movies and discs.
I’m going to go check this out on my Roku 2 right now!
So this is the only device that supports both Amazon Prime Videos and Google Play Movies and TV. Unfortunately I see this as a positive move on Google for doing this I just want Amazon to not benefit for their continued rigidness on not supporting Android very well for playing their content.
Maybe I’m dreaming, but hopefully they add it to the Xbox One sometime soon. Google Music would be awesome too.
Can anyone verify that it plays Google Movies/TV at HD (not just SD like it does on PC)?
Well looks like I’ll stick with my roku now. Was going to upgrade to android TV but now that I have google stuff on roku no reason to buy android TV. Love the roku ui too