Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #308 in Home Theater
- Brand: Sony
- Model: NSZ-GS7
- Dimensions: 1.37" h x
5.11" w x
8.03" l,
2.80 pounds
Features
- Search live TV, the internet and apps with Google TV
- Access thousands of Android apps at Google Play Store
- Universal remote with touchpad & and backlit keyboard
Sony NSZ-GS7 Internet Player with Google TV
Product Description
What’s on TV tonight? That's completely up to you. Select single episodes, entire seasons, live TV and sports to watch, or search the entire internet—all with a single remote featuring a full touchpad and backlit keyboard. And because the TV and internet work together, you never need to switch inputs or fuss with multiple components. One box, unlimited entertainment.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
153 of 163 people found the following review helpful.
By Lawrence H. Bulk
I am very pleased with this Sony NSZ-GS7 Internet Player with Google TV which I received two days ago, August 21, 2012, from Amazon Vine.I have two of the Roku XDS Streaming Player 1080ps, purchased a year or so ago and which I use frequently; they are quite good (the newer, replacement, model is the Roku 2 XS 1080p Streaming Player which, I understand, is quite similar).But this new Sony model is much more capable than the Roku because it has a built-in web browser. The browser is Google Chrome, normally a full-featured browser along the lines of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari, etc. Unfortunately here it appears to be somewhat restricted as, so far, I have found no way to add extensions, such as AdBlock. Nonetheless, the presence of this browser adds a great deal of value to this media player.For example, one of my favorite web sites is the Internet Archive [archive
146 of 158 people found the following review helpful.
By Micah
Update: December 6, 2012: I used to give this product 5 stars, but I no longer feel it deserves that. The product crashes too often, and while some apps like Netflix work really well when fast forwarding, rewinding, skipping, other apps are extremely frustrating. For instance, you push fast forward for a moment, and you watch it skip forward and it stutters and sometimes leaves you a few seconds later in the video, but sometimes leaves you 10 seconds earlier! And if you hold the button down for a full second, it might skip 2 minutes ahead. It is very hard to reposition the video. I still really like the remote, but this box does not excel at its primary function: video. I am now looking to see if I can find a better solution for me-- anyway, I am looking at Raspberry Pi with XBMC, WD TV, and some Blu Ray players, or maybe an Apple TV but since I want to watch MPEG2 TV shows recorded over the air , I would need to transcoding them to H.264 and I hate burning CPU cycles for that, although it would be nice to be able to play them more easily on phones, iPads, tablets, etc.Here is my old review:The Roku has a nice user experience and it also deserves 5 stars (although I disagree with Roku forcing you to give them your credit card to keep on file) -- and if you are looking for the cheapest device that can just play Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon VOD, Crackle, and similar very well, then your best option is a Roku or maybe a BD player. But if you want more, you'll have to start dealing with tradeoffs. For the Google TV, the tradeoffs are 1) that you can't get some content, such as that from Hulu Plus or NBC (although you can through Playon)-- and 2) the Amazon VOD experience is poor (although the movies play back nicely). (The Google TV has one of the best Netflix experiences, and Crackle's website experience is okay).But the Google TV can do lots of things the Roku can't, such as 1) play videos and flash from some websites such as Syfy or adult websites, 2) use it as an Apple Airplay device (using the Airtight app), 3) play mpeg-2 videos such as from a HDHomeRun, MythTv, ripped DVDs (for those who don't want to take the time and cpus to convert to h.264) 4) Browse the internet -- so for $200 and a tv you probably already have, then you can write emails, check your social media websites, write a paper, whatever. For a lot of people that want to have a media device on their tv and not also pay for a computer, this is a good compromise.The Goolge TV might get XBMC, but although XBMC has announced android support, it appears it will rely on native support not currently available in Google TV. On the plus side, Plex works nicely on the sony unit. By default Plex will have the server transcode mpeg2 to h.264, but there is a setting to use "Direct play" in which the server will send the mpeg-2 direclty. This means that your Roku will play MPEG2s so long as you have a powerful enough computer to do the transcoding on the fly-- and because of that pushing the forward and backward buttons will pause before the video is adjusted. But with a Sony Google TV with direct play turned on, skipping forward and back takes only a small pause. (I am using an older core 2 duo as the server, so if you have a newer 4 or 8 way, or have hardware to help accelerate the transcode, then perhaps the pause won't be as noticeable). I have found that I don't like the way Plex organizes TV shows, so I am using the app GTVBox Video Player to play TV shows. It's a nice app, but most of the apps I have found don't fast forward, rewind, or skip well. Netflix is the only app I use regularly that does this decently.By the way, the Logitech Revue and Vizio Co-Star can't play MPEG2, only Sony units currently do.I think the Google TV missed a huge opportunity by not providing an option for joysticks and helping developers port android games to the Google TV. Hopefully they make an announcement on those lines soon. Also, I think it seems wrong that some content providers are for locking out google tv users out from their website (e.g. hulu and nbc) but allowing other computers and similar devices to access them. But this doesn't matter much to me, though, because nearly all of that locked out content is broadcast OTA and I get it free through the HDHomeRun and store with DVR with MythTV-- and with 10x the video quality-- which is a huge reason why I like the google tv which can play MPEG2! I also would love to see Amazon VOD get better, but I am not that interested in paying the expensive rental fees for just 24 hours of access-- and the free selection with Amazon Prime is very limited, so Amazon VOD is not an important factor for me. (By the way, for the technical savvy, you should check out the Raspberry Pi which I believe you can buy optional MPEG2 support for)Ultimately, each Google TV and Roku have their individual strengths and weaknesses-- and if you want the extra features that google tv provides, then you will need to deal with some tradeoffs. And if you don't need those extra features or can't deal with those tradeoffs, then you'll have to deal with a different set of tradeoffs if you buy the Roku or similar device instead.Overall, I think this is one of the best remotes I've ever had-- but it does have some flaws, such as being a bit wide and missing tapered back edges to be comfortable for one hand operation-- and the buttons for one handed "blind" operation are in a terrible spot, well the volume buttons are in a good spot on the side, but instead of putting skip fwd, skip back, and toggle pause buttons, they put just channel up and down buttons. It seems like these channel up and down buttons could be overridden to act like skip fwd and skip back, but there would still no easy way to toggle pause. By the way, the button for pause is at the bottom of the remote, and for most people likely will require them to use 2 hands. I'd like to be angrier at Sony for not thinking of this, but the touchpad and keyboard are really well done.Update Sep 9, 2012 -- After having used this for over a month, it has crashed 4 times, and to fix I have had to unplug it and plug it back in. I think all the times were caused by the Netflix app. Maybe I should downgrade this to 4 stars, but so far I still value the unit for its pros.Update Sep 11, 2012 -- Note, I think on device capability the Roku XS deserves 5 stars, but I gave it 1 star rating in my review of it since the company forces you to enter in credit card information for them to keep on file before you can actually use it. It will not let you access the free apps until you have given them a credit card. I strongly disagree with that business model, hence the 1 star review.Update Dec 6, 2012 -- For a while there, my unit was crashing every 4 hours of play or so. It is a bit better now and my google tv crashes maybe every 20 hours of play. Sometimes when it crashes, it just reboots on its own. Other times it leaves the screen black andI have to go unplug the unit and plug it back in. By the way, I think if you hit the PIP button, it can make it look like it crashes, but a long press of the PIP button or maybe of the 3 lines "menu" button will let you resume.{edits: Jul 28, 2012 -- changed text regarding xbmc based on the kind comment from Trollslayer and added text about Plex's settings and server transcoding lag for devices that don't support MPEG2, added info on the remote}
77 of 83 people found the following review helpful.
By nycebo
Instead of spending much time assessing the Google TV operating system, which I've used via the Logitech Revue for over a year, I'm going to detail why this Sony effort is SO MUCH better than the Logitech effort. Hopefully, it will help sway consumers who are on the fence about buying the Sony NSZ-GS7 Internet Player with Google TV (SGTV) or like me, decided to give it a shot and UPGRADE (yes, upgrade) from the Logitech Revue.First, the physical details: the Sony GTV unit itself feels about 50% smaller. What's nicely done is that the power cable doesn't have a power adapter so it's one less thing to deal with in the AV cabinet. As for the unit, it has all of the standard ports, including digital optical, ethernet, wifi, IR blaster, a couple USB ports, AND most notably the HDMI in and out. You're thinking: so what, the Revue has HDMI in and out, to which I can only answer YES and NO (more on this later....). Also, it's reported that the processor is a 1.2 GHz dual core. I can report that it is noticeably faster than the Revue. Homescreen images scroll much more smoothly and apps load quicker and respond with less lag. All in all, these hardware improvements certainly warrant an upgrade from the Revue.Second, the remote is fantastic. From the clicking mousepad to the small integrated keyboard, it's a win. While I liked the Logitech remote keyboard for typing and emailing, it was just a bit too unwieldy for streaming viewing and listening. The SGTV remote is probably bluetooth based and works brilliantly even when not pointing at the unit. The one issue I will mention for some is that the SGTV doesn't seem to pair properly with Harmony all in one remotes because it lacks infrared support.Third, media. It's worth mentioning that I don't have cable or satellite. As such, I feel like I'm really missing out on a number of the great features of Google TV in terms of how it integrates network and cable programming. But, in terms of how it hooks up with Netflix, Amazon VOD, HBO GO, Pandora, Slacker, Sony Entertainment, and all of the android TV apps, it's a great offering.Fourth, AND MOST importantly, let's revisit the HDMI connection. It supports full HDMI-CEC control that facilitates turning it on and off with the TV when the input in selected. But what really sets it apart from the Revue is the SGTV's automatic ability to stream audio through the HDMI cable for analog and digital surround. Netflix can now easily stream Dolby Digital and/or PCM without needing to switch options in Settings to output audio via the digital optical cable. The latter was really a pain in the you know what on the Revue and more often than not, I just left it at stereo output and let my AVR churn it into surround. Now, the SGTV automatically outputs digital OR PCM depending on the source (Netflix, your TV, etc). Bonus and IMHO, well worth the upgrade. Plus, it frees up a digital port on my AVR.Last, cost. Yes, it's more than the Revue (which you can't buy anymore), simple as that. And, it's more than Boxee and Roku and Apple TV. But, to critics out there, I will just respond by saying that it DOES more. Not only is it a streaming portal, but it's also a browser and a device for movies, photos and music. Some have suggested that the PS3 gives you even more because of gaming, but candidly, I'm just not a gamer so why spend even more for that? Perhaps it's worth waiting a little long to see if prices come down in several months, but given the form factor, remote control and WORKING digital/analog audio feature via HDMI, I was happy as a clam to get this unit.While some might score this a 3 stars because of complaints about the current curious state of Google TV, Sony's effort is very streamlined, elegant and functional. It really is a great offering. As such, I'm happy to give it a solid 5 stars. It's just one more reason I don't need cable TV.
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