Google TV Streamer (4K)

The Google TV Streamer 4K is yet another contender in the streaming box market. The design is sleek and stylish.In the box you get the device, remote and batteries, power brick and USB-C to USB-C charging cord. I tried using another brick and cord and the device said no thank you. You have to use the cord and brick in the box.Using my Google Home app setup was straightforward and took about 30 minutes with pairing the remote, an update and personalized options installed. I did like that during setup it provides a list of services to check if you subscribe to and installs them but it does not autofill login credentials for any of them. I do like that the more you watch the smarter Google gets with making recommendations for you across all of the major apps.The ... MoreThe Google TV Streamer 4K is yet another contender in the streaming box market. The design is sleek and stylish.In the box you get the device, remote and batteries, power brick and USB-C to USB-C charging cord. I tried using another brick and cord and the device said no thank you. You have to use the cord and brick in the box.Using my Google Home app setup was straightforward and took about 30 minutes with pairing the remote, an update and personalized options installed. I did like that during setup it provides a list of services to check if you subscribe to and installs them but it does not autofill login credentials for any of them. I do like that the more you watch the smarter Google gets with making recommendations for you across all of the major apps.The streamer can connect to your network wirelessly and it comes with an ethernet port so you can plug in directly to your router. While this is a nice feature, if your router is close enough to the device to directly connect to it, your wireless signal should be more than strong enough. I would have preferred another USB-C port or SD slot to play content from thumb or portable hard drives. You can cast from other devices like your phone or tablet though.The Android TV interface is no different than what you would see if your TV came with Google. The device is faster and with 32GB storage will have no trouble holding all of your apps.The 4K image was brilliant and crisp with Dolby Vision and HDR10+. The Dolby audio was excellent as expected.The remote connects to the streamer via Bluetooth but has IR signals to operate power and audio of most TV’s and soundbars. I did experience issues with the volume when moving the box between TV’s and changing the remote codes. It did remember previous connections when moved back but did not automatically adapt to them.While the remote is generally responsive, there were times where I experienced slight lag switching through the menus and programs. This is a voice remote and by pressing the microphone button and speaking your requests it will find and play your content as well as any other google commands. Google has always been very good with voice control and this streamer is no different. There is also a “find my remote” feature. By pressing a button on the streamer the remote will chirp. You can also ask google to find it.The app store is loaded with most any app you could want for streaming, both audio and video and there is plenty of free content to watch as well including Google TV Free Play. I find the free tv services to be acceptable especially if you are a fan of old tv shows since they have channels dedicated to each series - one of my favorites is the Bob Ross channel. Many of the free channels include local news via these stations' secondary news feeds. And it's not just for viewing, games like Asphalt 8 seem to work just a little bit better than on my Hisense Google TV. You do have to connect a bluetooth controller but the action was smooth and consistent. There were few if any dropped frames. Sadly, you still can not install Google Chrome however, there are several other browsers to choose from.Speaking of connecting things, one area I did have an issue was when I connected a bluetooth speaker. This caused Directv not to work. I tried with several speakers and headphones with the same result. I tend to think this is the app though, not Google as other apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime worked without issue with the speaker connected. An app update could easily fix this.Overall I give the Google TV Streamer five stars, it does everything it advertises, however, if your smart TV is already a Google TV, I’m not sure the additional investment for another box and remote is worth the squeeze. Otherwise, if you still have an older TV or like me, your set doesn’t offer the app/s you need (Vizio and Directv) the Google TV Streamer is one of many excellent choices.

I've owned every Chromecast that Google has released and this is by far their best iteration of the Chromecast line. It's more of a set top box now but still very slim, very portable, and can connect via Ethernet if needed for higher connection speeds. The biggest difference I experienced while using this new Chromecast was the speed of the software. There weren't any delays in input and I could go into the apps I downloaded quickly and start streaming right away. One cool feature of this new Chromecast is the ability to add shortcuts to the remote. I was able to add the shortcut to show me my Google Home devices such as my 3 Google cameras, my front door deadbolt lock, lighting, temperature controls, etc. I'm able to control all of that through the Chromecast which ... MoreI've owned every Chromecast that Google has released and this is by far their best iteration of the Chromecast line. It's more of a set top box now but still very slim, very portable, and can connect via Ethernet if needed for higher connection speeds. The biggest difference I experienced while using this new Chromecast was the speed of the software. There weren't any delays in input and I could go into the apps I downloaded quickly and start streaming right away. One cool feature of this new Chromecast is the ability to add shortcuts to the remote. I was able to add the shortcut to show me my Google Home devices such as my 3 Google cameras, my front door deadbolt lock, lighting, temperature controls, etc. I'm able to control all of that through the Chromecast which is pretty awesome. The only thing you can't do right now is talk back to someone through the doorbell camera or watch history of the cameras. If you didn't want to program that shortcut for Google Home controls you could also have it go to a favorite app that's not already listed on the controller itself or have it be a certain input on your TV in case you have another HDMI device connected to your TV. I also found it awesome that you can ask Google to locate your TV remote and it'll beep until you've found it. There's been numerous occasions where Chromecast remotes go missing for several days and I'm forced to use my phone as a controller but those days are now behind us. Overall, the clarity of the content, the smoothness of the software, and the added features of the controller make this the best Chromecast to be released.

Hats off to Google for creating a streaming device that just works. Let’s get into the specifics.The porcelain orb-shaped case is designed to look smooth sitting on top of your media cabinet. I love that Google chose to skip any logos or text or lights, basically removing anything that would distract from the surface area of this device. Connectivity ports on the back are well spaced but a small nitpick is that if you use Ethernet you may notice the flickering of the LAN connectivity lights emitting from the rear.The remote is light weight without being flimsy and it easily paired with my Denon soundbar and worked equally well for the LG OLED TV it’s connected to. This is the only device connected to the TV making power on and off operations for the streamer, ... MoreHats off to Google for creating a streaming device that just works. Let’s get into the specifics.The porcelain orb-shaped case is designed to look smooth sitting on top of your media cabinet. I love that Google chose to skip any logos or text or lights, basically removing anything that would distract from the surface area of this device. Connectivity ports on the back are well spaced but a small nitpick is that if you use Ethernet you may notice the flickering of the LAN connectivity lights emitting from the rear.The remote is light weight without being flimsy and it easily paired with my Denon soundbar and worked equally well for the LG OLED TV it’s connected to. This is the only device connected to the TV making power on and off operations for the streamer, the tv and the sound bar a one button click. This is exactly what the wife wanted - no fuss, no drama just turn on the TV with a single remote and get to binging. The customizable shortcut button to launch an app of your choosing is a welcome addition. My only complaint about the remote is that it is not backlit which I think is a HUGE mistake. Google needs to add backlighting.The Google TV interface is fast to load, easy to navigate, but there are a few minor annoyances that Android TV supports and Google TV does not. For example my favorite Apple TV feature are the amazing Aerial screensavers Apple has curated. A third party Android app named Ariel Dream is available from the Google Play store that works on Android TV and on Nvidia Shield devices that lets you display the Apple screensavers on Android TV. While the app will install on this Google TV Streamer there is no method to set the app as the screensaver like there is with Android TV thus you end up with what are frankly a lackluster set of built in Google TV images. Google TV does let you connect Google Photos and use those as a screensaver but we miss seeing the Apple Aerial screensavers. I’m hopeful a future software update to Google TV will allow this app to work again. Another minor annoyance is that Google TV recommendations are horrible. Google’s KB on the subject includes how to disable Web & App Activity and after a few days of terrible recommendations I disabled this completely.This was also the first Google Home device that entered our home, we already use Samsung Smart Things, HomeAssistant, and Apple HomeKit. While the setup wizard for the Google TV Streamer walks you through setting up your first google home, you can tell this experience would be much smoother if we used Android cell phones, or were fully committed to the Google Home experience, which we are not. While I can’t fault Google for making this product setup smoother within their own ecosystem of hardware it would have been nice to be able to skip the Google Home setup experience. Notably the device also supports Matter which is a welcome edition for integration with other Matter devices.As to watching media, our primary viewing is Plex, YouTube, AppleTV+, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video. Each of these platforms have a native app for Google TV, the apps install and setup quickly and easily and support all the features available. Plex transcoding of my local media is always a challenge and a great test of a streaming platform. In my case while the soundbar and TV and streaming device support Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision, the Dolby True HD 7.1 surround is not supported by my soundbar, making it a perfect test case to see how transcoding will work on the device and I was very happy to see that the Google TV Streamer handled Plex buffering with ease.When your current Smart TV isn’t Smart Enough for you, adding a Google TV Streamer is a great option, especially for those already committed to the rest of the Google ecosystem.