What we as soon as known as the Google Chromecast (after which the Chromecast with Google TV) is now the Google TV Streamer. I gained’t fake to grasp the reasoning behind any product’s rebrand, however at the very least this one makes a little bit of sense. Casting content material from elsewhere was an enormous purpose TV dongles existed. At this time, streaming gadgets primarily present the brains required to observe content material from Netflix, Disney+ and different streaming companies on nearly any display, and casting is a little bit of an afterthought. A reputation that focuses on Google TV’s interface as a substitute of casting appears proper in 2024.
That is Google’s first true set-top field, becoming a member of the non-dongle ranks of the Roku Extremely, the Apple TV 4K and Amazon’s Hearth TV Dice. The Google TV Streamer is just obtainable in a 4K configuration and, as soon as the backstock of Chromecast items promote out, it’ll be Google’s solely streamer, interval. Whereas that makes the lineup far less complicated than, say Amazon’s bloated Hearth TV gadget catalog, it additionally means it’s a must to pay the 4K premium even in the event you solely have an HD TV.
That stated, the streamer is a full-featured, competent gadget with an interface that’s higher than most at pulling collectively all of the disparate threads of a streaming expertise. Add in perks like helpful good residence integration and a few fun-to-have AI smarts and the $100 streamer pretty earns its price ticket.
{Hardware}
Now that Google’s gadget sits subsequent to your TV as a substitute of hiding behind it, appears to be like are essential. Fortunately, the delicate, oblong-wedge form is unobtrusive, although the darker hazel coloration in all probability does a greater job of fading into the background than my vibrant white evaluate unit. The again has room for the offered USB-C energy cable, plus an HDMI port and an Ethernet jack (observe that neither of the latter cables come within the field). Ethernet is non-obligatory, however with out the video cable the gadget is ineffective, so it’s a must to issue that into your price evaluation in the event you don’t have already got an additional twine useful.
Inside, there’s a processor that Google will solely say is “22 percent faster” than the earlier era, together with 32GB of storage (up from a skimpy 8GB on the Chromecast) and double the reminiscence at 4GB. It helps as much as 4K/60fps video with HDR, HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Imaginative and prescient. Audio codecs embrace Dolby Digital and Dolby Atmos together with spatial audio in the event you’re carrying the Pixel Buds Professional. It solely helps Wi-Fi 5, which looks like a miss — a bump as much as the Wi-Fi 6E normal can be extra futureproof. Heck, even the $50 Hearth TV Stick 4K helps Wi-Fi 6.
The distant appears to be like rather a lot like that of the earlier era, with two vital enhancements: The amount controls are simpler to succeed in now that they’re on the face as a substitute of the aspect, and there’s a programmable star button that you need to use to launch an app, or, extra excitingly, pull up your good residence management panel.
Presumably my favourite factor in regards to the distant isn’t on the distant itself — it’s the find-it button on the again of the streamer. It rings your distant, and fairly loudly. It’s also possible to do that through the Google Dwelling app in your cellphone or pill by tapping the Google TV Streamer tile and hitting the settings icon (tapping Distant turns your cellphone into the controller). Regardless of residing in a tiny condo with (you’d suppose) fewer locations for the distant to get misplaced, I used the finder perform no fewer than ten occasions over the course of my testing.
The distant nonetheless doesn’t have a devoted play/pause button and as a substitute depends on the button within the heart of the D-pad as the principle management. After I examined the Chromecast with Google TV, that led to frustration when the middle button stored performing actions aside from pause, however this appears to be one thing Google has addressed as I had no points this time. The controller is small and hefty, but it’s so easy it might come out of my hand when typing an extended search entry. However actually, it’s best to simply use the voice button; the voice recognition by no means as soon as misinterpreted what I stated.
Setup and streaming expertise
Of all of the good residence platforms I’ve examined, I discover Google’s to be the simplest to make use of. Nearly all of the setup for the streamer occurs by way of the Google Dwelling app, and in the event you’ve already been utilizing the app, your entire course of is painless — the toughest half is clicking by way of all the assorted permissions and authorized phrases. Configuring the controls for energy and sound went by way of on the primary strive, one thing that hasn’t all the time been the case with different gadgets I’ve examined. I additionally like that I used to be prompted to create a child profile from the soar (so I didn’t have to recollect to do it later), together with a pin that’s straightforward to enter on the distant.
Earlier than touchdown you within the residence web page, Google asks for each streaming service you subscribe to or, within the case of free apps, those you want to observe. So from the primary time you employ the streamer, your homepage is populated not solely with these apps, but additionally with TV and film suggestions pulled from every.
Navigation shall be acquainted for a lot of, because the Google TV interface comes normal on a variety of TV units. However relying on which good TV you may have, the expertise might be rather a lot zippier with the Google TV Streamer employed. I’m at the moment working with a dirt-cheap Hisense 4K set with Google TV built-in, and speeds had been noticeably improved once I used the exterior gadget. Apps loaded rapidly and even with the zero-attention-span method through which I used to be flitting between exhibits, apps, reside content material and settings, the streamer stored up with barely perceptible lag. The Apple TV 4K remains to be quicker (unsurprisingly), so this isn’t category-topping however it’s loads speedy.
Should you’re not acquainted, I’ll simply say that of all of the good TV interfaces I’ve examined, Google TV does the very best job of integrating content material from all of the completely different streaming apps into one helpful and intuitive hub. And, no matter different monopolistic points the corporate could have, it’s essentially the most egalitarian relating to suggestions versus, say, Apple, Amazon or Roku, all of which favor their very own content material (YouTube is actually represented right here, however it’s not dominant).
The For You web page retains monitor of what you’re at the moment watching throughout apps so you may simply dive again in, and does a reasonably good job of recommending new stuff based mostly in your watching habits. I additionally love the Watchlist function (which you will discover within the Library tab); when somebody at work recommends the trailer for the upcoming Inside Chinatown, otherwise you hear that Severance is coming again quickly, you may add these exhibits to the Watchlist from inside your browser (offered you’re signed in together with your Google account) and discover it in your TV the following time you’re on the hunt for contemporary content material.
Whereas I want the house display/For You web page was customizable, the algorithm is adept at retaining issues attention-grabbing. Additionally, trying to find titles is pretty spot-on. After I stated, “Play Abbott Elementary,” the Hulu app opened and the following episode in my queue began enjoying. When present titles are slightly extra widespread, I’ll add within the platform identify, like “Play Beef on Netflix” or “Play the show Poker Face on Peacock.”
It’s also possible to ask the assistant to indicate you exhibits and flicks based mostly on a theme, like rise up comedy specials, grownup animation or crime television, by prefacing your question with “Find me…” These outcomes are hit and miss, however are nonetheless pulled pretty equitably from throughout your most well-liked apps. It may be helpful in the event you’re undecided what to observe, however have a obscure notion of the vibe you’re in search of.
Good residence management
Whereas Google has competitors from Apple TV, Roku and Hearth TV gadgets, which additionally combine good residence controls, it has succeeded at making its residence aspect easy and helpful. The panel that slides out from the settings icon appears to be like rather a lot like what you’d see on a Google Nest Hub. From there, you may simply management good lights or thermostats and consider reside feeds out of your related cameras. Should you program the star button to tug up your good residence panel, you may even do these items when you’re watching a present: the present pauses, the panel slides out after which your content material resumes when you’re finished dimming the lights, checking the doorbell feed or no matter else wants doing.
To manage these capabilities together with your voice, you’ll want to carry down the Assistant button. Some units with Google TV in-built allow you to entry the Assistant with “Hey Google,” however not right here. That’s doubtless as a result of the one mic is on the distant, which doesn’t have the battery energy to help an always-listening mode. However you need to use the Assistant button to make your smart-home request from any display, together with when the TV is off (that’s one thing Amazon’s Hearth TV Dice can do too, with no button press required, since that set-top gadget has an onboard mic). Now that Google’s streamer helps each the Matter normal and acts as a Thread router, many good residence gadgets are already appropriate, and extra are assuredly on the way in which.
The streamer can do a couple of further issues like present you tomorrow’s climate, however it falls quick on dealing with some fairly primary good residence assistant requests like setting a timer. And, regardless of Google’s huge search capabilities, it doesn’t appear to have the ability to reply primary questions. After I requested, “How far away is the moon?” as steered in one of many firm’s promotional how-to movies, it displayed a bunch of YouTube movies on the subject as a substitute of a straight reply. That’s considerably anticipated since it’s a video streaming gadget, however as a result of Google appears to border this as a kind of residence hub, I discovered myself wishing it was a bit extra succesful ala a Nest mini or an Amazon Echo.
Further AI options
As a result of it’s 2024, you may’t have a brand new gadget with out AI tips, and for the streamer, these manifest in AI summaries, plot synopses and evaluate aggregations on the title web page of a given present or film. The 2-sentence, computer-made writeups are OK — in all probability not higher than what a human may do, however not considerably worse. The opposite AI funsies occur with the screensaver. When your gadget is idle, you may have it present some artwork pulled from a mixture of avenue murals, basic work, images and aerial earth photographs. Or it might present a variety out of your Google Photographs. Or, in the event you insist, it might show AI-generated pictures.
The streamer can create these customized pictures based mostly in your prompts, and the outcomes right here had been additionally simply effective. I requested for bicycles in area and was introduced with the usual AI disregard for physics with two rusty bikes fused collectively to make a three-wheeled monstrosity in entrance of a Milky Manner-esque ribbon of overly vibrant stars. I in the end selected the non-AI artwork choice to fill my display. Even AI-concocted fairies tenting on the moon bored me after a bit. That’s in all probability for the very best, contemplating the carbon price of every new picture.
When Google launched the TV Streamer, it additionally introduced Google Freeplay, a built-in collection of round 150 free live-streaming channels just like these provided from Samsung TV Plus, The Roku Channel and the like. Should you add different reside TV streaming companies to your system, like Pluto TV or Sling, you’ll additionally see these present up within the Dwell tab the place Freeplay sits — yet one more means Google TV gamely melds content material from completely different sources.
Wrap-up
At $100, the Google TV Streamer isn’t the most costly streaming gadget. Amazon’s Hearth TV Dice is $140, however it’s additionally a speaker. Apple’s non-Ethernet set-top field is $129, however comes with twice the storage capability and an iPhone 14 chip inside that makes it ridiculously quick. Roku’s premium set-top field can also be $100, however it helps Wi-Fi 6 and has a fancier backlit distant. Google’s previous-generation Chromecast supported 4K video and comparable video codecs — and it was half the value.
Sure, the additional RAM and storage is nice, however there are a couple of options — like Wi-Fi 6E help, true assistant capabilities, screaming processor speeds — that Google may have packed in to make the $100 price ticket unassailable. In comparison with its competitors, and contemplating the truth that its predecessor price half as a lot, it feels just like the streamer ought to fall within the $80 vary. However I’m not going to quibble over twenty bucks. The Google TV Streamer is responsive and fast, packing the very best streaming interface on the market with good residence options which might be helpful and correctly built-in. Anybody in search of a dependable streamer shall be completely satisfied including this wedge beside their TV.
