Google TV Streamer overview: larger, higher, finest

It took Google a couple of years, a few pivots, and a number of title adjustments, however the firm has lastly constructed a wonderful working system for watching TV. The Google TV interface — working on high of the Android TV OS (Google’s branding chaos stays undefeated) — has already been doing a very nice job of constructing it straightforward to seek out what you’re in search of and continuously recommending new stuff to look at. However the Chromecast streaming dongle it ran on hasn’t been in a position to sustain.

Now, Google TV is getting the {hardware} to match. 

The Google TV Streamer 4K, which works on sale tomorrow for $99.99, is an improve in each method over the Chromecast with Google TV. There’s a brand new processor, a built-in ethernet port, plus double the RAM and 4 occasions the storage of the Chromecast. It helps Matter in your sensible house, and a Thread radio makes it a Thread border router, which Jen will let you know extra about in a bit.

All of this implies Google lastly has an up-to-date set-top field that shares streaming and sensible house duties. Google hasn’t supplied particulars of the brand new processor (there are experiences it’s the identical MediaTek chip the Hearth TV Stick 4K makes use of), nevertheless it’s clearly not as overpowered because the costlier Apple TV with the literal chip of an iPhone inside. Nonetheless, it’s good to see Google getting severe on this house.

With this new {hardware}, the dongle is gone. This can be a grown-up set-top field, designed to take a seat out in your media console. As slabs of plastic go, it’s high-quality; my solely actual notice right here is that you can purchase the darkish “hazel” colour. I opted for the lighter “porcelain” for my overview unit, and it’s fairly noticeable sitting beneath my TV.

I don’t thoughts that Google switched from dongle to field — I’m joyful to have made that commerce for the Streamer’s ethernet port and sensible house controls, plus the actually helpful button that pings your distant when it’s misplaced within the sofa — however there’s a cause nearly all TV devices are black. And should you’re coming from a Chromecast and trying to hold that visible simplicity, it’ll be straightforward to tape or Velcro the Streamer to the again of your TV.

Whereas barely bigger, the distant is nearly an identical to the one which shipped with the Chromecast with Google TV 4 years in the past. It does HDMI-CEC and IR controls, has voice management, runs on AAA batteries, and now has a mappable shortcut button.

I’m rather less enthusiastic concerning the distant than my colleague Chris Welch was again in 2020: I want the D-pad and the choose button had been slightly higher differentiated, and the ability button is just too far-off from the whole lot else. However by and huge, it’s a high-quality distant, and its clean, spherical edges really feel good to fiddle with.

Getting the Streamer prepared to look at exhibits and flicks is easy sufficient and roughly the identical course of as every other set-top field. You do many of the setup within the Google House app in your cellphone, which is the way you log it in to your Google account and join the Streamer to your sensible house units. (It’s also possible to do issues immediately on the display by clicking round with the distant, nevertheless it’ll take without end. Your cellphone is your good friend.)

One notably good function: as a part of the setup course of, the House app asks which streaming companies you employ after which mechanically downloads them to the field. 

The Streamer can deal with 4K video with Dolby Imaginative and prescient and does Dolby Atmos audio as properly. In case your TV and audio gear help it, you can too arrange the Streamer’s distant to regulate your different units. You’re additionally prompted throughout setup to create a number of profiles, together with kid-specific ones — hooray! — and to select whether or not you need your screensaver to be out of your Google Images or some AI-generated artwork. (Jen requested it to generate photographs of a South Carolina sundown, and the AI made sundown “pictures” that seemed like they had been taken on the worst digital camera you may discover.) The entire setup course of, together with a mandatory software program replace, took me possibly 10 minutes.

The quickest method I’ve discovered to do nearly something on the Streamer is by way of voice. In additional nonsensical branding, the Streamer’s voice assistant is Google Assistant and never Gemini, regardless that Google says it’s Gemini know-how beneath the hood. What issues is that Google TV handles voice instructions principally very properly. “Play Trade on Max” took me precisely the place it ought to. “Present me Mission: Unattainable motion pictures” introduced all of them up, so as. “Play Brooklyn 9-9” triggered a menu with all of the locations I can watch the present.

It’s not excellent: “Play ‘Sizzling Ones’ on YouTube” didn’t work, however “discover ‘Sizzling Ones’ movies on YouTube” did, and whereas it’s helpful to have Google Assistant inform me all of the locations Brooklyn 9-9 is accessible, it ought to be capable to be taught that I’m watching the present on Peacock and simply take me there.

Normally, although, if you understand what you need to watch — and particularly if you understand what service it’s on — there’s no sooner strategy to navigate any set-top field than by way of Google Assistant right here. And, in fact, the Streamer remains to be a Chromecast, so you should utilize your cellphone to seek out and solid stuff to your display as properly.

Flipping across the homescreen in search of one thing to look at, I encountered essentially the most disappointing factor concerning the Streamer: it’s not quick. It’s not gradual, and it’s noticeably sooner than the lag-plagued Chromecast from a couple of years in the past, nevertheless it’s undoubtedly not quick.

The five-year-old Nvidia Defend is noticeably zippier and smoother as I open and shut apps and scroll the interface, as is the most recent Apple TV. Given how a lot Google hyped the processor and RAM upgrades on this machine and the way far more costly it’s consequently, it’s slightly disappointing. It additionally makes me nervous for the long run given the Chromecast with Google TV’s status for degrading efficiency over time.

However right this moment, it’s quick sufficient. And it is if you don’t know what you need to watch that Google TV actually shines — on the Streamer and elsewhere. It aggregates FAST channels from its personal Freeplay service and extra, so there’s a number of stay and free stuff to look at. The “Trending on Google” row is extraordinarily zeitgeist-y and enjoyable. Simply given what it already is aware of about you, from YouTube and Search and elsewhere, plus the continued work it’s doing with Gemini, Google has an almost insurmountable benefit on the subject of recommending stuff you’ll like, and it exhibits.

That’s what makes the Google TV Streamer a wonderful streaming machine. However what takes it excessive is its sensible house options — and for that, my colleague Jen has the main points under.

Streaming could also be within the title, however the Google TV Streamer additionally quietly doubles as a really succesful sensible house hub. I’m an enormous proponent of marrying the sensible TV with the sensible house; it’s only a pure match.

With Matter controller and Thread border router chops, the Streamer can join sensible house units like lights, locks, and thermostats to Google House, identical to Google’s Nest Hubs can. However due to a built-in ethernet port and a brand new sensible house panel, it’s a extra sturdy choice for placing on the coronary heart of your sensible house than the Nest Hub (second-gen) or Nest Hub Max. It’s additionally a lot snappier than both of these.

In reality, the Google TV Streamer is the one Google House hub that helps Matter, Thread, ethernet, Google Assistant voice management (via the distant), and sensible show features (via your TV) multi functional package deal, making it my new suggestion for the most effective sensible house hub for Google House.

With the brand new sensible house panel, the Streamer brings direct management of the sensible house to Google TV for the primary time exterior of voice. The panel, which first appeared on Google’s Pixel Pill (which ought to have been a sensible house hub however isn’t), pops up in your TV display to supply shortcuts to show off lights or view your cameras with the press of a button.

The House panel takes a variety of design cues from the Apple TV, which — let’s face it — your entire machine does. However I used to be happy to see that it gives extra flexibility, extra choices, and is extra intuitive than the Apple TV’s model for sensible house management.

The panel relies across the Google House app interface, so it feels acquainted. It has the identical fastened shortcuts that take you to cameras, lights, and local weather controls. Then there’s the identical scrollable record of your “Favorites,” which might embrace the whole lot from particular person units or cameras to teams and automations.

I used to be impressed at how briskly the panel was for controlling lights and automations — the lights in my lounge turned on and off immediately, and a Film Time scene controlling a number of units executed in seconds — a lot sooner than utilizing voice management via the Chromecast or a Nest speaker.

In my few days of testing the machine, I discovered myself choosing up the distant to make use of the Streamer to regulate my lights greater than utilizing my cellphone. Due to the choice to program the brand new shortcut button on the distant to open the panel, it received me to the controls sooner. It’s additionally good to not have to achieve for the distraction that’s my cellphone whereas watching TV.

Pulling up stay feeds from related cameras took a bit longer, however I’m high-quality with that now that there’s lastly the choice to have your video doorbell present mechanically on the TV when somebody’s on the door. This can be a function Hearth TVs and Apple TVs have had for years. On the Streamer, a small picture-in-picture seems within the high proper, exhibiting a snapshot of your customer, with the choice to click on “view” to see the full-screen feed. (It’s a must to be fast right here because it goes away in a couple of seconds.)

The image-in-picture half solely works with Google Nest doorbells (I examined it with the battery-powered Nest Doorbell), however Google says you’ll nonetheless get a textual content notification on the TV when utilizing any doorbell appropriate with the Google House app and may then pull up a livestream.

The most important draw back of the House panel is that you would be able to’t customise it; it’s persistent throughout units. What I choose for the Favorites part within the Google House app on my cellphone is what exhibits up on my TV. It might be good to decide on the cameras I need to see and the lights and automations I need to entry primarily based on which room the Streamer is in. However that’s a minor quibble. 

The addition of help for Matter and Thread, a mesh networking protocol designed for IoT units, elevates the Streamer to true sensible house hub standing. Thread is one among two wi-fi protocols the brand new Matter sensible house customary helps, and it creates a extra dependable communication pathway for low-power sensible units like lights, locks, and sensors all through your own home. Present Google Nest Hubs and Google Nest Wifi routers are additionally Thread border routers, and the extra border routers you’ve gotten, the extra dependable your community might be (so long as they’re all from the identical firm, for now).

Moreover, Google’s new House runtime function, which is coming to its Google House hubs later this yr, will allow direct native management of devices over Matter. This could considerably scale back latency when issuing instructions to sensible units.

It’s these sensible house capabilities that make the Streamer value buying over the $50 Google TV with Chromecast or Walmart’s Onn 4K Professional. Neither of these works with Thread, and neither can mechanically pull up a livestream in your TV when somebody rings your doorbell or allow you to management sensible lights and regulate your thermostat on the massive display. 

David and I agree: that is the most effective set-top field Google has made but. It’s not some earth-shattering new thought or game-changing enchancment on the components, however Google TV is the most effective streaming UI in the marketplace, and the {hardware} doesn’t maintain the streamer again this time. Mixed with an easy-to-use sensible house panel and Matter and Thread help, all for beneath $100, that is the set-top field we’d advocate to most individuals.

Images by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge