Google TV Streamer review: smarter than your average set-top box

It took Google a fewer years, a mates of pivots, and aggregate sanction changes, but the institution has yet built an fantabulous operating strategy for watching TV. The Google TV interface — running connected apical of the Android TV OS (Google’s branding chaos remains undefeated) — has already been doing a truly bully occupation of making it casual to find what you’re looking for and perpetually recommending caller worldly to watch. But the Chromecast streaming dongle it ran connected hasn’t been capable to support up.

Now, Google TV is getting the hardware to match. 

The Google TV Streamer 4K, which goes connected merchantability time for $99.99, is an upgrade successful each mode implicit the Chromecast with Google TV. There’s a caller processor, a built-in ethernet port, positive treble the RAM and 4 times the retention of the Chromecast. It supports Matter for your astute home, and a Thread vigor makes it a Thread borderline router, which Jen volition archer you much astir successful a bit.

All of this means Google yet has an up-to-date set-top container that shares streaming and astute location duties. Google hasn’t provided details of the caller processor (there are reports it’s the aforesaid MediaTek spot the Fire TV Stick 4K uses), but it’s intelligibly not arsenic overpowered arsenic the much costly Apple TV with the literal spot of an iPhone inside. Still, it’s bully to spot Google getting superior successful this space.

With this caller hardware, the dongle is gone. This is simply a grown-up set-top box, designed to beryllium retired connected your media console. As slabs of integrative go, it’s fine; my lone existent enactment present is that you should bargain the acheronian “hazel” color. I opted for the lighter “porcelain” for my reappraisal unit, and it’s rather noticeable sitting underneath my TV.

I don’t caput that Google switched from dongle to container — I’m blessed to person made that commercialized for the Streamer’s ethernet larboard and astute location controls, positive the truly useful fastener that pings your distant erstwhile it’s mislaid successful the sofa — but there’s a crushed virtually each TV gadgets are black. And if you’re coming from a Chromecast and looking to support that ocular simplicity, it’ll beryllium casual to portion oregon Velcro the Streamer to the backmost of your TV.

While somewhat larger, the distant is virtually identical to the 1 that shipped with the Chromecast with Google TV 4 years ago. It does HDMI-CEC and IR controls, has dependable control, runs connected AAA batteries, and present has a mappable shortcut button.

I’m a small little enthusiastic astir the distant than my workfellow Chris Welch was backmost successful 2020: I privation the D-pad and the prime fastener were a small amended differentiated, and the powerfulness fastener is excessively acold distant from everything else. But by and large, it’s a good remote, and its smooth, circular edges consciousness bully to fiddle with.

Getting the Streamer acceptable to ticker shows and movies is elemental capable and astir the aforesaid process arsenic immoderate different set-top box. You bash astir of the setup successful the Google Home app connected your phone, which is however you log it successful to your Google relationship and link the Streamer to your astute location devices. (You tin besides bash things straight connected the surface by clicking astir with the remote, but it’ll instrumentality forever. Your telephone is your friend.)

One peculiarly bully feature: arsenic portion of the setup process, the Home app asks which streaming services you usage and past automatically downloads them to the box. 

The Streamer tin grip 4K video with Dolby Vision and does Dolby Atmos audio arsenic well. If your TV and audio cogwheel enactment it, you tin besides acceptable up the Streamer’s distant to power your different devices. You’re besides prompted during setup to make aggregate profiles, including kid-specific ones — hooray! — and to prime whether you privation your screensaver to beryllium from your Google Photos oregon immoderate AI-generated art. (Jen asked it to make images of a South Carolina sunset, and the AI made sunset “photos” that looked similar they were taken connected the worst camera you could find.) The full setup process, including a indispensable bundle update, took maine possibly 10 minutes.

The fastest mode I’ve recovered to bash astir thing connected the Streamer is via voice. In much nonsensical branding, the Streamer’s dependable adjunct is Google Assistant and not Gemini, adjacent though Google says it’s Gemini exertion nether the hood. What matters is that Google TV handles dependable commands mostly precise well. “Play Industry on Max” took maine precisely wherever it should. “Show maine Mission: Impossible movies” brought them each up, successful order. “Play Brooklyn Nine-Nine” triggered a paper with each the places I tin ticker the show.

It’s not perfect: “Play ‘Hot Ones’ connected YouTube” didn’t work, but “find ‘Hot Ones’ videos connected YouTube” did, and portion it’s useful to person Google Assistant archer maine each the places Brooklyn Nine-Nine is available, it should beryllium capable to larn that I’m watching the amusement connected Peacock and conscionable instrumentality maine there.

In general, though, if you cognize what you privation to ticker — and particularly if you cognize what work it’s connected — there’s nary faster mode to navigate immoderate set-top container than via Google Assistant here. And, of course, the Streamer is inactive a Chromecast, truthful you tin usage your telephone to find and formed worldly to your surface arsenic well.

Flipping astir the homescreen looking for thing to watch, I encountered the astir disappointing happening astir the Streamer: it’s not fast. It’s not slow, and it’s noticeably faster than the lag-plagued Chromecast from a fewer years ago, but it’s decidedly not fast.

The five-year-old Nvidia Shield is noticeably zippier and smoother arsenic I unfastened and adjacent apps and scroll the interface, arsenic is the latest Apple TV. Given however overmuch Google hyped the processor and RAM upgrades connected this instrumentality and however overmuch much costly it is arsenic a result, it’s a small disappointing. It besides makes maine tense for the aboriginal fixed the Chromecast with Google TV’s estimation for degrading show implicit time.

But today, it’s accelerated enough. And it's erstwhile you don’t cognize what you privation to ticker that Google TV truly shines — connected the Streamer and elsewhere. It aggregates FAST channels from its ain Freeplay work and more, truthful there’s tons of unrecorded and escaped worldly to watch. The “Trending connected Google” enactment is highly zeitgeist-y and fun. Just fixed what it already knows astir you, from YouTube and Search and elsewhere, positive the ongoing enactment it’s doing with Gemini, Google has a astir insurmountable vantage erstwhile it comes to recommending worldly you’ll like, and it shows.

That’s what makes the Google TV Streamer an fantabulous streaming device. But what takes it implicit the apical is its astute location features — and for that, my workfellow Jen has the details below.

Smart TV, astute home

Streaming whitethorn beryllium successful the name, but the Google TV Streamer besides softly doubles arsenic a precise susceptible astute location hub. I’m a large proponent of marrying the astute TV with the astute home; it’s conscionable a earthy fit.

In fact, the Google TV Streamer is the lone Google Home hub that supports Matter, Thread, ethernet, Google Assistant dependable power (through the remote), and astute show functions (through your TV) each successful 1 package, making it my caller proposal for the champion astute location hub for Google Home.

With the caller astute location panel, the Streamer brings nonstop power of the astute location to Google TV for the archetypal clip extracurricular of voice. The panel, which archetypal appeared connected Google’s Pixel Tablet (which should person been a astute location hub but isn’t), pops up connected your TV surface to connection shortcuts to crook disconnected lights oregon presumption your cameras with the property of a button.

The Home sheet takes a batch of plan cues from the Apple TV, which — let’s look it — the full instrumentality does. But I was pleased to spot that it offers much flexibility, much options, and is much intuitive than the Apple TV’s mentation for astute location control.

The sheet is based astir the Google Home app interface, truthful it feels familiar. It has the aforesaid fixed shortcuts that instrumentality you to cameras, lights, and clime controls. Then there’s the aforesaid scrollable database of your “Favorites,” which tin see everything from idiosyncratic devices oregon cameras to groups and automations.

I was impressed astatine however accelerated the sheet was for controlling lights and automations — the lights successful my surviving country turned connected and disconnected instantly, and a Movie Time country controlling aggregate devices executed successful seconds — overmuch faster than utilizing dependable power done the Chromecast oregon a Nest speaker.

In my fewer days of investigating the device, I recovered myself picking up the distant to usage the Streamer to power my lights much than utilizing my phone. Thanks to the enactment to programme the caller shortcut fastener connected the distant to unfastened the panel, it got maine to the controls faster. It’s besides bully not to person to scope for the distraction that is my telephone portion watching TV.

Pulling up unrecorded feeds from connected cameras took a spot longer, but I’m good with that present that determination is yet the enactment to person your video doorbell amusement automatically connected the TV erstwhile someone’s astatine the door. This is simply a diagnostic Fire TVs and Apple TVs person had for years. On the Streamer, a tiny picture-in-picture appears successful the apical right, showing a snapshot of your visitor, with the enactment to click “view” to spot the full-screen feed. (You person to beryllium speedy present since it goes distant successful a fewer seconds.)

The picture-in-picture portion lone works with Google Nest doorbells (I tested it with the battery-powered Nest Doorbell), but Google says you volition inactive get a substance notification connected the TV erstwhile utilizing immoderate doorbell compatible with the Google Home app and tin past propulsion up a livestream.

The biggest downside of the Home sheet is that you can’t customize it; it’s persistent crossed devices. What I prime for the Favorites conception successful the Google Home app connected my telephone is what shows up connected my TV. It would beryllium bully to take the cameras I privation to spot and the lights and automations I privation to entree based connected which country the Streamer is in. But that’s a insignificant quibble. 

The summation of enactment for Matter and Thread, a mesh networking protocol designed for IoT devices, elevates the Streamer to existent astute location hub status. Thread is 1 of 2 wireless protocols the caller Matter astute location modular supports, and it creates a much reliable connection pathway for low-power astute devices similar lights, locks, and sensors passim your home. Current Google Nest Hubs and Google Nest Wifi routers are besides Thread borderline routers, and the much borderline routers you have, the much reliable your web volition beryllium (as agelong arsenic they’re each from the aforesaid company, for now).

Additionally, Google’s caller Home runtime feature, which is coming to its Google Home hubs aboriginal this year, volition alteration nonstop section power of gadgets implicit Matter. This should importantly trim latency erstwhile issuing commands to astute devices.

It’s these astute location capabilities that marque the Streamer worthy purchasing implicit the $50 Google TV with Chromecast or Walmart’s Onn 4K Pro. Neither of those works with Thread, and neither tin automatically propulsion up a livestream connected your TV erstwhile idiosyncratic rings your doorbell oregon fto you power astute lights and set your thermostat connected the large screen. 

David and I agree: this is the champion set-top container Google has made yet. It’s not immoderate earth-shattering caller thought oregon game-changing betterment connected the formula, but Google TV is the champion streaming UI connected the market, and the hardware doesn’t clasp the streamer backmost this time. Combined with an easy-to-use astute location sheet and Matter and Thread support, each for nether $100, this is the set-top container we’d urge to astir people.

Photos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge