Smart TV’s are great! All of your streaming services in one place where you can also
surf the web, play games, and even take calls. However, if you don't already have a smart TV then
how do you get all the smarts without spending a fortune? Well you get a streaming stick of course!
And here we have the latest offering from Google. This is the Chromecast with Google TV. This plugs
directly into the HDMI port of your TV and allows you to not only cast content to your device like
you could with previous generation Chromecasts but also control everything directly on your TV
because now it comes with a remote control. Plus it only costs $50!
But is any good?
Let's find out!
Front and center this is a video streaming device, where it supports 4K so your picture
quality is going to be crystal clear, but it also supports Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos
so whether you're watching your video on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, whatever your flavor,
your picture quality, and your audio quality, is going to be crystal clear and easy to hear.
Design wise I really like the package here. The feel of this feels like those stones you pick
up off the beach that you can skim across the water. Super smooth. It's available in white
and you can also get it in a coral pink and a light blue. It's a shame that it actually
sits behind your TV and you never see it because it is really well designed.
And this little HDMI cable here means that it can easily fit into your TV.
It's not going to be blocked by any other HDMI cables that you might have going into your TV.
And the remote I really like as well. It's not super slim,
but I actually don't mind that because I do find super slim remotes, well,
you tend to lose down the back of couches. You do have dedicated Youtube and Netflix buttons on it
as well, as well as all your basic buttons such as the home, the back button, a mute button,
and the all-important Google Assistant button which I'll get to later. It's really well laid
out. It's really clearly labeled what every single button does. It's very minimalist… I like it!
Physically it's a really well designed package, so let's go plug it in and get it set up!
Hey, so future me here! Now I did realize whilst editing the video that the whole setup process
takes about five minutes which I figured was too long for this video so I want to condense it down
right here because setting up the Chromecast device is super easy. All you need to do is
plug this into the HDMI port on the back of your TV and then plug it straight into
the mains. The rest of the setup is then all done using the Google home app on your phone.
So once the Chromecast device has finished powering on, start the Google home app on your
phone. On the top left hand side there's a plus button. Click on that, and then click on “set up
new device”. Then follow the simple on-screen instructions from start to end and you will
come out the other side in about five minutes with a fully set up and ready to go Chromecast
device. It really is easy to follow. So now back to my past self, and enjoy the rest of the video!
And there we have it, we are on the main screen. Our apps are already installed.
You can see the apps along here, and it's already coming up with
recommendations and top picks of what I might like to watch next.
That's not a great movie by the way, don't watch it!
You can still cast this from your phone like you could with the previous generations
but now because it comes with a remote. I'm probably using this 95%
of the time, and this may be 5%. Still, it's great to be able to do both.
So whilst you can cast to this device, the real power comes in the Google TV
interface itself. I think this is probably the best streaming stick,
or even TV interface, around. So I've got a Sony TV in the lounge and that has
Google TV built into it as well. It's a really clean intuitive interface.
Now once you've logged in, and once you've installed and you've logged into all of your
streaming apps on the Chromecast device, so your Netflix, your Amazon, so on and so forth,
it will then collate all of your recommendations and all your ‘up next’ into a single interface.
So if I'm scrolling across here, I've got top picks for you. Now it's picking a movie off
Disney+. It's another movie off Prime Video. It's then going to Disney+ again. Prime Video,
and it will also go to any of the other ones you might have installed as well.
You've got ‘continue watching’ so you can have a look at whatever you were watching before and
easily start it up from here. It also gives you a list of popular shows. So it's pulling off popular
shows off of normal TV. So I've got a TV app on here as well for local TV, as well as Disney+,
Prime Video, got some Netflix in here as well. So you don't need to go into every
individual app to go and find something because it's all on a single view. Now you can still go
direct into the apps themselves. I can go down here and go into each app individually if I wanted
to. So Netflix, Youtube on video, Disney+, Apple TV, it's all here. However you just don't have to.
So navigating around the Google interface on this Chromecast is pretty slick. It's not being
slowed down by a weak chipset in the hardware at all. You can move up and down pretty quick.
You can move through the menus on the left and right really quick as well. The screen isn't
being laggy at all. And if you just go and play something. So we're just going to pick
‘Turner and Hooch’ off Disney+. And there we go. It is now playing. It just finished because I was
resuming an episode from before, but you get the idea. Super quick interface. Really easy to use.
Definitely my favorite interface out of any streaming stick that you can get.
You can also pair this with any Bluetooth devices. So I could pair it with a pair of
Bluetooth headphones for instance. However it's not the best connection and I would say you're
better off hooking your audio Bluetooth, or otherwise, directly to your TV for instance
rather than the puck itself. You can even pair Bluetooth controllers with this. So
I've got an XBox controller and I have quite happily paired this with the puck. So yes,
you can even play games on this!
If you just go into the play store, browse games, and it will list all the games that are compatible
with this device. Just download something and you can start playing it. Bear in mind though that
there is only 4GB of storage in this so you're not going to be able to install lots of games,
and the size of the games will depend on how many you can install on this. Still,
for casual gaming it's pretty good to be able to have this.
Not only can you play games directly on the device but you can also do remote
gaming as well. So you could use ‘Steam Link’ for instance to play games
on this device from your PC, and that's pretty cool because it means your PC
could be in your study for instance and if you happen to want to go and play it
in your lounge or in your bedroom you could plug this in and then remote into your TV and play it
remotely that way. Now I will say the quality of this, and how easily and how well it does,
it will depend on how good your local network, or your local wi-fi connection, is. Now I've
got a wi-fi 6 mesh network in my house and I had variable results. It was okay, but every now and
again it would freeze. So I wouldn't play it for e-Sports, but for just casual gaming it's okay.
You can also do remote gaming with this as well. So if you have an Nvidia Geforce Now
subscription for instance you could play any cloud games on this Chromecast device.
However bear in mind that how well you do this is going to depend on various things,
including the quality of your internet connection.
So as I've said, this is mainly a video streaming device. However,
being able to do these extra things on the periphery of it are a nice added touch.
So because it's a Google device it also has Google assistant built into it as well and
you can get to it really easily by using this black button on the remote control.
You just hold it down and you ask Google for whatever you want.
Hey Google, play the next episode of Turner and Hooch on Disney+.
And there you go, it is now playing the next episode of Turner and Hooch
on Disney+. You can also use it for any other Google Assistant type commands as well. You could
use it to turn lights on and off and everything else you can do in that Google ecosystem.
And just to prove that it doesn't always get it right. It's actually playing the
Turner and Hooch film with Tom Hanks in it. Not the Turner and Hooch series!
Still, it tried!
Normally it's pretty good.
Let's try again…
Hey Google, play Cruella on Disney+.
Let's go and check it is actually playing Cruella shall we? Yes, it most definitely is.
So there you go, it is now playing Cruella. So it gets it right
most of the time, but that's the same as pretty much any Google assistant device.
The important thing here is that the response time on this is really good. It's a really well
matched hardware with the software. And as a total package, for $50, it's really good.
So of course the Chromecast with Google TV isn't the only streaming stick available.
You can get chinese versions of this for instance but to be honest they normally
have some customized old version of Android and it never quite works,
and good luck getting support out of any of those. So I tend to avoid those.
You also have devices from the likes of Roku and Amazon and Apple for instance.
The best one from Amazon I think is probably the ‘Fire TV Stick 4k Max’. That is also
pretty inexpensive and it is around the same price. But it doesn't support casting natively
and it is Alexa only so if you wanted a Google Assistant version that's really not gonna work.
To be fair there aren't really many cons with this. It is a pretty good
device. The interface is pretty rock-solid.
This isn't the best device at cloud gaming. So if that really is something that you're after
then I'd recommend something like the Nvidia Shield instead.
So at the end of the day should you buy it? Well, if you are looking for a quick,
cheap, and easy way to add smart to your current TV setup,
then this is pretty much a no-brainer. At only $50 it is a great buy.
Now I bought it and I've already got a smart TV, and I didn't buy it just for this review either.
So I got it because we were going away on holiday as a family, and you never know what the weather's
gonna do. So we've gone and rented a house out, like an AirBnB, and when you get there, if the
weather closes in and it's chucking down with rain and the kids are going a bit mental, then having
this so you can plug it into the TV when you're there and all your streaming apps are there for
you to use, to keep them busy and occupied for a little bit, that is a lifesaver. You can also
plug it into a secondary TV at home. I mean I've got it plugged into a PC monitor that's behind me.
I will place a purchase link to it in the description down
below if you want to go check it out for yourself.
If you'd like to look at some more smart tech ideas for you,
your family, or anybody else, then be sure to check out my video up here.
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See you in the next one!