Customer Ratings & Reviews

The performance is a welcome improvement, but there is terrible audio lag that cant be resolved. The audio sync issue seems to grow over time, and gets worse the longer the device is powered on. Google is not being very responsive to reports of the issue, so i'm leaving a one star review to try and dissuade others from buying it until the problems are resolved, if they are ever resolved.

Does not support audio pass through and browsing speed is less than fast, really can’t replace nvidia shield

Google TV may not be the most popular streaming platform out there, but it's been my favorite for a while. It's got a very nice interface, a broad selection of apps for streaming services and games alike, and (naturally) a search feature that's second to none. The one big downside with them in my experience has been that the hardware isn't great. Most of the options available are either subpar budget devices or somewhat underwhelming in their feature set, so when I saw that Google was releasing a new streamer meant to provide a more premium experience I was very interested. Unfortunately after spending about a week with it I've come to a surprising realization: Google's aced the hardware part but hasn't quite gotten the software up to the same quality. The issues began when I started setup. Usually adding a Google device to my established home is a mostly automated process, with my cell phone serving as the primary interface. In this case, however, the automatic setup failed as soon as I got the box added to my WiFi because it couldn't detect the phone on the same network. My best theory after several failed attempts is that this is because I run a combined setup with both 5ghz and 2.4ghz bands accessible via the same SSID - hardly an unusual practice these days and a somewhat surprising weakness if I'm correct. I was eventually able to get things up and running again going through the manual setup though, which is where I ran into my second issue: the streamer failed to accurately identify the codecs supported by my soundbar. To be clear, the soundbar it was attached to is a brand name unit that's been very reliable and has never had any issues with this before - it just seemed that for some reason the Google box couldn't talk to it. So once again, I had to resort to manual adjustments to get it up and running. I won't lie, I was starting to worry I might have gotten a lemon by this point. But fortunately things went a lot better from there. Once you get through the setup the streamer is very easy to use and has some nice improvements to the old Google TV UI. Almost everything can be controlled through the built in assistant - which you'll definitely want to learn to use if you want to employ some features like sleep timers - with the remote being quite adept at the rest. And the performance is top notch. 4K content looks and sounds great, and there's effectively no startup time to deal with. Based on the fact that the box has already received one software update since I've had it that seemed to fix the audio issues I ran into, I do feel confident that eventually Google will be able to address the issues with the software and turn this into one of the best streaming appliances on the market. But since I don't know what kind of timeline they might be looking at for that... I do still have to take one star off. As it stands now this is an easy recommendation for early adopters and tech savvy individuals, but may not be great for less tech inclined individuals who would benefit most from Google's usually seamless guided setup experience. Once they get those kinks ironed out though, I really do think this would be an excellent addition to anyone's home theater setup.

The Google TV Streamer is the successor to the Chromecast with Google TV. The one I have came in the color Google calls Porcelain. Its more of a off white or very light cream color. The remote is same. The remote feels good in hand. Nice layout and buttons feel solid with a satisfying click when pressing. No hdmi cable included so make sure you have another one laying around. Power is a regular usb to usb-c with a small power brick. At the time of writing this it comes out of the box with latest version Android 14. Has access to every streaming app you can think of. Has total of 32gb of internal storage with 26gb usable for apps. Plenty of space for a streaming device. Its snappy. Moving around the menus and loading/exiting apps is smooth. I didn't notice any lag like some of the streaming stick devices have. If you have ever used Android TV or Google TV then you will be right at home. If not its pretty easy to get use to. I personally prefer Google TV over other TV OS platforms such as Fire TV, Roku, Tizen, etc. Supports 4k video at 60fps along with every HDR format. Also a handful of audio formats including Dolby Atmos. And for bluetooth it supports version 5.1. It supports wifi 4 and 5 but not 6, 6e, or 7. I can see it not supporting the 6Ghz bands but in 2024 it should at least have regular wifi 6 support. I find this a very odd choice. Maybe its a limitation of the processor its using? It does have a gigabit ethernet port though which is a nice addition. Although I prefer to use the built in wifi. The wifi has been solid. I've had no issues with it dropping or buffering on my wifi 5. The Google home integration is a great little add-on I haven't seen elsewhere. There is a home preview menu option in settings which allows me to use some of my devices in my Google home including viewing my nest doorbell, nest cameras, thermostat, and lights. You can also get popup notifications on display if someone rings the doorbell. I am not able to do this on my TVs internal Google TV install so this is a welcome feature you get by using this device. You can also ask the built in Google assistant to view your nest cameras. Did I mention this has Google Assistant and a mic built into the remote. Some reasons someone would want this: Turn your non-smart TV into a smart TV Make your older smart TV faster Move from other streaming platform to Google TV platform Want the latest and best Google TV Want Google Home integration on your TV They could have added a better processor and latest wifi standards but then it would have cost more. So this is a nice middle ground on specs and price. I'm thinking this falls more in line with a mid to mid-high tier streaming device. Better than all those steaming sticks out there. Overall I really like it. This is a great choice for anyone who wants Google TV or just flat out needs a solid streaming device. Also if you have nest doorbell or cameras this is a great addition to that ecosystem as well.

Advertised HD audio but google is going to remove that feature.

I upgraded at least I thought I upgraded from a Chromecast. This thing is crap. It never opens apps. It has trouble opening my library. It is constantly buffering. I hate this thing.

This appears to be a beta product still. I was getting run-time error messages when trying to play Dolby Atmos tracks in the Tidal app so I couldn't listen to them even in stereo. Apple TV streams Tidal Atmos tracks like a charm.

no help with an order placed 3 weeks ago. it has not been delierved and they wont do anything. I am on my own

Having this since 25th September, it was smooth at first, but as usual with android, slows down after few days. It already feels old and laggy. Get Apple TV 4k it’s miles better. So sad I can no longer return this.

Bought to Chromecast with. Pitiful! OK to stream with but that's not why I bought it.

This is one of the most non user friendly devices one could possibly use

If you have a reciver you will experience audio drops. Google released an update but hasn't adressed this known issue.

Sucks. Doesn't work. Had to try and reset it 20 times....

The new Google TV Streamer Turns any TV into a smart TV. This thing is pretty great. It’s easy to set up, easy to use, and so far, hasn’t so much as had a hiccup. I have an older TV in one area of my home that isn’t a smart TV…with this unit, it acts like one. First off, the design is great. Rather than being a dongle on the back of a TV, it’s a simple sleek oval shaped puck that sits discreetly on any entertainment center or desk. There is no annoying marketing plastered all of it. A single color with a smooth touch feel. The remote is small enough to feel modern without being so small that you think you’ll lose it. If you do lose it, never fear, there is a button on the puck that you can push to locate it. The remote will make noise until you find it. Connections are simple. You can connect a hard line network cable directly to your router, or connect via wireless if you don’t do the cable thing. The connection to your TV is a simple HDMI cable. The unit comes with the power cord and power brick. It’s long enough to be useful, so you should be good. Setup was super easy. When you turn the unit on, it will guide you through setup using the Google Home app on your smartphone. You can do it all manually, but it’s very simple if you use the app. It comes preloaded with major streaming apps. The best part about it being Google TV, is that you can access the app store and download any missing apps. Since it is connected to the app store, your apps stay up to date and you don’t have to worry about them becoming obsolete as quickly. You also get all kinds of live streaming TV channels if you like to watch old re-runs and such. You aren’t getting your major network and cable stations, but it’s till fun to watch the older stuff from time to time. I use Chrome as my primary web browser and password vault. For me, setting up the apps super easy. In some cases, it simply asked me if I wanted to use my credentials saved in Chrome…done. For others is was just a barcode that I could scan on my smartphone…done. Nothing was difficult. You can, of course, use the remote to type in your username and password in each app if you are “old school”, as if any of this is really old… Point is, it’s very simple to set up and operate. During the setup process, the remote can be configured to control your TV and Audio System. I followed the on screen instructions and was able to get my TV and Sound Bar connected to the Google remote in a matter of seconds. It’s not a full featured remote, so you can’t switch inputs or access settings menus on your other devices, but for power on/off and volume control it works great. The remote include a mic, so you can set up voice search. At one point, it will ask you if you want to allow Google to search across your apps when you ask it to find something. This is a fantastic feature. I’m always forgetting what app has the show I want. Now I can simply ask it to find “show xyz”, and it will find it across all of the apps I have loaded. Now more looking all over for a show. Finally, the portability aspect is a huge plus for me. When I travel, I can throw this in my bag and have all of my preferred streaming services available anywhere I can get an internet connection and an HDMI input. It’s fantastic for a hotel room, air b&b, etc. Just carry all the cable and remote and you are set. I have a little dop kit bag that I throw it all in to keep it organized.

I primarily use Amazon Fire devices on all of my TVs. I use Chromecasts on our primary TVs for ease of pushing content from my phone to TV, but for streaming movies and shows from the different services FireTV has been our goto. I've used Chromecast devices from the 1st version but never used 1 with a remote. I am very used to using the Fire remote, but I quickly found that the GoogleTVRemote layout is very intuitive. My thumb lands naturally on all buttons. The inclusion of the the IR blaster contols my TV without issue. The remote even has a speaker on it so it can be located when buried in the couch or under a mess my kid made. I hid the remote a few times on my child and set the mission to seek and it was successfully found. It should be standard feature on all remotes. Just wish it were rechargeable. Qi charging on top of the GoggleTV would've been sweet. Setup was fairly easy with the QR code but it hung on the initial install. After a restart all went smoothly. Logged into all of our streaming services with no drama. Once my apps were logged into, everything opeend up nice and smooth. My FireTV Cube has always been connected to my router via ethernet so speed was never really an issue, but the GoogleTV has only been connected via WiFi6 and it's just as fast at accessing content. The GoogleTV can aggregate shows and movies across diffent steaming services and bring them to my home page based on what I've watched with the exception of Netflix. Not sure why it won't do that with arguably the biggest streaming service there is. But its not hard or slow just to jump into Netflix if needed. Especially with the dedicated Netflix button. One would think with integration like that, it would warrant some better reverse compatability. That being said, it does show what I have been watching and lets me resume shows I've been watching. I like having all my Google Home smart devices pop up on my screen and be able to control my lights and Nest Thermostat with the remote. The GoogleTV allows me to have all the features of the Chromecast before it while integrating all my online media streamers and smart home devices from my TV. While I am enjoying the snappy new interface, not so much with all the ads being shoved in my face, but that isn't GoogleTV specific (FireTV does it too). As a Google product it integrates well with Android users and the hand off for security verifications is rather seemless. I'm not sure if it will completely replace all my Alexa devices, but it's a good start.

Double round double the storage more snappy than the last Google TV streamer very quick start up time and the remote is way better

I have two 4K TVs with GoogleTV system built in, and a bedroom tv that just has a proprietary "Smart TV" system. This Streamer turns that TV into a GoogleTV system that is the same as my other TVs. It does a good job of searching my available streaming services and picking out content. Remote is just as good as my "old" Chromecast 4K. Really my only issue with it is the size. The streamer "Box" is fairly big. Not as big as an AppleTV, but it's still a decent sized unit and no easy way to mount to the tv that I can find. Had to get a floating shelf to sit under the tv. Doesn't defeat the purpose, but it's just more clutter on an otherwise streamlined wall. Takes about 6 minutes to set up if you have a houseful of Google devices already. Picture quality is topnotch, and ease of use is spectacular. Loads and streams movies and youtube quickly without a ton of buffering or loading. Just a really welcomed addition to the family of Google Home products. Only one suggestion for Google if they make a 2.0 version of the product... since the base "box" is so big and unmountable, make it magnetic so the remote can be stored on the base, and use a rechargeable battery in the remote. You advertise about being pro-environment but then make it use regular AAA batteries... just a thought.

Long time cord-cutting, streaming box lover here. I have tried just about every flavor and variant of just about every platform and have had every version of the Google streaming/Chromecast devices from the first to this. This new “set top” box feels like the culmination of the drift from the original concept of the Chromecast away from its original intent as a kind of bridge between your mobile device and the big TV in the living room. Somehow I doubt there are many placing this atop their set, but this is sure the nicest looking box I have had, so if I did I wouldn’t mind. With its soft edges, low profile and overall sleek design it is easily the prettiest in a field of what can generally be broken down to bricks and pucks. By flattening the box, it did get a bit larger footprint than another current generation streaming box I happen to have, so that might be a consideration for some if it is going into a cabinet. Personally it really doesn’t matter what something like this looks like as I place all my components out of sight, but having a prettier streaming box might appeal to some. I wish manufacturers of these type devices would include a simple plastic bracket in the box that I could attach to the back of the TV to mount it that way, but that isn’t a criticism as nobody really does that. Out of the box getting this connected to my TV was very easy and straightforward. I liked the smaller power supply which takes up a little bit less power strip, and the included power cord was long enough for my purposes. As the power connection is USB C, it should be easy to extend or use a longer feed without resorting to a traditional electrical extension cord. This box also includes an ethernet port, which I love. I prefer to hardwire my streaming boxes as I have seen that even with decent wifi, there can be issues with multiple platforms streaming wirelessly. Wired, I never have an issue. I did test it on wifi once it was setup up, and it worked just fine, but everything was really tested out wired. Once everything was connected it was time to fire it up and start the real installation work. Since I already have the Google Home app on my phone from previous Google device setups it turned out to be one of the quickest and easiest startups ever. It was a breeze, though I have to say, I do think there is a lot more personalization & customization that I could have done at this time. There are lots of options, particularly if you are enmeshed in the Google “ecosystem” . There are times when going through the options when I couldn’t help think that there is a lot of data collection going on. Sure everybody is doing it, but it was really evident a couple of times that it is the goal. That said, this was by far the easiest setup for all of my streaming services, and not just the Google stuff, of any streaming device I have tried. The only thing that wasn’t the best was the remote control, which I will address separately. The remote did pair with my TV seamlessly allowing me to use it to get things going without a second remote. Also, was able to very easily pair my ANC headphones so I could experience my audio without distraction or excess cords. Once everything was setup I did some playing around with different services and the interface in general. The home screen is populated with choices from across the services I subscribe to and the free services I chose in setup plus the Free Google TV offerings. The home screen does a pretty good job of categorizing options and doesn’t seem to push one service or another in particular. While the interface design wasn’t particularly innovative, it was easily the fastest and smoothest navigating that I have used. Scrolling through searching for options, I didn’t really need the voice search capability. I tried it for the sake of trying it, and it worked pretty well, especially when looking for Youtube videos when searching for a specific vid can be a pain with just a remote keyed interface. Since I usually don’t know what I am going to watch and tend to surf the options, I don’t think I will be using this feature much, though others may love it. Where other devices I have used have hitches and momentary hangups, this zips through the selections effortlessly. Actual playback worked fine on all services, with the 4k capability really shining on the big screen from the content capable of that resolution. Sound from both my Atmos soundbar and Over ears was excellent, and well-synched to the video, which has been an issue with some other devices I have tried. As one would expect, “casting” from my mobile devices was straightforward basically effortless. Finally, I want to mention the only thing I didn’t love about this device, the remote control. The design of the remote is very similar to the last generation Chromecast. It is a slick looking remote, however I would really prefer something just a little more utilitarian. The buttons are very responsive, almost too much, and I found that it was easy to accidentally depress a button I did not intend to when using the remote. Moreover, I really dislike the “click-wheel” design of the direction and selection pad/button. Unlike some other systems that use a raised plus sign design like an old Nintendo D Pad, the direction selector is slightly depressed into the remote head. The “enter/ok” button is pretty much flush with the selector. Because the direction ring is fairly narrow, I find that my fat thumb defaults inward toward the ok button and I frequently hit that by accident when trying to navigate. I corrected this a bit by adjusting to a grip that positioned my index finger over the controls, but I kept going back to old habit of thumb on button. Beyond the nuisance button pressing, the battery cover was very difficult to remove and install (this seemed like maybe a manufacturing rather than design issue) and the remote feels extremely delicate. It feels like if it falls off the couch it may not survive. Maybe unfair to criticize it for something has not happened yet, but I am just more accustomed to a solid feeling control. It would be nice if this remote had a rechargable battery, particularly with a USB C input instead of an a standard AA. A couple positives to mention are just how dead simple it was to pair this remote with my TV set and the inclusion of a customizable button. Still, I think you could have those in a more robust, fat finger friendly design. My complaints about the remote aside, I really like this streaming box. It has relegated the current generation competitor I had first to the spare bedroom TV. This box is faster to navigate and faster to operate than that other box in identical circumstances. I think if I was new to the Google streaming device setup that might have been a bit more of a stumbling block as it would have increased the steps, but even then that is just for the initial configuration.

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 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.

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, 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.