Google TV Streamer: 5 features missing from the streaming device

The Google TV Streamer is one of the best streaming devices, delivering top-notch visuals and impressive performance. It’s an improvement over the Chromecast 4K since it features more storage and an upgraded remote with Find My support. The Streamer supports Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision, and HDR10+. While the $100 Google TV Streamer outperforms the Chromecast with Google TV, it lacks a few features that would have made it the ideal streaming device.

At twice the price of Google's last 4K streamer, I expected better

Google’s decision not to include an HDMI cable with the Google TV Streamer is baffling to me. While it appears to follow the trend of Apple and Amazon shipping their streaming boxes without one, it is still annoying. Most buyers upgrading from Chromecast with Google TV may not have an extra HDMI cable lying around since the dongle has a built-in plug.

It is even more frustrating that the Streamer costs twice as much as the Chromecast with Google TV (4K), and you must buy a new HDMI cable. Even if you have a spare cord, you may not get the best experience if you do not own an HDMI 2.1 cable.

It’s disappointing that the Google TV Streamer lacks hands-free voice controls, while other streaming devices like the Roku Ultra, Nvidia Shield, and Fire TV Cube support the feature. While Chromecast devices never offered it, I wish the pricier Streamer had hands-free Google Assistant.

Annoyingly, one way to control the device with your voice is by spending more money to buy a smart speaker. If you don’t mind using the remote, you can invoke Google Assistant by pressing the microphone button. Still, it isn’t as convenient as hands-free access.

Make the most of your Google TV Streamer with a few tweaks

The Google TV Streamer only supports Wi-Fi 5 or dual-band 2.4/5GHz 802.11ac. The omission of Wi-Fi 6 support can be an issue if you have a smart home setup with many devices connected to the network. Wi-Fi 6 offers numerous improvements over Wi-Fi 5, like faster speeds, lower latency, and better performance. The Google TV Streamer lags behind other streaming devices with Wi-Fi 6 support, like the Fire TV Cube, Fire TV Stick, Roku Ultra, and Apple TV 4K.

Android 14 for TV lacks a standalone Google Photos app, meaning you can’t access your photos using the Google TV Streamer remote. Meanwhile, Apple TV users can view photos on the big screen via the built-in iCloud Photos app. If Android TV had a dedicated Google Photos app, you could set your favorite albums as screensavers. Surprisingly, there’s no such feature yet. As a workaround, you can cast photos to the Streamer using your phone, but nothing beats the convenience of directly accessing an app onscreen.

For a premium device like the Google TV Streamer, the prevalence of ads is a big disappointment. Its interface is cluttered with content recommendations that don’t add much value. Sponsored content and recommendations occupy most of the home screen. Google isn’t the only company stuffing ads in its UI. Fire TV and Roku follow the same practice. However, an ad-free experience should be the norm if you pay for a premium streaming device.

To be fair, the Google TV Streamer offers a minimalist apps only mode if the interface is too overwhelming for you. It removes advertisements and content recommendations from the Google TV UI. The downside is that it also strips away some crucial Google TV features like Google Home integration, Google Assistant, and Library tabs.

Google TV too busy for you? Check this out

The Google TV Streamer isn’t a perfect streaming device due to the lack of Wi-Fi 6 support, missing HDMI cable, absence of hands-free voice control, and advertisements. However, it offers improvements over Chromecast devices, like an in-built Ethernet port, more storage space, an improved remote control, and better performance. It also supports most audio and video formats.

If you’ve purchased a Google TV Streamer, you can customize your streaming experience by tweaking a few settings. If you face technical or software issues, you can troubleshoot common Google TV problems and get your TV up and running.

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I'll add one more: a total lack of passthrough audio. This is a MASSIVE shortcoming considering it's needed for those of us with higher end audio setups ... and worse, it was supported in the Chromecast w/ GoogleTV!!! I love the snappier response time of the Streamer but this oversight was a dealbreaker for me.

No. 2- Google Photos. Doesn't ambient mode count? I can't access the pictures for browsing sure but I've got Google photos enabled in the Screensaver and it displays just fine. You mentioned it would be nice use Google photos albums for the screen saver. You can! It's easy to do. I would like an app. I'm not disagreeing there but you've overlooked the built-in screen saver.

None of these matter lol. What they really need to add is a default file browser. When trying to use emulators, they can't search for ROMs because there's no default way to navigate the system.

You can install a 3rd party file browser just fine and explore whatever, but there's no option to explore files when using a non-file browser app.

I keep trying to get them to solve the issue where the thing won't turn the TV on when you cast audio to a speaker group that the GTVS is a part of.

Not very practical if I need to turn the TV on.

Funnily enough, the TV does turn on if you cast audio to the GTVS only, instead of the speaker group.

Android TV has a long way to go

Apple and Nvidia stay winning

MediaTek takes the reins

It starts at $100 in the US

The switch I didn't see coming

Purchases are moving to YouTube