Apple TV 4K vs. Chromecast with Google TV

The chromecast with Google TV and Apple TV , four K are two of the most popular well reviewed TV streaming devices out there .

And I've used both devices for well over six months , having done an in depth review of each one , but there's only one device I've come back to over the past year for TV streaming and that's the Apple TV four K .

Now , neither of these devices is perfect but the Apple TV four K is the device I recommend to most people looking for a streaming device and I'm gonna walk you through .

Why that is .

And the first reason is performance .

The chrome cast with Google TV can just lag at times and just feel completely underpowered compared to the A 12 bionic chip that Apple put into the Apple TV .

Four K , Apple's U I by comparison , feels buttery smooth all of the time .

And aside from its speed , the Apple TV four K always gets you the best picture quality possible .

Now , the Apple TV is one downside aside from its price has shown up for me in the performance category over the past several months and that has been audio dropouts .

What will happen is when playing content in certain apps like Netflix and Apple TV plus with Dolby Atmos content specifically , I'll experience intermittent sound cutouts which happen every 20 to 40 minutes and this has been extremely annoying and something other people seem to be running into as well .

The next reason I'd recommend getting an Apple TV four K is if you already have Apple devices like an iphone , ipad Mac or any other Apple device .

Because when you pair other Apple devices with an Apple TV , four K , you get a lot of extra features .

The first one being airplay , not only can you airplay photos , videos , anything you want to the TV , from your Apple devices , but you can also use airplay to output the sound coming from your Apple TV to airplay enabled speakers , which is perfect for when you have family and friends over and you watch a game on the TV .

But you want people in other rooms to still be able to hear what's going on with the game , like people in the kitchen bathroom , any other room in your home .

This is also useful for situations like when I was recently on vacation and we wanted to watch a movie as a family .

I used my sonos move through airplay as the TV speaker which greatly improved the sound compared to the built in TV speakers which typically suck .

You can also use a stereo pair of home pod minis for your TV sound as well through airplay .

Another thing I love about the Apple TV is you can use the airpods Pro or airpods Max to listen to audio from the Apple TV with spatial audio enabled , which will use head tracking to make it sound like there are speakers that have been positioned all around you and you're listening to something on a 5.1 surround sound system .

It works really well and has been one of my favorite features of the Apple TV .

Now Google recently announced they'll be bringing spatial audio to their new pixel buds Pro which we have a review coming out on .

So make sure you're subscribed to the channel to see that review .

But it's unclear right now if the chromecast will be able to work with the pixel buds Pro spatial audio feature .

And if that feature actually includes head tracking and Google just has no competition in the space where the airpods Mac sit , we've done a review of these on the channel and it's a product .

I absolutely love another new feature for the Apple TV is called audio sharing which allows you to stream audio from the Apple TV to up to two pairs of airpods .

So you can stay up late watching TV , while not disturbing others in your household with the TV speakers .

Another cool Apple ecosystem feature you can use to watch TV , with friends and family who aren't physically present with you is called share play .

Share play allows you to watch content on an Apple TV and another Apple device like another Apple TV , a Mac ipad , iphone , etcetera .

Once you start a share session , Apple will sync the supported content .

So when you're watching it with friends and family , you're watching that content all at the exact same time .

Now , if you need to pause for a second to go to the bathroom , you can have it set up .

So when one person pauses content , it will pause that content for everybody else watching through share play .

And lastly , if you're into Apple's fitness ecosystem , you can use the Apple tv's fitness app to watch your favorite workouts and track your progress on the screen with data streaming from your Apple watch .

So those are the Apple ecosystem benefits you get by going with an Apple TV , four K .

Now , the last reason I'd pick an Apple TV , four K over the chrome cast with Google TV is the Siri remote .

It allows you to both click and swipe for navigation , giving users a choice of how they want to navigate around the interface .

And I find I much prefer being able to quickly swipe around to get to what I want .

Plus it's just a nicer remote in terms of build quality and they made this version than the older Apple TV remote .

So it's less likely to slide down in between your couch cushions .

So those are the main reasons I think you'd go with an Apple TV , four K over the chrome cast with Google TV .

But on the flip side , why would you pick the chrome cast over an Apple T VA ?

Couple of thoughts here first , I think if you're just a Google fan or you're just not crazy about Apple , you're not going to go for an Apple TV .

But if you don't care about the brands as much , the price difference between the two devices will likely steer towards the chromecast with Google TV , which retails for $49 versus $179 for the Apple TV , four K with 32 gigs of storage , which yes , I do think is plenty of storage .

I don't think most people need to spend more to get the 64 gig version of the Apple TV four K .

Now , another reason you might like the chromecast is because Google TV is basically the newer version of Android TV .

So you can side load apps on to it .

It quite easy to get streaming apps onto the device that might not be available in your region .

And then the last reason I think you'd go for a chrome cast with Google TV is Google cast support just like airplay .

You can cast music and media through your Google Cast system to your chromecast with Google TV .

And it works with both Android and Apple devices .

Whereas airplane content from a device to your TV .

Only works with apple devices .

You can also group your chrome cast with Google TV , with other nest speakers in a cast speaker group .

However , at the time of recording , Google still has not launched a feature that allows you to output audio from a chrome cast with Google TV to a stereo pair of nest audios or a group of cast speakers .

So those are the reasons why I think you might go with the chrome cast with Google TV .

Now you may be wondering at this point , wait a second .

So there's no difference between these two devices in terms of content availability or discovery .

And in my experience , no , both Apple and Google have aggregated content views that allow you to discover and keep track of shows you're currently watching .

However , Netflix declined to surface their original content in these views to try and force you to keep going into the Netflix app , which yes , does suck .

But in general , here in the US , at least both the chromecast and Apple TV , four K have the same mainstream apps .

And yes , the chromecast with Google TV does have the Apple TV plus plus app .

So you don't need to spend 100 $79 in order to get your fix of Ted lasso or severance .

Now let's talk recommendations even with the downsides with the Apple TV , that I've encountered like the audio cut outs , which wasn't something I encountered when I first got the Apple TV four K .

So I'm hopeful that's just a software bug that Apple is able to find and patch .

Even with that .

Plus the higher cost of the Apple TV four K because of its performance and ability to just get you the , the best sound and picture quality possible .

It's the device I primarily use to watch TV and movies at home .

And the one I recommend to others , the chromecast with Google TV is just a bit too underpowered for me to recommend though , if you do like the Google TV experience and you're in the Google ecosystem , the NVIDIA Shield may be another route for you to check out if you're interested in purchasing either the Apple TV four K or the chromecast with Google TV .

You can use the purchase links here in this video to learn more .

If you have any remaining questions about either device or you want to share your opinion on which you think is better leave those in a comment below and while you're down there , hit that thumbs up button , if you like this video and found it helpful and subscribe to the channel for more tech comparison videos like this one .

And if you're looking for what to watch next , check out our in depth six months later , reviews of both of these devices which I've left in the description below for six months later .

I'm Josh Teter .

Thanks for watching