Chromecast with Google TV Review - 6 Months Later

I've been using the chrome cast with Google TV for over the past six months now .

And in this video , I'm going to take you through my experience with it .

What I like about it , the top features and make sure you stick around towards the end of the video because that's where I'll take you through some of the issues and downsides I've had with the chromecast and you'll especially want to watch that part if you're a fan of Four K or Dolby Atmos or Dolby Vision .

But for now , let's talk about features first up Google TV , which is the U I that you see on the chrome cast .

And it's one of the best parts of using this device over the long term because of one thing recommendations .

Google TV does content recommendations extremely well .

I think Google TV has come the closest to getting to that desired state of being able to just use one U I to find and discover TV , shows and movies to watch versus the way a lot of us do it today , which is clicking through each app individually to find content .

Google T V's recommendations for me have been not on over the past six months .

Now , part of this is due to the universal rating system where you can rate shows and movies you like with a thumbs up or down as well as mark shows and movies as watched .

The more you do this , the better recommendations you get .

Another part of the software I've absolutely loved using over the past six months is being able to add a show to the universal watch list .

Gone are the days of having individual watch lists within each app with the chrome cast with Google TV .

You can just have one watch list and add shows to it from a variety of apps and services .

The layout of Google TV S U , I also just makes a lot of sense .

You have a top menu that consists of search for you movies , TV , shows apps library and then your Google profile icon at the top , right , which is consistent with other Google apps and where you'll find the settings for the device .

Each section is pretty self explanatory and it's easy to navigate around with a new chromecast remote , which I have a lot of feelings about the chrome cast was great at casting from your phone to the TV .

But it was never something I'd actually used to watch TV , shows or movies because it didn't have a remote .

And I always had to have my phone with me any time I wanted to watch something with this new version of the Chromecast Googled , solved that issue and produced a really nice remote .

The buttons have a nice feel to them .

It's easy to use , reliable and I haven't had any problems with it in the six months , I've been using it .

The main thing you'll use the remote for is to navigate U I and you do this by using the top and bottom and left right buttons along the top of the remote .

And when you want to click something , you can click the center button inside of what looks like a little wheel .

If you have a newer TV or other devices like a receiver or sound bar in your setup , you can teach the chrome cast with Google TV to turn on and off your devices and control their volume using either H D M I CE C or with an I R blaster on the remote .

And in my experience , it has worked well .

The only downside to using an I R blaster , which is what I do because H D M I ce C doesn't completely work with my setup for some reason is that the I R blaster won't always kick my receiver over to the correct H D M I input .

Now , you may have noticed that dark button on the remote .

What does that do ?

It controls the Google assistant to use it , just hold that button down and ask Google for something you can ask for different types of TV , shows or ask it to show a particular genre of content and you can of course use it for more regular assistant , things like asking about the weather next up services now , unlike some other streaming devices out there , there currently aren't any disputes between Google and other content companies over their apps on this device .

It comes with all of the main streaming services you'd expect like Netflix , Disney plus HBO , Max Hulu in the US , Amazon prime paramount plus , et cetera .

And in the six months , I've been using the device Apple TV plus has been added as well .

Another state out feature for this chromecast like the ones before it is casting .

As I mentioned earlier , you can easily cast media from a device like your Android or I OS phone tablet or a computer when you see the cast button available to your TV .

This is one of the greatest strengths with the chromecast when you compare it to other streaming devices out there because cast support is found in so many different types of apps like Spotify , Netflix , Google , photos , et cetera .

And if you have an Android phone , you can just cast whatever's on your screen to the TV , with a tap of a button next up Bluetooth , the chrome cast with Google TV does have support for wireless Bluetooth devices like wireless headphones .

You can compare your wireless headphones to the device in settings .

And in my experience with this feature actually , it's been all right , but not great .

I found that there's too much interference in the Bluetooth signal for it to be usable in my experience .

And some of that may just be due to my chrome cast sitting behind a large receiver .

So your experience may differ here based on the set up of your TV and sound system .

So that's one thing that hasn't worked very well for me on the chrome cast with Google TV .

Now let's dive into a couple of other downsides I found while using the device first is lack of universal playback controls .

The skip forward and skip backward features do not work the same across all applications .

In some apps like apple TV , plus , you can just use the left and right buttons to skip ahead and skip back .

But in other apps like Disney plus , when you hit the left and right button , it'll bring up a pop up menu and then you'll need to move the selector over to the rewind or fast forward icon and then hit the center button in order to fast forward or rewind , which is just clunky .

I wish Google had done something here to enforce a consistent experience across all of its apps like apple does with the apple TV .

Next , if you're a Netflix fan , unfortunately , over the past six months , Netflix originals will no longer show up as recommendations in the Google TV U I .

Now some Netflix content will appear in the recommendation U I .

But it only seems to be the stuff Netflix is currently licensing not its own shows and movies .

This is further backed up by when you use the Google Assistant to show you a Netflix show like the Queen's Gambit .

For example , it'll give you the watch page for the show , but you're unable to rate the show or tell Google you've watched it , which is kind of a bummer .

All right .

Now , the last big downside involves four K Dolby Vision and Dolby atmos .

For those unfamiliar with atmos and vision .

Dolby Vision is Dolby's H D R technology that gives the picture on your T VA boost and makes bright objects in the images you see really pop Dolby Atmos is Dolby's latest surround sound technology where instead of having channels like right speaker , left speaker , et cetera atmos allows sound engineers and mixers to play sounds as three dimensional objects around your environment using these speakers .

So basically things sound better and more dynamic .

So what exactly does this have to do with the chromecast ?

Well , for whatever reason , certain apps on the chrome cast don't have content available in Dolby Vision , Dolby atmos or even four K .

Sometimes when they do on other devices like the Apple TV , four K , Disney Plus , just flat out doesn't support four K in general for content like Hamilton , the Mandalorian Wan Division , pretty much everything on the Disney Plus app on the Chrome Cast is an H D where this isn't the case on other devices like my Apple TV .

Four K .

Also , Amos envision support is inconsistent on the Hulu and Amazon Prime video apps .

I noticed this with Hulu's new we work documentary , for example .

And Amazon Prime is the sound of metal which both did not show up in four K on the chromecast where they did on the Apple TV .

All right .

So given the downsides and issues I've run into while using the chrome cast with Google TV over the past six months .

Do I ultimately recommend getting one ?

Well , in general , yes , the goo Apple TV U I is one of the best I've seen on any streaming device .

And at $50 it's hard to beat even with all of the downsides I've encountered with this device for $50 that price more than makes up for them when you compare it to other streaming devices like the Apple TV , four K , which goes for $179 .

Now is the chromecast the main streaming box I use now that it comes with a remote actually .

No .

And it's because of that four K Dolby Vision and most content issue in certain apps .

This is the only use case where I don't recommend getting the chrome cast with Google TV right now and would instead point you elsewhere .

All right .

Well , I hope you found this review helpful and informative .

And if you did and liked it .

Make sure you hit that thumbs up button below and subscribe to the channel to see more six months later .

Reviews like this one as well as other videos on Tech and Google products .

Well , that's gonna do it for me for six months later .

I'm Josh Teter .

Thanks for watching .