I've been using the Chromecast with Google
TV for over the past six months now and in this video I'm gonna 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 4k, or Dolby Atmos or Dolby Vision, but
for now let's talk about features. First up, Google TV, which is the UI that you see
on the Chromecast 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 UI 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 TV's recommendations for me have been spot 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 Chromecast with Google TV, you
can just have one watchlist and add shows to it from a variety of apps and services. The layout
of Google TV’s UI 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 previous Chromecast was great at
casting from your phone to the TV, but it was never something I'd actually use to watch
TV shows or movies because it didn't have a remote and I always had to have my phone with me anytime
I wanted to watch something. With this new version of the Chromecast, Google solved that issue and
produced a really nice remote. The buttons have a nice feel to them, it's easy to use reliably 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 the UI 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 soundbar in your setup, you can teach the Chromecast with Google
TV to turn on and off your devices and control their volume using either HDMI
CEC or with an IR blaster on the remote and in my experience it is worked well.
The only downside to using an IR blaster which is what I do because HDMI CEC doesn't
completely work with my setup for some reason, is that the IR blaster won't always kick
my receiver over to the correct HDMI 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 of course you can ask it for more regular
assistant things like asking about the weather. Next up services. Now unlike some
other streaming devices out there, they're aren't currently any disputes
between Google and other content companies over their apps on this device. It comes with
all of the mainstreaming services you'd expect like Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Hulu
in the US, Amazon Prime, Paramount+, etc, and in the six months I've been using
the device, Apple TV has been added as well. Another standout 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 iOS 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,
etc. 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 Chromecast with Google TV
does have support for wireless Bluetooth devices like wireless headphones. You can pair your
wireless headphones to the device in settings and in my experience with this feature...actually
it's been alright, 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
Chromecast sitting behind a large receiver so your experience may differ here based
on the setup of your TV and sound system. So that's one thing that hasn't worked very
well for me on the Chromecast with Google TV. Now, let's dive into a couple of other
downsides I've found while using the device. First is lack of universal playback controls.
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 buttons, 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 UI. Now some Netflix content will appear in the recommendation UI 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 4K
Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. For those unfamiliar with Atmos or Vision, Dolby Vision is Doby's
HDR technology that gives the picture on your TV a boost. It makes bright objects in the images
you see really pop. Dolby Atmos is Dolby’s latest around sound technology where instead of having
channels like right speaker left speaker etc etc, Atmos allows sound engineers and mixers to
place sounds as three dimensional objects around your environment using the speakers. So
basically things sound better and more dynamic. So what exactly does this have
to do with a Chromecast? Well, for whatever reason certain apps on the Chromecast
don't have content available in Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, or even 4k sometimes when they
do on other devices like the Apple TV 4k. Disney Plus just flat-out doesn't support
4k in general for content like Hamilton, the Mandalorian, WandaVision, pretty much
everything on the Disney Plus app on the Chromecast is an HD, where this isn't the
case on other devices like my Apple TV 4k. Also Atmos and Vision support is inconsistent on
the Hulu and Amazon Prime video apps. I notice this with Hulu's new WeWork documentary
for example and Amazon Prime's “The Sound of Metal” which both did not show up in 4k on
the Chromecast where they did on the Apple TV. Alright, so given the downsides and issues I've
run into while using the Chromecast with Google TV over the past six months, do I ultimately
recommend getting one? Well in general, yes. The Google TV UI is one of the best I've seen
on any streaming device and at $50 US dollars, 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 4k, which goes for $179 US dollars. 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
4k Dolby Vision and Atmos content issue in certain apps. This is the only
use case where I don't recommend getting the Chromecast 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 6 Months
Later, I’m Josh Teder, thanks for watching.
