Chromecast with Google TV wants to help you find what to watch

Google just debuted a brand new Chromecast that can stream 4k content from a whole bunch of different apps to your TV, and it's only 50 bucks. I'm going over my hands on impressions of the device, right now. [MUSIC] This is called the Chromecast with Google TV. It comes in three colors,this is snow,there's also sunrise and sky 4999 and available today. Google first showed it off at their event where they were debuting the new Pixel phone. But we've seen lots of We knew it was coming. Anyway, it's here and it checks a lot of the right boxes. 50 bucks and it's 4k with Dolby Vision. There aren't a whole lot of streamers out there that can do 4k with Dolby Vision. Amazon has the fire TV. Roku has one with 4k, but competitively this offers a lot at a reasonable price. Plus, this is the first Chromecast to come with an actual physical remote. So the fact that it has three colors isn't completely meaningless because yeah, you're gonna hide this behind your TV when you plug it into your HDMI. But the remotes gonna have the same color and it's gonna match and the remote actually has a button so you can talk to Google Assistant, meaning you can give Smart Home Commands you can ask questions, and your TV can pull up a feed from your Nest Cam. You can use the Chromecast to talk to someone with Google meat. You're going to use the Google Home app to set it up, which is the same app you'd use to set up smart speakers and smart displays. And then you can actually group your TV through the Chromecast With those speakers for a whole home audio setup, so this is checking a lot of boxes at an appealing price and it's coming with just about every app under the sun available, except for Apple TV plus, that includes HBO Max, which Roku doesn't have an Amazon doesn't have, And Netflix and Hulu and Disney plus pretty much any of the apps you'd wanna use to be able to stream content to your TV. Now the device is called Chromecast with Google TV. That part is indicating the new operating software to show you content. Google TV is going to replace Android TV. And it's gonna roll out and be embedded in some smart TVs moving forward. But this is the way to access it. First and foremost. The big new feature of Google TV is a tab called, For You, which is gonna show you curated content pulled from your apps. Based on your viewing preferences to help you find something to watch quickly and easily. There's also gonna be a live TV tab that is integrated right out of the gate with YouTube TV. So you can You can easily switch from watching something on Netflix to watching the game, and then switch back that makes that nice and seamless. And then supposedly Google is going to work with more service providers moving forward so that that live TV tab gets more robust. The other nice feature of Google TV is the watchword List. Now lots of devices have some sort of a list so you can mark what you want to watch. But the appeal here is that you can mark something on your phone or your computer or anywhere and it will show up on your watch list on Google TV. So finding what to watch and doing it easily is the whole idea. Then you also always have Google Assistant to talk to your TV and say, Hey, I'd like to watch a movie with Tom Hanks. So there's the basics. The one downside here is that this strangely isn't getting Google stadia until next year. Stadia is Google's game streaming service. And right now if you wanted to do Chrome cast that for you, you're still going to need to pay 70 dollars for the Chrome cast ultra. The Ultra really doesn't have any other advantages over this. So if you're not itching to play stadia, you might just want to wait until next year, get this and then you can play stadia for. For 20 bucks cheaper. As of now the existing $30 Chromecast and the $70 Chromecast ultra are going to stay on the market, but this for 50 bucks gets you this same specs as the ultra and comes with that spiffier Google TV interface. The Chromecast with Google TV is available right now if you're in the US. And I've gotten to spend roughly a night testing it out and trying out the new Google TV interface. And so far, I like it. The for you tab is supposed to be the big highlights. And I went through the whole setup process and put in my apps I have Netflix and I have Hulu and I have amazon prime. And I go to the for you tab to see the curated content. And the first thing it shows me is Man of Steel, the Zack Snyder's Superman movie, and I'm not sure what I did in my life to deserve that recommendation, but that clearly. Wasn't really for me. I like superhero movies. All right, but man steel. And also I went through the trouble of telling it, what apps I have, and it was showing you stuff from dead Disney plus and HBO Max and I get it. Those are popular services and yeah, you wanna tell people you have HBO Max, but I don't have that I have plenty of services show me my stuff. I had a few hiccups with the remote as well. The power button won't control the TV and the Chromecast and my soundbar I can sync them all to the remote and I can switch so that it is controlling the soundbar or my TV and the Chromecast, but it won't control them all together. That said the volume rocker will now control my sound bar and the rest Rest will control the TV and the Chromecast. I was also able to go into the apps in the app tab and delete Disney plus and delete HBO max. I'm not sure why they automatically downloaded those in the first place. And some of the recommendations were getting a little bit better as the evening went on. So It's very possible that the, for U-Tap gets better the more you use the service. Google just trying to short cut that process of a lot of other streamers ask you what you like, when you're first logging in. Google kinda wants to figure it out for you, but my initial impressions of that process weren't great. I also would have liked an easier way to get to the shows I actually did wanna watch. When I was sitting down for dinner I wanted to watch the next episode of what we do in the shadows on Hulu, in which I had to go over the app tabs down to Hulu, click Hulu, go over to their menu of watch next Then click through to the episode and I was like fine for the first time maybe then you'll learn and pop that up on the for you tab. Hey, do you wanna watch this next episode of the thing you just watched? There's nowhere to be found. You can add it to your watch list and then it will be in the library for you to find. But in terms of curating content for me It still wasn't getting to the things that I actually wanted to stream. I was also noticing a strange glitch. I am a bit cheap with Hulu and I have the subscription that still includes commercials. And when it was loading those commercials, sometimes the screen would just go blank. And sometimes it would play the commercial set twice. This is probably something Google will fix with a software patch. Surely it's just something to note with this particular integration between Hulu and Google TV. So I have a handful of nitpicks, especially with that brand new for you tab of Google TV. But really 50 bucks, 4k Dolby Vision. It's a good price for good specs in a good variety of apps if you do have all those streaming services. So the Chromecast with Google TV is worth your consideration, especially if you want all those specs and especially if you're already invested in that Google ecosystem. Because it can control your smart home and work with other smart speakers to play whole home audio. This is very much worth your consideration. And the new remote with a Google Assistant button makes using it easier than ever. So so far I call it a good product didn't quite blow me away. But at a reasonable price it's well worth considering. Thank you for watching. Please hit that thumbs up button if you enjoyed the video and Subscribe to cnet's YouTube channel for more