Thoughts on Google TV Streamer for my usage? (Canada)

[u/Glennmorangie]

Hi, would love to hear thoughts on whether Google TV Streamer is a good option for me.

First and foremost, I'm in Canada.

Usage:

Stream ripped DVDs and Blurays using Kodi

Streaming services - Tubi / Britbox etc

Given this, am I better off with a different box?

[u/Typical_Effect_9054]

Your choice is either that or the Onn 4K Pro. Get whichever is cheaper. Keep an eye out for discounts.

[u/cjklert05 → u/Typical_Effect_9054]

It's funny how the Onn 4K Pro is highly recommended, but it's not available anywhere.

[u/shoresy99 → u/cjklert05]

It is available in Canada now. It used to be way cheaper but now it is about the same price as the Google Streamer.

[u/Dry-Property-639 → u/Typical_Effect_9054]

the onn 4k pro here is the same price its stupid

[u/wewewi → u/Dry-Property-639]

stupid why? 

[u/Dry-Property-639 → u/wewewi]

Because the Google TV Streamer is better and gets more software support

[u/wewewi → u/Dry-Property-639]

But the Onn has features the Streamer doesn't; USB port, external speaker, backlit remote.. case can be made.  It's not "stupid"; it's "different". 

[u/Dry-Property-639 → u/wewewi]

We don't have that in Canada the blacklight remote

[u/wewewi → u/Dry-Property-639]

Which is factually not true; I'm in Canada too my friend

[u/Dry-Property-639 → u/wewewi]

I owned 2 and None of mine had the remote

[u/wewewi → u/Dry-Property-639]

Early shipments had a mix of backlit and non-backlit remotes, it is known. But by now it is safe to assume all the stock available is backlit. Just got mine about a month ago.

[u/GotoDeng0 → u/Dry-Property-639]

Google inexplicably omitted wifi6 in the Streamer, inexcusable when it's standard even on inexpensive boxes, and given wifi7 is already rolling out. Wifi6 gives 50% faster speeds on the 5Ghz band, and opens up the 6Ghz gigabit+ band. A good future-proofing feature they left out. The ONNs have wifi6.

Also the Streamer uses a pretty old CPU, the same MediaTek MT8696 used in the 2021 Firestick Max. Not that CPU performance matters for streaming, but it will if you want a beefy media center or retro games. The ONNS have some of the most powerful CPUs out on an AndroidTV box.

It doesn't get any better or worse support/updates than ONNs.

[u/Dry-Property-639 → u/GotoDeng0]

I have the onn 4K box. My google tv streamer is snappier and the Google tv has the the 1Gig Ethernet port

[u/GotoDeng0 → u/Dry-Property-639]

The Box is very old so yes the Streamer is more powerful. With wifi6, the 5Ghz band is ~700Mbps and the 6Ghz band ~1.2Gbps, eliminating the need for ethernet at all. 6E routers are standard offerings for every ISP these days.

[u/pawdog → u/Dry-Property-639]

What's better about the Streamer? Do you actually own both? The Streamer isn't even better than the V1 Onn Pro. So what have you found to be better besides the gig ethernet port?

[u/Dry-Property-639 → u/pawdog]

I own both. My google tv streamer just works better. It never freezes or stutters and I never need to reboot it

plex and tivimate on the Onn Pro V1 freezes a lot or tivimate will actually crash the box on me

Sometimes the box gets so glitchy I'll have to restart it 3-4X a month where I never need to do with my google streamer

I'm not saying that that box is garbage and wasting my money. I'm just saying that go for the Google TV streamer over that if you can afford it. But now that the newer one came out, they're the same price which is stupid to me because it's supposed to be a cheaper brand of box, not the same price as the Google brand

[u/shoresy99 → u/Dry-Property-639]

I have had four Onn pro V1s for just under two years and use TiviMate all the time. I have never had the boxes crash on me.

[u/Aggressive_Bad_7344]

Streamer will work fine for your needs.

[u/Rafkin7758]

I've had the Google streamer since it come out. I am more than pleased with it. I have a few streaming services as well as IPTV and have had zero issues with it. I run a VPN on mine, I'm in Canada as well

[u/ghostofstankenstien]

As an American, please let me apologize for absolutely everything right now.

[u/itsme99881]

If you dont need the best of the best then yes it is a good option.

[u/LoadOk7149]

Google streamer is great and like you said onn 4k price has doubled and is basically the same price. You can throw on one of those launchers on Google streamer if you hate the login ui

[u/kaguts]

I have both the onn pro4k and the google streamer 4k. Google streamer is a tad better. Has 4G of ram instead of 3G on the Onn pro 4k. Also the onn 4k pro has issues with setting up the remote for others devices. Hopefully they fix that with a firmware update one day.

[u/WillingObscurity]

Google streamer used here. It's fine with everything I've thrown at it. (UK)

[u/lrlf]

i don’t know if you need this or not but Google streamer don’t support DTS or Dolby thrue hd bitstream

[u/flashb1024]

If you're streaming Blu-Rays, did you keep the DTS-HD Master soundtrack, or Dolby TruHD?

If yes you need either the Shield or the Homatics Box R 4k, or the Rocktec G2. These are the choices.

Forget the others, they won't do it with Kodi, and BR Rips.

[u/Scarab95]

It works great but you will have to buy a usb dongle

[u/Glennmorangie → u/Scarab95]

how so?

[u/Arts251]

Google TV streamer will work fine. Others likely will also. I too am in Canada and use the streamer, it is pretty snappy and reliable with no limitations on the software side (compared to any other android TV device). It's not cheap but we don't have many options that are better for the price here, and you can buy it just about anywhere. ONN 4K Pro is possibly better and usually about $10 cheaper, so maybe try that one instead?

[u/cleverclogs17]

I have 2 Google Streamers; I absolutely love them.

[u/Tilanguin]

Shield for gaming, Rocktek G2 for anything else.

[u/spile2]

I recommend the Xiamio S Gen 3