Last month we observed the one-year anniversary of our forced migration away from our decades long love affair with Tivo DVRs. That transition, forced by Xfinity, also inspired our migration to AT&T Fiber. We will never again spend a dollar with Comcast or their kin.
No, we’re not bitter. Not in the least!
We have also had a couple of Tivo Stream 4K Android TV devices for several years. These initially overcame the fact that the Tivo DVRs had limited access to online streaming services. And the experience of using streaming services on aged Tivo hardware was less than enthralling.
Over the past six months the Tivo Stream 4K that we use most often has exhibited a problem. It would lose its connection to the handheld remote control. At first, it appeared that the remote was going through batteries very quickly. When the batteries failed the Bluetooth connected remote would drop the pairing to the Tivo Stream 4K. I’d put in a new set of batteries, and repair the remote. Mostly that got things back to working.
But sometimes, it didn’t. On those occasions I’d power cycle the Tivo Stream 4K itself. That generally got things working again.
I’ve come to think that Tivo Stream 4K was itself failing, perhaps from overheating. It seems the Bluetooth radio in the Android TV stick itself would lose its mind.
This started to happen often enough that I plugged the power supply for the Tivo Stream 4K into a TP-Link smart outlet. That allowed me to remotely power cycle the device, which is handy if Stella was suffering the problem with the TV while I was occupied elsewhere.
That was a workaround, but not a solution. And as you well know, I prefer things we rely upon to be connected via Ethernet vs Wi-Fi. So, over the holidays I replaced that primary Tivo Stream 4K with a new Google TV Streamer 4k.
It’s been installed almost a month, and our experience so far has been very good. Installed behind the TV, the inconspicuous little box takes advantage of the Ethernet drop that once connected our Tivo Roamio Pro.
We now have zero issues with connectivity. The remote never loses its brains. We have all our preferred streaming apps (too many!) installed. With 32 GB of storage the Google device supports more installed apps that the old Tivo streaming stick.
And, it’s fast. The UI is pleasantly zippy, even if the UI design is rather uninspired. I appreciate the volume controls on the front of the remote, vs buttons on the side, as was the case with the last generation of the Chromecast dongle.
I do wish there was a setting to disable the sound while navigating the menus. It’s aggravating that most apps want to play a preview of a movie or show if the cursor should come to rest on it for just a couple of seconds.
It’s kind of the end of an era in our home. I see that Tivo is not selling Tivo Stream 4K any longer. We still have one remaining in the house. It’s at a location where it sees less use, so there’s no pressing reason to replace it.
Perhaps when I have some time, and feel like tinkering, I might explore the Google TV integration with Home Assistant. In theory, that might allow a custom control panel that provides a soft button for each of our most popular streaming services.