Google TV Streamer
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 6 of 10 streaming devices by recommenders
Recommended as an affordable way to add smart TV apps to any display, with an ad-free home screen. Critics cite slow speeds and a recent price rise.
Recommended as an affordable way to add smart TV apps to any display, with an ad-free home screen. Critics cite slow speeds and a recent price rise.
27 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 19
- criticize it
- 8
- approval share
- 70%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 19 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Ad-free, no bloatware
“roughly half the size of a deck of cards and pre-configured with Jellyfin/ad-free home screen/etc”
Comment from 21 Jul 2026 in “Jellyfin founder Andrew leaves team” “I'll happily take that insignificant one time setup for a 100% ad-free experience”
Comment from 21 Oct 2026 in “An ad-free Android TV” “this has no bloatware and this way I get tracked only by one company.”
Comment from 31 Jul 2026 in “Read This Before You Buy That TV Streaming Stick” - Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in “Microsoft Copilot AI Comes to LG TVs, and Can't Be Deleted”
Adds smart features to any display
“The only correct way to buy a TV imho is to hunt for a dumb but excellent display properties”
Comment from 13 May 2026 in “Linux gaming is faster because Windows APIs are becoming Linux kernel features” “External Google TV box is the way to go if you want smart functionality.”
Comment from 8 Sep 2026 in “216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]” “This can be solved by using any number of 3rd-party streaming devices”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids” Easy to unlock and customize
“has a pretty powerful processor, is pretty easy to unlock, and seems to be a common target for customizing”
Comment from 20 Oct 2026 in “An ad-free Android TV” “they support sideloading without time limits, alternative app stores”
Comment from 8 Sep 2026 in “216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]” Good enough without spending much
“Those plus a google TV streamer is more than good enough without laying out piles of cash”
Comment from 14 Dec 2025 in “LG TV's new software update installed MS Copilot, which cannot be deleted” “The newer and better google tv streamer 4k is half the cost.”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “Apple announces significant price increases for MacBooks, iPads, more”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Slow speeds and weak Wi-Fi
“the Google TV Streamer is definitely not nearly close to being as fast as it should be”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “Apple announces significant price increases for MacBooks, iPads, more” “it was 10/100 and more consistent than the built-in Wifi, but much slower top speeds”
Comment from 21 Oct 2026 in “An ad-free Android TV”
Other streaming devices people recommend
The four most recommended other streaming devices, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple TV 4K | 323 | 160 | 67% | 13 | 5 yrs17 owners | Approved |
| Nvidia Shield TV | 113 | 44 | 72% | 13 | 9 yrs17 owners | Approved |
| Apple TV 4K | 93 | 113 | 45% | 9 | 6 yrs14 owners | — |
| Google Chromecast | 43 | 26 | 62% | 10 | — | — |
| Google TV StreamerThis page | 19 | 8 | 70% | 8 | — | Approved |
What people said
27 of the 30 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it was 10/100 and more consistent than the built-in Wifi, but much slower top speeds”
“I'll happily take that insignificant one time setup for a 100% ad-free experience”
“has a pretty powerful processor, is pretty easy to unlock, and seems to be a common target for customizing”
“As soon as we started to set one up it wanted us to have a Google account”
“I was going to recommend people switch to the Google TV Streamer 4k, but I just realized they raised the price on that $50 a couple months back.”
“Google TV boxes are known to be broadly awful at this point”
“I connect a Google TV Streamer, as I'm in the Google ecosystem”
“they support sideloading without time limits, alternative app stores”
“External Google TV box is the way to go if you want smart functionality.”
“Happened to me n my Google TV thing”
“as far as I know, their TV boxes don't ACR your content”
“this has no bloatware and this way I get tracked only by one company.”
“roughly half the size of a deck of cards and pre-configured with Jellyfin/ad-free home screen/etc”
“The Walmart Onn Pro 4K boxes are the runner up in my experience, they're pretty good.”
“the Google TV Streamer is definitely not nearly close to being as fast as it should be”
“for $300 I get ethernet and Thread on every TV.”
“The newer and better google tv streamer 4k is half the cost.”
“I'm sure it will work fine until they abandon it in a year or two”
“In app-only mode (accessible deep in the settings,) there is only one advertisement on the homescreen, and it's quite responsive.”
“The only correct way to buy a TV imho is to hunt for a dumb but excellent display properties”
“This can be solved by using any number of 3rd-party streaming devices”
“Google Streamer has hardware AV1 support, although I’m unsure if it can direct play with Plex.”
“yes Google has their own tracking”
“it's been great, no ads or anything”
“Those plus a google TV streamer is more than good enough without laying out piles of cash”
“My $200 Onn looks good enough to my eyes and lasted longer.”
“have no interest in the replacement, google tv streamer”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.