Google Home: "I'm sorry, but I can't play to Android TV"
Just got the Shield home and plugged up.
That is beyond disappointing. I've taught my wife and kids just to ask Google home for the show you want to watch. Now they have to find the remote, THEN ask?
Am I just misunderstanding the point of Android TV?
No, we all agree it's ridiculous but what can we do?
Google has all the power here. They've implied the functionality is coming but ultimately I think it comes down to the way that Android handles 3rd party accounts when casting.
For example:
I'm at my friends house and he has an Android TV. I have a new movie on my Vudu account. So I pull the Vudu app up on my phone, pick the movie, and try to cast it to the Android TV. I'm then asked to 'log in' to my Vudu account in order to watch the content.
Same with Netflix. Even though they have Netflix and we're both paying subscribers, I can't cast to my friend's device because we're not logged into the same account.
The only streaming app I've seen this work on is Google Play Movies. And being that it's Google's own product, I'm not surprised. I would assume they have a documented way of making this work on AndroidTV, but it's up to the third party to implement the feature in their app.
*Chromecast built in
*means not really
I got a free google home . . .
and alexa is still better as far as my control goes (with tivo it can even go to specific channels)
alexa can open the smart tv interface, but it can't start youtube. Only "netflix" has a hot-button apparently.
Do you have the new shield tv? Its remote has an always on mic
Well one of the reasons I have not bought the Google home is this. Google is controlling all the keys to the door.
If you name your device to Android TV I believe it will work. I did it with my Mi Box.
I "can" cast Netflix to my Android TV. But only thing it does is opening the Netflix App where I have to chose my profile....
I know it defeats the purpose of getting the Android TV box, but I also purchased a Chromecast just for the sake of being able to play directly the Google Home/Assistant.
It's a bad solution but with the Chromecast being 25$ and coming with most google devices free I just have both plugged into one tv. I still have two extra Chromecast. Also I wish this worked but I'm not too bothered by it.
Contrary to popular belief, these google devices aren't made for your convenience.
This is one of the very poorly documented differences between a chromecast and chromecast built in i agree its really dumb and its totally on google but tbh if thats a deal breaker then the shield wasn't for you in the first place