Chromecast with Google TV instead of Shield TV?

by FoulTrouble11

Hello, I have had a Shield TV in my movie room for a couple of years now and I really do enjoy it. I mostly only use it for streaming services, Plex, and Jackbox. I also use it for my Bell Fibe TV instead of using a receiver box.

Recently, I have decided to switch out all my receiver boxes for AndroidTVs since I can do the same thing on them.

My original plan was to move the Shield TV to another TV, get a Shield TV Pro for the movie room, and set up the other two TVs with Shield TVs. I picked up a Chromecast with Google TV yesterday to try out since it was on sale ($55 + $25(Ethernet Adapter)) which is much cheaper than the Shield TV ($200) and Shield TV Pro ($260). I tried it out last night and really enjoyed it.

If I am just streaming on it, are there any downsides? I know I will not get the 4K upscaling and no expandable storage but with only a couple of streaming apps and no games, I should be fine.

One more question, if my house were to lose internet connection, can I still reach my Plex server on both Shield TV and Chromecast with Google TV?

Any advice or shared experience would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Sw46on

The smart tv business pisses me off. You're cell phone has 1tb storage possibly with 12gb of ram and 8 clu cores with a 6 in screen while your 65" 4k tv has a dual core 3gb of ram and 16gb of you can download a app and be maxed out with the bloatapps. Android tv has love channels but cannot stream sling because of a TiVo deal and yet YouTube tv won't load onto live channels you need Google TV which my. Brand New Sony TV don't have for some reason 😑

st0106

Bell Canada just started to roll out new and more cloud-based Fibe TV without a physical dvr with added features in QC and ON. (the known trade-off is that recordings will disappear after 365 days.) Maybe u can wait for reviews, discussions and delay the final decision until Cyber Monday? btw r u able to combine Plex with Fibe or alt (now called Fibe TV app pack) tv?

icefrog119

the Google TV didn't have enough internal storage for me. the nvidia shield least you can add more storage with a hard drive I like to add my movie & tv collection I downloaded over the years that I can't find on streaming services

CrustyBatchOfNature

One more question, if my house were to lose internet connection, can I still reach my Plex server on both Shield TV and Chromecast with Google TV?

You have to set up your Plex properly for that. A default setup requires internet to connect.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/axozeh/how_to_make_plex_work_over_lan_without_internet/

https://www.howtogeek.com/303282/how-to-use-plex-media-server-without-internet-access/

pawdog

It's an ok device if you set up a third party launcher, gets rid of the slowness of the UI, and expand device storage. The limited space will run out even if you just use streaming apps meaning you will annoyingly constantly have to clear system cache just to do app updates.

Anthdefrs

You should be able to add storage with a doogle type thing with the USB connection in back of the TV. I used one with a fire stick. Just look on YouTube on adding storage to fire stick and just buy the cord looking thing.

lpuglia

Google TV have, generally, a very old CPUs. It's not gonna fly like the shield does but it is still usable for movie playing and stream apps.