If you have a Chromecast with Google TV and have been looking longingly at Google TV Streamer and its ability to view camera feeds and adjust temperature and turn lights off and on, you can now get in on the fun. Also available is the custom AI ambient art that you can use as screensavers. You’ll first need to enable the “Public Preview” function in Google Home (which takes just a couple clicks either in the app or on the website) and wait for it to appear.
It looks like this is a server-side option — my Chromecast didn’t receive an additional system update beyond the one I got earlier this week. Once that switch has been flipped, you’ll see Google Home as an option in the notifications menu. And that gives you the same two options that are available on the Google TV Streamer: You can opt to turn on the home panel, and enable doorbell notifications on your TV.
Turn all that on and you get your camera feeds and thermostats and lights — things that are connected to Google Home — same as on the Google TV Streamer. We go deeper into that in our full Google TV Streamer review.
Just to repeat one more time — if you want to play with this today, you’ll need to enter the Public Preview for Google Home. If you don’t mind waiting, it’ll come to Chromecast with Google TV in due time. Also note that I don’t yet see anything in my Onn 4K Pro.
And one final reminder: The Google TV Streamer is set to replace Chromecast with Google TV at some point. So if you’re looking at getting one of the latter — which costs half as much as the former — you might not want to wait long. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
