Good news, everyone. If you read our Google TV Streamer review and looked longingly at the new smart home panel — also called the Google Home panel — or the new AI-generated ambient art, they’re on the way to other Google TV devices. That pretty much was a given, because there’s no way Google would have kept it solely for its latest streaming hardware. But it’s always nice to have confirmation.
Here’s the deal: If a smart device is supported in Google Home, you should be able to access it through the Google Home panel in Google TV. Here at my house, I have a smattering of Nest cameras, a Nest doorbell, and a whole bunch of Philips Hue and Govee lights. And they all appear in the Google Home Panel, with favorites getting priority.
It’s all fairly straightforward, though there are a few little hiccups. If a camera is turned off, for instance, you’ll just see a blank camera. That’s not especially useful (though at least it lets you know the camera is off) because you can’t turn it on from Google TV. You’ll need a phone or tablet, or the Google Home web interface, to turn the camera on.
Doorbell notifications are optional — you’ll choose this option when you first set up the Home panel on Google TV, and my initial experience on the Google TV Streamer saw a fairly significant delay between when someone rings the bell and the notification appears onscreen. The image was squeezed into a different aspect ratio, too.
Lights and climate control worked exactly how I’d expect, though. It’s easy enough to toggle things off and on, or raise or lower the AC using the remote control.
All in all, it’s definitely a good addition, and something anyone with a Google TV device and other smart accessories should look forward to.
The AI-generated ambient art is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of plucking your perfect pics from Google Photos, you can prompt Google’s AI to generate its own art, pretty much like what Amazon Fire TV has done on its top-tier devices.
The custom art can be created entirely by your own ideas, or Google can get you started with a sort of Mad Libs-style prompt, where you fill in the blanks with the sort of thing you might want to see.
It’s fun to play around with, but its usefulness really just depends on how much time you enjoy creating this sort of thing.