I have both a 2017 NVIDIA Shield, and a newer Chromecast with Google TV. One thing that I’ve been enjoying that surprised me is that the Chromecast is apparently much more sympatico with the Tablo than the Shield. The Shield will sometimes take some time to find the Tablo with lots of circling cursor and exiting the Tablo app and coming back into the app. Usually when I haven’t used the Tablo for a while. The Chromecast always finds the Tablo pretty quickly, one shot, couple of circling cursor cycles, and bang, there you are. The Chromecast is also faster to get the video going, less waiting.
Just an observation…this has trained me to use the Chromecast when I’m using the Tablo for a while. Much less frustrating. Just wish that the Chromecast had wired ethernet built in…trying to get the ethernet adapter from the Google Store has been very annoying, $10 shipping for that little thing, must be from China, and over a month to get it delivered. And not available anywhere else. So I haven’t gone there yet, we have great wireless, but the Chromecast takes a little longer to be ready with wireless than with wired ethernet.
We have an OG Shield TV (2015) and it was finally starting to show it’s age so we switched over to Chromecast with Google TV as well.
I can’t say we have seen any major differences, which sorta makes sense since the Chromecast with Google TV supports Android TV apps (unlike the previous Chromecasts) so both the Shield TV and Chromecast with Google TV are running the same Android TV version of the Tablo app.
I do hope in the future Google opens things up so the Tablo app can utilize the For You or Continue Watching sections for recorded content.
Try an AppleTV 4k device, best Tablo performance yet and I have the Shield, Cubs, Ultra, TiVo Stream 4k
No I am not an Apple guy, just it works fast and well.
I ordered the ethernet power plug in ebay, $17 bucks shipped. I have both the Chromecast with google tv and the AppleTV 4k, both using ethernet. The tabloTV app seems to have the same speed for changing channels. That said I like the google TV interface better for changing to a new channel when you are already watching something.
For me, the NVIDIA Shields that I have can take a while to initially connect with the Tablo. Including pressing “Home” or “Back” one or two times to go out and come back into the Tablo app. Both of our 2017 NVIDIA Shields do this, and one of them was fully factory reset recently for another problem. The Chromecast only takes 2 or 3 spins of the circular thingie, and it always connects with the Tablo immediately at that point. Very refreshing, this one thing has pushed me to use the Chromecast. It also has good recommendations, and integrates Youtube TV that we use.
So the Chromecast with Google TV is a win-win for us. I wish the NVIDIA Shields were better with the Tablo. If we didn’t have the Tablo initial connection problem and also have to restart the NVIDIA Shield too much, we wouldn’t have the Chromecast. Have also had to restart the Chromecast once or twice when it got wedged, but hardly ever since we got it.
As far as the ethernet connection to the Chromecast goes, got a USB type-C hub/dock and power brick and that works well. Over 300Mbps connection. On the other hand, don’t need all that bandwidth for the Chromecast, just want it wired.
Not my experience at all, my 2019 Shield connects instantly and is as fast as any streaming service I’ve had. Everything is instant from the time I turn it on.