Dear Google TV

5 points by kardianos 4y ago ↗ HN

I purchased my first "Smart TV" running Google TV. I discovered this product is incredibly hostile to someone who wishes to control what is displayed on their family TV.

If you use it as a "Basic TV", it de-activates the Chromecast software which to-date we have used as both a picture frame and video cast.

If you use it as "Google TV", there is no way to completly remove "recommendations" that are displayed on the "home" screen, and there is no way to display Chromecast ambient mode by default when you start a TV or switch between inputs. The "app-only" mode still displays recommendations (ads) and doesn't show the library, which would be useful for children to choose and control their own shows.

Please do the following:

* Add an Option to add "Chromecast" to an "Input": HDMI1, HDMI2, Chromecast

* Add an Option to only show Library on home screen.

* Add an Option to opt-in to everything shown in the Library.

   - Watchlist (Y/N)

   - Display Movies: All or Selected Movies.

   - Display Shows: All or Selected Shows.

Sincerely, A rather frustrated parent.

2 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 12.3 ms ] thread

meowster 4y ago ↗

I highly reccomend buying a dumb 4K TV and if you really want to use Chromecast, buy a dongle you can upgrade as better dongles come out.

If you need a suggestion on where to start, Walmart sells Spectre brand 4K dumb TVs up to 75".

kardianos 4y ago ↗

That's more or less what I did. I put the TV in to "Basic" mode then used my old 1080p Chromecast to get the desired effect.

But it burns me that I have hardware in the TV that would be great, if the software was built slightly differently.

I really would like to use some apps on Google TV and use the Library function.

I feel like I'm in a completly different world where I would actually want to curate what my elementary age kids can access and see. Perhaps most people don't care. Perhaps people think it is a feature not a bug. I get the technical solution.

The one thing I ask for, is to be able to control what goes on my TV. there seems to be no concept of this.