TiVo Stream 4K: One Week With My New Streaming Stick
First, a little background. I’m an old-school TiVo fan. My first TiVo experience was with the DirecTiVo unit from the early 00s. When it died, I purchased a standalone TiVo Series 2 DVR and later a TiVo Premiere Series 4. I finally stopped using my TiVo when I cut the cord a few years ago and began streaming everything.
My streaming device of choice was the Chromecast (2nd generation). Soon after purchasing a Chromecast, we purchased a Google Mini to be able to have voice control. Over time, our Google household grew with the addition of the Google Home, several more Minis, a Hub, and an additional Chromecast. With this combination, we were relatively happy for a few years. Netflix was the primary source of streaming content, with Hulu tossed in on occasion. We were more likely to watch YouTube on our phones, but it was occasionally cast to the TV as well.
The last few years brought about a proliferation of streaming services. Suddenly, everybody wanted to have their own service, separate from Netflix or Hulu, to host their own content. Viewing streaming media on the Chromecast meant hunting down the correct app to play what we wanted to play. In some instances, the Google Assistant could be paired with the service, so a voice command to play a certain show or movie would launch the corresponding app, but this wasn’t universally…
