Smart Life

Five Features That Make TiVo Stream 4K the Best Android Dongle Right Now

By Andrei Ene

Posted on October 27, 2020

credits: TiVo

Tivo Stream 4K is one of the cheapest and most versatile streaming dongles on the market at this moment. With a price tag of only $49.99, constant sales and promotions, Android integration, free traditional TV, and access to all kinds of media, this device wins in so many departments.

We like it because it’s easy to use, convenient, user-friendly, and, most of all, it’s binge-friendly, especially if you have more than five TV shows that you watch and you need a way to organize your time.

But anyone can tell you that! Here are the best TiVo Stream 4K features that actually make it worth it, in our book:

Android TV integration: flexibility and ease of use

When it comes to streaming dongles, nothing can beat the flexibility of Android TV. You can add any Bluetooth-ready accessory that you might have around the house, you can sideload apps on top of what’s already on the Play Store, customize your experience, and the list goes on. And these are just a few benefits that Android TV brings to the streaming world. Add to that the fact that the Tivo Stream 4K is a perfectly capable retro and mobile gaming machine, and this little black box blows anything out of the water.

If you fiddle with your Android TV enough, you can mod your experience to suit your needs. For example, for our unit, we installed a bunch of streaming apps, made a viewing guide, installed some old school emulators like PlayStation and Dreamcast, some mobile games from the Play Store, and connected a soundbar and a PlayStation controller.

All of this was done with apps found on the app market, with no sideloading. But if you want to go the extra mile, there are some crazy tutorials for Android TV out there.

Most of them are for the Nvidia Shield but they work just as well for the Tivo Stream 4K, with the caveat that you will need to use USB Type-C and expand your storage.

Editor’s Note – Kudos to TiVo for the fact that it encourages the installation of apps like Plex and Kodi.

Tivo Stream 4K: One place to see them all

Your time is valuable, and most shows are scattered around multiple streaming services. One of the must-buy reasons for the Tivo Stream 4K is the fact that it lets you search, browse, and create watch-lists across all streaming apps. And you get it all in one place.

This is perhaps the most practical aspect of this new iteration of TiVo.

You can access recommendations for movies and shows pooled into one place from your favorite apps.

And then, you can satisfy your OCD demon and make lists and viewing marathons that you will never have the time to follow through. At least you will know when a new episode or season is out and have some good recommendations in your feed based on your viewing habits.

You could get an app to do that but most of them have no direct integration with Android TV, so it’s a lot less convenient.

In this regard, nothing beats the TiVo Stream 4K.

Free TV with Sling TV

Another feature seamlessly integrated into the TiVo Stream 4K is Sling TV. Or the reason you can lose more than two hours when you can’t find something streamable. With Sling, you can get control over Live TV like never before.

You can create your own channel bundles, access the big streaming services from one go-to spot, and bring movies, shows, news, and sports together.

In essence, with Sling, you get the best of Live TV, both free and paid, and with 200+ channels and over 85,000 movies & shows on-demand, those channel bundles do not look so bad anymore.

You get Live TV for half the cost of cable. It makes it easier to find something great to watch, no matter if it is live, being streamed, or recorded. And, with partnerships that TiVo and Sling will do in the future, the value proposition is better than of most streaming dongles out there.

Google Assistant integration

The Google Assistant integration is the best aspect of the TiVo Stream 4K. You can use it with the remote, with any Bluetooth device that has a mic in it, and simply command the TiVo Stream 4K to do your bidding. And for those of you out there worried about personal data and info, the Google Assistant doesn’t work unless you press the button.

The Google Assistant button is the cherry on top of this device. It just makes the interaction with the Tivo Stream 4K easier and more enjoyable – heck, it gives you the impression you are in the future sometimes – that button is going to make you really lazy, really soon. And in this case, it is not a bad thing. The future can be comfortable.

Affordability

We didn’t mention the value proposition of this device above by chance. At this point in time, the Tivo Stream 4K offers the best bang for your buck on the market. At just $49.99, it’s the best and cheapest streaming dongle right now.

Here’s a few other reasons to look into the TiVo Stream 4K: