Google Home will soon respond on your TV screen with Chromecast

Voice commands can show your calendar, the weather and more thanks to Google's $35 Chromecast dongle.

David Katzmaier Editorial Director -- Personal Tech

David reviews TVs and leads the Personal Tech team at CNET, covering mobile, software, computing, streaming and home entertainment. We provide helpful, expert reviews, advice and videos on what gadget or service to buy and how to get the most out of it.

Expertise A 20-year CNET veteran, David has been reviewing TVs since the days of CRT, rear-projection and plasma. Prior to CNET he worked at Sound & Vision magazine and eTown.com. He is known to two people on Twitter as the Cormac McCarthy of consumer electronics. Credentials

Although still awaiting his Oscar for Best Picture Reviewer, David does hold certifications from the Imaging Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology on display calibration and evaluation.

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David Katzmaier

May 17, 2017 10:56 a.m. PT

2 min read

Looking for more integration between voice control and your TV? Google is here to help.

More from Google I/O 2017

Today the company announced a new capability that combines its Google Home speaker and its Chromecast TV dongle.

A TV with Chromecast plugged in will soon be able to display information to supplement Google Home's voice responses. On stage at Google I/O , the command "OK Google, show me my calendar" caused a calendar to appear on the TV. A follow-up command asking about local weather pulled up a forecast.

Google's voice recognition technology will enable different users' calendars to be shows according to which voice Google Home detects.

Google Home can already control Chromecast to perform searches of YouTube and some other apps, as well as turn on and off the TV. The speaker can perform similar controls of Chromecast built-in TVs like Vizio SmartCast models.

But Google will soon add more contextual, general capabilities. Asking "OK Google, what's on YouTube ?" will display a personalized list of choices. You can also ask to show YouTube's Watch Later list or play individual videos.

The integration will also work with YouTube TV , Google's new $35 TV streaming service. Asking "OK Google, what's on my DVR?" brings up the list from that service's cloud DVR, and further voice commands can play individual shows or movies.

Amazon 's Fire TV system offers similar functionality and integration with Alexa, Amazon's own voice assistant on devices like the Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Edition TVs. But to use its voice features you'll need to speak into a Fire TV remote's microphone, not into thin air like with Google Home/Chromecast. So far there's no native integration between Amazon's own Alexa speakers, namely the Echo and Dot , and its Fire TV devices.

We look forward to checking out Google Home's new Chromecast integrations soon.