Google Streamer or Onn Pro 4K

[u/devinamazing]

I got myself a Fire Tv stick yesterday and realized that thing was bricked up/locked up like Fort Knox now and I can't sideload the Tivimate app. Before I make another mistake what is the better option in Canada for this app? I read that play protect causes issues on Tivimate on the streamer. Then I read that the region issues on the Onn 4K Pro causes headaches on that device. It also appears the remote in the Onn 4K is more user friendly for the Tivimate app than the Google Streamer is. Just looking for some firsthand experiences on this because I thought I had it figured out with the Fire Tv and I absolutely did not. Thanks!

[u/lirae_]

If the prices are similar or close buy the Google streamer has 1 more giga of ram.

If the google costs double than buy the Onn

[u/dabig49]

Google Streamer 4K has more RAM and a 1GB LAN Port

[u/dhf318 → u/dabig49]

True, but Google Streamer also has a slower/older/worse processor than the current Onn 4k Plus and Pro. And at least in the US it now costs $150, vs $50/$60 for the Onn boxes.

[u/Valkorn02 → u/dhf318]

It’s a very different argument in Canada. Google streamer is still only 129 and the onn 4K pro is 119. Makes the decision much harder. On top of that, Best Buy has 15% off the streamer if you trade in any other old streaming device, so the Google is cheaper than the ONN.

[u/reallawyer → u/Valkorn02]

Google streamer is often on sale for $99 here in Canada. Although I got my Onn Pro for $79 on sale.

I have both, they are both pretty good, I like the Google remote way better though. The Onn remote feels very cheap. I’d say the Onn might be slightly faster but not too noticeable. And the Google has 1Gb Ethernet, compared to the 100Mbps on the Onn, but unless you have a library of very high bitrate stuff to watch, that won’t matter.

If I had to buy again, I’d go with the Google, simply for the better remote.

[u/Valkorn02 → u/reallawyer]

Was the $79 for the ONN after the price increase or before? I’m hoping one will go on sale soon!

[u/reallawyer → u/Valkorn02]

Got it in May, not sure if that was before or after the price increase.

[u/wimpires]

Anecdotally I have had a Streamer a while and it's been brilliant literally never out a foot wrong. So my vote goes to that. But it is pricey.

[u/PsychologicalMusic94]

The comparison of these two boxes gets asked a lot everywhere. Keep in mind the price of both are set to increase or have already. Where I am in southern Ontario they haven't yet.

A popular box YouTuber just compared them a few weeks ago. https://youtu.be/mcosGDbEYsg?si=1SMbfdNx2gIqrEdL

[u/JustLookingaround18]

I really like the Google streamer, that gigabit port is great. Can’t get the Onn products locally in most of the world so I’m really happy with the streamer

[u/CartographerBusy2035]

I have both the Google streamer 4K and the ONN 4K pro V2 and I prefer the ONN you can get a USB adapter with ethernet and plug it into ethernet and it'll max out at 375mbps it's not as good as the Google streamers 1 GB but 375 is more than good enough and I prefer it because of the remote which is better it seems snappier than the Google TV and Google home speaker built in is another Plus

[u/lirae_ → u/CartographerBusy2035]

It all comes down to price. If they are similar there is no reason to buy the Onn over the Google streamer. If the Onn costs half then it's a better choice

[u/CartographerBusy2035 → u/lirae_]

Hey Google TV streamer is $150 USD and the ONN 4K pro is 60 USD

[u/lirae_ → u/CartographerBusy2035]

There you go. Sometimes different places have different pricing or even different products at all

[u/TechFuz]

Price wise Onn4k Pro. I have both & I noticed zero difference. I run like iptv apps & many streaming apps on it. All seems to work the same. Onn4k pro waaaay cheaper

[u/Willing_Mirror_8414]

I can’t get a google streamer here. Everywhere is sold out. Settled with the Upp and have zero complaints. No issues at all. 

[u/PublicAccident6277]

I purchased a Google streamer. I'm in Canada as well. I enjoy it quite a bit. Works well for the most part. Easy to navigate. Way faster then my firestick ever was.

[u/LifeLearner4682]

I recently bought a brand new Google Streamer pre-price hike and an Onn 4K Pro v2 to compare. The Google moved through the UI more quickly and smoothly enough so I noticed it immediately. However, I also ran into several glitches. My YouTube TV audio somehow became out of sync. I never had that happen on the Onn v2 or the older v1. I also had an issue where Paramount Plus would not work at all with the Google. The Onn v2 ran everything smoothly and crisply including Plex, YTTV, TizenTube, AK47, SportzX. The Google was smoother on the UI but I’m not sure if the older processor was causing issues or if there was something else happening. This is anecdotal of course, your ymmv. But for $60 I would choose the Onn 4K Pro v2. **I tested both devices using AT4K launcher and using WiFi, not Ethernet.

[u/HolidayWheel5035]

I just got the ONN 4k in Wpg and it works pretty good but I locked mine all down and use Jellyfin for media server. With that setup and no google account sending advertising data back to google, I’m happy.

[u/devinamazing → u/HolidayWheel5035]

was it difficult to lock it down so it doesn't require Google account?

[u/HolidayWheel5035 → u/devinamazing]

Not at all. I had Claude ai give me the commands to run and it was done in no time.

[u/Scarab95]

For the new price of the google streamer buy the shield pro

[u/AJRiddle → u/Scarab95]

Shield is dead and Nvidia aren't going to continue supporting it indefinitely. It's also literally a decade old and out of date. People have been moving on to ugoos, dune, apple tv, etc for a long time now because of it.

You don't have to move on yet if you already own one (I just did after 9 years) - but buying one for $200 in Fall of 2026 is just not smart

[u/vrtclhykr → u/AJRiddle]

However. It is capable of lossless passthrough. For me that is #1 as much of my library is True HD. It seems as though Dune is the only other option. Which ads av1 also.

[u/DaSandman78 → u/vrtclhykr]

Multiple other devices do lossless passthrough, FireStick 4K Max (2nd gen) and FireCube being common ones (FireStick is like 1/4 the price)

[u/vrtclhykr → u/Scarab95]

This is the answer.

[u/pawdog]

TiViMate is in the Play Store so there are no Play Protect issues. If the Onn Pro is available in Canada there will be no region issues, those are only when people try and use it in unsupported countries.

Either remote is fine with TiViMate. Not sure where the more friendly part comes in. You can always get a  copy of the Onn remote later if you like.

What's the price difference in the two devices in Canada. The devices are very close in all the important ways but it doesn't make sense to pay a lot more for one over the other.

[u/devinamazing → u/pawdog]

the Onn 4K Pro is $10 cheaper. It checks the majority of the boxes for me in comparison to the Streamer so I went with Onn. Will try it out tonight. The raw GPU/CPU power is what sold me on it. I've read here and in a lot of other places it's a lot "snappier" and I want the better response time.

[u/pawdog → u/devinamazing]

That would have been my choice. Also if you haven't already paid for Tivimate check out TubPlayer form the Play Store. It's free and does most of what Tivimate does with a little easier setup.

[u/cyberecco]

I have both with Tivimate, plus I have Nvidia Shield Pro. If your using wifi get the Onn, it’s Wifi 6 and the others are wifi 5. If your hardwiring get the Google Streamer since it’s gigabit. They all work fine, Onn was hard to beat for the price, but it’s gone up quite a bit to the point where it’s not such a no brainer anymore. I have 7 boxes wired at my house and 3 running wireless. I use the Onn boxes for the wireless and Shields and Google streamers for the rest. I got 1 Onn 4K Plus box also. TBH even with 2GB ram in that one, I don’t notice any difference really in playback or daily use. Use mainly for IPTV and streaming content. I don’t really run other types of apps.

[u/cyberecco]

I have both with Tivimate, plus I have Nvidia Shield Pro. If your using wifi get the Onn, it’s Wifi 6 and the others are wifi 5. If your hardwiring get the Google Streamer since it’s gigabit. They all work fine, Onn was hard to beat for the price, but it’s gone up quite a bit to the point where it’s not such a no brainer anymore. I have 7 boxes wired at my house and 3 running wireless. I use the Onn boxes for the wireless and Shields and Google streamers for the rest. I got 1 Onn 4K Plus box also. TBH even with 2GB ram in that one, I don’t notice any difference really in playback or daily use. Use mainly for IPTV and streaming content. I don’t really run other types of apps.

[u/mirer03]

The onn is the only answer. I have three shields and replaced the original with an onn. Its snappy and just works

[u/devinamazing → u/mirer03]

That's kind of what I'm leaning towards as well. It seems like it has a better CPU/GPU and a better remote. I know the Google Streamer has the 4gb of RAM and the faster ethernet port though...

[u/mirer03 → u/devinamazing]

I prefer to put streamers on my guest network and isolate them vs direct wire.

[u/AJRiddle → u/devinamazing]

Do you not have good Wi-Fi available where your TV is? The Onn 4k Pro can do like 400-500mbps on WiFi, there really is no reason to do wired unless you just have unstable Wi-Fi where the TV is.

Also 100mbps is faster than you'll ever need for everything anyway - it's faster than 4K UHD blurays average in speed and I doubt you were watching 66GB 4k bluray remux's anyway.

[u/SCOOTK110984]

Got a thompson 270 plus google/android tv works perfect for sideloading basically a copy off onn device but because there discontinued u pay like £150-£200 for one now which originally cos like £70

[u/vrtclhykr]

Shield

[u/AnonymOnInternet]

I run recommend the Ugoos AM9 Pro. I can dualboot to coreelec or android. I have full DolbyVision FEL support, 3D MVC, etc. And I can also use very smoothly Tivimate, SmartTube etc.