Google is finally bringing an old feature to its new Nest cameras. Starting this week, you can stream video from all your Nest cameras and video doorbells to your TV using a Chromecast with Google TV. Google announced the feature in a blog post on the Google Nest Community Forum on Wednesday morning.
“What?” You ask. “Can’t you do this already?” Well, yes and no. It was possible to view the video feed from older Nest cameras, such as the Google Nest Doorbell (wired), the now-discontinued Nest Cams, and the Nest Hub Max camera, on the biggest screen in your home.
But as I pointed out in my review of the new Nest Cam (indoor, wired), none of Google’s newest cameras could stream to Chromecast devices. (All Nest cameras can play to both Google smart displays and Amazon Echo smart displays.)
Starting this week, you can watch a live stream from your Nest Doorbell (battery) on your TV using a Chromecast with Google TV. Photo by Dan Seifert/The Verge
The blog post confirms that “All Nest Cams and Nest Doorbells will be supported, including our newest devices that launched in 2021: Nest Cam (outdoor or indoor, battery), Nest Cam (indoor, wired), Nest Cam with reflector and Nest Doorbell (battery).”
However, Google only lists the latest Chromecast with Google TV as compatible, so we don’t yet know if it will work on other Chromecast and Google TV devices.
The new integration is rolling out this week, according to Google. And there is nothing to activate it. Just make sure your Chromecast is on the same Wi-Fi network as your cameras. You can use the Google TV voice command by pressing the Assistant button and saying “show me the front door camera”. Or, ask your Nest speaker or smart display by saying, “Hey Google, show me the front door camera on my TV.”
Now, we just need Google to follow through on their promise to add a web portal option to their new Nest cameras, so they can finally get feature parity with their old Nest cameras.