How to Play Google Stadia on a Samsung 32" M5 Smart Monitor via Chromecast with Google TV
Google announced the Chromecast with Google TV back in September 2020, and it was about ten months later — on June 23rd, 2021 — that the Google Stadia app would be available to use on the Chromecast with Google TV platform.
After that announcement, it seemed like everything was finally aligning across all platforms for Google Stadia. Google Stadia could now be played on a mobile phone (both iOS and Android), playable on a laptop / mobile device via the Chrome Browser, and now — finally — playable on Smart TVs with Google TV and / or Smart Computer Monitors using the newly launched Chromecast with Google TV hardware. We had even been blessed with the ‘exciting’ news — two months earlier in April 2021 — that search was now available at www.stadia.com — to which the entire Google Stadia (and Internet) community let out a large yell of: “FINALLY!” and “Google — this is what YOU DO — why did this feature take so long to implement on Google Stadia?” [paraphrasing the comments on the Google Stadia search feature announcement]
Although Google Stadia has goodwill by being available across multiple platforms, even today, the User Experience across the Google Stadia platform has stark differences. For example — on the Google Stadia mobile app from the Google Play Store, there is still no search feature available, meaning you still need to manually scroll through the app like you would through a social media news feed. The Google Stadia app on Chromecast with Google TV also has no search bar — in fact — it only allows you to pop-up your gaming library and scroll right or left on one row of games in your library in order to select your game. This gets ultra annoying if you have more than ten games in your library as you have to scroll through all of the games in your library to find the game you are looking to play. The main website of www.stadia.com via the Chrome Browser is the main Google Stadia experience as it has the full and complete set of features for the Google Stadia product such as Live Stream, Search, Friend Suggestions, etc.
I do not own a Smart TV with Google TV, but I do own a Samsung M5 32" Smart Monitor, and had purchased this monitor, because I read that this monitor was good for gaming. This Smart Monitor also seemed to meet the requirements for work from home such as: laptop display casting via bluetooth or wireless, multiple HDMI ports to connect to multiple mobile devices, able to connect directly to a mobile device, duplicate or extend the laptop desktop onto the Smart Monitor, and also being able to cast music from my phone through the Smart Monitor.
When I was setting up my Samsung Smart Monitor, I had tried to install the Google Stadia app via the factory installed Samsung TV platform that comes on the monitor. This platform is called — Tizen OS — and I became quickly aware that the Google Stadia app does not exist on the Samsung TV platform. Which is annoying for a Smart Monitor that has an app store and also promotes itself as being great for gaming. Obviously Samsung and Google are competitors, so it makes business strategy sense, but this was a disappointing discovery to say the least. So later that day, I went to Best Buy to purchase the brand new — Chromecast with Google TV — so that I did not need to use the Samsung TV platform, and instead use a Google TV platform that now was announced to have the Google Stadia app available on it.
These are the steps I took to setup the Google Stadia app on my Samsung 32" M5 Smart Monitor once I purchased the Chromecast with Google TV from Best Buy:
First, I had to connect the Chromecast with Google TV hardware to an HDMI port in the back of the Smart Monitor, and plug it into an outlet. Then I had to follow the on-screen instructions and download the Google Home app on my mobile phone. See Picture 1 below. NOTE: Google Home App setup portion on my mobile device is not displayed below in the pictures.
Second, using the Google Chromecast with Google TV white controller, I used the circle button to move the cursor on screen to the top menu labeled — APPS. I pressed the center button within the circle button to confirm my selection, and then a new splash screen search bar appeared. I searched for the term: “stadia” using the on-screen pop-up keyboard. See picture 2 below.
Third, once the Stadia for Android TV app (Google Stadia app) appeared, I pressed the center button within the circle button on the Google TV remote, in order to select, and then install the Google Stadia app on the Google TV platform. See picture 3 below.
Fourth, once the Google Stadia app was installed, I selected the on-screen button that read: “Open”. See picture 4 below.
When the Google Stadia app was launching and opening, this is what the loading screen looked like — see picture 5 below.
Fifth, once the Google Stadia app opened, and asked me to log into my Google Stadia account, a splash screen appeared, and I then needed to wirelessly connect my Google Stadia Controller (or whatever other Google Stadia compatible controller you are personally using). See pictures 6 and 7 below.
I tested opening a random Google Stadia game to see how the game would open and display on-screen. I was happy to see that the game displayed fully and in vivid color. See picture 8 below.
Continuing on in the setup, in the sixth step, I wanted to search my Google Stadia gaming library and select a game. I used my newly connected Google Stadia Controller and pushed the joy stick in the down direction so that the bottom library menu popped-up and appeared. I used the left and right directions of the joystick to select games in my gaming library. See pictures 9 and 10.
and that was it! I was now (and am now) ready to play and enjoy Google Stadia on my Samsung Smart Monitor. Hopefully, you will be up and running soon as well!
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