Google’s AI assistant Gemini is only available on a few TVs and streaming devices, and there are plenty of televisions that run the Google TV OS but cannot access it. But even though the rollout of Gemini on TV platforms has been on the slow side, that hasn’t stopped the company from pushing out its first major update.
As of last week, Google started updating Gemini on a number of TCL models that run the Google TV platform, giving it the ability to control things such as video, audio and other TV settings. Previously, it couldn’t do that, and users were limited to things such as asking for advice about what to watch, info about specific programs and so on.
Now you can do much more, for Gemini has been given capabilities similar to earlier voice control systems.
In a blog post, Google TV community manager Yash K. offered a number of examples of what users can now do with Gemini. For instance, they can ask it to change basic settings such as the picture mode, volume, brightness, contrast and volume level. Users can do this by pressing and holding the voice button on their remote, or simply by saying “Hey Google” followed by a command such as “increase the base,” or “set the picture mode to Sport.”
Gemini also gets the ability to troubleshoot picture and sound problems, Google said. For instance, someone can just describe the problem they’re experiencing, such as “the screen is too dark,” or “I can’t hear the dialogue clearly,” and Gemini will get to work fixing it.
Other capabilities include optimising the picture settings for different occasions. Simply say “It’s a movie night, help me make this feel more like I’m sitting in a cinema,” and Gemini will do its best to make that happen. Finally, Gemini can help you to find different settings menus with a simple command such as “open the display settings.”
At present the update is limited to a handful of TCL TVs, such as the 2026 X11L, QM9L, QM8L and RM9L models and the 2025 QM9K flagship, and only if you live in the U.S. If you don’t see it yet, be patient, because Google said it may take a few weeks to roll out to everyone.
Google didn’t say so, but we do expect that this update will eventually come to other Google TV devices that currently have Gemini on board, including the Hisense UX, U8 and U7 TVs, the Google TV Streamer, Walmart’s Onn streaming sticks and possibly even the older 4K Chromecast with Google TV dongle.
For other TVs that run Google TV, including those from brands like Sony, it remains to be seen when they’ll be given access to Gemini at all. We are quite confident that will happen, perhaps later this year with the launch of Android TV 14, on which the Google TV platform is based.
