On 24 September the Google TV Streamer will be released for sale.
It has a thread-border-router built in.
Does anyone know whether Home assistant can use this to integrate with Matter-over-thread devices? Or is some configuration/development needed before it will become compatible?
Some google products are listed here: Thread - Home Assistant obviously the TV streamer is not listed as it is not yet released.
Stating the obvious, but it’s probably a tad early to ask for an unreleased product 
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It probably will from day one, there’s no reason for Google to not publish the network credentials like they’ve been doing with other border routers. And discovery and all that is pretty standard so it should not need model-specific support.
But guess we’ll find out in a few days. First public firmware versions may have bugs as usual.
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As has been stated, this product isn’t released to consumers in the US until 2024-09-24, so just about the only person outside of Google who might even understand the question is Jenn Pattison Tuohy at TheVerge (a rare journalist who can spell Matter, Thread and Zigbee).
Here’s the Google blurb for those interested:
https://store.google.com/intl/en/ideas/articles/google-tv-streamer/
And a related Jenn P article on Google’s roadmap:
I’d hope Google would add Matter v1.4 support to give any-to-any border router connectivity.
It looks like an upgrade from the previous 4k stick, but not much more CPU, nor usable USB ports. The existing devices work fine with a decent USB-C PSU and a hub/ dock to add wired Ethernet and storage for local VLC playback. USB cameras also work to create a slightly shonky big-screen video conferencing setup. The extra memory will help Android performance.
When it finally appears in the UK, my additional questions are:
- Any noticeable speed increase over the Google TV 4K?
- Does it work with USB-C Ethernet and storage?
- Does the deep linking guide still work?
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That would be Thread 1.4, but the main issue is some vendors just do not want to mix their brand with others.
Since Thread 1.3 there are, let’s call it “standard”, methods in Android and iOS to share the credentials to other apps (that’s how HA gets them for Google and Apple TBRs), but some vendors just don’t want to get the credentials and add their border router to an existing network (nor share them so others can). SmartThings for instance, they don’t even share the credentials using the Android API.
For the question, since Google already shares the Thread credentials and HA has the means to read them with the companion app, there’s no specific support needed for the Google TV Streamer, it should work out of the box.
While the CPU is a tad faster, it will feel faster because it has more RAM so can cache more stuff and avoid frequent loads. I notice that in my Nokia 8010 streaming box compared to my previous Google TV 4K so I would expect a similar experience even if it’s a Mediatek instead of an Amlogic evolution.
It was confirmed that USB-C hubs will work and mind it already has Gigabit Ethernet inbuilt. No word on file formats supported, the main issue was lack of support for exFAT or NTFS.
It should support deep linking too, it’s still an Android TV system with the Google TV layer, like the Chromecast.
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The protocol / transport differences are clear at the engineering level, but the use of Matter as an umbrella brand including Thread seems to be a bit variable.
After looking for the white paper I read, it turns out it was indeed Thread 1.4 from the Thread Group:
https://www.threadgroup.org/news-events/blog/ID/875/Thread-14-Paves-The-Path-For-Smart-Devices-To-Work-Together-Regardless-Of-Their-Ecosystem-Or-Manufacturer
Sadly, I have to agree - lock-in seems to still be a business strategy that hooks the non-technical. My hope was the reduced interoperability testing, support costs, and lower infrastructure costs would promote Matter/ Thread.
Samsung software has always been, well, strange. SmartThings docs from 2022 explicitly includes Matter multi-admin so perhaps there’s more going on (ISTR HACore had to use the Google provisioning flow on Android due to OS bugs). That said, my Samsung TV doesn’t talk to the Samsung sound bar that arrived in the same box!
Hopefully the standards bodies will mandate mesh interoperability, but going up against the big players doesn’t seem likely.
Paging Cory Doctorw for another rigged markets rant! 
After plugging in the device - it was auto-discovered by HA as Thread Border router.
Haven’t tested it with the real devices though.
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Is that seen as an OpenThread border router?
Unfortunately I bought this device and we are back to the device saying idle all day long not showing what it’s playing or when something is paused 