The smart home has increasingly become a part of everyday life in ways that probably would have been unthinkable for the average person just a few years ago. While some smart home products, like smart refrigerators, are not exactly good value propositions even though they offer clear functionality improvements over their "dumb" counterparts, other products like smart TVs, smart thermostats, smart plugs, smart light bulbs, smart air conditioners, smart doorbells, and smart home security systems are a lot more reasonably priced and useful.

That functionality becomes a lot more interesting as a holistic part of a smart home via the various major smart home platforms, with Google Home being one of the most prominent. Once you have your smart devices integrated into Google Home, not only can you control them all through the Google Home app, but you can do the same via Google Assistant. Not just Google Assistant on smartphones and tablets, either; you can control your smart home through the voice remote on a Google TV device, as well.

In September, Google announced a significant expansion of that functionality for Google TV users: a new home panel as part of the Settings menu that lets you control your smart devices on-screen instead of relying on voice commands. It will also let you see doorbell and security system alerts, complete with live picture-in-picture video, while you're watching TV. Now, the user experience across all your smart home devices is going to be much more integrated. Read on to learn how to set it up.