So Google's newly announced (and released) "chromecast" is a vastly superior and vastly cheaper successor to the canceled Nexus Q from last year:
- It's just a small dongle that attaches to any TV's HDMI port
- Smartphones/tablets can control it: Apps with support for it basically tell it what video/song to play and can pause, seek, and queue media, but playback doesn't mirror the device and multitasking the phones doesn't interrupt playback.
- Netflix, YouTube, and Google Play currently support it and numerous other major apps are working on it.
- Mobile Platforms: Android 2.3+ or iOS 6 devices. No Windows Phone.
- Chrome can control it from desktops/laptops: YouTube pages support it similarly to the YouTube app, Chrome can mirror the display of any tab to the TV, and Chrome offers API for arbitrary web apps to support it.
- PC Chrome Platforms: Windows 7+, OS X 10.7+, and Chrome For Linux only supports it on Chromebooks running ChromeOS.
- Retail Price: $35 (by comparison, Nexus Q was supposed to be $300)
- Includes 3 months of Netflix credit (worth $24+tax), so for current Netflix subscribers who intend to stay subscribed for the next 3 months, the effective net device price is only $10.
- I'm not sure if it will be possible to stream local media (like hardsubbed anime) to it. Maybe it'll at least support playing whatever videos you upload on Google Drive.
Because of the Netflix credit, I didn't hesitate to order one. My family doesn't have many Netflix devices (especially when I leave for school and take all my game consoles), so this will probably be useful mainly for use with Netflix.
I bought mine from Amazon because they have them in stock, free shipping, and no sales tax, and it's also available from Google Play, Best Buy, and maybe some other retailers.
On a related note, in the same conference today, Google announced the new Nexus 7, Android 4.3, and Google Play Games (new game center app). I don't have much interest in tablets, Android 4.3 doesn't add anything useful to me, and I don't play smartphone games, so I don't really care about those announcements.
seems like it doesn't support a huge variety of content (yet), but for $35 and its convenient size (could travel with it and use it in hotels and stuff?) I'd buy it just to get Netflix on the tv befuddlement
Quote from: lifetrneds on July 24, 2013, 02:42:27 PM
could travel with it and use it in hotels and stuff?
It seems designed for home use
and there's one major problem with that use case: it works by connecting to wifi, using LAN to control it, and downloading all content from the internet.
Maybe it'd work fine with turning on Wi-Fi SoftAP/hotspot on another device like your phone, but otherwise you would have to hope your location offers sufficient wifi for this to work and I doubt it'll be able to get through the typical sign-in web pages that most hotels redirect you to upon connecting.
Quote from: bluaki on July 24, 2013, 02:53:44 PM
It seems designed for home use
and there's one major problem with that use case: it works by connecting to wifi, using LAN to control it, and downloading all content from the internet. Maybe it'd work fine with turning on Wi-Fi SoftAP/hotspot on another device like your phone, but otherwise you would have to hope your location offers sufficient wifi for this to work and I doubt it'll be able to get through the typical sign-in web pages that most hotels redirect you to upon connecting.
not to mention hdmi ports are usually locked down on hotel tvs
Quote from: bluaki on July 24, 2013, 02:53:44 PM
Maybe it'd work fine with turning on Wi-Fi SoftAP/hotspot on another device like your phone
that was sort of my idea, but it probably wouldn't be an economic use of data n_u
Quote from: Alison Goldfrapp on July 24, 2013, 03:01:44 PM
not to mention hdmi ports are usually locked down on hotel tvs
i guess the hotels i go to don't have TVs with HDMI ports anyway
hm, if i watched tv more it'd probably be quite interesting. i don't quite get the 'chrome' moniker for it though befuddlement
we got these in on todays truck at best buy.
i didnt know where they went so i put them wit hthe tv stuff i guess i was kind of right
also we got nexus tablets in now
Quote from: David on July 24, 2013, 06:55:15 PM
hm, if i watched tv more it'd probably be quite interesting. i don't quite get the 'chrome' moniker for it though befuddlement
Perhaps Google lets its engineers rather than marketing people pick product names, which would explain this.
On a technical level, the device runs a variant of ChromeOS.
Google apparently published documentation for a "Cast" protocol, as if they expect other hardware vendors to implement it in their own devices, making Chromecast the ChromeOS-based implementation of Cast. I wonder if they're going to at least merge these features with existing GoogleTV devices in a software update.
On a side note, one notable feature this device could have had but doesn't would be Miracast (wireless HDMI) support. Although Google seems to be trying to push Miracast via send support in Nexus 4 and the new Nexus 7, there aren't any affordable devices that receive it. I wouldn't be surprised if they make another version of this device later that adds this and maybe more.
Because I chose Amazon's Free Super Saver Shipping, I just today got mine in the mail.
Some additional details:
Although Chromecast's sales pages and documentation explicitly say that Tab Cast only works on Windows, OS X, and Chromebook Pixel, it works perfectly fine for me on any Linux distribution like Ubuntu.
Even when using a device (like a desktop) that's connected to your router via Ethernet, as long as Cast is connected to the same router, you can successfully cast; Wi-Fi is not required on all devices, although Chromecast itself needs Wi-Fi. I would assume this also works with Ethernet-connected Android devices.
The Netflix promo ended only about a day after Chromecast was put up for sale because of the apparently immense demand. For purchases from Amazon, it took over 5 days (after the shipping confirmation) for purchasers to receive their promo code, which for me happened to also be today at about the same time I received my Chromecast in the mail.
Apps like Netflix scan the network for a Chromecast while starting up. If yours is not powered at the time you open the app, you must close and re-open the app to get a Cast button.
Chrome does support playing some local videos, so if you're really desperate to play local content you can cast a tab that's playing a video to the Chromecast. I believe Chrome has similar media support to PS3/etc in that there's no subtitle rendering and no mkv support.
According to the Internet, Chromecast is actually not based on ChromeOS, but rather is like a stripped-down Google TV (Android-based) with the Dalvik java runtime removed and replaced with the single native binary that runs the device's functionality. Additionally, Google claims that its current Google TV devices will receive an update later this year to support the Cast protocol, which means Google TV will be able to do everything Chromecast currently does and in the same way; there's no need to own both devices unless you plan to use them with different TVs.
if i didnt have a roku 3 id totes buy this
I bought one, really cool to stream and control from your phone/tablet.