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Google Offers $35 Chromecast Streaming Video Device

In addition to unveiling their latest Nexus 7 tablet, Google yesterday turned heads with the release of Chromecast, a $35 device that plugs into a television's HDMI port and allows users to stream content from their phone, tablet or PC directly to their television. According to the Google blog announcement, the device works with Netflix, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, and Google Play Music, with more services on the way.

The device is already on sale over at Amazon, where quite amusingly it already has 42 user reviews despite the fact nobody has really used it yet.

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elios
join:2005-11-15
Springfield, MO

elios

Member

Media player classic

if it can be made to work with VLC and Media player classic im ALL over this

Camelot One
MVM
join:2001-11-21
Bloomington, IN

Camelot One

MVM

Re: Media player classic

said by elios:

if it can be made to work with VLC and Media player classic im ALL over this

I have been looking all over, but havent been able to confirm that it supports streaming from the local network. For $35, it would be a great xbmc extender for me, but every article I find only discusses streaming from certain websites.

elios
join:2005-11-15
Springfield, MO

elios

Member

Re: Media player classic

i have yet to find some thing that would let me stream .mkv files with subtitles
if you find one let me know
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon

Member

Re: Media player classic

Vplayer for Android does mkv, not sure about subtitles. I just ordered one out of curiosity given how cheap it is. I could see this getting huge support from dev community, maybe even games.

Koil
Premium Member
join:2002-09-10
Irmo, SC

Koil

Premium Member

Re: Media player classic

said by xenophon:

I could see this getting huge support from dev community, maybe even games.

Given the likes of XMBC, Plex, SickBeard, CouchPotato and the like, I'd say this is an understatement.

This will get the full, unadulterated TEAM RAMROD backing of the dev community.

Curtis c
@rr.com

Curtis c to xenophon

Anon

to xenophon
Best Buy just received the today. Save a few bucks. I did, I went inside and was the first to get one today...
tonyrayo
join:2002-06-06
Alexandria, VA

tonyrayo to Camelot One

Member

to Camelot One
I have a smallish Android-powered device (running the native XBMC Android client) connected to my home network over Wireless N and am able to stream all of my content from a 8TB NAS box (including 1080p mkv with 7.1 audio and subtitles). A lot of issues these HDMI stick devices have are streaming speed and decoding, but the Android build of XBMC is pretty solid... I also recommend a Raspberry Pi running a distro of OpenELEC.

tiger72
SexaT duorP
Premium Member
join:2001-03-28
Saint Louis, MO

tiger72

Premium Member

ordered

For $11 after the 3 month netflix credit, I'm definitely in for one. We'll see if this does better than Google TV and is more useful for my Android and iOS-mixed home than an AppleTV would be.
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon

Member

Re: ordered

Amazon no tax and free 2day shipping if on Prime.

tiger72
SexaT duorP
Premium Member
join:2001-03-28
Saint Louis, MO

tiger72

Premium Member

Re: ordered

yeah I got it from the play store as soon as it was announced. Prolly shoulda done Prime instead, but it's sold out at Amazon for the time being =(
Expand your moderator at work

Bootes
Premium Member
join:2005-01-28
New York, NY

Bootes to xenophon

Premium Member

to xenophon
Amazon has tax for many, probably most at this point.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5 to xenophon

Premium Member

to xenophon
said by xenophon:

Amazon no tax and free 2day shipping if on Prime.

But Amazon Prime is not YET one of the services that can stream to the device. But I am sure that will come soon.
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon

Member

Re: ordered

I meant that Prime members get free 2 day shipping, but it would be nice if Prime video eventually supported. Is it confirmed Prime doesn't work via chrome browser on laptop?

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: ordered

said by xenophon:

it would be nice if Prime video eventually supported. Is it confirmed Prime doesn't work via chrome browser on laptop?

Another poster claims that almost any video web site that can be watched in a Google Chrome browser tab can be streamed to the Chromecast device.
»If this thing works, it will be beyond huge.
Chuck_IV
join:2003-11-18
Connecticut

Chuck_IV

Member

Re: ordered

Until the networks/websites start targeting the device and prevent the streams from playing on it.

That is exactly what happened to Google TV. At first it was great, then the websites figured out how to ID what was trying to play it and most things stopped working.

It will be interesting to see if this device is immune to blocking(I doubt it).
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

1 recommendation

xenophon

Member

Re: ordered

In cases where the browser ID would come from laptop, they may not know. They could maybe block Chrome altogether but savvy users will just change the Chrome agent ID to IE.

Koil
Premium Member
join:2002-09-10
Irmo, SC

Koil to Chuck_IV

Premium Member

to Chuck_IV
Agree with xenophon See Profile, I don't' see how they'll know, unless something is expressly sent to them from the browser, that I'm casting from my browser. Hopefully, they don't do this, and if they do, I would imagine a hack would be pretty easy to put in the middle of it.

Chris C
@rr.com

Chris C to FFH5

Anon

to FFH5
I have been trying to stream web videos from Chrome, nothing's been working, just YouTube and Netflix.. I'm still trying though... Got to finish the rest of the Orange is the New Black show.. Haha.. From my phone, it didn't even drain the battery, basically the device works as a remote once you turn the app on. Then you can use the device as normal, I tried on all my devices. Works flowlessly. While watching Netflix from my wife's Galaxy phone, she received a call and it kept playing. She actually told the person to hold on so she can pause the show.

Koil
Premium Member
join:2002-09-10
Irmo, SC

1 edit

Koil

Premium Member

Re: ordered

When dealing with Netflix, YouTube, etc, your phone isn't doing anything except for letting the Chromecast know where to go in Netflix...it connects directly to Netflix or YouTube directly over the Wifi, not through your phone, so battery drain should be next to nil, aside from screen time and some wifi usage.

Chris C
@rr.com

Chris C

Anon

Re: ordered

Exactly.... Just like if your using a wireless printer to print from your couch..

JMHO42
@verizon.net

JMHO42 to FFH5

Anon

to FFH5
You can stream from Amazon Prime--you just use the Chrome browser function (just as you can do with any browser-supported service--Hulu for instance).

Curtis C
@rr.com

Curtis C to xenophon

Anon

to xenophon
Already got mine. Got it at Best Buy this morning. Ordered it online lastnight and cancelled it. Saved about 6 bucks. I too have Amazon Prime and there was tax
Justin024
join:2010-08-11
Atlanta, GA

Justin024

Member

It has some drawbacks

While this device is easy to use and economically friendly it's nothing more than a "mirroring" device. Unless an app supports it you can't stream pictures or videos you have on your smart phone to the TV unless you upload them to youtube. I have an Apple TV and I live the ability to stream content on my phone to my TV.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

Re: It has some drawbacks

the sdk is already available. app developers have the means to make their apps stream directly to chromecast. The only mirroring that I've seen is the chrome browser.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

1 recommendation

88615298 (banned) to Justin024

Member

to Justin024
said by Justin024:

While this device is easy to use and economically friendly it's nothing more than a "mirroring" device. Unless an app supports it you can't stream pictures or videos you have on your smart phone to the TV unless you upload them to youtube. I have an Apple TV and I live the ability to stream content on my phone to my TV.

wrong. it doesn't mirror. and you can use things like HBOGO from the Chrome browser until the HBOGo app has official support. perhaps you should read up on something before commenting on it.
Justin024
join:2010-08-11
Atlanta, GA

Justin024

Member

Re: It has some drawbacks

I did in fact read the artical yesterday when the news broke so maybe you should check your facts first. You put a damn HDMI stick into your TV and all supported apps in addition to your chrome browser streams to your TV. It's a genius idea but it isn't perfect so keep it movin.
ihatedslr
join:2000-12-11
US

ihatedslr

Member

yep

I bought mine as soon as I could add it to the cart.

Koil
Premium Member
join:2002-09-10
Irmo, SC

Koil

Premium Member

If this thing works, it will be beyond huge.

"Google confirmed to WIRED that you could run Hulu, Rdio, and HBO Go right out of the gate."
»www.wired.com/gadgetlab/ ··· -device/

FTA:
quote:
Chromecast is delightfully cross-platform. It works with Android and iOS phones and tablets, Chromebooks, and the Chrome browser for Mac and Windows. The original device controls playback–so if you want to turn up the volume on your TV, simply turn up the volume on your phone. Any program that uses the Googlecast SDK can send content–Google specifically mentioned Netflix and YouTube, and says Pandora is on the way. The Chrome browser itself can also sling content via “Chrome tab projection.”

That last point is huge. It means no matter what the web video or audio source (with the exception of Silverlight and Quicktime video) you should be able to play it on your TV if it plays in your desktop browser tab.
That opens the door to web-based entertainment options right out of the gate without having to wait for the developers to take advantage of Google’s SDK. Google confirmed to WIRED that you could run Hulu, Rdio, and HBO Go right out of the gate. You can project your Flickr photos, your web-based presentations, really just about anything that runs in the browser. (Like, say, porn. As one WIRED staffer put it, “this is the pornslinger.”) That’s pretty amazing.
Also of note:
quote:
Update: After a quick hands-on, we (quickly!) found that the Chromecast experience is awful if you don’t have a solid WiFi connection. (For a sense of how bad the wifi was in the room where we were testing, it took close to a minute just to get Google results for “free Simpsons video.”) Got a lousy router? You’d better beware.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: If this thing works, it will be beyond huge.

said by Koil:

Update: After a quick hands-on, we (quickly!) found that the Chromecast experience is awful if you don’t have a solid WiFi connection. (For a sense of how bad the wifi was in the room where we were testing, it took close to a minute just to get Google results for “free Simpsons video.”) Got a lousy router? You’d better beware.

You need at least a good high end 802.11n router. And even better would be an 802.11ac router. But the device's specs say it is only works on the 2.4ghz frequency and NOT the less crowded 5ghz frequency. But what can you expect for $35?

»play.google.com/store/de ··· romecast

Wireless
2.4 GHz WiFi 802.11 b/g/n


Koil
Premium Member
join:2002-09-10
Irmo, SC

Koil

Premium Member

Re: If this thing works, it will be beyond huge.

I have 1 router in the house, and our living room is down one floor and at the other end of the house from it. Signal gets pretty weak by the time it goes through all the walls and floors.

I had the same issue with my PS3, but got around that by using Coax modems to run a hardline to the PS3. I imagine what I will end up doing is keeping the coax modem, and setting up another router downstairs on the same network.

•••••
Justin024
join:2010-08-11
Atlanta, GA

Justin024 to FFH5

Member

to FFH5
I have FiOS so what specifications would one need to maximize the data connection?

••••
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon to Koil

Member

to Koil
If this succeeds, just a matter of time Chromecast is built into SmartTVs, especially if there is no license fee.
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Re: If this thing works, it will be beyond huge.

Google is already saying that they're working with other companies to use this tech in their products. So yes, it's coming.

Chris C
@rr.com

Chris C to Koil

Anon

to Koil
I finally got Amazon to play, I had to update the Chrome Browser. The only thing is the audio, could get any audio to play. What do you think that it could be? It plays on the MacBook, but not the TV. Maybe I should go to the audio settings on the laptop... Haha

Koil
Premium Member
join:2002-09-10
Irmo, SC

Koil

Premium Member

Re: If this thing works, it will be beyond huge.

Right now I think there is only solid support for MP4's through Chrome. From what I've seen, MKV's will play without audio, and AVI's won't play at all.

Do remember you're now considered an "early adopter" as this is young, infant even....I assure it won't be long before there are apps 'o' plenty for this that will take care of that and do much more (Plex / XMBC integration).

People are still messing with it. If I find anything, I'll update ya.

Chris C
@rr.com

Chris C

Anon

Re: If this thing works, it will be beyond huge.

Cool, Thanks
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon to Koil

Member

to Koil
Wired did a review...
»www.wired.com/gadgetlab/ ··· omecast/
xenophon

xenophon to Koil

Member

to Koil
The more I look into the development kit and licensing, the more I realize the dongle itself is just a demonstration. The real product is the DIAL protocol developed by Netflix/Google. There is no license fee, Google probably isn't interested the dongle itself, they want to get thins into future TVs. Roku could put the DIAL protocol in future devices, possibly even upgrade recent devices.

The APIs appear to be rich enough to do far more complex interaction between TV and multiple devices. It's not just about video and webcasting.

Multiple devices can connect so maybe eventually could do things like play a card game that needs to hide cards from view. The TV shows playing table, each tablet or phone shows player cards privately. Maybe a simplistic/impractical example but there are opportunities to do things like this with rich APIs.

And as SmartTV makers include this protocol, it will be easier for them to put out tablet apps that control all aspects of the TV setup, imagine being able to 'slide' the brightness or contrast of the TV from tablet.

The DIAL protocol and APIs being license free are what will set this apart from other streaming devices. Once this becomes standard on SmartTVs and developers create rich interactive apps between TV and devices, it will _then_ be innovative.

Koil
Premium Member
join:2002-09-10
Irmo, SC

Koil

Premium Member

Additional info

Seeing confirmed reports that if it will play in the tab, it will be sent to your TV, but mirrored.

People are just entering a their local path within the address bar of Chrome (C:\) and then dragging a file onto the tab for it to play.

This should not be a huge issue for an app to be developed that allows integration from your PC to the Chromecast directly, without the mirroring aspect.

Also interesting:

Wow, lots of interest in Chromecast and Plex. Yes, we've ordered a few of them

— plex (@plexapp) July 24, 2013

Koil

1 edit

Koil

Premium Member

Google Chromecast Press Release Video

Watch this!

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· _nR-XskU

cableties
Premium Member
join:2005-01-27

cableties

Premium Member

44 Amazon reviews???

This thing ships in 3-4weeks...wtf! talk about schills...
(and this is why I don't believe Amazon reviewers...especially those that have paragraphs...)
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Re: 44 Amazon reviews???

Yeah, others have also noticed and commented on that, too.

There was one reviewer who seemed to be a beta tester, and their review seemed pretty honest, as it wasn't all praise, but yeah, kind of hard to review something before it's even in your hands yet.
cramer
Premium Member
join:2007-04-10
Raleigh, NC

cramer

Premium Member

Re: 44 Amazon reviews???

And they're violating their NDA posting those reviews.

WK2
Premium Member
join:2006-12-28
united state

WK2

Premium Member

Very Nice

This little device is pretty cool, and for $35 and free Netflix (3 months) it makes it even better!

Koil
Premium Member
join:2002-09-10
Irmo, SC

Koil

Premium Member

Just ordered mine @ Best Buy

Just ordered mine @ Best Buy...pick it up in 45 minutes. $37.22 out the door.

shweet!
etaadmin
join:2002-01-17
united state

etaadmin

Member

NSA connection

Does this thing include a direct connection to the NSA or it will be optional?

••••
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

1 recommendation

elray

Member

Meh

Yet another Roku device. Oh yeah, that's innovative.

•••••

mromero
Premium Member
join:2000-12-07
Fullerton, CA

mromero

Premium Member

wow

lmfao holy price gouging on amazon right now

tito79
join:2010-03-14
Port Saint Lucie, FL

tito79

Member

Re: wow

Lucky I bought mines on the playstore.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

not needed

there are already Linux boxes that put this to shame using XBMC. make your HDTV smart and your cable company poor

tito79
join:2010-03-14
Port Saint Lucie, FL

tito79

Member

Re: not needed

Amazon price went up to 70 bucks a pop
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon

Member

Re: not needed

That's not the Amazon price, it's from the partnered sellers who setup virtual stores within Amazon. It looks like Amazon took it off their own store after selling out.

CosmicDebri
Still looking for intelligent life
join:2001-09-01
Lake City, FL

CosmicDebri

Member

The Price

The low price is the only real thing new about this. Cheaper than the roku, boxee, etc...... as soon as someone cobbles up an app to stream anything on your 'smart device' to a tv it will be a real 'big thing'. Right now we can do the same thing with our computers, cheaper. Just need an hdmi or dvi or vga/audio cable(s) and good to go. But no one wants wires anymore... even though you get much better quality thru the wires.....

Right now the tab slinging is in beta, but the couple people who seem to know what they are talking about says it works pretty decent right now, so most things you can get in a Chrome browser tab can stream to the tv......

•••
amungus
Premium Member
join:2004-11-26
America

amungus

Premium Member

more plastic crap

I've had a full PC hooked up for going on 3yrs. now, and have had laptops hooked up at various times prior to that (via S-Video, VGA, and HDMI).

Sure, it might be neat for some folks for a short time, but it's yet another cheap toy that doesn't do nearly what a full machine will.

I'd be curious, as others have noted, if it will support a real media player. If it did that, I might care a little more.
Full FLAC support, and good video format support, good stuff. Otherwise, seems like a gimmick.
...might be useful to tinker with on other TVs, but I wouldn't care for it taking up a valuable HDMI port on my main one.
travelguy
join:1999-09-03
Bismarck, ND
Asus RT-AC68
Ubiquiti NSM5

travelguy

Member

No More Netflix

If you didn't get your order in, too late for the NetFlix promo...
quote:
Citing overwhelming demand, Google on Thursday said it has ended a Netflix promotion tied to its new Chromecast TV dongle.

The promotion gave users, new and existing, three free months of Netflix's video streaming service, valued at about $24, when they bought Chromecast, a $35 gadget that was announced Wednesday.
»www.latimes.com/business ··· 13.story

•••••

Curtis C
@rr.com

Curtis C

Anon

I bought mine... It's cool

I actually ordered mine lastnight from google play, it was gonna be around 43.00 ( shipping and taxes ) I remember it sAying allow it 3-4 weeks to arrive, I also saw it was being sold on Amazon and best buy. So I stopped over at Best Buy this morning and was the first one to get it there. I got lucky because they hadn't even brought them out and a Magnolia guy said he'll get it for me. So I brought it home. It's pretty cool. It doesn't drain the device you connect them to, you can multitask on the device while it is being used. It's basically like super fancy remote control. Saved 5 bucks and 3-4 weeks wait time. Just need to hurry and add more services, like Hbogo and other ones. I cancelled my online order

Koil
Premium Member
join:2002-09-10
Irmo, SC

Koil

Premium Member

You Can Play Local Video Files Through Chromecast

»www.droid-life.com/2013/ ··· omecast/
quote:
We’re still playing around with the Chromecast, and will have some thoughts on it later, but we wanted to point out a feature that you may not have been aware of after watching yesterday’s demo from Google. Chromecast can play local video files from your computer to a TV. That means you aren’t stuck with YouTube or Netflix or uploading your current collection to a cloud service – you can grab files already on your computer and then stream them to a TV.

Outside of owning a Chromecast device (which is sold out everywhere), all you have to do is install the Chromecast extension (»www.droid-life.com/2013/ ··· ailable/) on your PC, then find the file path of a local video file that you’d like to play, paste that path into the address bar in a Chrome browser, and then press the Chromecast button to cast it on over. It really is that simple.

One of our readers said he noticed a slight frame rate drop, but it’s not all that noticeable. I tried it as well and thought video looked pretty damn good.

Again, we’re still familiarizing ourselves with Chromecast, but are hoping to have more later today.
Koil

Koil

Premium Member

People are selling these for absurd prices on eBay & CL


»www.ebay.com/sch/i.html? ··· &_sop=16
Snapped 2013-10-16 23:16:11


The first one is obviously bullshit, but look at the rest of them...good Lord.
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