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Google Chromecast Reviewed; Google Nixes Netflix Discount
adeelarshad82 writes "While it's more limited than the Roku 3 and by no means Google's answer to Airplay, Chromecast sets itself apart from other similar products simply based on its price and potential of bringing Internet HDTV streaming to many more people than before. Priced at only $35, it's a direct stick that plugs into your HDTV's HDMI port and lets you stream media from Netflix, YouTube, and Google Play through your smartphone, tablet, or notebook. Unlike the Roku Stick, it uses a separate micro-USB port instead of MHL to power it. This on one hand means you need to run a cable from the stick to a USB port, making it much less neat than it would seem. On the other hand, it means the stick works with any HDTV, whether it has an MHL-capable HDMI port or not. Once connected, the setup itself is fairly simple and entirely app-controlled. Past the setup, your streaming content choices are currently limited, though Google released an API for the Chromecast, so more apps could support it in the future. For now Android users can stream media from Google Play Movies and Music, as well as Netflix and YouTube whereas iOS users can watch Netflix and YouTube via the Chromecast. From a computer, users can stream media from Netflix, YouTube, Google Play, and Chrome. Unlike Apple TV and AirPlay, Chromecast doesn't let you stream your locally stored media. In fact Google Play Music gives an error message when you try to play music you loaded on your device yourself and not through the Google Play store. All in all, at $35 it's the most affordable way to access online media services on your HDTV."
El Reg also got their hands on one. Alas, one perk of grabbing the Chromecast is gone: Google ended the free three month Netflix bundle that was worth almost as much as the cost of the Chromecast itself after sales were much higher than expected (so high it looks like they ran out of them after only a day). Update: 07/26 21:20 GMT by U L : iFixIt posted a teardown of the Chromecast.
From Wired's Dongle Style review:
Yes, you can play local video. At least some of it. A not-strictly-speaking legitimate copy of Black Mirror in MKV file format played magnificently on our television when we dropped it in a Chrome browser window.
Likewise, if you’re running it in a browser, Amazon Instant video, Hulu, Rdio, and HBO Go all just work. As did video from Wired, Gawker media, and Flickr slideshows. We ran photos from Facebook fullscreen. We watched a live Flash stream of a Braves game on an extremely shady bootleg site that spawned approximately a gazillion Chrome windows in the background.
Good luck getting one though.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
When you can buy a full-featured Roku 3 for only $100, I don't really get it either.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
1. Make a splash with all the tech review sites by announcing your new $35 product comes with three free months of Netflix, guaranteeing that you'll get tons of press.
2. Stop the offer after one day, without warning.
3. Profit! By taking advantage of all the people that will only find the initial review when they check out your product, and so won't know the deal is off.
4. Whisper "don't be evil" al the way to the bank...
#DeleteChrome
It's a cute device, but not really ready for public consumption. Its restricted (or incomplete?) support means you can only use what Google lets you rather than any video on the source device.
I'm sure they'll improve the compatibility, but until then it's just a device that streams Google approved content.
I can buy an entire movie studio for a few million bucks, so I don't see why anyone would want something less than half the price.
Android Media Players tend to be a little bit sketchy. I have a Pivos Xios and I quite like it, but mine is running Linux. Under Android, there are a few too many drawbacks to make it worthwhile, starting with the limitations of a stock Android interface when using a remote control or some kind of mouse.
The general problem that Android players have is that they tend to be under-powered, particularly compared to top-end phones and tablets. Developers are working hard, but for now there are still odd limitations in playback support or worse, an inability to support high quality playback when a proper source IS available. They wind up being acceptable targets for streaming media, but only at modest bit rates and for a limited subset of codecs. We all WANT a low-power, fanless device that can run Plex or XBMC with application support for every streaming service under the sun, but no one is making that box quite yet.
That said, I don't think the world is exactly crying out for another way to get Netflix or Youtube onto a TV in the living room.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
When you can buy a full-featured Roku 3 for only $100, I don't really get it either.
According to Wired.com "[I]f you’re running it in a browser, Amazon Instant video, Hulu, Rdio, and HBO Go all just work. As did video from Wired, Gawker media, and Flickr slideshows." I have a Roku and love it, but I also have Comcast. That means, in its infinite retardery, I can not watch HBO Go on my Roku. If this really does work as well as Wired says it does, I can watch it through the Chromecast Chrome browser, making my Roku a paperweight.
that's the only thing i can see using it for if i didn't have an apple tv and a Mac
if you don't pay for cable you can stream live sports to your TV now instead of watching it on a computer
Roku units are god-awful for playback of local content. They're only half a solution to the Smart TV problem.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
Roku units are god-awful for playback of local content.
I'm running Plex on mine, which seems to work well. Gotta set the server up on a pc, but it seems pretty low impact.
"Doesn't allow"? You mean none of the apps at launch do that. Considering you can write your own sender and receiver apps, it allows you to do just about anything you can code.
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
That is a very poor workaround, that plays the video locally then does some messy screen casting to give you compression artifacts/chop/stutter and lip sync issues:
http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/24/4553368/hands-on-googles-35-chromecast-a-streaming-tv-stick
Perhaps most interesting of all, we got to try a new beta feature of Chrome that lets you stream the contents of a web browser tab itself to your TV via the Chromecast. It's not particularly impressive yet: scrolling doesn't come close to keeping up with your finger, and there's visible compression artifacts whenever there's rapid motion: it's a lot like streaming game services like OnLive and Gaikai, but with a lot more delay. ... Video plays with only a bit of chop and stutter, and lips don't quite sync up with the audio, which could be maddening for some.
WD TV, Roku aren't that expensive and handle local streaming flawlessly.
I want a cheep device that simply mirrors my screen (from whatever device, like a VNC viewer) to my TV over my LAN. Give me that and I'll be a happy camper.
Using Chrome and the Chromecast Extension you can mirror your screen. Simply click the "Cast" button and select "Cast entire screen" under the arrow.
Do you not know how to set up a webserver to stream your library from your local share?
Is there a reason I should have to do this?
I think if you own the movie studio you will have little need of seeing "through" clothing. ;)
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
I really hope the hacking community gets behind this thing. (At $35 I expect they will.) If someone can figure out how to get XBMC to run on it then my Christmas shopping is done.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
Setting up Plex Server:
1. Download Plex and click install.
2. Choose folders to share from.the web admin client.
Setting up client on Roku:
1. Choose Plex app from store
2. Let Plex find server.
Perhaps I am in the minority here, but "anything I can code" is the same as "nothing".
Even if most products are NOT hits, everyone HOPES for one, and an organization as big as Google should at least PLAN for the possibility of one -- and at this price, SOMEONE in the googleplex should have figured out that it had a good chance of actually being one. They should have either a) had an infinite number of Netflix discount codes available, or b) CLEARLY publicized "First N customers get 3 free months of Netflix!" And then be prepared to reach N in a matter of minutes.
For as many PHDs as Google has, it's continually surprising how much stuff like this they screw up.
(Sorry for the caps. I'm tired and don't feel like writing tags. Dear Slashdot, its 2013. Please get a rich text editor for comments -- bold, ital, underline, strikethrough, lists, blockquote, and link oughtta do it.)
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
So the fact that you can't do it equates to you being not allowed to do it?
I'm gonna find the bastard who's not allowed me to be a pro athlete and sue him for decades of lost income.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face