Google introduces Chromecast - 35 bucks?!?
 

This looks like it will really test Roku/Apple TV. For that price point, I'm not sure how it couldn't. From what I'm hearing, you can stream anything from your desktop to the connected device, but not from mobile. Only supported apps from mobile will stream. More to come, I'm sure.

http://cnet.co/1c2ZBTm

Google's taking yet another stab at the living room.

Today Google introduced Chromecast, a stick-like device that connects to one of your TV's HDMI inputs and accepts video pushed from smartphones, tablets and the Chrome browser. It's available for just $35 starting today from the Google Play store in the US, with availability in other countries to follow.

The compact 2-inch device will work with Netflix, YouTube, Google Play Movies and TV, and Google Play Music at launch, with support for future services, including Pandora, coming soon. It's a cross-platform device, with support for both Android and iOS devices, as well as the Chrome browser on both Windows and Mac computers. More details are currently available on the Google's Chrome blog.

Chromecast's approach is different than most devices on the market: it's half-remote, half-streaming media box. The idea is instead of designing a TV-optimized user interface, you'll be able to select and control content from your smartphone or tablet. Browse the Netflix app, find your content, then tell it to play in your living room. Chromecast even goes one step further, by automatically switching your TV to the correct input and giving you the ability to adjust the volume using your mobile devices built-in volume controls. The ability for Android devices to pause content without unlocking the phone first seemed particularly well-implemented.

You'll also be able to juggle control between multiple mobile devices, with Chromecast syncing between connected devices. You can start playing Netflix from your tablet, then later use a smartphone to fast-forward. Using the YouTube app, you can also create a shared queue of content, stringing together several short web videos for an extended viewing session. All-in-all, Google's demos looked particularly slick.

As sleek as the Chromecast device looks, Google's initial presentation skimmed over some of the rougher edges. The specs in the Google Play store list both a USB power cable and a power adapter, which indicate that the Chromecast will have some wires hanging off it -- it's not truly "just a stick". It's the same method PLAiR used to power its similar HDMI-based streaming stick.

The hardware itself supports 2.4 GHz WiFi 802.11, which isn't quite as nice as the dual-band Wi-Fi offered on Roku's Streaming Stick. The internal processor is capable of playing back full 1080p video with 5.1 surround sound.

I haven't had any hands-on time with the Chromecast yet, but from the initial announcement, the biggest limitation appears to be app support. Supporting only four services out-of-the-gate puts Chromecast well behind established players like Roku and Apple TV, and limited functionality was also one of the major knocks against the ill-fated Nexus Q.

However, the big difference with Chromecast ultralow $35 price. It's a lot easier to accept those limitations when you haven't paid much upfront and the low price should also help spread adoption, which should encourage services to include Chromecast at a faster rate.

This is a developing story so stay tuned for further details as we get them.

More info directly from Google here:

https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrom...es/chromecast/

Neat. For $35, I may buy one just to play with even though I've got apps in all my TV's already.

Already bought it. I'll waste $35 on a failed experiment.

Sounds cool, but im not sure what i'd gain from using it. If i want to watch netflix I simply turn on my PS3.

How is this more advantageous than simply turning on my PS3 or even connecting my laptop to my T.V?

Just another option. If you already have ways of doing Netflix on your TV, this won't bring much.

I suppose the only major innovation here is the controls - you can control what's playing on your TV from a laptop, phone, or tablet, so if you do a lot of surfing on a laptop while watching TV, it might be an easier way than clicking through a bunch of menus on a PS3.

I'm waiting for Google Fiber to show up in my neighborhood. It should be soon. :)

I watch a lot of sporting events streaming that aren't available in my area. If I can do that with this instead of an XBMC box it's certainly an intriguing option.

TV watching is so complicated.

I don't see what is so special about it.

Surprised you didn't gripe about the cost. :)

It's like any of Google's new stuff. They like to roll stuff out early and build momentum rather than wait years until it's nice and polished. They also announced their developer tools for it today, so they're counting on the low price to suck lots of people in so that developers will feel compelled to support it.

the price is good but they have to have more support or you are just throwing your money away. You can get a Roku with a shit ton of programming for only $50

This would have been a great device!



In 2008!

No argument. They've clearly got a long way to go. Still, the concept is appealing - especially being able to control it from just about any device.

Also, it comes with 3 months of Netflix (even for current subscribers), so assuming you're getting it to use with Netflix, it's $11.

I'd put my Measy U2C up against any of these devices.

Oh, and they're throwing in 3 months of Netflix for free, both for new and existing customers. As an existing customer, net cost of this is $11. Yeah, I'm in. I ordered a few minutes ago, but they're already out of stock. We'll see how long before I get it.

I just ordered one solely for my bedroom tv to watch Netflix on. That tv is an older one with a basic DVD player, so having the netflix stream PLUS the 3 free months (that's $24 right there), is a pretty cheap investment.

This is basically pre order. They are going to start shipping the first batch in 3-4 weeks

ordered 2

When I pulled it up on Amazon earlier in the day, it implied it was available and would ship within a few days. Now I'm reading that there's inconsistency on when they'll ship. Oh well, I can wait.

Amazon had them on Prime, which implies that they were set to go as quick as overnight on them. Guess we'll see if that actually happens.

I wish I'd pulled the trigger, just had too much going at work. Would be fun to be one of the first to get one.

I'd get it if I didn't already have an AppleTV.

Yeah, they should ship quick. Some ppl have already picked them up at brick&mortar stores. Best Buy says shipped or delivered(I can't recall) around Aug 1st. I ordered from amazon while OOS so I may have to wait.

3 free months of Netflix is sweet, devs writing a way to stream from an HDD would be sweeter!

Picked one up for the bedroom. Have Google TV in the living room and have been looking for a cheap way to stream Netflix and YouTube from my Nexus 7 on bed.
They're also supposed to be building out HBOgo support which will allow me to drift off nightly to The Wire.

You should be able to do HBOGo from a laptop even now using the Chrome syncing gizmo.

Care to elaborate?

35 bucks?

Yes.

In.

The stuff I've read online says you can play any HTML5 or Flash video. Just load up the page containing the video in Chrome and then hit the extension's button to send it to your TV.

I guess I'm not 100% sure that HBOGo uses those two tech types, though. If it uses Silverlight like Netflix, it'll need its own app.

i control my Apple TV with my ipad.

As usual, however, that's Apple specific. This is universal.

That sounds great.

I love technology, and I love the way TV watching is rapidly evolving.

I also control my AppleTV with my Android phone. So it's not necessarily Apple specific....

Well, OK. Not an officially-supported way of being universal then. :p

This is MEANT to be universal :D

They killed the free 3 months of Netflix deal. Rumor going around is that anyone who ordered after 1 PM PST yesterday is out of luck (that would include me - ordered yesterday evening). Would Google really spoil the buzz on this product by doing this? Seems they'll upset a lot of people who ordered on the day the product was announced.

I smell a lot of cancellations if they really did that. Thats messed up.

Jeebus. You'd think a company as smart as Google could predict the kind of fallout they're about to get from this sort of move. What are they thinking?

That's what I was thinking. So, you want me to pay $35 for something that anyone who has a gaming console can do. I can even hook my laptop to the TV and watch that way. Sure, $35 isn't much, but I'd hope that it would do something at least a little bit unique.

Here's a pretty good comparison of this to the other popular options (game consoles, AppleTV, and Roku).

http://qz.com/107942/googles-chromec...dia-solutions/

it basically makes your TV a monitor for your smartphone. Pretty smart. and it sold out already in hours. Google own YouTube. The easier they make it to watch Youtube on a device you already have in your hand (rather than turn on your game console and open the YT interface, etc.) the better it is for them. My father is 74. he watches netflix on his tablet but his neck gets tired. Now he can just bring up a movie he likes and watch it on his TV. Simple.

This is kind of accurate, but in function it's got one important difference: the video itself is being streamed directly to the Chromecast, so once it's started, you can keep doing whatever you want on your phone/tablet/laptop after you press play.

That's pretty rad. I was at Google's L.A. office today (shameless namedrop) talking about doing some YouTube-based ideas for one of our clients and they were telling me about Chromecast. It's pretty kewl.

It lets you stream video from the browser. If this includes flash content, that's unique. I don't know about PS, but XBox doesn't do flash with it's onboard IE. Neither does iOS.

As mentioned before, I'm watching a lot of sporting events that I can only find on say, justin.tv or firstrow. If I can stream that to my TV without having to hook up cables, as well as be able to do other things on my laptop while I do, that's certainly worth the money to me. It was especially so at $11, but even if they have killed Netflix, it still is at 35.

So say I get NFL Sunday Ticket on mobile since I am getting Madden would this be able to stream the games from mobile to my TV?

Most likely not. It's not designed to take arbitrary content and display it on the TV from what I've read.

See above plus the fact that if $600 iPhone doesn't have the processing power to run flash then neither will this $35 dingus that's the size of a thumb drive.

What I think is completely ridiculous is that for all the pictures that makes this look like you can just plug in this doohicky into the HDMI port and be watching video, you still have to connect it to AC power through the USB port on the back of the Chromecast thingy.

What's the point of it being small if I've still got to string power from it to an already nearly full power strip that may or may not have room for the USB adapter?

I'll stick to my AppleTV that can play HBO Go, ESPN, Netflix, YouTube, Vimeo, Hulu, my entire iTunes library, mirror what's on my Mac, mirror what's on my iPhone or iPad, and be controlled by an iPhone, Android, universal remote or the tiny remote that it came with.

It's a hundred bucks versus $35 and currently a lot more functional.

Okay, thanks. I'll just pick up an HDMI adapter for my iPhone then

It has less to do with "processing power" than Adobe's refusal to support mobile platforms. Adobe made a conscious decision with Flash Player; they set in motion its death. HTML 5 FTW.

Based on the way they've described it, my guess is that Chromecast won't be able to play "Flash" necessarily - it can play flash VIDEO. In other words, it doesn't need to process all of the other junk that comes with Flash since they probably just embedded a generic .flv player that can pick up whatever video is in focus on Chrome.

What caveman Chest want know is can watch firstrow on magic stick?

Many thank advance.

My guess would be yes, but it's tough to say for sure until people start trying it out.

You're my new favorite Planet member. I don't care what Bob Dole says about you.

So I ordered from the Google Play store before 1pm PST the day of the release. I've already been informed that it's been shipped, and I just got the Netflix promo code in my inbox. When I originally ordered, it said it would be shipped in August. Interesting.

You'll definitely have to give us a review once you get it. For the price, I'm tempted to just get one myself, but I don't really have any use for it until they get more apps on there (two Smart TV's and a Roku). I'd love to know if it's brilliant or yet another clunker.

I'll put up a review after a thorough testing, for sure. As I was telling Teedub on Twitter, it's really meant for my old man (as I already have other options), but I need to do some "testing" and make sure it'll be up to par :D

Since I travel a lot, I'm fairly interested. Especially at the price point. Perfect for keeping in my carry on and just hooking up to a hotel TV. Now if I could get Sunday Ticket on this, I'd be set.

Looks like I may have been wrong in my post earlier. Some reports are that you can push anything that's in a web browser to the TV. Best to wait and see or just deal with the fact that you may have dropped a a third to half what you could have spent on something like the Roku or Apple TV that we already know about.

Unlurking...the Apple TV might be good for that situation too. It's about the size of a hockey puck and you can get SportsCenter on demand. If you could get Sunday Ticket or Red Zone on there? Might push a lot of folks to cut the cable company out.

I think the odds of that are slim though. DirecTV will pay for that deal until they go under to keep it exclusive.

My guess is that you COULD get something like NFLST to work using the mirroring function, but it wouldn't work that well. The way it's really designed to work is that you use another device to point it to whatever video needs to be played, then it connects directly to that video (independent of the controlling device).

For something that's not supported like NFLST, it has to actually stream a mirror of the tab from Chrome. That might work, but I bet it's choppy at best, and you'd have to keep your computer with Chrome open the entire time.

I actually don't have a TV or cable/satellite anymore. Ends up stealing too much of my time, so I just occasionally hit up Hulu or Netflix. I'm also anti-iOS, so no AppleYV for me.

Might order just to try with the preseason NFL streaming package.

Right...and at that point you're working really hard to not plug your computer into the television.

Got my last night. Set up took a minute and everything worked as expected after that. I have a smart TV that was constantly dropping it's connection and has been unusable. I was streaming Netflix all night and also played a couple of Youtube clips.

Thumbs up from me.

Something like this could make it easier to bring your internet media with you when you travel or visit.

My brother brought his Apple TV with us on vacation last week. It was a lot of fun. We used Airplay a ton to stream stuff from our devices: music, YouTube videos, GoPro videos we'd shot, and our pics from each day. It was pretty sweet. Not arguing for superiority of Apple TV, just sharing a cool application of this type of tech I'd never thought of.


I kept worry I was going to AirPlay some porn to the TV though.

Saahhweet! Thanks for the feedback. I am definitely getting one now. :thumb:

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-e...171717550.html

Not that it's a surprise, but it looks like it won't be long before the supported set of service expands. Maybe Google will actually succeed this time...

Anything that makes the cable companies and traditional networks see that normal people are getting stuff on their TV through IP is a good thing.

I'm not sure why google blows so much at selling its own products. 3-4 weeks out? I'm excited to get mine and play around with it though. I hope sites widely support it, although I'm sure we'll have the same "pay extra" (Hulu) or "verify cable" model though. Only Netflix is good at giving you stuff anywhere you want it.

I hate that verify cable bullshit.

I want one, but can't find one for sale.

This could be in place due to existing contracts that the content guys have in place with the cable companies. Take HBO for example. Since they presumably don't need the cable package subsidy like ESPN does they should be liking this idea a bunch. Unfortunately they're owned by Time Warner so it could continue to suck for a while.

The AppleTV also is capable of being jailbroken, which allows for the installation of XBMC among other 3rd party apps on top of what you've already listed. Which makes capable the free streaming of nearly every popular movie and TV show ever. I often show people what my jailbroken AppleTV2 is capable of, and they always leave saying "Holy shit, I need to get that kind of setup". I haven't had cable in almost 2 years, and I still watch everything I want to watch when I want to watch it...

My Chromecast was schedule for delivery a couple of days ago, with an expected delivery date of August 20th. Just checked again (on amazon), and now it's in transit, due to be delivered later today. I'm looking forward to it. I don't have an Apple TV or Roku, so this will be useful for me. Anyone who ordered from Amazon the day of, I urge you to check your shipping info.

Teach me the ways of streaming HD sports.

That is the ONE major drawback.

Especially since I have Surewest, and still lack WatchESPN access.

I got mine a couple days ago. It's very cool, although still quite buggy and not widely supported. For $35 though, absolutely.

Tried to buy one today. None available. can order from google for 3-4 weeks shipping time :/ They are bringing 100 bucks on ebay and amazon

http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/08...n-cyanogenmod/

:rockon:

This is a little complex, but it's a proof of concept if nothing else that Chromecast can be used to play ANY video file from another network computer. This thing's gonna be a lot of fun once the development community catches up with it.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/08...ly-any-format/

I have been thinking about this and I wonder if Google is letting developers do this instead of doing it in house because they don't want to be responsible for anything that lets users stream protected content.

Yup... just bought a Chromecast.