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Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

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Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#171

Post by dizzyviolet »

guelo wrote: post #38
xpose2000 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You also have the option of Amazon FireTV or Fire Stick. http://kodi.wiki/view/Amazon_Fire_TV You can enjoy netflix, amazon prime, hulu, etc and install Kodi. Although you have to go through an extra step to install it. Amazon removed Kodi from its store officially. It otherwise plays exactly like an HTPC. Everything I threw at it played fine. The only downside is that it does not support HD audio passthrough. http:/…

I have not been impressed with mine, slow and buggy. It also is not a fit for the NAS requirement.

What do you mean? Are you referring to playing stuff off of a NAS?

Our two Fire Sticks play of our NAS just fine. We even push video downloads in Kodi back to the NAS no problem. It took about an hour from pulling out of the box, to installing Kodi, configuring my streaming services and pointing it to our shared folders on the NAS.

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#172

Post by dizzyviolet »

jsmeaton wrote: post #22

What I'm after is something that can run Kodi (xbmc) which links to a NAS for its media. Running Netflix is a nice to have. What devices are out there that I can use for this purpose? At the moment I have a fairly heavy htpc running Windows, but I have more tvs that I would like to use for similar purposes. Edit: Bonus if it can do 4k video, but 1080p minimum is a must.

Fire Stick ($39) will do ALL of that except for 4k. We haven't used anything in the house except Netflix and Kodi for a year. It's a wonderful little stick. Too bad Amazon had to be an ass and remove Kodi from their store (you just sideload it instead now).

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#173

Post by guelo »

dizzyviolet wrote: post #171
guelo wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have not been impressed with mine, slow and buggy. It also is not a fit for the NAS requirement.

What do you mean? Are you referring to playing stuff off of a NAS? Our two Fire Sticks play of our NAS just fine. We even push video downloads in Kodi back to the NAS no problem. It took about an hour from pulling out of the box, to installing Kodi, configuring my streaming services and pointing it to our shared folders on the NAS.

OK, I didn't know about Kodi.

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#174

Post by srtjstjsj »

skrowl wrote: post #150
jon-wood wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still hoping the smart TV thing will turn out to be a brief fad, and we can all get back to just buying a dumb screen that other things can be plugged into. The software on TVs I've experienced is universally awful, my parent's one is particularly bad - you can go and make a cup of coffee in the time it takes for the Netflix app to start. When I heard that I bought them a FireTV stick and haven't looked back.

Stupid licensing will prevent this, I'm afraid. I have a nVidia Shield TV plugged in to my 4K Smart TV that I do almost everything on, but I still have to use the smart TV app for Amazon Instant since Amazon stubbornly refuses to release it for stock Android.

You could by a little case to hold your Shield, Chromecast, Alexaplug, Applecore, etc, that connect to your TV.

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#175

Post by miek »

T-A wrote: post #128
Sanddancer wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a bunch of atom-based devices for a hundred dollars or so. One of the ones that looks tempting for me is the Kangaroo -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883722... -- $15 more than the chromebit, and you get twice the storage space, two usb ports, one of which is usb 3, and an all in all more interesting device.

If [1] is true (and I have no particular reason to believe otherwise) you can get an 8" tablet with Cherry Trail SoC, expansion ports, acceptable screen resolution and HDMI out for $0.11 less than a Chromebit. [1] http://www.gearbest.com/tablet-pcs/pp_252625.html

Thanks for posting this - that is interesting. Have you used this tablet? I found reviews on its predecessor, but not much on this one (other than apparent sponsored reviews).

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#177

Post by scott_karana »

hyperpallium wrote: post #68

More specs at anandtech http://www.anandtech.com/show/9797/asus-launches-the-chromeb... Its Mali T764 GPU seems more powerful than an xbox360: the T760 has 326 GFLOPS; xbox360 xenos GPU has about 240 GFLOPS. Not sure what difference the 4 in 764 makes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali_(GPU) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenos_(graphics_chip) These PC sticks have been around for years... I wonder if the killer a…

> downloading 40GB takes too long; whereas streaming is popular

Um, what? If you can stream 4K media in real time, by definition you are able to download the file in at least the media's run time.

That is: you're only spending ≤30 minutes to download a 4K TV show episode if you can also stream it.

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#178

Post by T-A »

miek wrote: post #175
T-A wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If [1] is true (and I have no particular reason to believe otherwise) you can get an 8" tablet with Cherry Trail SoC, expansion ports, acceptable screen resolution and HDMI out for $0.11 less than a Chromebit. [1] http://www.gearbest.com/tablet-pcs/pp_252625.html

Thanks for posting this - that is interesting. Have you used this tablet? I found reviews on its predecessor, but not much on this one (other than apparent sponsored reviews).

Not yet. I succumbed to temptation and ordered one though.

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#179

Post by scott_karana »

bad_user wrote: post #92

It's a pity that it needs a power adapter though, with the standard USB port not sufficing for the needed power. That ruins the feng shui.

That, and I hate that Google's product shots always omit even the USB port, much less showing the power supply in action.

It's really deceptive advertising... :/

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#180

Post by pickettd »

viraptor wrote: post #101
pickettd wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I picked up a $50 Nexus Player (Android TV OS) last month for this purpose. It replaced a first generation Raspberry Pi B that was actually pretty decent as a Kodi box (I used the Xbian distro). So far I'm really happy with the Nexus Player. I like that it gets Android TV apps (like Kodi and Moonlight for game streaming from my desktop) and also supports Google Cast. It also has a usb port that supports things like k…

Do you know if there's any way to use nexus player with steam? I mean like their steam link device, or is that completely proprietary solution?

As ixnu mentioned - I use the Moonlight Android app (http://moonlight-stream.com/) paired with Geforce Experience running on my Windows box (Geforce GTX 750 Ti video card) for Steam games.

To be honest though - my Moonlight streaming experience hasn't been as smooth as using a device that can actually run the Steam client (Linux/Mac/Windows). But Moonlight is still really cool.

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