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Google Chromecast

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111–120 of 326 posts

Re: Google Chromecast

#111

Chromecast is not available in your country. I live in Canada. Apple seems to be able to make this stuff work, why can't anyone else?

I know how you feel. Considering this thing will be sold at BestBuy, and we have BestBuy in Canada, why can't we get this thing day one?

It is sold out even for US customers on the Play store at this point. Bad week for me to be picked for jury duty, would have probably caught this in time otherwise.

Re: Google Chromecast

#112
post #107

Okay maybe this is really obvious, but how do I tell a device with no input which wifi network to connect to and what the password for it is?

The power chord is a USB cable. My guess was that you set it up on your computer via USB.

Re: Google Chromecast

#113
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It says the Chromebook Pixel works. I wonder what it is about the Pixel specifically that allows it to work. I imagine a Linux port isn't that far off, but unfortunately I don't have any windows machines left in my house.

[deleted]

> To share a tab which is streaming a video, you need a CPU capable of real-time 1366x768 video encoding

Tab casting is restricted to 1366x768?

Re: Google Chromecast

#114
post #42

If it works as advertised, this could be disruptive. They made it dead simple to stream content from any device to your TV. So anyone can use it, particularly the older generation. Potential for number of apps that could be developed is endless. Apparently, Washington Post is building an app on top of it ( http://t.co/dTWesNOoIC ). So possibilities are endless. And good news - another step towards making cable TV irr…

> They made it dead simple to stream content from any device to your TV. So anyone can use it, particularly the older generation.

That's not really new. Apple TV lets you do the same thing with AirPlay, and it works great.

Seems like a decent device, and the fact that it works with non-Apple hardware is obviously useful for people who don't have Apple households, but I don't think it's disruptive.

Re: Google Chromecast

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed! The one thing that worries me about this is underpowered hardware. If they made the UI not suck (read: not take seconds to respond to button presses) then I'll be all over this. It'll end up being what Google TV should have been.

It sounds like it has no UI. It simply shows video streams.

This is correct. It has a screen that shows up when nothing is playing, but all navigation and control is handled by all the other devices.

Re: Google Chromecast

#116
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It uses a USB cable that is indeed not shown in the marketing images, but it is mentioned in the product description.

I think it can be connected like this with the TV's USB port: http://cdn3.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/8651907/2013-07-...

Yep, or a regular USB power adapter which I think someone mentioned is included.

Re: Google Chromecast

#117

I think people aren't understanding how awesome this technology is: 1. Every time someone shows you a YouTube video, you spend 10% of your time watching it and the other 90% thinking about that one video you know of that's funnier. With Chromecast, you can queue that sucker up for nexties right from your own phone, without interrupting the video that's currently playing. 2. Chromecast does NOT use the resources of th…

> 3. If it can run Chrome, it can cast to Chromecast. That's probably the long-term goal, but currently the list of "Can run Chrome" overlaps, but does not subsume, the list of "can cast to Chromecast". Particularly, Linux and ChromeOS devices can run Chrome, but (with the exception of the Chromebook Pixel) cannot cast to Chromecast.

I'll be interested to see how this all works once I get my devices. Because its not relying on the processing power of the device in question, I wonder why it wouldn't work on any device running Chrome.

I did notice during the Presser that the Chrome browser had two cast icons; one in the bottom right he keyed in on, and one where normal extensions go.

Re: Google Chromecast

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the latter, although it also supports local receiver mode, so for example, you can cast your browser tab to the display.

And I'll be able to stream whatever is in that one browser tab to my TV without restrictions?

Yes. But its in 'Beta'

Re: Google Chromecast

#119

> Power cord required (not shown). What the hell is this about a "power cord". The specs and details are totally not clear. Is this not powered by HDMI? If it requires a power cord, these images are deceptive marketing.

Lots of Smart TVs also have USB -- how much power does this draw? Could it not have a USB power-slurper that you could plug into the USB port of the TV fr power?

Yes, you can do precisely that. As posted above, the setup instructions show options for either connecting to a TV's USB port or using a USB wall charger: http://cdn2.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/8651957/2013-07-...

Re: Google Chromecast

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 3. If it can run Chrome, it can cast to Chromecast. That's probably the long-term goal, but currently the list of "Can run Chrome" overlaps, but does not subsume, the list of "can cast to Chromecast". Particularly, Linux and ChromeOS devices can run Chrome, but (with the exception of the Chromebook Pixel) cannot cast to Chromecast.

I'll be interested to see how this all works once I get my devices. Because its not relying on the processing power of the device in question, I wonder why it wouldn't work on any device running Chrome. I did notice during the Presser that the Chrome browser had two cast icons; one in the bottom right he keyed in on, and one where normal extensions go.

> I'll be interested to see how this all works once I get my devices. Because its not relying on the processing power of the device in question, I wonder why it wouldn't work on any device running Chrome.

As others have pointed out on the thread, the limiting factor is probably the need to encode video on the sending device for the casting Chrome tabs feature, which probably is going to be an issue on low-end Chromebooks (but, I would imagine, would also be a feature on low-end devices running Windows Chrome.)

It may be that it relies on Chrome features that don't exist on low-end chromebooks (and, if it involves licensed technology, it may be something that isn't licensed for low-end Chromebooks.)

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