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Google Chromecast

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Re: Google Chromecast

#261

Post by deelowe »

ratscabies wrote: post #155
ChikkaChiChi wrote: post #100

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…

I don't get it. I have an HTPC, and I watch Youtube on it all the time. I will often pause what I am watching to look something up related to the video I am watching. I don't have a personal phone as I get by fine with my work phone. It's a blackberry, so not compatible anyway. Also, when watching TV, its with the family, and we all are interested in what we look up. As far as I know, this only does some video, and d…

This is a different strategy. The idea here is to not make the tv the UI/smart device. Instead, the phone or whatever else is the UI/smart device. The TV remains a dumb display. Personally, I think it's a better strategy. We'll see what happens.

Re: Google Chromecast

#262

Post by thirdsun »

mattstocum wrote: post #207
tolmasky wrote: post #165

This is exactly what I've been wanting the Apple TV to be for ages. The only thing Apple TV is actually good for is Airplay. There doesn't need to be an OS or a UI for the Apple TV: your phone or tablet will be a better experience for typing and searching for content every time. Its a fool's errand to try to design a UI for a TV that isn't dreadfully painful to use: no one ever wants to interact with something 10 fee…

> There doesn't need to be an OS or a UI for the Apple TV: your phone or tablet will be a better experience for typing and searching for content every time I could not disagree more. I understand your point, and on an intellectual level, completely agree with it. However, I never used HBO Go until it showed up on my Apple TV. I have a Mac mini hooked up to my TV, but routinely use Netflix on the Apple TV. I would kil…

Regarding your wish of a Plex app on the the Apple TV: You know that you can have XBMC on your Apple TV today? Plex is a fork of XBMC, which in my opinion is the better media center, iterating and introducing new features way faster.

Re: Google Chromecast

#263

Post by nwh »

samstave wrote: post #102
jcampbell1 wrote: post #13

> 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?

The Samsung TVs can supply something stupid like 300ma. Enough for a USB stick, but not a spinning disk that is host powered.

Re: Google Chromecast

#264

Post by Ecio78 »

bicknergseng wrote: post #196
crazygringo wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wi-fi isn't good enough. I can barely get AirPlay to stream music reliably ten feet away for half an hour (oh no! somebody in the next apartment turned on their microwave!), I can't imagine video being even remotely reliable, and certainly not at decent quality. However, Netflix etc. work fine over wi-fi, because they're downloading and buffering the compressed stream itself, and then feeding that via the HDMI port t…

Sounds like you need a new router with a 5ghz channel. That said, I don't know what's going on with your Airplay's music streaming, but the bitrate of music is far below Netflix's. It shouldn't matter much though, I stream my desktop in nearly lagless 1080p to my MBP via Splashtop. The compression isn't really that bad.

Sounds like you need a new router with a 5ghz channel.

According to this review[1] it won't be useful for the Google Chromecast: "Internally, the hardware supports 2.4GHz Wi-Fi 802.11, which isn't quite as nice as the dual-band Wi-Fi offered on Roku's Streaming Stick."

[1] http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-media-receivers/google-chrom...

Re: Google Chromecast

#267

Post by davidedicillo »

tolmasky wrote: post #165

This is exactly what I've been wanting the Apple TV to be for ages. The only thing Apple TV is actually good for is Airplay. There doesn't need to be an OS or a UI for the Apple TV: your phone or tablet will be a better experience for typing and searching for content every time. Its a fool's errand to try to design a UI for a TV that isn't dreadfully painful to use: no one ever wants to interact with something 10 fee…

Unless you want to work on your Macbook while watching a movie...

Re: Google Chromecast

#268

Post by ricardobeat »

ChikkaChiChi wrote: post #100

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…

The AppleTV can do everything this does, plus real-time mirroring of any app. It's more expensive, and AirPlay doesn't have a queue, but this is hardly game-changing.

Re: Google Chromecast

#269

Post by ricardobeat »

tolmasky wrote: post #165

This is exactly what I've been wanting the Apple TV to be for ages. The only thing Apple TV is actually good for is Airplay. There doesn't need to be an OS or a UI for the Apple TV: your phone or tablet will be a better experience for typing and searching for content every time. Its a fool's errand to try to design a UI for a TV that isn't dreadfully painful to use: no one ever wants to interact with something 10 fee…

I find it a pain to get my phone/tablet and 1) wake it up 2) unlock it 3) type password 4) close running app 5) scourge screens for the remote app, and 6) wait for it to start and connect, sometimes it takes a while. It's infinitely easier to grab the aluminum remote or bluetooth keyboard and just press a key.

You're also missing the fact that the AppleTV is a shared device. It doesn't need locking/protection, and can host content for everybody, instead of each person having their own apps and media (and multiple netflix/itunes accounts).

Re: Google Chromecast

#270

Post by dmoy »

IanCal wrote: post #164
lftl wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it explicitly stated somewhere that you can't cast from a linux box with Chrome installed? It let me install the Chrome extension on Linux at least.

It doesn't, but it doesn't say it's compatible: > Chromecast is compatible with WiFi-enabled Android 2.3+ smartphones and tablets; iOS 6.0+ iPhones, iPads, and iPods; Chrome for Mac® and Chrome for Windows®; and Chromebook Pixel. Power cord required (not shown). edit - although this article claims it does: http://gigaom.com/2013/07/24/chromecast-shows-how-google-is-... We'll have to wait for some more information, I…

Most hardware specs don't mention anything about linux compatibility, even if it does work. Because unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of people don't use linux :(

The specs for my mouse, speakers, microphone, keyboard, and monitors all don't mention linux. Some of them don't even mention mac. And with the exception of my keyboard and mouse, they all work on linux (and the mouse sort of works, just the DPI gets wonky as hell).

I don't know for sure, but I can't imagine this not working on linux.

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