Now how about a Chromecast w/ dual-band networking or, even better, an ethernet port? The 2.4ghz band is next to useless in high density environments like my Brooklyn apartment.
Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK
121–130 of 257 posts
Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your friends with Android phones can't cast to Airplay, but they can cast to Chromecast.
By "cast," you mean "tell the Chromecast to fetch/display content", rather than "show streaming video of my device's screen"? This is part of what I'm asking: I don't get the usage model. I prefer using the STB directly with a remote (and no other client device), or pushing the client device's screen to the STB. If you're saying that you use "tabcasting" (which I guess is remotely-directed Chromecast web surfing), th…
No, you can also stream to the chromecast. e.g. Google's "cast tab". I use it to watch stuff off my plex server or hulu (don't have a hulu plus account).
Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK
#123I love my Chromecast and use it extensively. This is what Miracast should have been, something that "just worked" and seamlessly interconnected devices. But instead Miracast is yet another classic example of "death of committee" where tons of big media and hardware companies wanted to get their features and DRM in, and as a direct result we now have dozens of completely incompatible Miracast devices. I think this tab…
Out of curiosity, what have you been using your Chromecast for? I have drunk the Apple Kool-Aid: I have iOS devices, AppleTVs, and a home server running iTunes. Admittedly, the iTunes server is serving video and music that is ripped from legitimately-acquired spinning-discs, so perhaps I haven't tasted the iTunes Store Kool-Aid. I purchased a Chromecast right at launch. As far as I could tell, the only things it did…
Casting youtube to my TV, slides for presentations, casting tabs from my browser to watch various streaming video services.
It's not fancy, but it's unbelievably cheap and just works.
The model of using your phone as your impromptu remote is awesome. I can't wait to see what apps support it in the future.
Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK
#124Anyone know if the API is powerful enough to let you build an app that can project video and have it play synced audio via headphones connected to the controlling device? Being able to listen to the audio via remote headphones is a killer feature of the Roku 3 IMHO and I would love it if I could do this via my chromecast as well. (Yes, I am aware that the Chromecast typically plays buffered video from the video sourc…
You can send messages back and forth from the receiving app running on the Chromecast and the sending device, so theoretically you could so such a thing if the (fairly small but not insignificant) latencies involved aren't a problem.
Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK
#125I used to love my Chromecast. It was one of those "it just works" pieces of technology. Unfortunately, after it auto-updated, it now has a bug where it will disconnect from WiFi after 30 minutes. Anyone know of a fix or has seen this behaviour before?
I got Chromecast in December and it has never "just worked" for me, ever. It always has a very hard time finding the Chromecast, so trying to start up a video on my tv takes several minutes. I'm ready to ditch the entire thing and get a Roku, because my experience with the Chromecast has always been really terrible.
Nice to know I'm not the only one. It does not get along with my router (WNDR3700). It will only connect after rebooting the router and even then devices can't always find it when it's connected.
Even when I did get it to work, it would bog down a lot.
Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK
#126Oh man, all I can imagine is a party game played with Google Glass and Chromecast. This could be fun.
Party
Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK
#127Chromecast is missing one thing, imho: a controller for my kids. I'm not giving my kids the Nexus 7 every time they want to watch something on the TV screen. The Chromecast suddenly goes from a $35 to a $235 device. Instead I have a uHost android-stick that uses an accelerometer-based airmouse... it's not good, but it works and cost me $50. I keep waiting for Google to complete the Nexus line with a bare-bones 4" low…
For $55 you can get a Chinese android phone(and there are new chips that might take the price down to $35). Google can't reduce this price any further.
That's what I mean. Get a Google-blessed phoneless version of one of these things - something like a Galaxy Discover or other crappy 3.5" phones but without the anemic processor or pointless rear-camera.
Call it the Nexus 3, sell it for $100 - same price point as the iPod Nano, but with actual wifi and a real OS instead of being a pure media player. Sell a nice little boxed set at Costco of a Nexus 3, ChromeCast and a charging dock for the Nexus 3 device at Costco for like $140.
Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your friends with Android phones can't cast to Airplay, but they can cast to Chromecast.
By "cast," you mean "tell the Chromecast to fetch/display content", rather than "show streaming video of my device's screen"? This is part of what I'm asking: I don't get the usage model. I prefer using the STB directly with a remote (and no other client device), or pushing the client device's screen to the STB. If you're saying that you use "tabcasting" (which I guess is remotely-directed Chromecast web surfing), th…
> I prefer using the STB directly with a remote
The idea is that your phone (or tablet or laptop or whatever) becomes your remote. If you want to watch something on Netflix you pull the phone out of your pocket, launch your Netflix app, and then hit the Chromecast button to send the output to the TV. It's not a separate UI, just a separate destination for the video content you've already selected. For me, the simple fact of never having to hunt for a remote is enough to justify the $35.
On a technical level: what the chromecast is doing is simply streaming content from local devices on the Wifi LAN. It has no UI of its own and won't fetch content by itself. The codec suite is limited when compared to Android: it supports H.264 baseline, VP8, MP3 and AAC. And I believe the container must be either MP4 or WebM.
Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm curious about these $55 Android phones, what are they called? Also what are the new chips that could bring them down to $35? Even just the names would be enough to point me in the right direction and would be appreciated.
When the question is "where can I find suppliers of generic Chinese ________?", the answer is always "Alibaba". http://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-android-phone.html?Sea...
Do they actually just let you order now? I know for the longest time most of the stuff there you could only just send and "inquery" and they'd ignore you if you were looking to just buy a single unit of something. I usually hit DX.Com for "I want something cheap and Chinese and partially-functional".
Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK
#130Seriously, this is about bloody time. I cannot believe how long we've had to wait for the public SDK to get released.
It's like going to a meal at a restaurant and every member of your party is served 2 or 3 hours apart.
Here's a video about the announcement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJItrPj7Ivk