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Moments in Chromecast's history

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Re: Moments in Chromecast's history

#211

Post by nerdix »

ink_13 wrote: post #97
mbreese wrote: post #23

How much of this is an "end" to Chromecast and a rebranding of Chromecast to "Google TV Streamer"? It seems like the bare-bones experience of a Chromecast being tied to a phone (or browser) is getting replaced with an Apple TV like experience. If this is the case, it might be a (rare) example of a good branding shift from Google. I have had two Chromecasts (the original and an Ultra) and I feel like both were hampere…

The 4K Chromecast "with Google TV" basically was that already, since it has the full-screen menu-based interface and remote. It seems a bit silly to me that they're tossing the brand aside but maybe they're doing that for exactly this reason.

Exactly. They already killed the OG Chromecast with the "with Google TV" Chromecast.

Now they are just killing the Chromecast branding for now. But they've been known to kill a brand only to resurrect it a few years later.

Re: Moments in Chromecast's history

#212

Post by Filligree »

danvoell wrote: post #187

Lots of shade here. The Chrome served to make dumb tvs smart. It did its job. It changed the world of TVs. We don't use it anymore because TVs are smart out of the box. Google could spend the next 20 years trying to service and repurpose these things or cut technical debt and move onto the next.

I have yet to meet the smart TV I didn't want to throw out the window.

Re: Moments in Chromecast's history

#213

Post by EricE »

deedub wrote: post #102
Waterluvian wrote: post #18

I’m incredibly anxious about this. Chromecast is core to how my family’s television usage works. I got a free Chromecast recently and it’s a much worse UX than the ones I got many years ago. What I wish for is for the ubiquitous Cast button found everywhere to be open and neutral and for there to be a whole market of devices that’ll work. It feels frustrating and kind of ugly that there’s an Apple version and a Googl…

I am taking a look at the Nvidia shield, which also uses the cast button. I have 3 Chromecasts that need to be replaced, but the cheapest Shield is $150!! I guess each time Google kills something and I remove one more part of my life from their ecosystem they are doing me the real favor.

Tivo Stream is $40 and works a treat - it's Android TV based https://www.tivo.com/products/stream-4k

Re: Moments in Chromecast's history

#214

Post by rightbyte »

Blot2882 wrote: post #135
Lutger wrote: post #110

We had this coming. Over the years, the various chromecasts in our house are slowly getting worse. I had the sense they are cutting costs on the software and servers powering these devices. Spend way too much on the chromecasts and home devices. I guess they will continue to work for a few years, hopefully. After this, no more google devices for me.

> We had this coming. Over the years, the various chromecasts in our house are slowly getting worse. I had the sense they are cutting costs on the software and servers powering these devices. I can't imagine they will get better. It seems smart devices always crap out after a few years. I am regretting buying my Samsung TV last Fall because it's already slowing down. It takes 5 seconds to load the options menu.

I wonder if there is a way to reset the firmware? My wife connected out Samsung TV to the interwebs and triggered an update. It is not notacibly slower but there are ads placeholders.

Re: Moments in Chromecast's history

#215

Post by JoeCianflone »

Call me cynical but it’s a shell game as far as I can see: same product but new name, probably cheaper parts, more expensive so more profit per unit…except they won’t sell as many units, but on paper it will look good so the market will reward them. I can’t tell though if investors and analysts are too stupid to see it this way or maybe they don’t care either? I guess it’s better to not care because you make money so instead of calling it out when you see it, just give it pass and everyone makes more money. I know Google isn’t the only company that does this it’s just a sad commentary on tech and the market that it works.

Re: Moments in Chromecast's history

#217

Post by jp191919 »

xnx wrote: post #80
poetril wrote: post #27

Looks like I'll be moving towards Roku, most of my friends use it and I've been using a Chromecast because I was gifted on. But the experience w/ Roku seems to be superior to Chromecast nowadays anyways.

Roku has "Automatic Content Recognition (ACR)" which effectively uploads screenshots of what you're watching every few seconds: https://support.roku.com/en-ca/article/115005739288 Short of having an always on camera and microphone, this is amongst the scummiest corporate spying behavior out there.

At least there is an option to disable it.

Edit: actually it appears to be "opt-in"

Re: Moments in Chromecast's history

#218

Post by ortusdux »

They only reason I went with a Chromecast over a Nividia shield was the price. Now that the gap has narrowed the shield looks much more enticing. The pro version can run a PLEX server and has 2 USB 3.0 ports for storage. And Gforce Now is actually quite nice for games where a milliseconds don't matter all that much.

Re: Moments in Chromecast's history

#219

Post by stavros »

llm_nerd wrote: post #195
stavros wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the Apple TV work well without an iPhone? I worry it'll be missing half the features. With the Chromecast I can use my phone as a remote, whether that's iOS or Android, for example.

The Apple TV comes with a great remote, and an iPhone not only isn't necessary, the backup "if you lost your remote" interface on the iPhone is kind of bad. Though if you lose your remote in the cushions or whatever note that your iPhone can be used as a "hotter hotter colder colder" method to find the remote. Was surprised to find this feature. https://support.apple.com/en-ca/108371

Oh yes, Apple has been adding UWB location to all their devices, it's great. Thanks for the info, I'll get an Apple TV next!

Re: Moments in Chromecast's history

#220

Post by jtwaleson »

prmoustache wrote: post #148
aestetix wrote: post #8

So they are ending Chromecast, and also just launched the "Google TV Streamer" which seems to do the same thing, but "faster, more premium" whatever that means. Seems to be a reason to charge people more for the same thing but slap the AI label all over it. But that's just first impressions. Edit: and apparently the TV Streamer thing is twice the price of the Chromecast.

To be fair, isn't any new TV in the market being sold with chromecast support?

My 2019 Philips android tv got incredibly slow after years of updates. I didn’t notice it because it was so incremental but after some years the chromecast functionality started failing consistently. I did a factory reset, disconnected from the internet and added a Google TV dongle. TV is super fast again. Point of the story: it’s very nice to be able to buy a $ 50-100 dongle every 5 years and keep your old tv.
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