Wow! 500 Server Error from Google. Looks like their blog runs on non-scaleable infra and got the hug of death?
Moments in Chromecast's history
461–470 of 609 posts
Re: Moments in Chromecast's history
#462Earlier quoted context omitted.
They explicitly call it "premium" in the launch page. Time to move upmarket in the hopes of actually making a profit.
Roku sells dongles at the same price point, without many other services with which to subsidize the hardware. I am sure Roku monetizes the users in the same ways as Google can, so I do not understand how Google cannot make a profit from them.
> Google cannot make a profit from them
*enough profit
Remember that Google has sunset many products because those profits pale in comparison to search and advertising.
Re: Moments in Chromecast's history
#463I'm suddenly reminded to ask this community whom I assume might know: Are there any good "dumb tv" solutions out there? I'm thinking 1-4 HDMI ports, and a maximum of RF tuning and input-switching on the firmware. Products would be preferred suggestions, but I'm even at the point of considering DIY solutions, if something looks lego-ish enough!
I love my TCL tv. It’s not “dumb” since it’s actually a “google tv” , but if you don’t connect it to the internet, you don’t have to deal with that. It only shows a notification when turned saying it has no internet, but it goes away on its own after a few seconds. When I turn it on, it will automatically select the previous input, so I don’t have to interact with the “smart welcome screen” or whatever it’s called. I…
$218 for 43 inch TCL S4 television, (with Google TV built in) https://www.walmart.com/ip/TCL-43-Class-S-Class-4K-UHD-HDR-L...
$99 for Google Streamer.
This "streamer" is overpriced for the market.
Re: Moments in Chromecast's history
#464Wow! 500 Server Error from Google. Looks like their blog runs on non-scaleable infra and got the hug of death?
Blog is working again. I got the 500 error for a couple of minutes.
Re: Moments in Chromecast's history
#465This makes me so sad. The old Chromecast experience -- choose media on phone, play on TV -- is all I ever wanted. I hate using a remote to browse -- my phone is much better. I hate having my TV logged into an account -- my family, kids, guests all use the same TV and I don't want them using my account, nor do I want to see their account when I'm using it. The Chromecast protocol is the only thing that the entire ecos…
The absolutely killer feature of the Chromecast is that I can have guests over (or be visiting someone), and anyone can stream any content they're authorized for. Movies I've bought can be watched anywhere there's a Chromecast; my buddy can come over and we can watch something together with his Paramount+ subscription. Keeping the accounts and authorization linked to personal devices, and letting the Chromecast essentially be a way to translate that to a bigger screen without having to actually stream it out of your pocket is fantastic.
Re: Moments in Chromecast's history
#466Earlier quoted context omitted.
They explicitly call it "premium" in the launch page. Time to move upmarket in the hopes of actually making a profit.
Roku sells dongles at the same price point, without many other services with which to subsidize the hardware. I am sure Roku monetizes the users in the same ways as Google can, so I do not understand how Google cannot make a profit from them.
It can, but it has to support all the ads infrastructure that is about to collapse.
Re: Moments in Chromecast's history
#467Pretty smart to "discontinue" a $30 device and replace it with a rebranded $100 version that does the exact same thing...
And seemingly stupid price given that for $213 https://www.walmart.com/ip/TCL-43-Class-S-Class-4K-UHD-HDR-L... one can purchase a 43" TV with Google TV smart features from TCL, a respectable brand, obviating the need for "streamer" entirely.
Re: Moments in Chromecast's history
#468How 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…
>It seems like the bare-bones experience of a Chromecast being is getting replaced with an Apple TV like experience.
Weird thing about this is the best thing about Chromecast is it’s not an Apple TV form factor and experience and the worst thing about Apple TV is it’s not a Chromecast style stick.
I just don’t see where a TV would even exist that doesn’t offer what’s in the box built in already, but I definitely know a lot of TVs where Chromecast or AirPlay just doesn’t work on the base unit.
Re: Moments in Chromecast's history
#469> Google TV Streamer (4K) Oh, so they're just rebranding and not making it a dongle anymore....
This feels more like they're actually killing this product, because the replacement is far too expensive.
So it will no longer appeal to market in the same way.
So I think this means that Google sees that there's not enough profit in the low end Internet Smart features for HDMI anymore.
Re: Moments in Chromecast's history
#470>When we launched Chromecast (...) connecting your TV to your phone, tablet or laptop was clunky and hard I would argue that this still holds true today. Is there any reliable way to do the screen mirroring/photo sharing from an Android phone to a Samsung smart TV without additional devices? My Pixel works great with Chromecast or a similar dongle(e.g. Xiaomi Box) but I really couldn't make it work without them. I tr…
Yeah.
Disingenuous of G to frame it as "WE SOLVED THIS" since they now are KILLING their solution.
Offering basically a wall-connected laptop, with no kbd, instead.