Chromecast - Just Say No!

[threegee]

At first glance it seems a very attractive proposition, an HDMI dongle that turns your TV into a smartTV for $35 (UK price yet to be determined). But look more closely and you see it for what it really is: an Apple-type trojan to enable control of your living room and ensure *all* revenue streams flow through Big G!

Most of the engineering seems to have gone into making it a API platform for third party providers, and of course all this is heavily locked down.

Give me one and I might just use it now and then ("free" is the usual Google proposition you can't say no to), but to ask people to pay for the privilege of helping to establish another media empire, well... only for Appleheeds!

There are plenty of little Linux/Android boxes with HDMI making fairly decent Media Centres for not much more money, and they aren't nagging to get into your wallet all the time!

[Brett]

But not everyone likes to play with linux, even if the distro's come with everything out of the box.

I'm sure most people will like to just have something to plug in which is recognised as a media device over the WiFi with no effort to setup at all over having to load an OS on to a memory card.

Hell, it would probably take longer for most people to find where to stick the memory card to load the OS than it would for you to get a HTPC up and running.

[threegee]

Wasn't thinking about little SBCs in that context. There are dozens of little Android driven dedicated MCs now. OK they are mostly priced a bit more than $35 but they are vastly more versatile than Chromecast. With Chromecast you need an Android or Chrome device anyway to control it. So it's not a standalone device, and Google are a little naughty in showing it without the very necessary USB power lead. They also anticipate you will need to fiddle to get a decent WiFi signal as it's shipped with a short HDMI extender. i.e. nothing is THAT simple!

I think it's another fail, to rank with Apple fails in the sector, but we'll see. They might rescue the project by near giving them away, but to the thinking person it's no substitute for a proper MC, and just another way into your wallet or purse.

[Brett]

Wasn't thinking about little SBCs in that context. There are dozens of little Android driven dedicated MCs now. OK they are mostly priced a bit more than $35 but they are vastly more versatile than Chromecast. With Chromecast you need an Android or Chrome device anyway to control it. So it's not a standalone device,

To be fair with the option of having a Chrome browser extension that allows you to do the streaming it would be that the majority of users have a Chrome device with the capability of streaming the content to the Chromecast

http://www.w3schools...wsers_stats.asp

and Google are a little naughty in showing it without the very necessary USB power lead. They also anticipate you will need to fiddle to get a decent WiFi signal as it's shipped with a short HDMI extender. i.e. nothing is THAT simple!

I think it's another fail, to rank with Apple fails in the sector, but we'll see. They might rescue the project by near giving them away, but to the thinking person it's no substitute for a proper MC, and just another way into your wallet or purse.

I suppose with the USB power lead it could be powered from the TV power lead as most newer TV's come with the functionality of a USB port as well as HDMI.

I understand that not everyone has the USB port but all new smart phones seem to be coming with "travel adapters" (and extremely shorter cables) so the 3 pin plugs will be less of a rarity in the next year or so.

I would surely prefer to pay the $35 (which will probably translate to £35 which alot of companies seem to be doing with electronics now) for a Chromecast than the premiums they are putting on SmartTV functionality on top of same models without it.

I already have most of the functionality with the Xbox however with the ability to pair the Xbox YT app with my phone and search for videos using my phone to be played on the TV, iPlayer, Xbox Smartglass as a remote controller and Netflix, Sky Player, 4OD, & LoveFilm should you want 2 year old films.

[threegee]

The Chrome (or Android) device doesn't stream the content to the Chromecast, it simply controls the Chromecast.

I have Chrome on several devices but rarely use it; its lack of menu structure to do what I want to do is frequently infuriating.

Interesting link. Illustrates the long drawn out death of M$, and the slow bleeding of Apple. I got really interested in the MS Surface until I looked into the software. Seems like most people who bought on looks (and sales pitch) now feel cheated. By contrast the Chromebooks look set to grab much of what Microsoft (and dinosaur Balmer) is throwing away. How long can he stay in control? Who will get the boot first Balmer or Cook?