This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
"Google kills Chromecast and replaces it with something that it will also kill and replace in a few years"
I made the mistake of buying Google Homes years ago. They got badly nerfed last year — Google removed the ability to read recipes out loud, which is the main thing I used it for. They also crippled the API so that I can no longer add tasks to Todoist. I'm never buying another Google product.
If I wanted a streaming box I'd buy or build a streaming box. If I wanted anyone with my remote control to be able to access my YouTube viewing history and all my streaming accounts I'd make it happen. What I want is a cheap dongle that my family and guests can use to quickly share media to the big screen!
Why is this being framed this way.
Rebranding the next gen of your product isn't "killing" it, people are so fucking clickbaitable.
It's the same product, just next gen with better specs abd they're going with a new simpler brand name than "Chromecast with Google TV" (yes that's the actual product name before) and instead the next gen is named "Google TV Streamer"
It's the exact same thing, and all existing hardware will keep working.
Chromecasts are standalone and effectively just running a modified version of Android. They can't really be "killed" as they work over local network. Theoretically any chromecast will last forever as it's functionality is based off a specified open source protocol, so as long as you have a device that can output it (cast), you can cast to your chromecast.
So it's impossible to "kill". I have a gen 1 chromecast that still 100% works fine today.
Newer ~~Chromecasts~~ ahem Google TVs just have more features, like apps you can install and sideload.
People are dumb for falling for this clickbait title.
I get what you’re saying, but these new ones are twice the price of the 4K Chromecast. It sucks that they’re killing the $30 HD Chromecast as well, its great for my spare TV. I wouldn’t want to pay 3x that price for essentially the same functionality if I need to replace it.
I know there’s other Android TV boxes that are comparable, but Google’s offering was an easy go-to.
I wrote it up elsewhere, but I don't mind the price point.
The built in ethernet port covers a lot of that.
A solid quality ethernet dongle is gonna be $25, so now that's $75 for the 4k CCwGTV + ethernet.
So you're paying $25 extra for the better form factor (2 chained dongles look so bad), the extra ram, better processor, etc
For some folks that might not matter, but I use Steam Link on my CCwGTV and those specs will likely make a tangible boost in gaming performance for quality, frame rate, latency, input lag, etc.
So in my demographic of people gaming with em, I 100% expect it'll be a popular upgrade.
The ethernet part is pretty big, overall. Don't overbook that.
I’m not denying that these features are a welcome addition, I’m just lamenting the loss of the cheaper version for use-cases where those features arent really needed.
I pretty much just watch Youtube on my bedroom TV, and I got one for my mom so she can watch Netflix on her 10 year old 720p 32”. I don’t want to pay $100 for that.
I might get the new one for Steam Link in the living room though, that does sound sick.
There are so many cheaper better options that Google can't really compete in that space. Onn set top box is half the cost and so is the fire stick. It's one of those things where people aren't gonna go with the cheap Google product when they can get a better cheap product elsewhere there's dozens of random Chinese companies also making the little streaming sticks and as more streaming companies upgrade their services these smaller offerings are gonna be less likely to sell because they don't do 4K well, don't do 8K and don't offer the functionality of larger boxes. I'm thinking really hard about swapping out my shield TV for one of these.
There're so many other products that come with Chromecast built in too. Receivers for home entertainment systems, tvs, sound bars. Even if the smaller streaming sticks weren't ubiquitous it's hard to tell someone to buy one that's gonna take up a dedicated HDMI port when they can buy a TV with it already built in. And for the rest of us there's stuff like this.
I'm not saying that the Chromecast doesn't have its place. I'm saying I didn't think we'd even get this kind of refresh of the product this go round. People only upgrade when what they have stops working and I feel like a lot of the market already has a tiny streaming stick.
Ok, but my gen 1 Chromecast stopped working years ago, and it was sluggish, unreliable to cast to and virtually unusable long before that. My Chromecast Ultra has steadily declined in usability too, the whole Chromecast UX has fallen off a cliff the past few years. It used to be fucking magic and just worked with everything. Now my Chromecast with Google TV only really works satisfactorily when I bother to update smarttube and pair it with the code.
The whole platform is trash these days compared to the original gen 1 experience. I went from living in the future, only using my phone to watch TV 10 years ago, to slowly migrating back to a fucking remote control like it's 1980 again. Say what you want, but the promise that gen 1 Chromecast delivered on has been dead and buried for a while now.
I'll just have to respectfully disagree in experience.
I have multiple gens of chromecasts and haven't seen any degradation in performance. They work pretty much the same.
I have no idea wtf is going on with your units.
My 1st & 2nd gen Chromecasts are working just as good as was the day we bought them and the UX is exactly the same - what was it about the UX that went down hill?
I hate the remote control. OG Chromecast you just used your phone or computer to control everything. You could turn volume up or down which doesn't fucking work on the new gen w/o the remote bc it relies on actually changing the volume setting on the TV itself whereas the old one just lowered the volume being transmitted from the device to the TV. The whole platform has been enshitified. There was no way to cram ads into the old Chromecast so they decided to make it be a shitty smart TV type dongle that you need to log into every app on to make functionality even work where before the login was just on your phone. Now if a guest is over, they can't even cast because they are signed in on a different account. Everything is worse on the new Chromecast, but hey, my boomer mom loves having a remote now.
I don’t think anyone is saying that chromecast as a “functionality” is being killed. It’s not the same product, the new one is a set top box compared to the current dongle, with better specs and 3 times the price. People would buy multiple chromecast dongles to have it all around their house or to carry it when traveling. Now, many will not do it with this set top box.
They kept the same name and functionality but definitely “killed” the old product - chromecast dongle which everyone knows as chromecast.
Thank you!! I read the first article about it and was worried Google killed support for the cast protocol. But it's literally a rebrand for a new product. Yes, they are discontinuing the 4k basic Chromecast but I guess it didn't sell enough? I don't expect any company to indefinitely offer a product because I seem to like it personally.
Not that I want to particularly defend Google, they do have track record of killing useful products. But this is not that.
Is there any open source chrome cast? I know of one project but it required a special server as well. I just want to plug something into my HDMI port so I can cast dumb YouTube videos, why does it have to be this hard.
All I want is something that I can put on a raspberry pi, and then from my phone use the "share" menu to share a URL to some app that communicates with the pi and plays the video URL.
Why doesn't that exist yet? Share YouTube video to rasp. Pi, then have and controls on the phone app.
Have a look at LibreELEC "just enough OS for Kodi" for the Pi - at least if you plan on using it primarily for running Kodi as a "casting receiver". (LibreELEC even supports Docker containers as Kodi add-ons too, if you need the Pi to run more than just Kodi.)
Depending on your media consumption habits and requirements, it might not be the perfect solution, but possibly prettttty good one for a Raspberry Pi.
You can install LineageOS on one of the models of Chromecast for Android TV.
This looks great. My Chromecast just died so I replaced it with a Google TV Chromecast thing, so I don't have the bootloader exploit. Gonna look at the "unofficial" exploits they mention soon.
Does lineage let you cast to it through?
I do not know.
That's literally what a chromecast is.
I have multiple generations of them, and casting a YouTube video is 2 clicks.
Done.
The new Chromecast TV bullshit makes it a bit more complicated, but the article also says that Google is making changes.
I agree with you though, I have used a Chromecast as my main way to get stuff on my TV for years and years. I don't want them to complicate it or make me sign in to it, etc.
That's literally what a chromecast is.
Which is why they are asking if there is an open source alternative, now that Google getting rid of the Chromecast
A cheap PC with a wireless keyboard and track pad.
Yeah that's what I may have to do, but casting from my phone is so nice. And anyone on my wifi can do it
I don't know if Kodi is still around, I used it years ago on a raspberry pi. Bit of a faff but if YouTube is all you need then it should be good enough. Or maybe a second hand Chromebook?
ITT: People who don't know as much as me.
All they killed was the branding. The Chromecast with Google TV was such a far cry from an OG Chromecast that it was stupid for them to have the same name.
OG Chromecast could only cast and did not have a remote. The CCwGT did still support casting, but also had a remote and a real UI.
The TV streamer is just the CCwGT in a fancy shell with probably a more powerful processor. I'll bet money that it still supports casting, and can only do pretty much exactly what the CCwGT could do.
Yeah, the google TV dongle has been the mainline product for like 5 years at this point. Honestly it's pretty good because it means I don't have to let my TV connect to the internet so it cant download ads.
That's the #1 reason why I use a chromecast instead of using the built-in TV function
Yeah seriously... the fact that only 2 or so commenters correctly understood the headline reflects poorly on the community
Netflix cheapest plan won't work over Chromecast. I'm apparently too poor to watch the service on a larger screen.
The cheapest Netflix plan is ad supported, which is known to not work very well on lower end Chromecast devices. So it's probably disabled that way they can milk you for the ad revenue elsewhere
When did that happen? I'm just curious, cause I ditched Netflix but I know their cheapest plan used to work.
At least a year now. Very blunt message saying that casting wasn't available with my plan. Such a needlessly dickish move on their part.
Damn. So they did it on the Netflix end of things? That is ridiculous.
Seems like most of the streaming hardware companies (amazon/roku/Google) are going out of their way to make products worse. Someone's probably going to take their lunch and they'll all act shocked about it.
Seems a dangerous game to play with so many Asian alternatives and sbc computers getting to the point they could do that job.
Don't get me wrong this box isn't horrible just really overpriced for the old specs.
US business "leadership" is high on monopoly power... They don't care what customer wants, they don't care what competitors are doing that's not one of them.
They treat American consumer as a cornered market to be milked at every corner. The issie is that many Americans LARP it as gospel.
Vote with your fucking money, deny them profit and engagement.
Media is ripe for this, piracy is the solution the problem here. I wish other markets were as is lol
If we can't even set this clowns straight, how do you think we will fix housing food education. And healthcare?
Goverment gonna be fix for you, boy?
Pinky promise!
🤡
Ah I'm not an American consumer, just these companies acting suicidely mostly in an attempt to restrict their devices and force more ads I think.
I just think they are playing a dumb game because something is definetly going to undercut the lot of them while they are playing silly games. I think my next streaming TV device will be a good sbc as I just don't like these company's being in full control of my own devices.
At the minute I'm favouring a ryzen apu board but arms making a very strong showing now as well, so yeah I really don't believe these big companies will get away with it for long.
I don’t invest my time in Google products anymore. Right now Gmail is the last Google service I still use.
The new device includes a processor that claims to be up to 22 percent faster than before, with twice as much RAM (4GB) and four times the storage (32GB). It supports 4K streaming at 60 fps with an HDMI 2.1a port. There's HDR support (Dolby Vision) and spatial audio (Dolby Atmos).
That whole "22% faster" worries me. 4 years later and only 22% faster?
the Chromecast ultra had an Ethernet port
