Google’s simple device will shake up television

Marketwatch ^ | July 31, 2013, 7:18 a.m. EDT | Carol Kopp

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Commentary: Easy to watch anything on the Internet on your TV

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Thinking of C-SPAN from their Archives.

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By Carol Kopp

Here’s what all the noise was about on Monday morning.

At Netflix headquarters, people were cheering. At the big cable companies , they were shaking in their boots. At Amazon , one executive might have been trying to explain what went wrong.

At Google , they were just quietly smiling.

It was all about a thumb-size, $35 gadget called Google Chromecast that came out last week with little fanfare, almost as an afterthought to the announcement of a new version of its Nexus 7 tablet.

It’s sold out already, with more stock due in three or four weeks.

[Paladin2]

Worth a shot for $35.

[NormsRevenge]

Dongle Power!! WHY NOT?

We already live in a radiated environment.. I still haven’t setup my wireless HDTV internet thingy crap yet.. Dongle be there.. ready to go..

R U GooGle configured?

Slam dunk.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

Will get the link to an Anandtech article for those interested in technical detail.

[onyx]

“Even grandma can set this thing up,” he told MarketWatch.

Bet me.

[oh8eleven]

Google Chromecast is a USB device or “dongle” that plugs directly into any HDTV so that you can wirelessly play video and music from the Internet on a big screen.
First of all, your TV has to have a USB connection.
Second, you have to have a WiFi source.
Third, how is this different from a smart TV or smart BlueRay player?

[InterceptPoint]

I was going to order one of these or buy it at Best Buy. Sorry folks. Sold out. Need to wait about month before you can plunk down your $35.

In a Nutshell: Use your iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet and the like to "stream" YouTube, Netflix and other services (to be named later) to your HDTV. I put "stream" in quotes because that not how it really works. The streaming is straight from the Internet to the ChromeCast which is plugged in to an HDMI port on your HDTV.

What do you get out of that? A nice remote that's also your phone. It has a keyboard and mouse called your finger. Much better than using the clumsy interfaces that come with the normal HDTV Apps for these functions.

This is a very big deal. Partly because of the $35.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Anantech review....how do you use this little thingy?

Google Chromecast Review - An Awesome $35 HDMI Dongle

by Brian Klug on July 29, 2013 9:45 PM EST

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So I have a confession to make – I didn’t hate the Nexus Q. While I didn’t necessarily love it and use it daily like a small minority of my peers did, I also didn’t immediately declare the product an unmitigated disaster like the vast majority of people. The fate of that product was so quickly decided that I hadn’t even begun writing my review when the whole thing was terminated. When I spoke with Googlers about Nexus Q, what was obvious to me was that the Q had begun as an audio-only product that later on had HDMI added, and that tiny bit of context made all the difference in understanding the choices behind it. I left the Nexus Q plugged into my AV Receiver up until the most recent set of Google Play apps killed functionality entirely.

[WomBom]

Don’t need to setup anything... Connect with a Slimport cable and it happens automatically!

Analogix SlimPort... Pretty cool

http://www.financialpost.com/m/markets/news/Analogix+Semiconductor+SlimPort+Expands+Display+Options+Google+Nexus/8725280/story.html

[BipolarBob]

Third, how is this different from a smart TV or smart BlueRay player?

No difference.

[InterceptPoint]

First of all, your TV has to have a USB connection. Second, you have to have a WiFi source. Third, how is this different from a smart TV or smart BlueRay player?

USB is useful but not required. But HDMI is. USB is only used for power.

Yes, you need a WiFi source.

Functionally it works the same as a smart TV. But the remote you use to control the video is your phone or tablet. That's a way better interface than you get with typical HDTV App. Plus it's $35. That undercuts the Apple TV etc guys.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the info.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Did you mean...."Bit me"?

See #7,

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

If you have a fairly recent flat screen TV with an HDMI you can make it a wireless TV.

Not sure what a SMART TV is?

[Obadiah]

I’m guessing you better have the bandwidth to support this constamt streaming or the rest of your household users will be looking at pageloads for a long time, like dial-up in the old days.

[onyx]

No.
I meant “Bet me.”

That stuff is way over my head!

[discostu]

It’s really not that terribly revolutionary. I’ve been able to do the same thing with my bluray for years with DLNA. The only real drawback is most DLNA software kind of sucks, but wide open software to communicate between unlike devices tends to be rough (too many variables, not enough steering the user). By making their own software just to communicate to their own device they’re making an identical process easier.

[Ted Grant]

I think it uses an HDMI connection, not a USB connection.

[Marine_Uncle]

Thanks. I don't plan on purchasing this product, since I
watch only evening news on the boob tube. I don't even allow
my Verizon FIOS modem box to allow any WI FI transmission as well.
But clearly. It looks like this is going to be a very popular technology/product for many to purchase.

[discostu]

The big thing is allowing you to move content, including streaming content, from your PC to your TV. Smart TVs are still heavily limited on their ability to stream content, mostly relying on app written for specific sources (Netflix, HBOGo, Amazon). Some have browsers but their browsers tend to stink, so if there’s some streaming content on nbc.com you want to see you probably have to see it on you computer, because your TV either can’t get to it or can’t understand it. Enter DLNA and/ or the Chrome thingy: bring up the video on your computer, share it with yourself, stream it to your TV. Also handy for non-stream stuff on your computer, though if you’ve got USB on your TV sneakernet will still probably be easier on that front.