Comment by Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee on Google is discontinuing the Chromecast line

In place of the Chromecast, the company will offer the newly announced $99.99 Google TV Streamer,

They’re replacing it with a very similar product. Nothing to see here.

Swallowed the clickbait, hook, line and sinker.

Similar product that costs 4 times as much and has AI features…

The low-power streaming box is dying. It’s not completely without reason, 4k playback is actually a bit demanding.

We are in a place where the 2017 nVidia Shield is beginning to show its age and that leaves the AppleTV as the only powerful and capable consumer set top box on the market. This new option from Google will at least provide some competition and an option outside of Apple’s ecosystem.

This $100 box from Google runs on the same SoC as the $50 streaming box from Onn (Walmart). The only major differences are the Google box as 4GB of RAM vs 3GB, a 1Gb Ethernet port instead of 100Mb (both have WiFi 6), and the Google box has a USB Type C port for power/data and would need an OTG adapter/hub while the Onn box has a Type A and a barrel plug for power.

TBH, the biggest issue there is the 100Mb port on the cheaper box. That is actually too low to stream a quality high-bitrate video file.

I cannot believe NVIDIA has essentially abandoned its SHIELD micro console line. My Shield Pro has been an amazing sideloading fiend.

I absolutely love mine, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t stutter sometimes when asked to perform more demanding tasks. The chip is also going to start having issues with formats in the coming years. I’d love for nVidia to put out something that used a rival to the A15 in Apple’s box. Native AV1 decoding and just raw speed is really needed to catch up to use cases in 2024 compared to 7 years earlier.

We’ll have to see if the processor is better than the shield. Google’s spec page shows it has 1 GB of RAM more than the shield but conveniently does not say what processor is in it

and before that they already replaced it with google tv with chromecast

They’re replacing it with a very similar product. Nothing to see here.

Like they do with messengers every couple of years.

Seemed monthly at one point 🤣

Or music streaming apps.

A more expensive, clunkier product, with a bunch of needless fluff in it.

Now with AI!

I’m not sure why they didn’t just call it the chrome cast gen whatever though.

Or literally just reuse the Android TV name

So you could just ask it for anything and it could make it up?

“Google, show ‘Ow! My Balls!’”

I wonder how far away we are from AI being able to create video on demand like that?

I think overall it’ll never be able to create quality entertainment.

But Ow! My Balls! isn’t quality entertainment. I’m sure it can create all kinds of clips of things smashing into groins for ultra low-brow entertainment. Probably today.

Shitposting is one area where I have no issues using AI.

You mean twice the ram (1 gig more than the shield), 4 times the storage (32 gigs), and a better remote (chirping find my remote feature, programmable button, and less shitty volume buttons)?

Yep. Sure sounds worse considering it also supports all the same features of the chromecast 4k and AV1 decoding.

It’s also twice the price of the Onn 4k Pro (Walmart house brand) that’s built on the same chip and has the same features running the stock Google TV experience.

Most of the appeal of the Chromecast is that it’s a dongle you plug in once and never have to see again. It doesn’t need high performance and 32 gigs of RAM. It needs to play video. That’s its entire purpose. It’s controlled by any phone on your wifi, it doesn’t need a remote.

For most users, this is an expensive downgrade.

It’s controlled by any phone on your wifi, it doesn’t need a remote.

Or you can use it’s remote and not need to use your phone for absolutely every little thing.

The remote was the biggest upgrade for me on the Ultra though. I always struggled to find my phone and do stuff on it just to watch some YouTube or Netflix videos. And the Kids don’t even have a phone and they want to watch on the TV in the livingroom too sometimes. With the remote it’s easy for everyone to use it without fiddling with the Phone.

My parents have the one without the remote and they basically never use it because my mom doesn’t have a mobile phone and my dad newer has it with him, it’s always not charged or in some other room.

I don’t need any of that. I just need a cheap dongle that can run one app

The dongle still works. They reached market saturation with people who just want a dongle. They can’t realistically be expected to produce these forever.

Edit

Classic Lemmy. Point out that these are not charities and companies can’t keep producing niche products that you aren’t buying but maybe potentially want to buy someday and get thrown down votes. Down votes without a response tell me you’re just butthurt about the truth.

Sorry folks whether you like it or not it’s the truth. Companies like to sell things and if these were actually being bought enough to make a profit they wouldn’t be discontinued. Your TV probably has this feature built in now. Want another? Buy it second hand, the market is absolutely flooded with these second hand because they’re just collecting dust in cabinets. If Google kept making these they’d just end up as unsold stock in a landfill.

Your existing chromecast dongle will continue to connect because Google needs chromecast the protocol to continue to work to compete with Apples Airplay. It’s the same reason the Chromecast Audio dongle continues to work 5 years after it’s end of life.

If you want to make sure you have them forever buy up your local second hand stock but otherwise no one has given a convincing argument why these need more e-waste getting produced at the factory.

Your existing chromecast dongle will continue to connect

Will it, though?

“Sorry this device is too old to support the newest software update. For your convenience we have bricked it. Please see your authorized dealer to purchase an upgraded device”

Sure, give me a single example where a chromecast device was taken off the chromecast protocol. Even their original Chromecast Audio device which was discontinued and taken out of production over 5 years ago still functions to this day.

So when the current dongle breaks and you just want another, what do you buy?

Facebook market place in my small town has dozens of these for less than $20. Why don’t you pick up a few of these and recycle our current supply instead of asking companies to produce more e waste incase we someday want to buy it.

I mean I’d hope so because eventually this one I have won’t work like the previous one so I’d like a similar product when that happens not this 99 dollar box thing. I guess I hope someone else will continue making cheap dongles I think walmart has their own thing

Facebook marketplace is absolutely loaded with these for less than $20. Let’s recycle the existing stock.

None of which changes the fact that it’s more expensive and clunkier, and none of which feels necessary.

You can get an Ethernet adapter for the Chromecast

Yeah, exactly. You needed to buy an extra adapter before. Now you don’t.

This TV Streamer costs significantly more than a CCwGTV combined with an adapter.

Yes! I hadn’t seen that highlighted anywhere in articles really, only saw it on the damn Google Store after looking just now.

Seems an all around solid update on the previous device.

Just gotta stick FLauncher, SmartTube, Jellyfin, and Stremio on it and it seems solid.

I just hope this is still possible on the new one, I can see a future where they make it impossible but hopefully not yet.

I agree that it’s a good upgrade too, the only dowside is that it’s not portable anymore, I used to take it with me on any travel to have my own home theater set up like I like it with me when I was living in Hotels and AirBnB’s for a year on business travel. Especially in Asia the TVs are in the local language and I never have any idea how to change the language from Korean or Japanese to English so I can use the TV. But putting in the dongle and turning on the TV was always possible.

I changed from FLauncher to Projectivity Launcher a little while ago and definitely recommend it

And now I can install all those things without worrying about my internal storage filling to capacity!

My Chromecast has no storage and no remote. It’s fine.

Cool. Keep using it.

Until services stop supporting it.

until they decide that their new device needs more sales, so they depricate the protocol and you can’t use it anymore

Deprecate the casting protocol? Sure Jan. The new device still supports casting.

Regular Chromecast work perfectly as YouTube jukebox.

What do you mean regular Chromecast?

What do you mean regular Chromecast?

Just regular Chromecast, not that Google TV stuff. That round dongle that does nothing but accept casting streams via that cast button in many Android apps.

So the one from 2013? Sure. It was fine for that. This is a different thing, as not every device, service, or whatever supports casting. I wish they did, but they don’t.

Secondarily, I don’t want to use a screen to control a screen. I prefer a physical remote that I can have muscle memory for.

But I get why people liked the device. I did too. But fortunately or unfortunately, it’s been 10 years and technology has moved. Which is probably why they are giving this a new name being an generally good upgrade on the last Chromecast 4K.

Christ, this one even has a built in Ethernet port and doesn’t put strain on my HDMI port by just dangling there.

They’re supposedly using pretty much the same chipset. So the most important part is still underpowered, these Android boxes generally work fine even with 2-3GBs of RAM.

From OP article

such as a processor that’s 22 percent faster

It’s supposed to use S905X3 with ARM Cortex-A55.

There’s already plenty of devices on the market with this chip, and it’s fine, but in real world as a user you won’t really see any improvement over something like a nearly 10 year old Nvidia Shield that’s still using a more powerful chipset.

Which is sad for a new device…

Does Nvidia even make new mobile chipsets still? At least… Relatively cheaply? I know there’s something of an Nvidia tax.

For which they will be able to offer subscriptions in a year or 2.

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Google is discontinuing the Chromecast line(www.theverge.com)

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