The surprise announcement at the ‘Breakfast with Sundar’ event was the announcement of Chromecast, marking Googles 2nd attempt to conquer the living room after the failed Nexus Q.
The Chromecast device, supports 1080P streaming, runs on simplified version of ChromeOS and plugs into any available HDMI port on your TV, essentially making it a ‘Smart TV’.
The concept behind it is very similar to Miracast, however Chromecast doesn’t mirror your screen, it interacts with apps on your device using them as a remote. At this stage Chromecasting is supported on Android and iOS but that’s not to say other mobile OS’s won’t be supported. App support for Chromecast can so far be found in Youtube, Google Play – Movies and Music and Netflix apps.
There is also a Beta feature which allows you to throw tabs in Chrome to the Chromecast dongle that will work with most Windows laptops, most Mac laptops and the Chromebook Pixel.
Each Chromecast dongle can be named, essentially allowing you to plug in multiple devices into screens around the house and send video from the compatible app, to whichever screen you desire at the push of a button.
To Chromecast from the Apps on your device simply load the app and hit the ‘Cast button’ in the app.
Once you’ve started the video, you can actually use your device to go about your normal, business, your Android device is simply the remote control for the Chromecast.
There is support for multiple devices in Chromecasting, Google used Netflix for this example which showed them starting a show on one device and then taking control of the Chromecast dongle from a completely new device. With the multiple user support you will also be able to have your friends add to a communal playlist on Youtube.
The Chromecast dongle is CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) compatible allowing you to control devices from the Chromecast dongle, meaning you can change the volume on the TV with your Android device.
Check out the video – Chromecast: For Bigger Fun
The Chromecast dongle is available in the US for order for US $35. It will roll out to other countries as quickly as possible, but no actual timeframe or local pricing has been released.
Interested in a Chromecast device?
Apparently its already sold out in the US. Yep its that familiar Google story.
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Brilliant! Especially the Google music compatibility. I’ve been
trying to figure out how to make it so that anyone can walk into the
house and start playing all access music from their phone.
Great! a 3rd kind of Google media device…I really want to throw money at El Googs for STB/PVR Thing (read: XBMC HTPC), but now I have another choice? WTF Googs…Android Dongles/PIVOS things, “Google TV” boxes and now Chrome for TV…Make up your dam minds…
I’ll stick with my Windows 8 HTPC 🙂
A few details: This is called chromecast because the dongle is basically running a browser (chrome) within which you can do anything you can do with HTML5/JS/CSS3. However, they appear to have tight control over which of such web apps will be allowed to be run on it (permission in writing) – so if they want to block DLNA-like rendering of local content, they could. Somehow I think porn apps aren’t going to be a go. TV catchup services will be obvious. In fact I can see this as a major shot across apple’s iTV – since its possible/cheap for… Read more »
As I understand it, any app using the Chromecast SDK will be able to push audio and video to the device. That won’t require a new web app to be installed on the device itself, it’s core functionality. I don’t see how or why you feel that Google will block any AirPlay/MiraCast content. I don’t see any walled garden here unless you need extra functionality installed on the device itself beyond audio and video rendering. Where are you getting this information from?
I could be wrong, but I’ve been trawling though the SDK information this morning. Basically the control goes via this ‘operation cycle’ : 1) SDK initialization 2) Device discovery (traditional or MediaRouter APIs) 3) Application session creation 4) Message stream registration 5) Message exchange between sender application and receiver application 6) Application session teardown 7) SDK de-initialization Every bit of media content you want to play has to be passed to an app on the chromecast to actually render – and google have kept very close control of that end (OK, its developer preview, but ‘written permission’!) So, if say… Read more »
Thanks Fred for your thorough response. You’re right – there doesn’t appear to be any “local streaming” functionality at this stage beyond Chrome tabs. I hope this changes in the future but of course there’s no guarantees. Some of the reporting on this – not from Ausdroid – has been very misleading to say the least.
My guess is we’ll find out by tomorrow morning if there is a generic media rendering app onboard that can accept a generic URLs to render. People have been picking them up today, and knocking up a quick app to exercise the SDK seems easy enough.
If you wake to the knashing of teeth, you’ll know.
Oh, and this thing is only 2.4GHz – so those who’ve tried to get stable 1080p video streaming will know how *interesting* things are going to get.
In another forum, someone pointed out that if you can get it to display in Chrome, it will stream. So, if “file://C:Moviesstarwars.avi” will play in Chrome, you can stream it.
Got excited and just tried to buy it. Not available in our country. No wonder they call Australia the a**e end of the world. We are always last with everything.
Australia/NZ gets more Google Play services than any country outside of the US. We are the only non-US country to get Music All Access for example.
What you say may be true but what I said is that we are always LAST to receive anything. And because we happen to be the largest island on the planet, we pay extra for everything. Companies hide their grab for more profit behind the wall that is freight costs. But that is a rant for another day. Thank you for your response in any case.
And just to fire you up even more. Working in the business I can tell you it is CHEAPER to ship ex China to OZ than USA (about a THIRD of the cost at the moment)
Hey Shaun. I have noticed that too. I work for an IT company that imports products from China, Taiwan and USA. And what you is very true. Our Landed Unit Cost out of China/Taiwan is a lot cheaper than the same product out of US.
Register at ReShip.com or WS1.com (World Ship 1) to get yourself an address in the USA. ReShip gives a Portland Oregan address… Dunno about WS1. Ship your stuff there and they forward it on. It means paying extra postage but Amazon is currently posting Chromecast free (well… once they have it in stock).
Thanks Trae. I will look into this. Have you used ReShip ? Your experience ?
This will be my first time using ReShip… I ordered 2 units through Amazon.
In NZ we have YouShop which is a reliable service provided by New Zealand Post giving you a Portland, Oregan address, post code 97230. Now I am here in Australia, I’ve discovered Australia Post doesn’t do it. There are many mail forwarding providers but I noticed ReShip has the same Portland, Oregon address and hope it is the same facility. Time will tell.
In NZ I think the should call it EweShop. 😉
Brilliant! Especially the Google music compatibility. I’ve been trying to figure out how to make it so that anyone can walk into the house and start playing all access music from their phone.
I wonder if there’s a way to have the audio go to a set of speakers without needing to turn on a tv?
nexus Q joke?
It wasn’t, but it could have been! This is better though..
At that price, yes! 😛