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“okay, what successful product are we going to kill next?”
They actually have a great product, and they’re canceling it? The new ones were kind of expensive already, but every app supported it and it was very nice
Maybe they’re coming out with something new and more expensive, or they’ve entered a licensing deal with another -cast-able company so they can charge you or get licensing fees without the manufacturing overhead.
Or maybe they’re just being Google and cancelling yet another thing that people like to use.
They are, I saw an article for it the other day. Some compact set top box running Android TV that costs way more than any Chromecast ever did.
Casting is nice but I’m thinking now is a good time to consider switching to something like Apple TV if you need a dedicated streaming device since there’s basically no price difference anymore.
I’ve had good luck with Roku so far, I know they’re questionable but short of building a system to handle casting/streaming for me they seem to be the best bet right now
Its #1, its in the article. Has some forgettable name, haha
1 and a little of 2. New device and a new way to charge you.
This is why they have no great products, they kill all the ones that are
How can it be a great product if the screen doesn’t have more ads than a '90s geocities page?
Be nice to have something to replace my Nvidia shield pro with that’s not an apple tv. Looking forward to seeing how the new streaming device compares
Literally all my friends know the name “Chromecast”, why would you rename it
and then add TV to it, is this now advertised to seniors?
It seems so, some people in the thread complained their parents don’t use ChromeCast because it needed the phone to use. Apparently seniors are also better if you want to sell an expensive subscription when the opportunity arises.
Why does Google do any of the dumb shit they do?
To justify the salaries of their product managers
Chromecast naming scheme did get weird - it’s difficult for someone who doesn’t follow these things to know if they want the chromecast ultra or chromecast with google tv. I agree though they should have just called the new product something like “Chromecast Box 2025”.
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.
and before that they already replaced it with google tv with chromecast
A more expensive, clunkier product, with a bunch of needless fluff in it.
Enshitification 101
For which they will be able to offer subscriptions in a year or 2.
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.
None of which changes the fact that it’s more expensive and clunkier, and none of which feels necessary.
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.
I don’t think so. Maybe they’ll have something new for the next Nintendo Switch?
In fact, the Shield is using the same chip as the Switch (same for the newer revisions).
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.
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.
The large used market exists because Google has been producing them. When Google stops producing them, that supply will dry up.
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.
Cast protocol is only one of the many many things that you can stream through a chromecast device.
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.
Because that’ll last
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.
My Chromecast has no storage and no remote. It’s fine.
Cool. Keep using 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.
They killed support for the first gen Chromecast and the YouTube “app” has been broken for 3+ years. They’ll just stop supporting it one day and you’ll have to buy a new one.
That’s the only reason I had to replace my previous 2 steaming devices.
The streaming backend got updated and the app in my device no longer supported it. And there was no updated app made available for that device.
You haven’t been paying attention to Google in the last few years, have you?
Chromecast ultras are already broken if you try to use your own DNS.
Until services stop supporting it.
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.
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.
Well, the story is about Google ending that line of products.
Yeah, I have a smart TV and would appreciate some faster processing in there. Or if I can flash a simplified ROM, but dunno if those exist. As long as I get control over what it does, I’d take it. Can just Velcro it on the back of the TV so it’s invisible.
And ethernet port!
You can get an Ethernet adapter for the Chromecast
Yeah, exactly. You needed to buy an extra adapter before. Now you don’t.
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
My wife is used to FLauncher and will probably get annoyed if I change the Shield’s interface (again…) but maybe I’ll try it out on the Google TV Chromecast I have for holiday trips.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Swallowed the clickbait, hook, line and sinker.
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.
Not surprised. Like chromecast audio, chromecast couldn’t really serve an adequate amount of ads. Basically it’s only value was it forced you to use stock youtube app to stream preventing any adblocking, but if you cast your screen, then it can’t stop adblocks, so it makes sense to discontinue this product. There’s some open source projects out there that might be worth looking into, NymphCast is one I saw, uses a rasberry pi.
You can just install bubbleUpnp on any android device and cast every app or website to your TV, including non-stock youtube (using it with Tubular, previously known as Newpipe).
I’m actually upset you can’t use Nest Audio speakers as audio out. Apple TV lets you do it with home pods, Google said they were working on it, guess they were too busy adding AI garbo to the new device.
Ok. Can someone please update https://killedbygoogle.com/ with this and increase the counter with +1?
It’s already done
Won’t Chromecast still exist as a service? Just because they aren’t making the dongle doesn’t mean all the Chromecast enabled devices are just going to stop working or even being made. Just about every display that’s made has Chromecast built in now.
as you were corrected elsewhere, no they don’t.
The casting protocol? Yes. Those devices? No. They’re moving to Android TV devices with different branding
I know haha google graveyard funny, but over a decade of production only to be replaced by a similar product is a financial success.
Everyone knows after any commercial success the best thing you can do is rebrand by announcing the death of the successful product \s
Get a pi, people. There are very few reasons you would want Chromecast.
Size and portability.? Ease of use?
Very few reasons for people with technical ability, which the Fediverse overrepresents. It’s easy to get the idea that anyone can pick up something like a Pi and install and configure an OS image on it. It seems simple to us, but 95% of people will not/cannot do this. They have better things to do than learn IT skills.
Curious, how does a pi replace Chromecast functionality?
“Yes I know the customer learned that product name and has a good connotation with it, but how about we change the name to something completely different?”
“Our current product offering is less than $50. We were thinking the next iteration should be $300”
It’s also built with the same SoC as Walmart’s Google TV box that sells for $50.
A new entry to https://killedbygoogle.com/?
Eh, not really. This product had a full run, will continue to work and the features are all still available in their newer products. Killed by Google usually implies they have a service that just ceases to exist.
I feel the original Chromecast was probably the last truly great original Google product, it was simple, it was inexpensive and it worked - you just plugged it in, joined your network and you were off, there really wasn’t anything like it at the time.
I really hate what they’ve become.
What changed? I thought that is still what they did.
Chromecast with Google TV made the “simple” casting worse for some apps like Netflix. Instead of it casting directly, it would spawn the Netflix app and make you use the remote to reselect the show you wanted to see.
Yeah I got one of the newer ones after having a ton of the earlier models and I was disgusted by that change. Instantly returned it and bought one of the discontinued Ultras for 4K.
I did the exact same thing. Its such a stupid step backwards in functionality.
Also they made it reliant on the Google Home app, which makes it really hard to change WiFi networks. It’s a pain in the ass if you have multiple WiFi networks setup at your house.
Why on earth would you have multiple WiFi networks in your home?
I take my Chromecast on holiday, you basically have to factory reset it every time to change network. But my recollection is that you’ve always had to do that.
My solution: get a travel router and have it broadcast the same SSID (and use the same password) as you use at home.
All your devices should successfully connect to it and you don’t need to factory reset them.
Many of them have the ability to navigate through a captive portal too (since I got mine all the hotels I’ve gone to have just needed a password, so i haven’t needed to test that).
That makes perfect sense, and switching is definitely annoying then… But the person I responded to said they had multiple WiFi networks at home… E.g. Not on holiday
I personally have a Comcast router/modem with its own network. I have a network switch that I plug into the router that I use for hard coded stuff. Mostly my PC and a couple other things that I want to run fast instead of convenient. Then I have a WiFi mesh network that I run for most of my other devices, including my phone.
So for my Chromecast, if I want to stream from my phone on the mesh network, I have it on one network. But if I want to stream from my PC, I have it on another network. While with most devices, changing the network you’re connected to is simple, it’s a massive pain in the ass with a Chromecast.
So as far as I understand, you have
- Outer router (Comcast), which has WiFi enabled
- Inner router (your own), which has WiFi enabled, and further meshes with other WiFi mesh devices (or is the mesh separate?)
- A plain switch, for stuff you want cabled and fast
Is that correct?
Why not get the WiFi in the Comcast router disabled, and use your inner network exclusively, such that both WiFi and ethernet devices are on the same network?
That’s what I did with my network, and I even got the ISP to put their modem/router into bridge mode, so it’s completely transparent.
I could, but I like having the router network as an option to connect to. I know the point of a mesh network is to improve WiFi connectivity overall, but every once in a while it will get a bit laggy when streaming a video. Probably because I’ve got like 90 some devices connected to it. I like having the option to switch my phone to the router network and go upstream of all the other stuff.
I have a trusted network, an IoT network (where the CC would go), and a guest network.
I know most people aren’t going to have the time or knowledge set up network segmentation, but it’s still good practice.
No need for a physically separated network, that’s what VLANs are for
Remind me, what app did it use before? I have had Chromecast since gen 1, can’t remember any other app, but that’s probably my memory failing.
Honestly I don’t remember. I had a gen 1 Chromecast as well and I think it was just a Chromecast app. Now it’s all integrated with Google Home.
Edit: I tried googling it and under the Wikipedia page description it showed the following. But what’s funny is if you go to the Wikipedia page, that text is no longer there.
Originally called simply “Chromecast”, the app was released concurrently with the original Chromecast video model …
I feels like they either badly copy (see Gemini) or don’t think about what they’re offering (see Stadia’s busted business model) they’re content to milk the existing services they’ve already got and make them worse by cramming in more ads (see YouTube, Google’s search result pages) and they cut out or dictate the web through their monopolies (see AMP and Chrome) rather than working with other parties to make good products.
They feel like Hooli in Silicon Valley, basically the definition of a fat tech giant who doesn’t do any innovation of their own.
Badly copy (see Gemini)
Tf are you smoking dude, Google has been working on AI long before ChatGPT was a twinkle in Sam Altman’s eye. They didn’t release any public models because they wanted to go about it safely and not just dump the world’s best misinformation creator on the open market for anyone to use with little safeguards. All that went out the window when ChatGPT got all the press and google decided they wanted a piece of the hype, but pretending they “didn’t do any innovation of their own” in regards to AI is ludicrous. They have been at the forefront of AI development for the last decade, and the fact you think otherwise shows your only knowledge about AI is from after ChatGPT headlines started coming out.
That’s what they did until OpenAI started making noise and management pushed out everybody working on safety and quality to cut corners and rush something out to compete (poorly)
I still have and use one. Will it stop working now?
What’s funny is that was actually the start of them becoming who they are now. There’s a litany of evidence they stole the Chromecast technology
The remote playback control over network patents? I can’t see why those patents should be valid, everything there has prior art done in the 80’s
What I’m more pissed about is how Google killed Miracast (it’s technically still around but Google removed it from default Android and OEMs have to choose to enable it) and how they fought against 3rd party implementations to keep the Chromecast protocol closed.
I see there’s ongoing work for a Matter based standard for casting, I really hope that ends up getting broad support. We need something better than DLNA (and Miracast is technically DLNA over WiFi Direct). We need an open casting standard supporting Chromecast-like remote interactive content (the device is essentially a remote controlled web browser)
Is there anything interesting you can do with a Chromecast dongle by jailbreaking it, if you can get one for cheap?
Don’t need to jailbreak, it already works with pirate sites with the right app
Eh as long as the protocol stays the same who cares? Everything has it built in nowadays, and even if it doesn’t, I bet China won’t stop making Chromecast dongles
