Google Chromecast

[AznAnarchy99]

I talked to Amazon's customer support, and apparently, Amazon released an internal memo stating that anyone that purchased from Amazon after 8 PM EST on July 24 (Wednesday) will not be getting the promo code.

CS recommended this: I edited the person's name out for reasons. So tomorrow I'll be calling Netflix and Google and asking many questions regarding this. I will get my 3 months!

Also, the CS rep I talked to said that if I can't get the 3 months from Netflix or Google, then he will credit me the $24 to my Amazon account.

Probably luck of the draw with the CS. I doubt they'll be offering $24 credit back to everyone.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I was ready to buy until they pulled the Netflix promo. What a chicken crap thing to do. Hell at least let the promo run a full 24 hours.

 

[ControlD]

I was ready to buy until they pulled the Netflix promo. What a chicken crap thing to do. Hell at least let the promo run a full 24 hours.

At $35 I still think this can be a pretty good deal. At the same time, without the Netflix promo I have zero reason to purchase until Plex and a few other services are working.

 

[Number1]

yes, works through a receiver. hdmi cec works via a receiver as well. with everything off, telling my phone to play something via chromecast will turn on receiver and tv and set inputs properly. netflix played in 5.1

Cool, can't wait to get my hands on one. Unfortunately it might take a while, I live in Canada.

 

[thescreensavers]

That Netflix deal seems like a big scam by Google. I contacted Amazon and they knew nothing about it, but said they'd forward my question to their promotions department to investigate. $35 is still nice, but a Promo that doesn't even last a day, I bought mine from Amazon almost immediately when it showed up.

I got the same exact responce

But my Brother Found this, Screen Shotted incase they take it down, note Time is PST, so its 8:31PM EST.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...=vglnk-c422-20

Now this is on the Product Page

Netflix Promotion No Longer Available
Please note that the Netflix promotional offer (which was available in limited supply) has now ended. Customers who ordered their Chromecast prior to 5:31 PM PST on July 24, 2013 will receive a Netflix gift code via email within 5 days of their product's ship date.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

That Netflix deal seems like a big scam by Google. I contacted Amazon and they knew nothing about it, but said they'd forward my question to their promotions department to investigate. $35 is still nice, but a Promo that doesn't even last a day, I bought mine from Amazon almost immediately when it showed up.


Anyway, not sure if anyone else mentioned it yet. But the USB "Service" port on my TV does power my Chromecast. I like that.

A scam? You're kidding me.

 

[ViRGE]

the container is supported but it only supports the AAC codec which isn't exactly common.

or so i'm told.

<rant on>
The fascination with AC3 borders on absurd. We already murder video by cutting the bitrate (and often the resolution) by a significant degree, but heaven help us if we touch the audio!

If the audio nuts hadn't gotten a foot in the door, we could have just used MP4 containers with H.264 video and AAC audio, skipped MKV entirely, and everyone would have been happier. Multichannel AAC is just fine, and in fact is better than AC3 and DTS at any given bitrate. A 1.5Mbps DTS stream could easy be replaced with a sub-500Kbps AAC stream, saving a good megabit to either allocate to video or cut the file size entirely.

Instead we have to resort to convoluted solutions to play back video on everything from consoles to tablets. How many people downloaded VLC for the iPad because it handles MKV containers (i.e. AC3 audio), when had their material had been MP4/AAC in the first place they could have just used the built-in audio player?

Content providers need to stop shipping stuff in H.264 + AC3 and stick to H.264 + AAC. H.264 and AAC were meant to go together from day one; they're like peanut butter and jelly, the perfect complements to each other.
</rant off>

On a side note, I want to kick Google in the butt with a size 15 boot. They're going to use HE-AAC for multichannel audio in Google Play store movies. HE-AAC (unlike LC-AAC) was engineered as a replacement for radio and other low-to-medium quality audio scenarios. It is not designed to scale up to CD quality audio, spectral band replication has a very clear quality tradeoff that improves audio at low bitrates when you're desperate for bits, but irreparably harms the audio quality once you're no longer bit starved. This is a format optimized around 64Kbps stereo for the love of Mike.

 

[Number1]

anyone know how to fix this issue? It keeps happening.

I have read somewhere that you do need a solid wifi connection for this to work properly.

 

[you2]

Personally I want H.265.

 

[ultimatebob]

I have read somewhere that you do need a solid wifi connection for this to work properly.

Good to know. There are about 40 WiFi access points in my neighborhood, generating a ton of interference no matter what channel I'm on. It sounds like I would be screwed if I tried using one of these.

 

[drbrock]

Got this from Amazon customer service. I bought the device almost immediately so I was expecting to get it but I still contacted amazon to make sure I was going to get it.

Hello,

I'm sorry for the delay in sending your Netflix gift code. I can confirm you qualified for the promotion and you'll receive an e-mail for the a Netflix gift code one week after your Google Chromecast HDMI Streaming Media Player ships.

If you still have any concerns, please write back to us so that we can help you:

http://www.amazon.com/contact-us

Thanks for your patience. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Best Regards,

 

[ibex333]

Your phone/pc /tablet basically tells the chrome cast the URL of the video you are wanting to play and then the chrome cast downloads the file directly from the web server it is located on. It does not come from the device you are using. I am sure someone will come out with a hack or app that makes what you are talking about very quickly though.

If all it does is send the url to connect to, I doubt such a hack will come... But at least what they could do is at least create some sort of remote desktop app for Chromecast. Should work relatively fast through home Wi-Fi. I really don't care to stream movies to the TV. I do care about using it as a wireless monitor for $35. ; )

 

[vshah]

I have no doubt that local content will eventually work, but I do think that there is no way that the Chromecast device will be able to decode MKV files. So there will have to be some sort of transcoding thing going on on the desktop/server most likely.

remember it's chromeOS, not just chrome. chromeOS notebooks can play mkv files, so i'm hopeful.

 

[SheHateMe]

I'm not going to die over the Netflix deal being canceled. Netflix is $9 a month, guys. After 3 years, I don't even notice it being auto-drafted out of my account anymore.

 

[Red Storm]

I'm not going to die over the Netflix deal being canceled. Netflix is $9 a month, guys. After 3 years, I don't even notice it being auto-drafted out of my account anymore.

Yeah I would have bought this thing for $50 without a Netflix deal.

 

[slayernine]

I would love to buy a few of these if only they sold them in Canada : ( : (

 

[Sid59]

Nice breakdown of how it streams content.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1j27ro/an_indepth_look_at_how_chromecast_uses_html5/

 

[poofyhairguy]

If the audio nuts hadn't gotten a foot in the door, we could have just used MP4 containers with H.264 video and AAC audio, skipped MKV entirely, and everyone would have been happier. Multichannel AAC is just fine, and in fact is better than AC3 and DTS at any given bitrate. A 1.5Mbps DTS stream could easy be replaced with a sub-500Kbps AAC stream, saving a good megabit to either allocate to video or cut the file size entirely.

It is not "audio nuts" that keep AC3 and DTS around in the scene. It is the fact that almost no AV receivers can take a AAC bitstream. You have to have some sort of software solution that decodes it to multichannel PCM (which means only HDMI works for 5.1) or transcodes it to AC3 (at which point why not just use AC3?). A software solution for decoding/transcoding sucks compared to letting my AV receiver do it as it was intended to do, so give me the mkv with the DTS/AC3 track please.

There is also the notion that if you convert the native DTS or AC3 track to AAC that might bring about a loss of quality, while if you just keep the track as in in the mkv you maintain perfect quality. The file sizes don't change enough to warrant shrinking the audio and possibly degrading it.

Instead we have to resort to convoluted solutions to play back video on everything from consoles to tablets. How many people downloaded VLC for the iPad because it handles MKV containers (i.e. AC3 audio), when had their material had been MP4/AAC in the first place they could have just used the built-in audio player?

I don't know what you are talking about. The default player on my old Galaxy S2 and S4 can play mkv files with an AC3 stream easily out of the box. The problem for iPad users is Apple's anal retentive control of their walled garden, not some problem with the industry as a whole.

Content providers need to stop shipping stuff in H.264 + AC3 and stick to H.264 + AAC. H.264 and AAC were meant to go together from day one; they're like peanut butter and jelly, the perfect complements to each other.

Most mkv files don't come from "content providers." Content providers like mp4s (or something with more DRM). Mkvs come from the "scene," filled with people like me who bitch and moan if the audio isn't properly bitstreamed to my semi-expensive HDMI receiver.

I don't know about Chrome OS, but I know Android has a few players that can handle DTS and AC3 in the Play Store. Hopefully the Chromecast will get that capability eventually.

 

[dagamer34]

Good to know. There are about 40 WiFi access points in my neighborhood, generating a ton of interference no matter what channel I'm on. It sounds like I would be screwed if I tried using one of these.

Blame no 5Ghz WiFi. Why do companies cut such critical corners for a product? I can see 27 wireless networks from my apartment in Houston, and I am the ONLY person running 5Ghz. Seriously people, come on now. And you wonder why your Internet goes to shit when someone microwaves a burrito.

 

[Red Storm]

Blame no 5Ghz WiFi. Why do companies cut such critical corners for a product? I can see 27 wireless networks from my apartment in Houston, and I am the ONLY person running 5Ghz. Seriously people, come on now. And you wonder why your Internet goes to shit when someone microwaves a burrito.

It's nice living on lot big enough where your own network is the only one you ever see.

 

[thescreensavers]

I have read somewhere that you do need a solid wifi connection for this to work properly.

Interesting, I do have full signal on both devices. But I also do have like 10 networks around me.

Ill see if I can play with the channels maybe.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Does anyone know what SoC is in this thing yet?

 

[cronos]

Anyone redeemed their Netflix code? After I redeemed it my next billing date still shows up as next month instead of 3-months away.

 

[dagamer34]

It's nice living on lot big enough where your own network is the only one you ever see.

It doesn't matter to me. Since I use 5Ghz on almost all of my device (and wired for those that don't have 5Ghz), I get great performance on my network.

 

[thescreensavers]

Does anyone know what SoC is in this thing yet?

Im waiting for this info as well

I found the hottest temp to be right near the HDMI port with my non contact thermometer.