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Comment by lvspiff | Hacker News Reader

Is this intended to compete with the AppleTV/FireTV/Roku? If so Google just failed miserably. Not having its own OS severely limits its abilities it would seem. It looks like it continues to be nothing more than a wireless audio/monitor cable that makes use of your phone as a remote.

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Chromecast is the "light" competitor. Why give it it's own OS when "everyone" (yes I know not everyone) already has a smartphone that can just cast it's content to it?

This allows it to be cheaper and means the device itself is less prone to bugs & software glitches.

For the more advanced, you've got the Android TV Operating System - on the Nexus Player and other Android TV manufacturers, or built into some TVs.

The last thing I need is another OS. I really like the Chromecast for doing its job without fanfare. It puts the smart in my otherwise dumb and un-networked TV.

I agree with the general sentiment.

I really rather like my Nexus Player, though.

> Is this intended to compete with the AppleTV/FireTV/Roku?

No, that would be the Nexus Player.

The CC competes with other streaming sticks...like the Fire TV stick, Roku Streaming stick, etc.

You would be surprised. I've always found the interfaces for AppleTV/FireTV/Roku to be extremely clunky and not user friendly in the slightest. There's no reason not to use your phone that has interfaces that are much better designed and easier to navigate (a swipe of the finger to type some text, versus a hundred button presses to navigate an awful on-screen TV leopard). I think using remotes is pretty old-school and we're going to see them phased out pretty fast. AppleTV's interface is especially jarring, the Netflix app is borderline unusable.

I like choosing media from a phone/computer, but I love having my Roku's physical remote. Instant access to tactile playback controls is huge. I can pick up the remote in the dark and find the pause button with no effort at all. If I could have that on Chromecast, I'd be sold.

Last night, I was watching something on Netflix on my Chromecast (using the Android app) and somehow the app and the CC got out of sync. It thought it wasn't casting anymore, so it took away my playback controls and I had no way to pause my show. IIRC, eventually I had to turn off the TV (and thus the CC).

I've definitely had that happen with my Chromecast as well. Not sure if the bug lies in Netflix's app, or the way Netflix and the Chromecast communicate.

My TV also detects when the Chromecast starts casting and automatically turns on and changes to the input. Great if you want to watch something without finding the TV remote, but I've woken up numerous times in the middle of the night to find my TV on, just showing the Netflix title screen even though no devices are casting. Never had that happen with YouTube or Plex or anything else I use, so I wonder if it is just Netflix.

A physical remote for the Chromecast for pausing/fast-forwarding/rewinding is a pretty good idea. I wonder how difficult it would be to interface with the Chromecast and make a WiFi remote? Or would it have to emulate the signals that the app sends over WiFi to the Chromecast? I wonder if you could sniff the packets for pause/play/rewind and emulate them? (I smell a good idea for that dusty ol Raspberry Pi that I have on my shelf)

Hmmm, there is the HDMI-CEC stuff (where you supposedly can control your CC from the TV remote -- my TV doesn't have it, so I can't try it). Given that, I wonder if you could make a pass-through dongle, HDMI male-to-female, and put some play/pause/rewind HDMI-CEC endpoints in it with some arbitrary wifi/bluetooth control api.

It depends on the user scenario. My family has a Roku and it's great - our kids don't have smartphones, and we can also choose a video to play by looking at the TV screen.

Also note that the Roku has an Android app that allows you to completely avoid any on-TV UI, if you so choose.

True, Chromecast only works in a world where it's assumed that everybody has a smartphone (and a decent in-home WiFi setup...) I hadn't thought about children no having smartphones or tablets, of if grandma comes over and doesn't know how to use a smartphone so she can't watch Netflix.

Can you cast to Roku through Netflix/YouTube/etc? It's not the on-TV UI that I don't like as much as it is that I like browsing through Netflix on my phone much more. I know with the Xbox One (and the 360) you can cast Netflix and YouTube to it just the same as you would to a Chromecast, so it wouldn't surprise me if other devices implement the same functionality.

The Roku can be casted to, although I haven't played all to much with this functionality. I've done it through the youtube app on my phone. Haven't tried it with Netflix though, but I suspect it would work.

> Is this intended to compete with the AppleTV/FireTV/Roku?

No, its intended as an incremental upgrade to the existing Chromecast.

The related product most similar to AppleTV/FireTV/Roku (in price and features -- though still less expensive) is Nexus Player.

no, that's what Android TV is for, with the NVidia Shield and Nexus Player. This product competes with the FireTV Stick and the Roku Streaming Stick.

And it sells and works very well with that niche. I know many non-techie people who just love their CC's for quickly transferring videos or images from their phones.

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