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Comment by kentonv | Hacker News Reader

This makes me so sad.

The old Chromecast experience -- choose media on phone, play on TV -- is all I ever wanted. I hate using a remote to browse -- my phone is much better. I hate having my TV logged into an account -- my family, kids, guests all use the same TV and I don't want them using my account, nor do I want to see their account when I'm using it.

The Chromecast protocol is the only thing that the entire ecosystem of Android streaming apps integrates nicely with. I wish Google would open it up to third parties to create Chromecast-replacement devices... but of course they won't. They aren't doing what's best for users, they are doing what's best for their engagement metrics and revenue. And thus, our experience actually gets worse.

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The absolutely killer feature of the Chromecast is that I can have guests over (or be visiting someone), and anyone can stream any content they're authorized for. Movies I've bought can be watched anywhere there's a Chromecast; my buddy can come over and we can watch something together with his Paramount+ subscription. Keeping the accounts and authorization linked to personal devices, and letting the Chromecast essentially be a way to translate that to a bigger screen without having to actually stream it out of your pocket is fantastic.

Absolutely +1!

I love Chromecast on vacations for the same reason: I can continue using my subscriptions without logging my account into the hosts TV.

They aren't getting rid of the Chromecast streaming. Google TV does both Chromecast and the Android interface.

The one difference is that Google TV runs the app for service if installed and streams with that. It is nice to use the remote when streaming instead of pulling out phone to pause or change volume.

> They aren't getting rid of the Chromecast streaming.

I understand that, but the new Chromecast devices and presumably the devices replacing them require you to log into the device before you can even use it as a Chromecast stream destination, and then when the video is done instead of going back to nice photos they try to shove algorithmic recommendations in your face. I want the old Chromecast back.

And if you aren't logged in to that app on the Google TV, you aren't allowed to cast. It's incredibly annoying.

That is not the case. Only YouTube and Netflix have exceptions where the Android app on Google TV / Android TV intercepts the standard Chromecasting where the TV just pulls up the receiver web app in an ephemeral browser. And even for YouTube it'll automatically log you in in a temporary way when you cast. For anything else, casting to an Android TV device is exactly the same as casting to an old-school Chromecast.

Really?

Just to try, I just logged out of my Google Chromecast with Google TV (yes folks, it may time to rebrand...), and started playing a stream from Spotify using my phone.

And now I'm listening to Spotify.

I did this with both Google Cast and Spotify Connect (Spotify, at least on Android, allows selection of this).

No issues.

Am I not holding it right? It sure has the appearance of working correctly, but we may not be observing the same things.

Same. I was so sad when my old chromecast broke. And casting was basically the only thing that kept me on the chrome browser all these years. So perhaps its a good thing and this change will finally allow me to move to a more private browser.

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