6 ms·

While I am not proud of this, Chromecast is a fairly core part of mine and my family's routine each week. It's one of probably only two consumer technologies th

by thom 7y ago

While I am not proud of this, Chromecast is a fairly core part of mine and my family's routine each week. It's one of probably only two consumer technologies that I've found transformative in the last ten years, the other being Apple Pay. It'd certainly be interesting if there were an viable open alternative, but it seems unlikely that NymphCast is going to make a debut in the Netflix app anytime soon. I'd probably settle for a good Firefox implementation of the Chromecast protocol, but that's obviously missing the point here. Also as an aside, AngelScript's is another of these programming language sites where sample code seems to be more than three clicks away from the homepage. I will admit I gave up before finding any.

Waterluvian 7y ago
Chromecast is the killer product that drives our home's media use. It just works. It's accessible to anyone with their phone. The UI are the phone apps. It plus a few subscription services makes every other media box obsolete for us. I got a Roku tv last month. For jokes I turned on WiFi and tried out the built in streaming. Just terrible. Great for people without phones, but who else would want that kind of experience?
- diamondo25 7y ago
  I was happy with my chromecasts, until one of them stopped working on one screen. It boots up, google logo does its thing and then its black. Device can be communicated to, and resets do not work. I have read that this is HDCP related and that using a chinese hdmi splitter works... The device works fine on my Dell monitor, and I am not using any extension cable...
- thebean11 7y ago
  Maybe I need to give it another shot, I switched to the built in Roku functionality because I couldn't stand the phone player disconnecting from the chromecast. It would always take me at least 30 seconds to pause anything; with the Roku I have a dedicated remote that works every time instantly, and it handles both the on/off and the media.
  - propogandist 7y ago
    Be mindful of the telemetry being sent back from your Roku device (can be blocked with pi-hole).
  - jobigoud 7y ago
    For me the play/pause buttons on my TV remote work even if the app is disconnected.
- cortesoft 7y ago
  Really? I find other media players so much easier to use. I hate having to use my phone to control the player; I can't look at my phone for things and control the media at the same time. Switching back to whatever app I was using often find I have lost the connection, and it takes a good number of seconds to re-connect and gain control. I also find it really hard to fast forward and rewind... I never get the responsiveness that I get on my XBOX, and I can't rewind and fast forward with nearly the precision, either.
  - woofcat 7y ago
    >I never get the responsiveness that I get on my XBOX, and I can't rewind and fast forward with nearly the precision, either. Comparing a $30 dongle and a multi hundred dollar computer seems a tad unfair. I'm not buying an xBox for my mom to watch Netflix.
    - cortesoft 7y ago
      Sure, but the person I was responding to didn't talk about the price factor at all; they simply stated it was the best media player.
    - ta999999171 7y ago
      Get her a Raspberry Pi with Kodi instead.
  - neodymiumphish 7y ago
    I leave it in the guest room, so it rarely gets much use, but for a short while I was using an Android TV and it was the best of both worlds. You'd have the Chromecast support in every app, but you could still use the Android TV remote to pause and track back/forward depending on which app it was streaming. Really a good experience!
  - FactolSarin 7y ago
    Chromecast has gotten a lot better about not losing connection in the last few years, or maybe it's because I have Pixel phones. If you have Google Home, the voice control is awesome. I feel like I'm in the future every time I tell it to pause.
- arnarbi 7y ago
  I’m the opposite. I used Chromecast for years and it always put me in a foul mood to fiddle with broken and slow apps on my phone. Ended up getting a Roku and couldn’t be happier. Only issue I ever have is misplacing the remote.
  - crocodiletears 7y ago
    There are apps you can download that let your phone function as a Roku remote. I misplaced my remote a while ago, so I've opted to use romote.
- roland35 7y ago
  I love Chromecast for myself but it's tough to let my 5 year old control what show to watch - at least without handing him a laptop or iPad which isn't ideal!
- Marsymars 7y ago
  > It just works. I oddly did not have this experience at all. I could never get audio working properly, and then the Chromecast would make every other input to my TV randomly flash black if the Chromecast was plugged in. Returned to Best Buy after a couple days of wasted time and effort.
tssva 7y ago
The required open protocol already exists along with support in Netflix and some other apps, DIAL. What is needed is a convenient packaging of a DIAL server along with an open platform for developing applications for use on the TV.
- _puk 7y ago
  Doesn't DIAL simply cover "Discovery And Launch"? As I understand it, even the Netflix TV client has custom extensions to perform more than the most basic functionality. You also need to get that app approved onto the TV, which, chances are, require an update. Sadly that means that you're likely never getting support for the majority of the devices already in the field. DIAL's time has come and gone. Adoption during the SmartTV hey day 5+ years ago may have made it a contender.
  - tssva 7y ago
    DIAL provides discovery, launch and provides a mechanism to establish connectivity between the client app and the app running on the media device. This functionality and a open development platform for apps on the media device are the key functionality required. There is no need to get anything approved onto a TV. The apps would run on a media device, such as a Raspberry Pi with the appropriate software, connected via HDMI to the TV just as the Chromecast does.
- opencl 7y ago
  A lot of TVs already support DIAL, unfortunately about the only streaming services that support it are Netflix and YouTube.
guyzero 7y ago
why "not proud"? Life is too short to struggle with basic stuff like watching Netflix when you want to relax.
- Minor49er 7y ago
  I'm in a similar situation. I come home from work. My girlfriend and I watch some stuff on YouTube via Chromecast to unwind. Firstly, it's a brain drain and time suck in most of the ways that TV was for everyone in the same routine 20 years ago. Just because it's a smart device doesn't mean that it's any less of an idiot box as the television. Secondly, watching gives power to YouTube/Google when they are despicable companies
  - K0SM0S 7y ago
    > it's a brain drain and time suck in most of the ways that TV was for everyone in the same routine 20 years ago I mean, I won't claim I never lose time on YT same as I used to on TV, occasionally, but as far as "brain drain" and "time suck" are concerned, it kinda depends on what you're into. I spend countless hours watching tech talks, math/sci news and teachings, podcasts with my heroes (on AI, CS, philosophy..) Some of it (most I'd say) helps in my work (not by chance, ofc). Nowadays is by far the best audiovisual average quality of content I've ever had in my life (37 here), because I have the choice of what and when (even where & how with a phone). And it's not like I could ever watch all that's worthy so I can select with excruciatingly high standards (my motto with most media: consume only the very best, ditch everything else: you still won't have enough time to run of content, ever). I think ultimately it's more about control, decisions we make for ourselves, provided the options are there (e.g. couldn't help but eat TV shit on some hours; can't blame myself for having rest time at the 'wrong' hour of TV, hence why I played so much video games back then maybe, which are much 'easier' and deeper time vortexes than any other video form content, IME). I say, 'when in doubt, read a book'. Can't go wrong with doing that even if the book is mediocre.
    - thom 7y ago
      I agree with this. I feel my personal viewing is much more directed these days. If I want to zombie out for a whole day it's just as likely to be a chess tournament on Twitch as anything else, and when there's nothing on I'm much quicker to give up and do something else rather than channel hop as in the old days.
birdyrooster 7y ago
I want to chime in that AirPlay had been doing this on iOS for almost three years (Nov 2010 vs July 2013) before Chromecast came around and is largely seen as a superior experience.
- ehsankia 7y ago
  The 35$ small and minimal dongle was really the game changer I think. I remember when it first came out it even came with 3 months (30$) worth of netflix subscription too, making it basically free. Back then I played with a bunch of different HTPC solutions and I don't think anything below 100$ existed.
- Galaxeblaffer 7y ago
  No they didn't. AirPlay streamed the screen from your idevice, huge difference.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - dragonwriter 7y ago
    To be fair, that's one of the things Chromecast supports (screen/desktop/tab casting of mobile, desktop, or browser content); of course, direct-to-player streaming of online content controlled by web/mobile app is the preferred mode for most things and it's what is meaningful for most media consumption.
  - person_of_color 7y ago
    Doesn't AirPlay do rerouting to?
    - Galaxeblaffer 7y ago
      It does now, but not when Chromecast arrived
- benhurmarcel 7y ago
wanderingstan 7y ago
Seconding your AngelScript complaint. It took me 10+ clicks to find actual code, and then it was only snippets. Somehow developers seem bad at putting themselves in the "customer's" shoes. So many GitHub Readme files filled with release notes, dependencies, donation requests, and installation instructions before telling what the repo actually does!
- ehsankia 7y ago
  So many repo sites are like this. GitHub/GitLab are honestly some of the only ones that really put the code front and center, making it easy to explore. SourceForce, Launchpad, etc, they all have such horrible UX.
ebetica0 7y ago
I'm not quite sure what the innovation was for Apple pay - just that they put it on a phone?
- thom 7y ago
  In the UK it means I can do contactless payments in excess of £30. I now no longer carry a wallet or have to remember a PIN, and at the same time I have zero anxiety about security. I could live without it, but it's something I use every day and think is more or less perfectly formed.
- Marsymars 7y ago
  Not having an iPhone, I only use Apple Pay on web, and there, it's very nice. It uses its own UI/UX during checkout for your personal/shipping/payment info, which is standardized, and almost always nicer than random retailers' websites, and doesn't give your credit card number to the retailer.
  - thom 7y ago
    Yes! Just not having to type my address is a bonus.
hackkitten 7y ago
I will not disagree with you on AngelScript's documentation being rather lacking. While implementing the runtime support is doable for an experienced developer like myself, I would not want to inflict it on a junior dev. Ditto for learning to use AngelScript from just the official documentation. I'm currently working on a dedicated website for NymphCast (to be launched over the coming weeks/months), that will contain development guides for NymphCast apps and kin, as well as some AngelScript tutorials and references. Since it's a hobby project at this point, any timescale I can give is relative of course :) (I'm the NymphCast author)

by thom 7y ago

Waterluvian 7y ago

Chromecast is the killer product that drives our home's media use. It just works. It's accessible to anyone with their phone. The UI are the phone apps. It plus a few subscription services makes every other media box obsolete for us. I got a Roku tv last month. For jokes I turned on WiFi and tried out the built in streaming. Just terrible. Great for people without phones, but who else would want that kind of experience?

diamondo25 7y ago
I was happy with my chromecasts, until one of them stopped working on one screen. It boots up, google logo does its thing and then its black. Device can be communicated to, and resets do not work. I have read that this is HDCP related and that using a chinese hdmi splitter works... The device works fine on my Dell monitor, and I am not using any extension cable...
thebean11 7y ago
Maybe I need to give it another shot, I switched to the built in Roku functionality because I couldn't stand the phone player disconnecting from the chromecast. It would always take me at least 30 seconds to pause anything; with the Roku I have a dedicated remote that works every time instantly, and it handles both the on/off and the media.
- propogandist 7y ago
  Be mindful of the telemetry being sent back from your Roku device (can be blocked with pi-hole).
- jobigoud 7y ago
  For me the play/pause buttons on my TV remote work even if the app is disconnected.
cortesoft 7y ago
Really? I find other media players so much easier to use. I hate having to use my phone to control the player; I can't look at my phone for things and control the media at the same time. Switching back to whatever app I was using often find I have lost the connection, and it takes a good number of seconds to re-connect and gain control. I also find it really hard to fast forward and rewind... I never get the responsiveness that I get on my XBOX, and I can't rewind and fast forward with nearly the precision, either.
- woofcat 7y ago
  >I never get the responsiveness that I get on my XBOX, and I can't rewind and fast forward with nearly the precision, either. Comparing a $30 dongle and a multi hundred dollar computer seems a tad unfair. I'm not buying an xBox for my mom to watch Netflix.
  - cortesoft 7y ago
    Sure, but the person I was responding to didn't talk about the price factor at all; they simply stated it was the best media player.
  - ta999999171 7y ago
    Get her a Raspberry Pi with Kodi instead.
- neodymiumphish 7y ago
  I leave it in the guest room, so it rarely gets much use, but for a short while I was using an Android TV and it was the best of both worlds. You'd have the Chromecast support in every app, but you could still use the Android TV remote to pause and track back/forward depending on which app it was streaming. Really a good experience!
- FactolSarin 7y ago
  Chromecast has gotten a lot better about not losing connection in the last few years, or maybe it's because I have Pixel phones. If you have Google Home, the voice control is awesome. I feel like I'm in the future every time I tell it to pause.
arnarbi 7y ago
I’m the opposite. I used Chromecast for years and it always put me in a foul mood to fiddle with broken and slow apps on my phone. Ended up getting a Roku and couldn’t be happier. Only issue I ever have is misplacing the remote.
- crocodiletears 7y ago
  There are apps you can download that let your phone function as a Roku remote. I misplaced my remote a while ago, so I've opted to use romote.
roland35 7y ago
I love Chromecast for myself but it's tough to let my 5 year old control what show to watch - at least without handing him a laptop or iPad which isn't ideal!
Marsymars 7y ago
> It just works. I oddly did not have this experience at all. I could never get audio working properly, and then the Chromecast would make every other input to my TV randomly flash black if the Chromecast was plugged in. Returned to Best Buy after a couple days of wasted time and effort.

tssva 7y ago

The required open protocol already exists along with support in Netflix and some other apps, DIAL. What is needed is a convenient packaging of a DIAL server along with an open platform for developing applications for use on the TV.

_puk 7y ago
Doesn't DIAL simply cover "Discovery And Launch"? As I understand it, even the Netflix TV client has custom extensions to perform more than the most basic functionality. You also need to get that app approved onto the TV, which, chances are, require an update. Sadly that means that you're likely never getting support for the majority of the devices already in the field. DIAL's time has come and gone. Adoption during the SmartTV hey day 5+ years ago may have made it a contender.
- tssva 7y ago
  DIAL provides discovery, launch and provides a mechanism to establish connectivity between the client app and the app running on the media device. This functionality and a open development platform for apps on the media device are the key functionality required. There is no need to get anything approved onto a TV. The apps would run on a media device, such as a Raspberry Pi with the appropriate software, connected via HDMI to the TV just as the Chromecast does.
opencl 7y ago
A lot of TVs already support DIAL, unfortunately about the only streaming services that support it are Netflix and YouTube.

guyzero 7y ago

why "not proud"? Life is too short to struggle with basic stuff like watching Netflix when you want to relax.

Minor49er 7y ago
I'm in a similar situation. I come home from work. My girlfriend and I watch some stuff on YouTube via Chromecast to unwind. Firstly, it's a brain drain and time suck in most of the ways that TV was for everyone in the same routine 20 years ago. Just because it's a smart device doesn't mean that it's any less of an idiot box as the television. Secondly, watching gives power to YouTube/Google when they are despicable companies
- K0SM0S 7y ago
  > it's a brain drain and time suck in most of the ways that TV was for everyone in the same routine 20 years ago I mean, I won't claim I never lose time on YT same as I used to on TV, occasionally, but as far as "brain drain" and "time suck" are concerned, it kinda depends on what you're into. I spend countless hours watching tech talks, math/sci news and teachings, podcasts with my heroes (on AI, CS, philosophy..) Some of it (most I'd say) helps in my work (not by chance, ofc). Nowadays is by far the best audiovisual average quality of content I've ever had in my life (37 here), because I have the choice of what and when (even where & how with a phone). And it's not like I could ever watch all that's worthy so I can select with excruciatingly high standards (my motto with most media: consume only the very best, ditch everything else: you still won't have enough time to run of content, ever). I think ultimately it's more about control, decisions we make for ourselves, provided the options are there (e.g. couldn't help but eat TV shit on some hours; can't blame myself for having rest time at the 'wrong' hour of TV, hence why I played so much video games back then maybe, which are much 'easier' and deeper time vortexes than any other video form content, IME). I say, 'when in doubt, read a book'. Can't go wrong with doing that even if the book is mediocre.
  - thom 7y ago
    I agree with this. I feel my personal viewing is much more directed these days. If I want to zombie out for a whole day it's just as likely to be a chess tournament on Twitch as anything else, and when there's nothing on I'm much quicker to give up and do something else rather than channel hop as in the old days.

birdyrooster 7y ago

I want to chime in that AirPlay had been doing this on iOS for almost three years (Nov 2010 vs July 2013) before Chromecast came around and is largely seen as a superior experience.

ehsankia 7y ago
The 35$ small and minimal dongle was really the game changer I think. I remember when it first came out it even came with 3 months (30$) worth of netflix subscription too, making it basically free. Back then I played with a bunch of different HTPC solutions and I don't think anything below 100$ existed.
Galaxeblaffer 7y ago
No they didn't. AirPlay streamed the screen from your idevice, huge difference.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- dragonwriter 7y ago
  To be fair, that's one of the things Chromecast supports (screen/desktop/tab casting of mobile, desktop, or browser content); of course, direct-to-player streaming of online content controlled by web/mobile app is the preferred mode for most things and it's what is meaningful for most media consumption.
- person_of_color 7y ago
  Doesn't AirPlay do rerouting to?
  - Galaxeblaffer 7y ago
    It does now, but not when Chromecast arrived
benhurmarcel 7y ago

wanderingstan 7y ago

Seconding your AngelScript complaint. It took me 10+ clicks to find actual code, and then it was only snippets. Somehow developers seem bad at putting themselves in the "customer's" shoes. So many GitHub Readme files filled with release notes, dependencies, donation requests, and installation instructions before telling what the repo actually does!

ehsankia 7y ago
So many repo sites are like this. GitHub/GitLab are honestly some of the only ones that really put the code front and center, making it easy to explore. SourceForce, Launchpad, etc, they all have such horrible UX.

ebetica0 7y ago

I'm not quite sure what the innovation was for Apple pay - just that they put it on a phone?

thom 7y ago
In the UK it means I can do contactless payments in excess of £30. I now no longer carry a wallet or have to remember a PIN, and at the same time I have zero anxiety about security. I could live without it, but it's something I use every day and think is more or less perfectly formed.
Marsymars 7y ago
Not having an iPhone, I only use Apple Pay on web, and there, it's very nice. It uses its own UI/UX during checkout for your personal/shipping/payment info, which is standardized, and almost always nicer than random retailers' websites, and doesn't give your credit card number to the retailer.
- thom 7y ago
  Yes! Just not having to type my address is a bonus.

hackkitten 7y ago

I will not disagree with you on AngelScript's documentation being rather lacking. While implementing the runtime support is doable for an experienced developer like myself, I would not want to inflict it on a junior dev. Ditto for learning to use AngelScript from just the official documentation. I'm currently working on a dedicated website for NymphCast (to be launched over the coming weeks/months), that will contain development guides for NymphCast apps and kin, as well as some AngelScript tutorials and references. Since it's a hobby project at this point, any timescale I can give is relative of course :) (I'm the NymphCast author)