Google Chromecast

[zzarate]

hey everyone,

my wife and I are jonsing for some Christmas cheer and wanted to watch Christmas programs on the big screen.

we forgot or Google Chromecast in Los Angeles. can we buy yours tonight? we've been to 4 IT malls and department stores. nobody knows <deleted> we're talking about.

hit me on wechat: zzarate

or gmail.com: zzarate

even text my Google voice 323.three hundred.4414

and if you're having a holiday party, we'd love to come! =)

-Zack and Mel

[thrilled]

I bought one of those things.I couldn't get it to cooperate.I'm giving it to my son for Christmas tomorrow.I think i'll try Apple TV.

[DogNo1]

Check out the online retailer Lazada. I think that they have it. Consider the bandwidth that you have where you're staying. If you stream from the Internet via your Chromecast, your Chromecast will eat up part of that bandwidth so that the streaming might not work as well as you want. The better choice may be streaming from your laptop/tablet to the TV using an HDMI cable. Good luck.

[Bri19000]

My suggestion;

Download XBMC / Kodi for your system.

Search Yootube for many tutorials on setup.

There you go, live TV from around the planet, simple.

+ movies, TV series, live sports...etc.

[khwaibah]

I bought one of those things.I couldn't get it to cooperate.I'm giving it to my son for Christmas tomorrow.I think i'll try Apple TV.

IMHO Cromecast and Apple TV are shyt for Thailand.

[Pinot]

Bought mine at Lazada. It's great for watching YouTube on your TV. You just can't use it for hi rez, anything over 720p. But everything works when used with a program called Plex for broadcast from the computer to the TV. I don't know about the programming you have to pay for. I have two of them now.

[Chicog]

Check out the online retailer Lazada. I think that they have it. Consider the bandwidth that you have where you're staying. If you stream from the Internet via your Chromecast, your Chromecast will eat up part of that bandwidth so that the streaming might not work as well as you want. The better choice may be streaming from your laptop/tablet to the TV using an HDMI cable. Good luck.

HDMI cable? How quaint.

http://www.getvideostream.com/

[Chicog]

I bought one of those things.I couldn't get it to cooperate.I'm giving it to my son for Christmas tomorrow.I think i'll try Apple TV.

IMHO Cromecast and Apple TV are shyt for Thailand.

Tried them both, have you?

[LivinLOS]

I bought one of those things.I couldn't get it to cooperate.I'm giving it to my son for Christmas tomorrow.I think i'll try Apple TV.

IMHO Cromecast and Apple TV are shyt for Thailand.

Tried them both, have you?

Yes and Roku.. And the apple FireTVs (currently run 3 of them in the house network, hacked as XBMC boxes tho)..

And Plex SW.. And XBMC with PseudoTV etc etc etc..

The problem with most of the out of the box systems (chromecast, apple, FireTV) is they are geo locked for western content.. Rendering them barely useable without extra steps like VPNs etc.

[khwaibah]

I bought one of those things.I couldn't get it to cooperate.I'm giving it to my son for Christmas tomorrow.I think i'll try Apple TV.

IMHO Cromecast and Apple TV are shyt for Thailand.

Tried them both, have you?

Sure have and as said imho ain't worth a shyt in Thailand

[Chicog]

The problem with most of the out of the box systems (chromecast, apple, FireTV) is they are geo locked for western content.. Rendering them barely useable without extra steps like VPNs etc.

Well you haven't used the Chromecast or you'd realise it's simply a device for streaming content from Cast-enabled devices and has no kind of "geolocking" whatsoever.

Edited December 25, 2014 by Chicog

[Chicog]

I bought one of those things.I couldn't get it to cooperate.I'm giving it to my son for Christmas tomorrow.I think i'll try Apple TV.

IMHO Cromecast and Apple TV are shyt for Thailand.

Tried them both, have you?

Sure have and as said imho ain't worth a shyt in Thailand

And you haven't used the Chromecast either, because if you had you'd realise it's a perfect device for streaming your own videos over your own network - and that has nothing to do with being in Thailand.

[Loptr]

The problem with most of the out of the box systems (chromecast, apple, FireTV) is they are geo locked for western content.. Rendering them barely useable without extra steps like VPNs etc.

Well you haven't used the Chromecast or you'd realise it's simply a device for streaming content from Cast-enabled devices and has no kind of "geolocking" whatsoever.

No geo-lockng, but is performance limited based on network speed / latency... Just because you got it to work doesn't mean it's a sure thing...

[Chicog]

The problem with most of the out of the box systems (chromecast, apple, FireTV) is they are geo locked for western content.. Rendering them barely useable without extra steps like VPNs etc.

Well you haven't used the Chromecast or you'd realise it's simply a device for streaming content from Cast-enabled devices and has no kind of "geolocking" whatsoever.

No geo-lockng, but is performance limited based on network speed / latency... Just because you got it to work doesn't mean it's a sure thing...

I really wish people wouldn't just invent stuff to try and support their argument.

"Got it to work"? It's a doddle. You plug it in, download and run the setup program, connect it to your Wifi, (usually) let it update, and install the cast extension. Then you're good to go.

If you want to stream your own stored videos, you install Videostream.

How hard is that?

At work, I run 5 dashboards to LED TVs from one PC and one 802.11N router and they don't skip a beat.

I stream 20Gbps Bluray rips at home.

So basically you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

Added: If you are talking about internet performance and latency, that applies even if you're watching Youtube videos on your PC and has nothing to do with the Chromecast, which will stream what it gets.

Edited December 25, 2014 by Chicog

[mat999]

I bought one of those things.I couldn't get it to cooperate.I'm giving it to my son for Christmas tomorrow.I think i'll try Apple TV.

IMHO Cromecast and Apple TV are shyt for Thailand.

Tried them both, have you?

Yes and Roku.. And the apple FireTVs (currently run 3 of them in the house network, hacked as XBMC boxes tho)..

And Plex SW.. And XBMC with PseudoTV etc etc etc..

The problem with most of the out of the box systems (chromecast, apple, FireTV) is they are geo locked for western content.. Rendering them barely useable without extra steps like VPNs etc.

Please can you tell me if any of those devices has a repeat button so that a video can be played over and over. I know the Apple TV doesn't. I used to use my Apple Tv just for torrented videos, it played every file type after an hour hacking it to work with Plex. I also know the Chromecast can repeat videos as you just need to right click and then you get the option.

[DogNo1]

Right. Videostream would be a good choice if the OP already has his videos downloaded. I'll check it out for my own use. Thanks.

[LivinLOS]

The problem with most of the out of the box systems (chromecast, apple, FireTV) is they are geo locked for western content.. Rendering them barely useable without extra steps like VPNs etc.

Well you haven't used the Chromecast or you'd realise it's simply a device for streaming content from Cast-enabled devices and has no kind of "geolocking" whatsoever.

So your having a great time running the netflix app are you ?? HBOGo ?? ESPN ?? Hulu ?? Showtime ??

Your talking nonsense.. Its not "simply a device for streaming content" barely any of the apps built for it work here.. Same as appleTv.. Same as FireTV.. Same as most of the other boxes designed for a western market whose streaming content is locked to that region.

Yes it can also stream from other casting devices.. But thats a small small subset of what it does.. The whole apps ecosystem for it, is borderline useless.

[LivinLOS]

Sure have and as said imho ain't worth a shyt in Thailand

And you haven't used the Chromecast either, because if you had you'd realise it's a perfect device for streaming your own videos over your own network - and that has nothing to do with being in Thailand.

Sigh once again.. Thats a small part of what it is supposed to be able to do..

How do you legally get those videos on your network ?? Torrents and copyright infringement (OK thats normal) the interesting part of many of these boxes is a slicker more professional and legal way to access content.. Having netflix, HBO, HuluPlus, etc etc etc.. None of that works properly here.

When I buy a box that is advertised to do 10 things.. and then it can only do 1 of them.. Then its under performing (aint worth a <deleted>). Especially when that one thing is doing is illegal content playback. Chromecast is actually one of the poorer options for playback of pre downloaded content (plex on chromecast helps) due to the lack of remote, poor menu structure for browsing, requirements for a casting device to be paired to it, etc.

At least with android and FireTV boxes you can hack them to XBMC and work on streaming solutions within that. With a nice remote, with a good interface with all metadata and cover art, etc etc etc.. Well set up XBMC kills chromecast for that purpose.

[LivinLOS]

The problem with most of the out of the box systems (chromecast, apple, FireTV) is they are geo locked for western content.. Rendering them barely useable without extra steps like VPNs etc.

Well you haven't used the Chromecast or you'd realise it's simply a device for streaming content from Cast-enabled devices and has no kind of "geolocking" whatsoever.

No geo-lockng, but is performance limited based on network speed / latency... Just because you got it to work doesn't mean it's a sure thing...

I really wish people wouldn't just invent stuff to try and support their argument.

"Got it to work"? It's a doddle. You plug it in, download and run the setup program, connect it to your Wifi, (usually) let it update, and install the cast extension. Then you're good to go.

If you want to stream your own stored videos, you install Videostream.

How hard is that?

At work, I run 5 dashboards to LED TVs from one PC and one 802.11N router and they don't skip a beat.

I stream 20Gbps Bluray rips at home.

So basically you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

Added: If you are talking about internet performance and latency, that applies even if you're watching Youtube videos on your PC and has nothing to do with the Chromecast, which will stream what it gets.

So if your running such an advanced home media net.. Which is the same as I do.. Then you know chromecast is pretty much the weakest lamest end node for playback out of the available home options.. Hell 3 or 4 year old boxee boxes are streets a ahead still for pre downloaded content..

The further point everyone is making is, pre downloaded content is not the main purpose of the chromecast.. Its marketing and main purpose, as an online streamer of legal content, from the play store, from all the content providers I already list, it simply fails at here.

[Chicog]

Three posts and you still don't appear to have grasped that it is the content being locked and Thailand's crap Internet that make HBO Go and the rest of the stuff unusable - on *any* platform.

Again, nothing to do with the Chromecast.

As for the Apple TV, set up a US Itunes account and you get access to the content, but if you don't have a US card you can't buy the stuff anyway (and who wants to pay to get stuttering reruns of year old movies anyway?).

As for "menu structures" and so on, I'm not senile yet so navigating through a directory structure is not a hardship. And anyway I have a Mede8r for that.

Then you know chromecast is pretty much the weakest lamest end node for playback out of the available home options..

May I congratulate you on your new found telepathic abilities, which apparently tell you what I know. However they're completely wrong.

I quite like being able to fire up Videostream and play the file of my choice to the destination of my choice simply by picking a TV. I also like that I can carry one with me to Thailand and Cast my stuff to the hotel TV, which makes a change from the local background noise. This time I'm also going to try casting the Slingbox, but as I haven't landed in CM yet that will have to wait.

It seems your obsession is with online content, and I'm afraid you'll be blaming every device you buy for that being rubbish, until the providers and Thailand's Internet make drastic changes.

(Excuse me exercising my fortune telling abilities, but hey, you started it).

Mods: Maybe best moved to Internet, etc., since it's not really Chiang Mai specific.

[stuurman]

Both on Apple TV and Chromecast you will be able to watch geo-locked streams from for example Netflix, Hulu etc.

All you need (apart from a subscription to Netflix) is a smart DNS service like Unotelly, Unblock-US or Getflix.

For an Apple-TV it's very straight forward, just adjust the DNS servers on your router to the ones that come with the service.

On a Chromecast it's a bit more complicated because Chromecast is hard-coded to use Google's DNS servers but if you have a router that supports static route table's you will be able to watch Netflix et. all on your Chromecast in Thailand.

For locally stored content I find Plex a very good program to stream it to both on Apple-TV and Chromecast.

Edited December 27, 2014 by stuurman

[Chicog]

But you still need a US credit card for most paid content and I can't be arsed. Easier to just d/l it and cast it

[stuurman]

But you still need a US credit card for most paid content and I can't be arsed. Easier to just d/l it and cast it

For Netflix you need an US address to apply but can use any CC to pay for the subscription, I'm using a Malaysian CC.

[wgdanson]

On 12/25/2014 at 11:25 AM, Pinot said:

Bought mine at Lazada. It's great for watching YouTube on your TV. You just can't use it for hi rez, anything over 720p. But everything works when used with a program called Plex for broadcast from the computer to the TV. I don't know about the programming you have to pay for. I have two of them now.

I have two also and they are so intermittent, work one minute and off the next. Useless. I shall buy a Intel Stick PC from Invade IT, Bht 5500, and I have a full W10 PC on my big TV.

[Chicog]

These days probably a Kodi box is a better bet, or a Firestick.

BTW Netflix is in Thailand now in case anyone has been living in the forest foraging for insects and herbs.

 

[Pinot]

I'd rather steal it with EZTV and the Pirate Bay. No issues in LOS.