Tuesday, August 6th 2024
Google Discontinues the Chromecast, Announces the Google TV Streamer
Today, Google has announced that it will discontinue all of its Chromecast products, as the company is transitioning to the Google TV Streamer, which offers a very different form factor to its Chromecast products. Over the past 11 years, Google has sold some 100 million Chromecasts over a handful of different generations of products with quite different feature sets. The most recent addition launched in 2022 and Google has promised to continue to support the latest generations of Chromecast devices for now, although the company didn't say for how long.
The Google TV Streamer moves away from the HDMI dongle design, which some might see as a mistake by the company, but those wanting a set-top-box type device will on the other hand be pleased. The white (porcelain) or grey (hazel) slate isn't the most attractive design maybe, somewhat due to the choice of colours by Google, but it's what's on the inside that counts, right? Although Google didn't reveal the CPU used, the company claims the Google TV Streamer is 22 percent faster than the Chromecast with Google TV, comes with 4 GB of RAM and more importantly, it has 32 GB of built-in storage, compared to 8 GB for its latest generation of Chromecast devices.
Another great addition is a Gigabit Ethernet port, at least for those that have a network port near their TV, especially as Google stuck with 802.11ac/WiFi 5 for the wireless connectivity, in addition to Bluetooth 5.1. However, the company is also pushing for the Google TV Streamer to become a home automation hub, as it not only supports Matter like the recent Chromecast devices, but it can also act as a Thread border router. The HDMI port supports HDMI 2.1a and offers HDR 10+ and Dolby Vision support, as well as Dolby Atmos sound output. Power is via USB-C port, although it should be noted that Google lists this port as data capable without going into any further details. The remote control has been given a find my remote update and the Google TV Streamer is equipped with a physical button on the back for this purpose. The updated remote and the ability to connect Bluetooth headphones directly to the Google TV Streamer are likely to be other appreciated quality of life additions. Finally, Google has integrated support for its Gemini AI technology that is said to help deliver things like reviews and breakdowns of content, for those that are into those kinds of things. The Google TV Streamer has an MSRP of US$100, which is twice that of the 4K Chromecast with Google TV and it'll be available from the 24th of September.
Source:
Google
The Google TV Streamer moves away from the HDMI dongle design, which some might see as a mistake by the company, but those wanting a set-top-box type device will on the other hand be pleased. The white (porcelain) or grey (hazel) slate isn't the most attractive design maybe, somewhat due to the choice of colours by Google, but it's what's on the inside that counts, right? Although Google didn't reveal the CPU used, the company claims the Google TV Streamer is 22 percent faster than the Chromecast with Google TV, comes with 4 GB of RAM and more importantly, it has 32 GB of built-in storage, compared to 8 GB for its latest generation of Chromecast devices.
48 Comments on Google Discontinues the Chromecast, Announces the Google TV Streamer
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I remember getting for a gift for Christmas that year they came out. I think my younger brother was the one that got it for us, he had one and loved using it. It was plugged into our TV so we could cast stuff to it, my brother was excited to use it to show us stuff. After a few uses like that I never bothered with it again. A few months later it ended up going back in the box and into a junk drawer and there it sat for 7+ years or so until we moved and I found it and threw it out.
To this day I'm still not even sure what the Chromecast was capable of and I don't care.
Its still plugged in but theres like 10 years of dust on it. I bought it to have a play around with but im not too bothered with it.
It does have better WiFi though and might be based on the same hardware otherwise, as it has 4 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage.
Oh and it's not made by Nokia, but rather some company that is licensing the brand name.The one provided by my previous ISP was the worst STB I have ever used. It as lagging all over the place, as it only had 1 GB of RAM and 128 MB of internal storage... It was supposed be to able to output 1080p60, but it looked more like 720p.
It went back in the box and luckily my LG TV could run their app, which also was terrible...
I've had a Chromecast in the past, it was handy at times, but imho, far to fiddly to use. Been using Roku and FireTV hardware after that, which have worked well. Hated Samsung's Tizen OS on our old TV, LG's WebOS is much better in comparison, but not flawless.
Why TV’s dont adopt the DisplayPort standard instead…
I presume it's in part because companies like Panasonic, Philips and Sony were founding members of the HDMI spec and it's now used on all TVs. That said, I don't understand why no TVs at all have DP inputs.
Don't need one at home but at work they have been great simple devices.
To me this seems like a downgrade.