$35 ChromeCast Stick

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There is a 3-Month Netflix Subscription with it @ amazon.

Linky.

Order one.

Item is temporarily out of stock, but you may order now and it will ship once it is back in stock.
 
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As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
There is a 3-Month Netflix Subscription with it @ amazon.

Linky.

Order one.

Item is temporarily out of stock, but you may order now and it will ship once it is back in stock.

You get the 3-month Netflix sub regardless of where you order it. Promo code comes in the box when you get it.

I ordered from Amazon even though it says out of stock. I'm hoping they'll be able to get some in and ship out today, but I'm not counting on it.
 
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I ordered when it said Prime 2 days, and I would get it in two days. Now all orders changed to 3-4 weeks including mine. The article posted even says that with an update now.

"Delivery Estimate: Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - Thursday, August 22, 2013 by 8:00pm"
 
Mine says "Shipping Now" from Amazon. :D

It should arrive on Tuesday July 30 before 8 PM. But most likely earlier.

Update:
Has shipped!

Updated Projected Arrival Date is now Monday.

I have yet to receive the Netflix promo... I think I'm supposed to get it a week after shipment.
 
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I have my Chromecast in my hands. :) Still waiting on Netflix promo...ordered from Amazon using Prime. Thank you Amazon! Anyone who order from Amazon gotten their Netflix promo email?
 
This is awesome, and super affordable for streaming services. Wish it supported local content but for $35, doesn't get any better than this.
 
I have my Chromecast in my hands. :) Still waiting on Netflix promo...ordered from Amazon using Prime. Thank you Amazon! Anyone who order from Amazon gotten their Netflix promo email?
Google ended the netflix promo. If you don't have the email now, you likely will never get it.
 
I ordered mine several days ago, and never got the netflix email or mine hasn't shipped. That was when they showed it in stock. I better get the netflix thing as that was part of my order when I did it.
 
Ya same, I ordered mine on Wednesday, it clearly was before Google ended the Netflix promo. Still no email, probably will not get one. Oh well....
 
Ya same, I ordered mine on Wednesday, it clearly was before Google ended the Netflix promo. Still no email, probably will not get one. Oh well....

From Amazon's product page:

Please note that the Netflix promotional offer (which was available in limited supply) has now ended. Customers who ordered their Chromecast prior to 5:31 PM PST on July 24, 2013 will receive a Netflix gift code via email within 5 days of their product's ship date.

If you ordered before then, just give them a couple days and I'm sure you'll have it.

check your local best buy. mine had some instock and picked up two

My BB nearby was sold out :(. Guess I'll be waiting a couple weeks for Amazon to ship mine now. I was hoping to have it for a party I'm having this weekend.
 
I posted this review elsewhere and am reposting it here. Sorry if it talks down a bit to you but it was originally posted on a sports forum. So I had to post for people who are not as technologically savy.

So far I have used it for a few days and I must say I am liking it much more than I expected. Especially, considering the limited access options at this time. Set up is an outright breeze, they made it about as idiot-proof as possible.

Streaming data to the device (or mostly VIA the device) is brainlessly simple. Could you imagine the frustration that could have been saved if Microsoft had invented this and integrated it into powerpoint. My gosh, I can't count the hours spent in the XP days trying to get a laptop to play right with a projector.

About the device itself:
The device itself is a dramatic departure from anything else on the market because it uses an app-centered framework instead of being device-centered. What I mean by this is the following: with AppleTV(or GoogleTV), you are interacting with the device. You selected movies on the device, streamed media to the device, browsed files on the device, etc. Your interaction centers around the device(i.e. AppleTV) The device centered framework allows a degree of independence because app support isn't as essential. The downside is that you are interacting with a separate device so it's function is not transparent. You have to learn that devices interface, in some other cases apps have to be written for that device, etc. With an app-centered framework you basically add a function on top of the apps you already use. When done properly the device becomes 100% transparent and you don't notice it. There is no learning new interfaces, no separate apps dedicated to the device, etc. The downside is that the function has to be added into the normal apps which means tighter third part support. Google elected to go the second route for a few reasons. The first and foremost was the abject failure that was GoogleTV and the NexusQ. AppleTV does better than GoogleTV because of its closed ecosystem environment, which removes some of the hurdles present in an open ecosystem. That being said even AppleTV isn't exactly talked about in glowing terms. It isn't doing horrible but when you own company calls it a "hobby" you aren't doing great. Google read the writing on the wall and, I think time will show, wisely went the harder route. This put them in a chicken-and-the-egg situation. To get content providers on board you need a sizable user base, to get a user base you need content providers. What Google had to work with was YouTube and the PlayStore, so they logically leveraged those. At the time of writing, Netflix is the only third party so far and lets be honest netflix is the most polyamorous third-party out there. They would put Netflix on your dog if you coded it properly. That being said, at launch Pandora was confirmed. Since launch, RDIO and Hulu have said they have plans to release. More inportnatly, some hackers have opened up the Chromecast config file and have shown that HBOGo, PostTV (Washington Post), AOL On, Qello, Revision3 and Songza are all in the final testing phases of integrating chromecast into their apps. Note that neither Hulu nor Pandora are in this file, so likely these others are farther along but just chose not to announce. So expect many more content providers soon.

This device isn't for everyone at this stage but when it comes to easily and seamlessly getting video from a device onto your television I think you would be hard pressed to find any that do it more easily.


Setup:

Setup to be honest was quite frankly so easy that even the most tech-neanderthal could pull it off. Heck, I used my cell phone to set it up which should be a recipe for disaster but honestly when it was done I was left thinking "That's it? That was too easy. Surely I messed something up" The only requirement is that whatever device you are using to set it up is connected to your wifi network. So that it can get the name of the network it should connect to. Much ado was made about the Chromecast requiring a USB power plug adapter. Many said that this meant it wasn't a dongle. The fact is the current HDMI spec doesn't support power over HDMI, so the USB plug for power was necessary. In my case though, I didn't even have to use the power adapter. On my TV I just plugged the USB cable into the TV's own USB port. This port provides enough power to power the Chromecast.
55NflNg.jpg


After that it was easy. I powered up the television and switched inputs to the proper HDMI port. Then just following the simple on screen instructions: visited the listed website on my phone where I installed the chromecast app. My phone then found the device (the chromecast lets you know it's name on the TV screen). Connected to it and confirmed I was connected to the right one by comparing the passcode shown on the TV to the passcode in the app. Entered the password for my wifi and changed the devices name to one I would remember. Done. It sounds like a lot but it really isn't. Quite frankly, it is about as idiot proof a setup as I think they could make it.
ElcK5Fx.jpg

(I blacked out my network name)


Using the device:


It doesn't get much easier than this. With the chromecast and powered up. I went into youtube and searched for a Calipari video (I originally posted this on a forum devoted to Univ. of Ky sports). Opened the first one in HD that I came to. When it opened I pressed the new button that appears:
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Boom! We have Calipari in HD on the TV (the delay is under 1 second):
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Similarly, in the Chrome Browser, installing the Chrome Extension adds this button:
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You can use this button to stream a tab in chrome to any chromecast device. This feature is clearly needs some work as it is network limited. I had trouble restreaming ESPN3 to my television. These problems though were mostly network related because it it complained of slow wifi network speeds. This is likely because like Apple AirPlay the video goes to my PC then to my TV doubling the network traffic. WiFi bandwidth here isn't great either because I only have a Wireless G router and live in an area where there are 30-70 other network visible at any one time (can you say heavy network congestion). I think if I had a wireless N network, this feature would have worked more or less flawlessly. As for setting up streaming, it is just as easy as YouTube. Have the media opened in a tab, click the button above and it will display that tab on the TV. If you Full Screen any video on the page, the video is streamed full screen to the TV as well.
 
This looks great for guys running projectors. It's more cost effective than a long hdmi cable and it's less cluttered. I don't think it'll be long before this will get modified into accepting the whole desktop image itself instead of just the video.

Also - how does the whole decoding work? Is it done on the device or host device?
 
This looks great for guys running projectors. It's more cost effective than a long hdmi cable and it's less cluttered. I don't think it'll be long before this will get modified into accepting the whole desktop image itself instead of just the video.

Also - how does the whole decoding work? Is it done on the device or host device?

WIth youtube and Netflix (plus any other official Chromecast supported apps) the video is downloaded and decoded by the chromecast itself. The smartphone or what not simply serves as an indepth remote. It basically tells the device to download and start streaming said video, it can then pause the video, rewind or fast forward, set volume etc. That being said it isn't necessary for playback once started. To test it, I started the aforementioned video streaming and then turned my phone completely off; the stream kept going. Now logically this isn't the case when you are casting a tab.

I must say, the most amazing thing about this is that I don't THINK about it. They have taken something to its logically most simple conclusion.
 
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This looks great for guys running projectors. It's more cost effective than a long hdmi cable and it's less cluttered. I don't think it'll be long before this will get modified into accepting the whole desktop image itself instead of just the video.

Also - how does the whole decoding work? Is it done on the device or host device?

When I 1st saw it I agreed with the projector angle, but the one problem is, no audio then. Most of the HT projectors don't have speakers. Still a great tool if you just plug it into a receiver that's feeding a projector.
 
Still waiting on mine. Mine just got charged today and shipped I think. So I should be getting the email shortly.
 
My chromecast arrived yesterday. Haven't got a chance to play with it yet. Got my Netflix promo 17 minutes ago.
 
I wonder how this netflix promo will work if you purchased two at the same time? Do you get 6 months off?
 
I posted this review elsewhere and am reposting it here. Sorry if it talks down a bit to you but it was originally posted on a sports forum. So I had to post for people who are not as technologically savy.

So far I have used it for a few days and I must say I am liking it much more than I expected. Especially, considering the limited access options at this time. Set up is an outright breeze, they made it about as idiot-proof as possible.

Streaming data to the device (or mostly VIA the device) is brainlessly simple. Could you imagine the frustration that could have been saved if Microsoft had invented this and integrated it into powerpoint. My gosh, I can't count the hours spent in the XP days trying to get a laptop to play right with a projector.

Shortened for quote~

Awesome, thanks for the review. I didn't know there was a chrome extension for it. Can't wait to pick one up this weekend when I stop by BB.
 
What a terrific device and a great concept. It's about time a more open standard was developed for this type of streaming! I'll be ordering mine shortly.
 
Is there a non Google comparable product? I have some conference room TV's and it would be nice to share a laptop screen over wireless but I abhor the Google UI and design choices.
 
Is there a non Google comparable product? I have some conference room TV's and it would be nice to share a laptop screen over wireless but I abhor the Google UI and design choices.

Apple Airplay/TV. Of course that only works with Mac OS though.

Should get my Chromecast tomorrow. My TV has 4 HDMI ports and they're all in use already as well as the component input. I might have to get a receiver or HDMI switcher at some point now :(.
 
You could use the tab cast feature from a computer for that.. but I'm not sure that they'll support it in the app.
 
Nope. I don't know if Amazon will ever support this...

Amazon doesn't even offer its streaming service on Android yet , Amazon needs to get its shit together and offer its streaming service on ALL platforms of any kind.

Also its kind of crazy Google didn't expect the demand they are getting for a device people have been screaming for .. ages now.
 
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