<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jan 10, 2014 at 7:13 PM, JD <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jdp@algoloma.com" target="_blank">jdp@algoloma.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
Asked for and received a chromecast for Xmas. It doesn't do things that I<br>
expected, like playing **any** youtube video. Over 50% of the youtube videos I<br>
tried to play wouldn't. Pick any official Olympic 2012 video - won't play.</blockquote><div><br></div><div>"won't play" as in you encountered a software malfunction, or "won't play" as in you encountered a Youtube message saying the video isn't allowed to play?</div>
<div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">Plus<br>
controlling it locked up the current app on the Nexus4 phone about 20 times in 3<br>
hrs of testing.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Which app(s) locked up? You reported it to their developers, right?</div><div><br></div><div>Since plugging in my chromecast, I've had my living room devolve into a "youtube party" a few dozen times when friends have been hanging out. All told, perhaps 1000 videos (a hundred hours of video?) played, selected by 30 different people from 20 different devices (mostly Android phones). Not a single video failed/refused to play. Not a single device or app locked up.<br>
</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">I suppose if you are willing to run Chrome on a PC (not me), then anything the<br>
browser can see, can be streamed. I wouldn't know.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>That is very much not how a Chromecast is meant to be used. The ability to send video from your PC's Chrome tab to the TV is a very tacked on thing, and not part of the purpose of the device at all. The chromecast is meant to play media from the network, specifically from the internet.</div>
<div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
For more gotchas ...<br>
<a href="http://blog.jdpfu.com/2014/01/06/chromecast-what-good-is-it" target="_blank">http://blog.jdpfu.com/2014/01/06/chromecast-what-good-is-it</a><br>
a blog article. With google being nasty towards independent developers, that<br>
turns the chromecast into a very specific device, for about 4 specific uses.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>What do you mean about being nasty towards independent developers? I recall one story about an API change breaking an app using the beta SDK.</div>
<div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
If I wanted a DLNA client and didn't already have a game console, then the WDTV<br>
line is where I'd start. I like to watch content from my network and don't want<br>
to fight with some 3rd party to make that possible (Roku/Chromecast).<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Google is not writing apps for the chromecast aside from the ones for their services. There will be a DLNA client for the chromecast as soon as someone writes one. If you feel like paying a few thousand dollars in licensing fees, and some undisclosed amount per copy, feel free to publish your own! No one is stopping you except the DLNA patent holders.<br>
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