from Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml to degoogle@lemmy.ml on 30 Sep 05:41
https://lemmy.ml/post/36871964
I actually really liked the thing, hence it sticking around these 11 years since I got it. One thing I especially liked about it was that it initially just did the one thing. I went to a website or sometimes used an app, either in my phone or computer and pressed a button and whatever still image or video I’d been looking at on that source device, showed up on the TV I plugged the Chromecast in to.
Technically it still works, but it’s getting harder and harder to do this simple task. It’s been whinging about me not being signed in if I use it with YouTube and for an outrageously long time displays some kind of media control overlay that takes up a massive portion of the screen. That’s what the phone or computer screen is for and the Chromecast gen1, not having been designed for this, is way too slow to do it properly so it struggles. It’s increasingly difficult to actually get the cast button to appear even on Chrome on desktop, and there’s some confusing shit to do with “web apps” on just about every website with media involved that I see no reason to indulge when the media plays without them anyway, but I assume that refusal has something to do with the damn thing not working anymore. Basically google have all but killed this device.
I see those Roku things as an alternative but that seems to be a full media player solution intended to essentially function as a smart tv in a removable stick. I basically just want a wireless HDMI input receiver that will work with web browsers or any media streaming service/app just like the Chromecast USED TO! Do they exist?
I want to be able to, without hassle, decide on a whim to send whatever media I’m looking at on a device, to the tv screen wirelessly.
threaded - newest
I had a Gen 1 as well and had to stop using it a few years back because it literally couldn’t handle the streams anymore. Not sure if the underlying compute became too intensive for it or what, but it would crap out, drop frames, freeze, stutter, and disconnect.
I switched to the “Chromecast with GoogleTV” (4K 2020 model). It has all the installable apps and crap, but you can delete and lock down a lot of the defaults, and I was also able to sideload SmartTube for De-Googled YouTube enjoyment.
I guess Microsoft has their own Chromecast like device ? Also there is miracast nowadays so maybe cheap sticks use that? Dont know more to help sorry
I was in a similar situation and asked Lemmy a couple of years ago, the TLDR is that I got a cheap (and confusingly-named) “Chromecast with Google TV” which you can install custom apps like SmartTube on and keep casting
Good thread. I’ll look at it in detail there were some interesting options. So this Chromecast with Google TV thing, is it like software one puts on an existing Chromecast or… What is it? I’m not really very interested in installing anything apps of any kind on to it because I’m perfectly happy operating those from my phone or computer with a web browser, my issue with the Chromecast aside from increasing unreliability, is that it tries to do anything other than just received video streams and display them on the screen. Could I use this Chromecast with Google TV in that way? Where there’s no apps, no on screen display, just video streams?
It’s basically an Android TV box (which as far as I can tell is just an Android device specifically for use as a smart TV) in the shape of a Chromecast dongle. I think you can probably use it almost exactly the same way you do with an old Chromecast and ignore all the apps (or at least install them once and then forget about them).
The hard part might be finding one, they’ve replaced it with a newer, more expensive 4K one so you might not still be able to buy the old (1080p) one from official sources anymore, but have a look and you might get lucky.
Can you share what you have discovered, my friend?
I am just out of time in my life right now but I need this solution as well!
Nothing beyond what you see here mate. Still looking. Best suggestion has ironically been basically another Chromecast albeit now sold under a different name.
Godspeed. I’m sincerely hoping I can learn from your research 🙂
I don’t have a solution for you. I’m not aware of a widely supported open standard for screen casting. I would love to hear of one.
It is worth being aware that the reason this is gotten harder is because billionaires want us to pay a subscription, and they see easily casting between screens as a risk to their subscription model.