Will my Chromecast really go away forever?

August 16, 2024 11:46 AM

I consider the first-generation Chromecast to be the perfect dongle. Apparently Google disagrees, and is discontinuing the entire Chromecast line. I have been in denial, but am starting to worry about the future. Would upgrading to a different Chromecast extend the time I get to spend with this type of device, or is there a different piece of technology that would give me the same results?

Why the first generation Chromecast has been the perfect dongle for me:
• Instead of fumbling through remotes and laboriously selecting letters from an onscreen keyboard, I can search/navigate on my Android phone and cast from the app.
• Instead of logging into subscriptions on each TV individually, everyone can cast from whatever apps/subscriptions they already have on their phones.

I don't know enough about the Chromecast line to know at which point they've lost the functionality I'm looking for and transitioned to something else, and I've been ignoring all parallel developments in TV streaming devices for the last decade, so any guidance would be appreciated.

posted by redsparkler to Technology (14 answers total)

I'm not sure if this addresses your needs fully, but I think most Android devices have Miracast functionality integrated. All you need is a TV (or device attached to the TV) that supports Miracast, which is an industry standard protocol. There are a ton of Miracast dongles available; I can't speak to the quality of any given one.
posted by mr_roboto at 12:25 PM on August 16

Best answer: So, all the rest of the Chromecast devices can do all that.

Over the past however many iterations, they have added "improvements" - in the form of higher resolution (4K support), better performance, and the baked in "Android TV" OS so that you can setup your streaming services on the device itself and search for content across all your platforms on the device itself, and a little remote to facilitate all that... but.... for all those enhancements, all the other versions can do exactly what you want, which is that you can ignore all that, just cue up what you want on your phone and cast it directly to the display.

Now, I've had just about every Chromecast under the sun, and I will say that I have actually come to like interfacing with the device itself for finding and streaming content across multiple services, saving "favorite" shows, etc, etc - but if I didn't, I could still use any of them the same way I used that first Chromecast.

So now the Chromecast line is dead, being replaced with the Google TV Streamer.

I don't have one of these, because it's not out yet, but I will get one, and I am assuming what was true will continue to be true - I'll be able to cast stuff from my devices directly to it, or I'll be able to use the remote to interface with it directly and run my streaming apps and content directly from it. Same same.

So, I'd just get that. I'm confident you'll be able to use it just like you use your current Chromecast, and, hey, you might come to like some of the Android TV stuff. It's not half bad.
posted by kbanas at 12:27 PM on August 16 [2 favorites]

Best answer: at which point they've lost the functionality I'm looking for

To be clear, I do not think at any point they lost this functionality, and I don't anticipate they will. They just added a bunch of other functionality.
posted by kbanas at 12:29 PM on August 16

Best answer: The Verge on the new Google TV Streamer: "you can still cast content to the Google TV Streamer as always. The Chromecast name might be gone, but the functionality isn’t."
posted by polymath at 12:34 PM on August 16 [2 favorites]

Beauty! Thanks for the confirmation.
posted by kbanas at 12:35 PM on August 16

Response by poster: The answers are giving me hope! The "Android TV" language made me think I'd be forced into navigating some onscreen menu every time I want to watch something, but I'm hearing that might not be the case?

Right now, I can simply turn on the TV with a remote, the Chromecast powers up, and everything else can be done on my phone. Does this line up with your experience, @kbanas?
posted by redsparkler at 12:46 PM on August 16

Best answer: I'd be forced into navigating some onscreen menu every time I want to watch something, but I'm hearing that might not be the case?

Correct.

All new Chromecasts (and this new Google TV Streamer) work both ways.

You can use the onscreen menu to watch something *or* you can simply turn on the TV, power up the Chromecast/Google TV Streamer and do everything with your phone as you do now.
posted by kbanas at 12:48 PM on August 16

Best answer: Yep, I've had a couple of generations of chromecast devices and can also confirm that this is my experience.
posted by polymath at 1:18 PM on August 16

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone! I'm not happy about spending $100 to replace a $35 item that has been working just fine, but at least I won't lose my preferred method of watching movies/TV/etc.
posted by redsparkler at 5:31 PM on August 16

Google ended support/security updates for Gen1 Chromecasts in 2023, and this new shift in production isn't signaling any changes to their support policy. They'll continue to sell their remaining stock of the now-discontinued later gen chromecasts, and to support those for the time being, until they announce otherwise.

So if you're ok to continue not receiving security updates you haven't been getting for over a year already, you should be able to continue using your current device until it actually fails. Or you could watch to see if prices for the more recent-model discontinued chromecasts drop either now or when the Streamer is released and pick one of those up instead if you'd like to upgrade.
posted by polymath at 5:59 PM on August 16 [1 favorite]

I'm not happy about spending $100 to replace a $35 item

Maybe prices have gone up, but just a couple weeks ago (literally the day before this news came out) I bought the non-4K Chromecast for $30. I don't think it had any particular discount on it, and it was from a major retailer.

And as someone who remembers watching my desktop computer struggle to decode its first mp3, and who later worked with high-end video encode / decode gear, let me say it's astonishing what MPEG processing capabilities we have at our fingertips now, for practically free. Thank you Gordon Moore.
posted by intermod at 6:10 PM on August 16 [2 favorites]

Oh, duh, you were probably referring to the new TV Streamer product. Anyway, the Chromecast will continue to be supported for a long time, certainly the newest models, as polymath described above.
posted by intermod at 9:48 PM on August 16 [1 favorite]

For what it's worth any Android TV or Google TV device supports casting. It's baked directly into the OS. This includes both TVs and the physical streaming boxes.

The cheap onn boxes you can get at Walmart starting at like $20 (the 4k version is a bit more) are a popular choice. Most people seem to use the Google TV interface with the remote, but there's nothing stopping you from using it solely as a cast receiver.
posted by wierdo at 10:07 AM on August 17

Best answer: The Android TV boxes, like phones, let you change your home screen. So the default Google TV interface doesn't need to be the one you use.

I use a launcher called "Projectivy" - you can find it in the app store, and it only takes a little configuration to set it as your default home screen. Bonus - no ads on your home screen!
posted by dobi at 5:16 PM on August 18 [1 favorite]