Google Refreshes Its Streaming Dongle: Unveils $69 Chromecast Ultra With 4K and HDR Capabilities (engadget.com) 51
On the sidelines of Pixel smartphones announcement and $79 Daydream View VR headset, Google also announced a refresh for its streaming dongle. Called the Chromecast Ultra, the dongle offers 4K and HDR capabilities. The Chromecast Ultra, the company says, is the fastest Chromecast it has event made (it can load videos about 1.8 times faster than the standard Chromecast (all thanks to improved Wi-Fi connectivity). The Chromecast Ultra also includes an Ethernet port on the power adapter. Engadget adds: It's still a svelte puck like the earlier models, but it has a bit of a stealth bomber aesthetic. And at $69, it's far more expensive than the current $35 Chromecast. Still, it comes in $10 less than Roku's cheapest 4K player, and will be useful for anyone who wants to quickly stream high-res video to their new 4K TV.
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"Streaming dongle" sounds like the side effect of a drug you see advertised on MeTV.
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I read that as: "Google Refreshes Its Steaming Dongle..." and assumed that they had just screwed someone else.
I read it as "Streaming Dongle" but just figured Google'd just had too much beer recently (you don't buy beer, you just rent it).
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iPhone 7/7plus. HDR plus full color management to properly display sRGB content. PC monitors exist as well that can support 10-bit per channel color, but again, you'll need color management to avoid screwing up all of the content that assumes sRGB.
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The tablet/phone doesn't need an HDR screen. Just the content has to be available in HDR (same with 4k).
Easy summary (Score:2)
Added stuff you can't see / won't use*, now for double the price.
*Not you, personally. I'm sure you can see the difference on your 80" 4k OLED curved set with deep color. I meant the rest of us with normal eyes and typical equipment. You know, the 99.9% of us who don't calibrate every TV in our house to 8 different times of the day so that we can watch with the correct color balance depending on the room lighting.
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Apparently, HDR is actually noticable if you have sets that properly support it. The 4K not so much, which isn't a huge loss since most movies are 2K only (2048
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Willing to bet that you'll notice it side by side, but not in a typical mixed-lighting room with direct and indirect sources which are reflected from the (ubiquitous glossy or semi-gloss) screen in a room at 20-50 ft-candles where most people watch TV. For most people, you could just click on the hideous "vibrant" mode on most TVs and they'd think the TV looked better.
It's like getting high definition or 192kHz/48 bit sound from your phone, and then using the included earbuds to listen to music on the New
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But HDR is the big thing going to BT.2020 colourspace.
Technically HDR doesn't have anything to do with the color space, the UHD standard is a combination of four independent upgrades.
1. 3840x2160 resolution -> more detail
2. HDR -> higher contrast
3. Rec.2020 -> greater range of colors
4. 10 bit color -> less banding
You want the last one to offset the effects of the two previous ones, you've stretched the range of both contrast and color space so you need greater granularity to achieve the same precision. With YUV encoding that would be Y and UV respe
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You make it sound sinister. Just buy the Chromecast 2 if you don't have the proper goods; it's still being sold.
Why would anyone want this over a Mi Box? (Score:1)
Apart from physical size, the Mi Box [techcrunch.com] has this thing beat. Same price, 4K + HDR, Google Cast, but it's also an Android TV box with support for running apps, games etc. Any ideas?
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Well for one, it doesn't have a backdoor for the Chinese government.
Xiaomi Box (Score:2)
Why would you buy an Chromecast Ultra when you can pay the same for the Xiaomi Box? More Features on the Box http://www.mi.com/en/mibox/ [mi.com]
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Even if I was more DIY for buying PI's, my apartment is so saturated with Wifi that I can't even reliably stream with anything in B/G/N bands. Even AC is getting a little more congested these days. I'm on a Nexus Player now which is great, but I'd have at least considered this box if it had come a year or so ago. If you just want a play streamer, this article's box works best. If you need more of an appliance media concentrator, you'll now have to look somewhere else as they discontinued the Nexus Player...
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Why buy one of these when you can buy a Raspberry Pi 3 for $35? It can be setup to use either Linux or Android.
Bullshit. Android on Pi equals fail. What's super-sad is that Liz of the Pi Foundation demo'd Android running on the original Pi and then they refused to release their code and refused to tell us why. They just showed it, and then never spoke of it again and refused to answer any questions.
Is there in fact any Linux ARM SBC with both a fully mainlined kernel and which doesn't jerk the user base around?
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Why would you buy an Chromecast Ultra when you can pay the same for the Xiaomi Box?
Because Xiaomi is either incompetent or corrupt where it comes to security, take your pick, no one cares.
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He'd also have to save up his allowance, so he's trying to come up with cool reasons for not wanting it.
Ethernet (Score:4, Interesting)
Optional Ethernet adapter... THAT ALONE = SOLD! Congested wifi in the city pisses me the fuck off. This has been the one and only feature I've wanted from these streaming devices all along.
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It also supports the 5GHz wifi spectrum, which is usually much less crowded.
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An OTG Y cable, a USB to Ethernet adaptor and a CAT5 cable are all you need to get. Or you could get the all in one that is an accessory for the Chromecast from Google...
Re:Ethernet (Score:4, Informative)
They've had an ethernet adapter as an option since the original Chromecast 2 years ago, it was like $20 or $25 though I think. I bought it because I was sick of my 1st gen Chromecast not working well on congested 2.4 ghz wifi. It still works on my 2nd gen / 5 Ghz Chromecast too. Basically the price of the "old" chromecast + price of ethernet adapter = price of the new Chromecast. It's likely the exact same power/ethernet adapter.
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Yes, I have one as well, for similar reasons. Works a treat.
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This one comes as standard with an ethernet adapter built into the external power brick.
Just ordered! (Score:2)
YES!!!!! Now I can stream Southpark in 4K!
overrated (Score:2)