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Any good?
My media center HDD is sounding a little poorly - starting to get loud, so it'll need replacing soon. Not desperate, but soon.
And I was wondering if Chromecast might be a better option - it looks as if I can use it via my tablet to stream stuff from my NAS directly instead of having a different box under the TV. Of course, this means re-educating Heself, but that's a completely different game...
Anyone tried it?
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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No, but I did spend around a minute looking at a display of them in a shop on Friday.
My conclusion was similar to yours but I wasn't confident in it.
Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
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I have it. All I can do is watch YouTube on it since I don't have Netflix anymore. It's nice, but if only it works with anything on the smartphone so that I can watch Internet channels. The version I have is limited to a few apps (e.g., YouTube, Netflix, Hulu). I'm waiting for complete smartphone integration.
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One of the guys here bought one spent the afternoon playing with it on a Demo screen we had hooked up. Took it haven't seen him since! He bought one his Dad as well. Seems like they are good. Haven't really gone much by HD recorder myself. 
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It works as it says it does. I use Youtube, Pandora, Google Music, Netflix, and Hulu Plus on it regularly. I've also tried Crackle.
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I haven't tried it myself but was just looking at ordering one too. I'm in Canada and they only just released a Canadian version. Like everyone else in the world I have a US localized VPN account for streaming, and so I'm trying to make sure I understand the differences between the US and Canadian models. I read for example that Chromecast's DNS entries are hard coded to use Google DNS (not your routers) and so many VPN solutions won't work unless you put static routes into your router.
From what I've read about Chromecast, there are only a handful (I think I read 13) apps that use it natively (Netflix, Youtube, etc.) and there is a browser plugin for Chrome that allows you to stream anything in a Chrome tab.
So, unlike AirPlay, you can't just load an app on your phone and stream it to the big screen (at least I think not).
Google recently (last month I think) opened up the Chromecast API to all developers and so that should change things.
Chromecast uses a "handoff" approach where if you 'cast' a YouTube video to it from your device, rather than streaming all of the content from the internet to your device, and then from your device to the TV, it hands off the job to Chromecast and it gets the video directly (i.e. "hey Chromecast, go to youtube and get this video and start playing at 0:24:31")
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David Cunningham wrote: Like everyone else in the world I have a US localized VPN account for streaming,
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blocked. O irony !
~RaGE();
I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus
Entropy isn't what it used to.
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Yes, I like it. I've mostly tried only YouTube so far. I don't have Netflix. In the UK I can also try iPlayer and Vevo. I also have a Smart TV that can access some of these things but the navigational usability of the latter sucks big time so, especially for YouTube, Chromecast is great. And for £30 it's a no-brainer. You spend that much on a decent meal and a few drinks! 
Kevin
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Kevin McFarlane wrote: You spend that much on a decent meal and a few drinks!
You should have known it 
~RaGE();
I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus
Entropy isn't what it used to.
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My eldest son bought one as soon as it became available and I was skeptical of it's usefulness. Not any more. It works better than the built in apps of the 'smart TVs'.
To be able to stream EVERYTHING you want, you will want to add AllCast (probably premium) which allows you to cast from any app. Otherwise, if you can play it in Chrome or it has had ChromeCast support added natively, you can cast it.
Good luck and enjoy.
(Unless you want to have voice control, then get that Amazon TV dealio. AllCast supposedly works with it also.)
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Voice control would probably be a bad idea, given the amount (and particularly the nature of the material) Herself shouts at the TV on a good day.
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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I gave a speech at Toastmasters last night.
So did two other people.
We then voted on who gave the best speech.
Not one person voted for me.
I was there with my wife.
It was kind of unfair because the winning speech was about abused horses and abused children and how you can put them in therapy together to heal the both of them.
One woman was crying.
Good grief.
I'm now watching old Hitler reels for inspiration.
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Abused kittens is a winner.
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I've heard it helps if you imagine yourself Naked.
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I wonder if the abused horses lady did that too?
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Your wife didn't even vote for you! If your speech was bad enough to make people cry then I suppose she can be excused the indiscretion.
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As it turns out, sleeping with a juror didn't help my case. 
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<stand up>"Ladies and Gentlemen, the drinks are on me if I win."<sit down>
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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If I were giving a speech in the Lounge that would work wonders.
The catch is that I'm not sure I could afford such a big win.
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If you do it now, while Nagy is in transit, and DD is working then you should be able to keep the bill down to manageable levels... 
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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OriginalGriff wrote: DD is working
Bollocks
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DD works?
Software Zen: delete this;
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