Chromecast 2.0

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BlueShift

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#181046 30-Sep-2015 12:31

So there's a shiny new Chromecast arriving soon. I hope it'll hit the NZ market faster than the original did, I assume it will given that the channel exists now.
I can't tell how different it will be from the original, apart from its very different form factor. Although there is a new audio-only version to plug into your stereo.

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#1397293 30-Sep-2015 12:36

Anandtech has a few more details and a nice comparison table:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9672/google-announces-chromecast-2-chromecast-audio

Though it looks like they haven't released many details on what's changing other than the wifi upgrade (which is nice in and of itself)

Yeah, new form factor looks quite cool, not that it matters much for something that's intended to be small and hidden away though :)

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gsr

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#1397335 30-Sep-2015 13:17

Does anyone know anything about the optical out option in the chromecast audio?

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#1397383 30-Sep-2015 14:52

gsr: Does anyone know anything about the optical out option in the chromecast audio?

"The Chromecast Audio has high-quality capabilities, 2 watt RMS and optional optical digital out in its hybrid port."

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joshhill96

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#1397675 30-Sep-2015 23:47

I'll buy the both, While I have enjoyed the gen 1 Chromecast, I have overtime found it slow, and not so good on the Netflix streaming quality even for NZ and on a VDSL connection. so look forward to seeing this in action. If I am not impressed I'll give Apple TV 2 a go.

davidrg

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#1397851 1-Oct-2015 11:53

BlueShift: So there's a shiny new Chromecast arriving soon. I hope it'll hit the NZ market faster than the original did, I assume it will given that the channel exists now.
I can't tell how different it will be from the original, apart from its very different form factor. Although there is a new audio-only version to plug into your stereo.

Doesn't look too good for a quick NZ release - Australia and NZ aren't one of the 17 launch countries so I guess it will be a few months:
https://support.google.com/store/answer/2462844?hl=en-AU&rd=1

And we still don't have the Nexus Player even though its apparently available in AU.

richms

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#1397881 1-Oct-2015 11:58

I dont know why they had to have 2 seperate products for audio and HDMI. Surely they could just add the optical/3.5mm plug on the HDMI one and have a single unit?

Richard rich.ms

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Dingbatt

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#1397893 1-Oct-2015 12:12

I like the fact it has 5GHz wifi.
$US35 translated to $NZ59 for gen 1, I will be interested to see what gen 2 is when it arrives at Christmas time.

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wsnz

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#1398010 1-Oct-2015 14:02

Dingbatt: I like the fact it has 5GHz wifi.
$US35 translated to $NZ59 for gen 1, I will be interested to see what gen 2 is when it arrives at Christmas time.

Let's just hope that the telco carriers don't adopt LTE-U!

bbunnys

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#1398824 2-Oct-2015 14:57

Anyone found somewhere to purchase overseas. I see Amazon are not going to stock new version which is where I got orignal from.

gsr

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#1398870 2-Oct-2015 16:12

BestBuy + Youshop?

richms

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#1399011 2-Oct-2015 18:24

Doing google store and shipito for mine. One of each types. Will replace the terrible bluetooth one I have on the workspace stereo with the chrome cast audio and see how it goes, interestingly the LG speakers I got at harvey norman allow casting to, but being small cheap speakers are only good for background music.

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lchiu7

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#1399052 2-Oct-2015 19:28

I always thought that the speed issues with Chromecast sometimes was with WiFi and where the devices are normally located.

So this accessory for US$15 might be a better option.

https://store.google.com/product/_ethernet_adapter_for_chromecast

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richms

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#1399066 2-Oct-2015 19:44

Speed issues are with it being single chain 2.4GHz only. 72 megabit air rate on a 20Mhz channel, really N is not much better than G in that respect when on a crippled single antenna single chain configuration.

I could get 1080p netflix working ok on it without any G devices on the network. As soon as a single B or G device was added and it had to do all the G protection crap, thruput dropped and 1080 wasnt a given. It would come and go, buffering took ages etc. If they had 2 streams so getting 135 megabit (in theory) it probably would have been ok. But the small device size means that mimo was probably not viable.

Single stream 40 or 80MHz on 5GHz should be sweet as for it.

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jonathan18

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#1412836 23-Oct-2015 14:50

Has anyone ordered (and received?) one of the new Chromecasts yet, in particular the audio version?

It looks like Best Buy is the easiest to order from and has free shipping within the US, so it's just the $35 plus the US>NZ shipping cost (hopefully sent in a small box!).

I'm really interested in the Chromecast Audio, given it essentially provides the same functionality as our current Squeezeboxes (with the additional need for a phone as controller) at a fraction of the cost; for less than $100 I can give my son the ability to play Spotify, Pandora and all our ripped audio sitting on the NAS via the "old school" stereo in his room... Reviews I've read of it are positive thus far, and it'll be an even better product when they add in the multiroom support.

scuwp

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#1412878 23-Oct-2015 15:23

I may stand corrected but I am sure PB Tech were advertising theses as available already. $80 I think. Parallel imported no doubt

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