Database Develop

Social.FM Mobile Music Client - Just Have To Share

I've long since turned in my Tilt for a Motorola Q9H but had to share with you guys. For some time now I've been on a quest to find a mobile music streaming application that would give me a nice interface and access to my home music collection. Social.FM desktop and mobile client is not quite there but head and shoulders above anything else I've found. The mobile client is a one time $20 but if you're interested I can help you get access to a promo copy. The desktop client is free. There's a station list on the mobile with access to a hundred or so genres and sub-genres.
Once you install the desktop client and point it to your local music collection it shows up on the mobile. Too easy.

What is wrong with Orb? it is free, supports video, live TV and webcams as well as music.

wizzzard said:
What is wrong with Orb? it is free, supports video, live TV and webcams as well as music.
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Ummmm...
ORB is nowhere close. I tried it. The web interface is kludgy. And why would you want to have to switch to a different application to change to a different album or artist. The interface of the Social.FM client is iPod like. One of the things about Orb that was frustrating was that the streaming format was not supported in all players, or at least the one I wanted to use. It's been a while since I totally dismissed it so I can't remember the details. I tried them all. The best streamer was 40th Floor iPlay with the server option running on my desktop. But the interface on that is made for a stylus. I have no need to use a stylus, ever.
Incidentally, that's why I gave up the Tilt for the Q9H. And I need to be able to type with one hand which is not possible with the Tilt. As soon as the I-Mate 8502 comes out I'll switch to that.
Don't get me wrong. The Social.FM player is not quite there. You can't pause and there is no AVRCP support. I imagine that pausing is coming soon. I just had a full workout at the gym while streaming from my desktop at work and had zero skips. I found an interview with the CEO of Social.FM (http://www.onuiq.com/) and he said that they're using Ogg Vorbis encoding. Says they can get full quality over EDGE.
You really should give it a try.

I see its mercora. They are the ones who wanted to charge you for streaming your own music collection. Major fail.
Surur

Sounds pretty cool in spite of its short-comings. It will be great when this concept is fully dialed-in.

surur said:
I see its mercora. They are the ones who wanted to charge you for streaming your own music collection. Major fail.
Surur
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Well, they must have seen the light cuz right now I'm streaming from, not only mine, but my buddy's desktop for free.
Side note:
If I had my way I'd be streaming Slacker.com to my phone. They have, hands down, the best content available. The stations (genres/sub-genres) are put together by "music experts". And I can vouch for them. I even wrote an application to sniff their ID3 tags and automatically download full quality MP3's (theirs is 128kbit) and then sync that to my iPod automatically with ml_iPod. They have aspirations to release their own hardware player but not only hasn't that happened but I think it's misguided. I would [so] pay to stream their content to my phone.

Stream music library over wifi

Is there an app that works to stream music from my pc to my GTab? I would prefer iTunes type interface; something with genre selection and playlists.
TIA

Try upnplay, in the market - it should work with any uPnP compatible server. It's really the only "open" option we have, at the moment.
The only issues I've had so far is that it doesn't like Vorbis files, but I am probably the minority here as far as Vorbis support is concerned.

Audio Galaxy will stream from your PC. You do run a program on your PC and it only does mp3s.
Sent from my Viewsonic 10" GTab...

you guys rock. thanks so much. i just finished putting 2.4 on one machine and one more to go. both are presents.

I realize I'm a bit late to the party, but I use Subsonic. Flawless streaming from my pc to my android device.
Regards,
cranky_dan

+1 on Audio Galaxy

gmote is good for streaming over wifi and also streaming when outside of your own home when you setup port forwarding. not only does it stream audio it also will stream videos if you use rockplayer as the video player.

because of this thread, i downloaded audiogalaxy yesterday. im already addicted. i was in my truck, watching my sons soccer practice in the rain, using my gtablet (while tethered to my droid) to listen to whatever music i wanted off of my home computer.
technology never ceases to amaze me.

I like Subsonic. I don't like the fact that AudioGalaxy uses a centralized site instead of allowing you to go straight to your computer. With Subsonic, you run everything so you have more control (but some people find setup harder).

jsrF1 said:
I like Subsonic. I don't like the fact that AudioGalaxy uses a centralized site instead of allowing you to go straight to your computer. With Subsonic, you run everything so you have more control (but some people find setup harder).
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im off to check it out, now that i see subsonic also streams video.

+1 for Subsonic
I love having access to my entire music collection at any time in any location. My gTab was delivered today and this will be one of the first apps I install right after throwing VEGan-tab on it.

Streaming video app from NAS drive

Well I did Google search my next question and got a bunch of crap. I'm trying to find an alternative video player besides the default player that streams from my home network like "connected media " in the default video app. I'm NOT looking for something that needs me to fire something up on my PC and "sync ". I already have an Iomega NAS drive that streams to my ps3 and thunderbolt even when my Mac is off. It has a 1 TB drive on it. I'm simply looking for a better video player that will also scan for connected wifi media drives. Scouring the market I can't seem to find any that do that in the description. Downloaded a few and they didn't. Some will sync wit iTunes but that's not what I'm looking for. Thx in advance for any ideas ...
Sent from my Thunderbolt. Perfect storm 1.4

No one.....nothing.....
Nada?
Sent from my Thunderbolt. Perfect storm 1.4

What kind of shares does your NAS use to share its data? Saamba? Other? Find this out and then we can help you more.
I suspect you'll need something (an app on you're phone) to connect to these shares and then sync the media to your phone, after which you can play. The process of streaming requires intelligent software on both ends. I use DLNA (my NAS supports this) and this works beautifully for me and my streaming needs. This even allows me to stream from my phone to my tv.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

I use dlna. My server uses twonky software. The stock video player on my thunderbolt streams through dlna.. but it sux. Looking 4 a better Dlna streaming alternative ... Thx
Sent from my Thunderbolt. Perfect storm 1.4

I would just set up a lightweight web server with decent file indexing to stream stuff that way or if you want to go all out, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythTV.
If you want to go the non diy route, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rives+-+External-_-Western+Digital-_-22136831

yareally said:
I would just set up a lightweight web server with decent file indexing to stream stuff that way or if you want to go all out, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythTV.
If you want to go the non diy route, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rives+-+External-_-Western+Digital-_-22136831
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Wow... What about the $200 I blew on my iomega nas drive.... ={
Sent from my Thunderbolt. Perfect storm 1.4

gokudre said:
Wow... What about the $200 I blew on my iomega nas drive.... ={
Sent from my Thunderbolt. Perfect storm 1.4
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Sell it on ebay? Lol

yareally said:
Sell it on ebay? Lol
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OK looked at that. That will stream. I already got something that will stream. My question is on the receiving end. I'm simply looking for an alternative video app for android that supports dnla streaming. Unless u think my streaming issues are on the pushing end?
Sent from my Thunderbolt. Perfect storm 1.4

Jaxidian said:
What kind of shares does your NAS use to share its data? Saamba? Other? Find this out and then we can help you more.
I suspect you'll need something (an app on you're phone) to connect to these shares and then sync the media to your phone, after which you can play. The process of streaming requires intelligent software on both ends. I use DLNA (my NAS supports this) and this works beautifully for me and my streaming needs. This even allows me to stream from my phone to my tv.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes ..... The stock video player app does this.. but poorly. Looking for an alternative.
Sent from my Thunderbolt. Perfect storm 1.4

Twonky?
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

Jaxidian said:
Twonky?
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
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http://www.twonky.com/products/
Yes. Its twonky media server software that comes preflashed onto my Nas drive. Hate it. Bad performance steaming to anything
Sent from my Thunderbolt. Perfect storm 1.4

I use PlayOn to stream video from my home theater PC to my Thunderbolt and Acer Iconia.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App

This might be what you want. FFMPEG streaming server on android. I could compile it for you later this week sometime if you feel it's what you want and will use it. I compiled the ffmpeg libraries already just to see if i could do it on the cross compiler, but I didnt compile the actual binary application. It's just a command line app, but you can set it to run in the background and forget it. Adding that with the libraries, you should be able to stream audio and video (including x264 and such) on your phone to whatever output device you wish to watch it on. For those that don't know what FFMPEG is, it's one of the most stable media libraries/app on linux and players such as rockplayer on android use it.
http://rxwen.blogspot.com/2010/05/use-ffmpeg-to-setup-streaming-server-on.html

There are a ton of apps for this, I recently set up a home theater with DLNA support. I downloaded a DMS for the PC like XMBC or Serviio or Twonky. Next, get something like iMediaShare, or ArkMC is beast at this, on your phone. I have both installed. When you connect to your wifi at home they can pick everything up. They both pick up my windows shares, XMBC shares, Serviio, and Nero shares. I had them all set up at once because I was testing, but I think I'm going to pick XMBC.
just search the market for DLNA or NAS is what I did and you get several. Those 2 I mentioned are really good and free. Also, music and pictures are easy, but video is harder because even though it's streaming from a DMP, your phone isn't a very good DMR.
Digital Media Server (DMS): These devices store content and make it available to networked digital media players (DMP) and digital media renderers (DMR). Examples include PCs and network-attached storage (NAS) devices.
Digital Media Player (DMP): These devices find content on digital media servers (DMS) and provide playback and rendering capabilities. Examples include TVs, stereos and home theaters, wireless monitors and game consoles.
Digital Media Renderer (DMR): These devices play content received from a digital media controller (DMC), which will find content from a digital media server (DMS). Examples include TVs, audio/video receivers, video displays and remote speakers for music.
Wiki c/p from DLNA wiki, I found it interesting.
These and several others comprise a streaming solution, and some combine some into one program, like Windows Media Center is a DMP, DMS, while your screen is the DMR.

mjones1052 said:
There are a ton of apps for this, I recently set up a home theater with DLNA support. I downloaded a DMS for the PC like XMBC or Serviio or Twonky. Next, get something like iMediaShare, or ArkMC is beast at this, on your phone. I have both installed. When you connect to your wifi at home they can pick everything up. They both pick up my windows shares, XMBC shares, Serviio, and Nero shares. I had them all set up at once because I was testing, but I think I'm going to pick XMBC.
just search the market for DLNA or NAS is what I did and you get several. Those 2 I mentioned are really good and free. Also, music and pictures are easy, but video is harder because even though it's streaming from a DMP, your phone isn't a very good DMR.
Digital Media Server (DMS): These devices store content and make it available to networked digital media players (DMP) and digital media renderers (DMR). Examples include PCs and network-attached storage (NAS) devices.
Digital Media Player (DMP): These devices find content on digital media servers (DMS) and provide playback and rendering capabilities. Examples include TVs, stereos and home theaters, wireless monitors and game consoles.
Digital Media Renderer (DMR): These devices play content received from a digital media controller (DMC), which will find content from a digital media server (DMS). Examples include TVs, audio/video receivers, video displays and remote speakers for music.
Wiki c/p from DLNA wiki, I found it interesting.
These and several others comprise a streaming solution, and some combine some into one program, like Windows Media Center is a DMP, DMS, while your screen is the DMR.
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Thx! Ill try asap when I get home.. sounds like what I'm looking for
*UPDATE *
ArkMc works exactly as I want. Without any dropped videos. Still. Some I can't fast forward through but I can when viewing with vlc on my Mac. I wish I knew how to edit a video to force it to be fast forwardable... (I know that ain't a word. Lol) but I'm gonna have to try the paid version of arkmc to see what it unlocks. Thx
Sent from my Thunderbolt. Perfect storm 1.4

You can try to use 3rd party players available at ArkMC, probaly this lets you to fast worward your video.

UK broadcasters unenthusiastic

Some disappointing news from the UK: http://m.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2338217/uk-broadcasters-shun-google-chromecast. Catchup TV is particularly scathing as they say that the CC simply isn't powerful enough to handle live TV. I put this to the test by tab casting a live iplayer broadcast and it was fine, maybe a little slow.. If I was casting directly from the app, it would surely have been even better. I do have a fairly speedy connection though, 100 mbps cable. What we other people's experiences with casting live TV?

Rooksx said:
Some disappointing news from the UK: http://m.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2338217/uk-broadcasters-shun-google-chromecast. Catchup TV is particularly scathing as they say that the CC simply isn't powerful enough to handle live TV. I put this to the test by tab casting a live iplayer broadcast and it was fine, maybe a little slow.. If I was casting directly from the app, it would surely have been even better. I do have a fairly speedy connection though, 100 mbps cable. What we other people's experiences with casting live TV?
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Sounds like a cop-out to me. Sounds more like they don't want to put the effort into it. A proper live stream would simply pull from an Internet stream, same as the current apps do.
A live stream may not have as many flavors or quite as much compression as a pre-recorded stream can, but that doesn't stop it from working. More likely either their live encoder hardware is simply not tuned for a Chromecast-compatible compression profile, or they don't want to put the effort into modifying their app to transfer credentials to Chromecast (otherwise any viewer who accessed the same URL could get the live stream for free).

Lots of Content providers who already have access to the big screen via Tuner will be hesitant...Because they feel they already support and have the Big Screen model they prefer and it makes billions for them!
Their foray into Tab and Mobile streaming is merely to capture those screens which have no tuner support.
And their mindset is that if they support the Big Screen via CCast they will lose out on all the money they make on the Tuner subs.
They aren't wrong about that part but what they don't seem to realize is they are going to lose that money anyway as more content is available via the Web and people start cutting cords.
And as more of their competition realizes and adds support for this new Big Screen methodology they will either jump onto the ship or risk it sailing away without them.
It's difficult to get a business to change the way they make money when the old method has made it for them for half a century and switch to a new way of making even more money by cutting out the middleman.
They could charge more for a sub than they get per subscriber from the cable companies now.
And people would pay it provided they got to pick and choose which networks they pay for (ala Carte) and could view it on any screen they may own.
Music Industry once faced this same dilemma, they picked wrong and look what happened to their industry!
The same will happen to TV if they don't open their eyes and smell the Data!
They will lose the subs, People will pirate the shows they want to see, No way to record ratings or views and if that happens they won't even have the money to implement the new methods or create new programming...

Rooksx said:
Some disappointing news from the UK: http://m.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2338217/uk-broadcasters-shun-google-chromecast. Catchup TV is particularly scathing as they say that the CC simply isn't powerful enough to handle live TV. I put this to the test by tab casting a live iplayer broadcast and it was fine, maybe a little slow.. If I was casting directly from the app, it would surely have been even better. I do have a fairly speedy connection though, 100 mbps cable. What we other people's experiences with casting live TV?
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Click to collapse
Live streaming via iPlayer app over WiFi works just fine with CC, so I don't really know what the TV Catchup issue is or what their "extensive tesing" actually involved. Do we even know why YouTube doesn't support live streams on CC? Since they point to this as justification. Some of the comments seemed odd - like the one suggesting that the app needed to stream to CC directly, rather than CC playing the given URL, or that VOD content was only "okayish" (have they even tried the Netflix or Play Movies apps?)
The other UK broadcasters as we know are just talking out their backsides as usual.
Having said that, there's little value for me in streaming live channels via CC when they're just a button press away on my TV ...

ghtop said:
The other UK broadcasters as we know are just talking out their backsides as usual.
Having said that, there's little value for me in streaming live channels via CC when they're just a button press away on my TV ...
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Yes. I've had iPlayer on my Chromecasts since it launched but never watched live TV. Why would anyone in the UK want to watch PSB broadcasters live this way - unless their TV was broken or something. I accept there is a market among expats but that would be irrelevant to the broadcasters.
Anyway, just tested it for the first time on 40" and 19" sets and live streams work perfectly. Better than direct from the website in fact since there is none of the trademark judder. To be fair though it is only a matter of time before the BBC starts to offer live 720p streams (the Winter Olympics feeds worked beautifully for those with good connection speeds) so perhaps our sticks would cope less well with these?
But the whole point of these players is for catch up TV - this is a very disappointing cop-out and even more reason to praise the BBC for getting their app up and running with Chromecast so promptly.

This post is relevant to me as I am UK based, have two chromecasts and my second TV does not have an aerial connection.
I've followed TV Catchup's position on this and I have to say I agree that it is a complete cop-out on their part. More fool them. If iPlayer, Redbull TV and (monday update of) BT sport can integrate casting then their excuse that the CC is not powerful enough is wide of the mark.
My experience of live streams from iPlayer is top notch but I have an excellent fibre optic connection.
So, for my second TV I have embarked on a quest to find a work around.
TV Catchup + Mirror app. Works OK. Resolution is as you'd expect, watchable but no where near HD. Sound quality also suffers. So whilst this solution is boarderline acceptable. It's not great.
XBMC =AVIA. Awesome. ALMOST a fully comprehensive solution for me. I am using the XAF version with 1channel, icefilms and Mashup with playercorefactory set up for Avia. This is great for ondemand services BUT live streams fail to start. This is particularly annoying for me as I subscribe to Offside Streams (for my sports) and I cannot get this to work outside of casting a chrome tab. THIS is my holy grail.
Plex Channels = The Plex live channels I have found to be hit and miss. There are not enough channels of interest and it is a lottery if they work.
BUBBLE UPNP - So I have set up a transcoding server for Bubble. It's delightful. When casting local/network/server files from Android the PC does the grunt work. It pretty much maxes out my quad core 8GB rig, but playback is perfectly acceptable for me.
What I would love to do with Bubble UPnP is fire up a live stream which is transcoded by my server rig and cast to the CC. This would offer me the solution I crave but I have no idea if it is even possible.
New Tasker Plugin - AUTOCAST. This has promise and I will be spending a few more hours setting it up. It is not for the less tech/tasker savvy. So far I have combined it with AutoShare to share local media files direct from the galley or a file explorer. It even runs videos from the chrome browser IF the website is compatible. IF more websites were compatible, this would be my casting of choice. I really like it's functionality once it has been set up correctly. The dev is publishing some guides on this from Monday.
I am watching you JW PLAYER. Now JW is the player of choice for many large companies websites. They have just announced chromecast support (to be rolled out) and I think this will open the door to new horizons.
Obviously, I'd love to see ITV player, 4OD and Demand Five release both Chromecast support and live streaming from their respective apps. I won't hold my breath. BBC, I am not fond of your general operations but I have to applaud you as an early adopter. BT sport is an added bonus. SKY and SKY GO is as closed shop as they come so let's write that off before we begin.
I have every faith that some smart dev will release a player that can pull flash and html5 video from websites and cast to chromecast. I'd love to see a JW Player app but I think MX Player will be the first there.
GO DEVS GO, I have cash waiting.

Funny I don't think Google intended the Chrome cast to be powerful. The new Amazon TV can handle lots. Roku 3 pretty solid. I am more disappointed that to get the most out of Chromecast you have to be in the USA for one thing and the UK for another. Using a VPN is possible but more complicated then other devices I have. It is cheap.
Sent from my Xoom Wifi using XDA Premium HD app

Drizwaldo1 said:
.....
What I would love to do with Bubble UPnP is fire up a live stream which is transcoded by my server rig and cast to the CC. This would offer me the solution I crave but I have no idea if it is even possible.
.....
I have every faith that some smart dev will release a player that can pull flash and html5 video from websites and cast to chromecast. I'd love to see a JW Player app but I think MX Player will be the first there.
GO DEVS GO, I have cash waiting.
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Click to collapse
BubbleUPnP can cast live streams from the browser - I'm just not 100% sure on compatibility and how it integrates with the Server. So far I've only tried mp4 streams which just work and don't need any transcoding.
The way it works for me using Firefox browser - 1) go to streaming website and open your video - often Firefox itself can't play the video. 2) Long press the video to bring up a share menu - one of the options is 'open with app' - click that and BubbleUPnP is an option. 3) Select BubbleUPnP and if the Chromecast is already set as the Renderer the stream is on your TV.

neu - smurph said:
BubbleUPnP can cast live streams from the browser - I'm just not 100% sure on compatibility and how it integrates with the Server. So far I've only tried mp4 streams which just work and don't need any transcoding.
The way it works for me using Firefox browser - 1) go to streaming website and open your video - often Firefox itself can't play the video. 2) Long press the video to bring up a share menu - one of the options is 'open with app' - click that and BubbleUPnP is an option. 3) Select BubbleUPnP and if the Chromecast is already set as the Renderer the stream is on your TV.
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BubbleUPnP can transcode (if necessary and provided that BubbleUPnP Server is installed) videos from any source, including http video URLs sent from web browsers or any other app.
As for streaming live content not web related, I've got report of users streaming live TV streams in TS format served by some specialized boxes (like the HD HomeRun), and transcoded by BubbleUPnP Server on the fly to be compatible. Theorically it should also work with any media server serving live streams like MythTV and others.

Chromecast with Google TV only casts 2-channel Audio with Many Apps including YouTube TV

If you are an Apple device user, stick with Apple, otherwise....
I've been into Home Theater for 30 years and try to keep up with everything, get best bang for the buck, make sure I'm using all my equipment to its fullest potential.
The Chromecast for Google TV has a well-designed interface, especially if you are willing to use their YouTube TV service for all your live channels as it is well integrated. However over the past three weeks with the goal of finally cutting the Comcast/Xfinity cable (which I did and am saving $80/month), this is my experience in a nutshell.
Chromecast with Google TV - YouTube TV & Hulu stream in 2-channel PCM. If you have a mid to high range AVR, it can spoof surround though quite well using DTS Neo 6 or Dolby Pro Logic 2 but still not as "clean" as a true 5.1 source signal.
Roku Streaming Stick + - A close competitor to the latest Chromecast with Google TV. Works well for people that want a simpler menu/interface to just navigate to each of their streaming services without a lot of other stuff/recommendations in your face. Has voice control from the remote. Hulu streams in 5.1. HBOMax streams in 2-channel PCM!!! Returned it.
Tivo Stream 4K - Streams every service in 5.1 (or Atmos Dolby Digital+ if service supports it). Better remote than the Chromecast with Google TV as it has more buttons including a very useful Info button that works in some apps like being able to see the video and audio stream specs in realtime of your Netflix stream to verify you are getting 4K and Atmos. Also if you can link your Tivo account to your Sling account, and Pluto, and Locast which allows the TIVO Guide to combine all the channels into one guide. Unfortunately though it doesn't have the option to add YouTube TV into the Tivo native channel guide. I'd still use this device over Chromecast with Google TV just because it streams Hulu in 5.1 instead of 2-channel PCM (currently.)
What is strange is essentially these are all Android TV Operating System Devices. So initially I thought it was the developers of the particular streaming service's fault that they are streaming their audio in 2-channel PCM. But apparently, it is both a combination of the hardware and app software, as otherwise why does Hulu stream in 2-channel PCM on the Chromecast and 5.1 on the Roku and Tivo or conversely why does HBOMax on the Roku stream in 2-channel and in 5.1 on the Chromecast? They are all Android TV Software Apps!
Story of my life in trying to get the most for my money -- end up spending tens if not hundreds of hours testing, talking in forums, troubleshooting, chatting with first-line tech support that has no clue about advanced technical issues, etc. This is where the Apple people can chime in an assert that Apple is wortth he extra money to avoid wasted time making everything "work" but Apple has it's issues drawbacks too.
I've kept my Chromecast and the Tivo Stream 4K. So if the Chromecast with Google TV gets their act together with the respective streaming devs, I may go back to it. But I'm no longer using YouTube TV as I watch very little live TV so the $70 with tax per month isn't justified. I'm lucky enough to have Locast.org for my areas, combine that with the Streamium DVR app (free or $5/month donation) and I use Sling for CNN and ESPN, and I'm quite happy on the TIVO Stream 4K.
Bottom line: Chromecast with Google TV has a great interface but it's just not up to speed on the audio streaming capabilities on all streaming services. Pretty disappointing.

jazee said:
What is strange is essentially these are all Android TV Operating System Devices.
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Just a quick note that Roku is running RokuOS, not Android TV. Sure, if you go deep enough, they share a same core (Linux), but that's pretty much it. They're completely different operating systems.

jazee said:
stream in 2-channel PCM
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Click to collapse
I can't speak for everybody, but I only have 2 ears, so I'm perfectly happy with 2-channel audio.
As long as the device is secure and stable (read as: not some half baked made-in-china trash that spies on you and keeps crashing), and can run the software that I WANT (read as: I don't give a damn about "streaming services"), then the box works perfectly.
The main thing that bothers me about this chromecast are;
1) The included launcher has ads that can only be partially disabled,
2) The remote has THREE useless buttons.