On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 11:19 AM, Scott Barnes <scott.bar...@gmail.com>wrote:
> Ah ok, I was hoping for a Chromecast vs Roku 3 showdown but it never came > .. so basically the whole Airplay thing in Apple speak is still a > generation behind as from memory Airplay will still require your > Phone/iPad/ATV to host the streaming but this in turn is just an > instruction packet to tell it "you do it from here.." > Yes, I think later extensions to AirPlay did the latter but originally it was more or less peer to peer (which it had to be pre iCloud etc I guess). The key value I get out of the ChromeCast is it has no UX at all. It just shows random photos while not in use but other than that it does nothing. The relationship it always between your chosen device, your favourite/most appropriate app, and ChromeCast as a dumb arse renderer. In that regard, I guess, there is no lock in as you can use whichever content provider or app you want. I've tried XBMC a few times but found the plugins for things like YouTube second rate - as they're basically rebuilding the UX for their own purposes vs using the native thing from Google with the latest features etc. [ .. ] As always, YMMV and it depends on the content you mostly consume (which on an hours watched basis in our place, is still mainly FoxtelIQ). David.