When Google announced its latest streaming device in early August, there was much interest in its storage and new features.
That’s pretty typical fare, but with the news about the Google TV Streamer, longtime fans of Chromecast were plenty upset. After 11 years of production, Google announced it was done making Chromecast devices.
While many headlines have lamented the end of a certain streaming era, it’s important to note that the protocol known as Chromecast isn’t going anywhere.
Over the last 11 years, Chromecast has referred to a specific piece of hardware that did one primary thing: to stream audio and video from a mobile device or computer to compatible TVs or displays.
But Google Cast, the proprietary streaming protocol, is now all over the place.
Anyone using a streaming device or Smart TV running on Google TV already knows that. Then again, it might not be so obvious.
The latest Google TV streaming device to hit the market, Walmart’s Onn 4K Pro, is a pretty great successor to the latest Chromecast with Google TV.
Priced at $50, it comes with a nice remote, excellent hand-free voice controls – and built-in Chromecast capabilities. Any Smart TV running on Google TV – yeah, that has a Chromecast under the hood as well.
My Sony Bravia Smart TV has it as well. A number of projectors that I have tested, including Anker, XGIMI, BenQ, and Wemax, all have Chromecast as part of Google TV.
The bottom line is that Chromecast is here to stay – just not in the current streaming dongle packaged by Google.
The new Google TV Streamer, which has a price tag of $99.99, still lets you cast all the videos and photos you want.
Even with the device known as Chromecast exiting the market, you already have lots of choices for casting your favorite videos and music. And there will likely be more options to come.
