chromecast price

was looking at purchasing a chromecast , they sell for 35 usd, looked at mercado libre and the cheapest i can find is 990 pesos, more than double the price !! what a rip off.

Right now it is questionable if they even have them to ship. Google, Amazon and Best Buy NOB are all out and seem to be indicating that they will ship 9/13. If so, I should receive mine from Amazon early next week? I wonder if Best Buy Mexico might carry them at a more reasonable price than the $990MXN you have been quoted?

will amazon ship to you directly to mexico ?

Just received notice that Amazon has shipped my order for Chromecast and it would be here on Tuesday.

CheenaGringo wrote:Just received notice that Amazon has shipped my order for Chromecast and it would be here on Tuesday.

Did you get it?  What ya think?

Z

While I did receive it Tuesday as announced, I only made it to putting the app on our smartphones. Getting ready for our Colorado trip was of higher priority. I will deal with it after we get back home.

how did you get them to deliver it ? when i put my address it said they couldnt deliver to mexico.

hickton wrote:how did you get them to deliver it ? when i put my address  it said they couldnt deliver to mexico.

CG lives north of the border.

Z

Finally got around to doing the setup with Chromecast and my smartphone today. It appears that it was only preloaded with Netflix, YouTube, Hulu and Google Movies/Music. All other apps need to be added and I will be doing that on Sunday.

Thanks CG let us know when you have some wisdom. Folks are curious.

Z

Not that I claim to be any sort of "tech genius", but my opinion right now is that Google Chromecast isn't ready for prime time! Good luck finding any additional apps to the ones that I listed in my first comment. While I am feeling a bit "conned" by this gimmick, the relatively low price of $35 is sort of telling me to hang on and see what they come up with. Meanwhile, I will live with our Logitech Google TV box on our main TV which offers more options.

Thank you CG. About what I thought.

Z

What I have been reading is that there is no shortage of third parties with apps in various states of development but Google is blocking them from access. Being neither a tech guy nor a business guy I can't even speculate on their motives.

George

George:

Interesting comments! About two years ago, we purchased a Google TV by Logitech through Amazon. When we first received the box, there was an app for Amazon Instant Video which we receive through our Amazon Prime account. Suddenly during one of the updates to the box, the Amazon app disappeared. I have tried every trick I can think of to get it back without luck. Now we have to go to Chrome and pull up Amazon to access the videos. Still works but more of a PITA!

Since I purchased our Chromecast through Amazon, I am kind of surprised not to find an Amazon app on it.

Neil,
I bought a nice LG smart TV earlier this year with the assurance that Amazon VOD would be available soon. It took about 5 months and only after all of their (LGs) older TVs had received new firmware did I finally get mine. Like you, I had my Amazon VOD via a Prime account and had to access it through my Roku. It took LG awhile to come through with You Tube also; that one never has been available on Roku. I'll be damned if I can figure these things out.
Maybe this will clear things up on Chromecast http://readwrite.com/2013/10/08/chromecast-apps-google-holdup#awesm=~okcj9OZymkbKZw

George

George:

Here is another good one for you - I can received more through apps on my Samsung Galaxy SIII smartphone than I can with either our Google TV box or Chromecast. Even though I can use the Samsung to control the Chromecast, I cannot access the same apps. While I have been tempted to send the Chromecast back to Amazon for credit, the low price sort of makes me willing to hang around for new apps. If it never satisfies me - no big deal.

Probably also has something to do with Google TV, which they are struggling with. Different versions of the same thing... "don't support one until we kill the other... whenever that is."

Speaking of Roku, do you stream videos from your PC?

HelperGuy wrote:
Speaking of Roku, do you stream videos from your PC?

At he risk of seeming really, really slow I'm not quite sure what you're asking.
This all gets pretty complicated due to the PC that I use. I have an older, not too fancy Dell desktop that is dual booted Win 7/Ubuntu 12.04. Before I bought Roku I had (still have) a HDMI cable running between the PC and the TV but the only way I could get a working connection was via Sewell HDdeck. This only works with Windows. My default OS is Ubuntu and the only time I boot Windows is if I specifically want to watch computer content on the TV. It just hasn't been worth my time to look for a more elegant solution short of buying new equipment or going to the dark side(Windows). The biggest problem is that I am dealing with a Display Port fitting on the PC and no way to easily convert to HDMI. Just the other day Midnight Box had a deal on a Display Port/HDMI converter. I ordered one of those hoping that I can finally make the Ubuntu connection with that.
If none of this makes any sense it is because all this tech stuff is way over my head!
I'm guessing that the short answer to your question is that I watch computer content over a HDMI cable connection, no Roku involved.

George

Sounds like you understand.

There are a few apps available for the Roku that allow you to send videos that you have downloaded to your PC, directly to the Roku. So for example I download The Blacklist from a torrent site, and I can watch it on my TV via the Roku app (Plex is one such app). My modem and computer are in my office, nowhere near the living room TV, so I could never hook up via HDMI or other cable.

Plex is available for Ubuntu (https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/precise/plexmediaserver/).

Eventually these "boxes" will enable a TV to be completely computer-centric: that is, whatever you do on your PC you can do on your TV. I want the promise of "convergence": when I watch a movie or show on TV, I want instant access on the same screen to information about the program: actors, dates, stats for sports, all that kind of thing. I don't want to use a remote to select from an onscreen keyboard; I want a wireless keyboard.

The reason I asked you the question is because the apps that send downloaded shows to the Roku are not perfect yet; I get most shows in .mkv format, which is too high quality for the apps to handle. And I'm looking for like-minded users who have solutions to that problem.

So in the meantime, I put my shows on a USB stick and plug that into my BluRay player, which sends them in hidef to the TV.

HelperGuy wrote:Plex is available for Ubuntu (https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/precise/plexmediaserver/).

I was aware of Plex but never gave it much thought. I think that I checked into it at the time that I bought either the Roku or the TV and was convinced that it was not compatible with Linux. Oh well, I'm glad that you straightened me out on that. I set it up today and it works reasonably well. There have been a few You Tube videos that I can watch on the computer but Roku says that they are unavailable. Licensing thing, maybe? Anyway, I'm happy that I set it up. I can see where I'll get lots of use out of it and not have to switch between OSs. 
I'm a fan of old, comedy westerns and one of my favorites is Texas Across The River. I've seen a full length You Tube but sure couldn't find it today. I'll look for something else to add to the queue.

George