So this news had effectively leaked in advance, but now it’s official: Google’s Chromecast streaming dongle has gone on sale in Australia today for $49. You can pick it up from the Google Play Store, JB Hi-Fi and Dick Smith.
Picture: Getty Images
[related title=”CHROMECAST EXPLAINED” tag=”chromecast101″ items=”2″]The Chromecast plugs into your TV and allows you to stream content directly from the internet or your home network to the screen, using your smartphone as a remote control. Both Android and iOS are supported, and third-party developers can add Chromecast streaming to existing apps. You can also ‘cast’ any screen viewed in Chrome to the device. If you buy from the Play Store, you’ll pay $4.50 for basic shipping or $10.95 for express shipping.
On the local front, apps supporting Chromecast are in development from the ABC, Quickflix and Foxtel, though none have made one available on the Australian launch day. While those would be a nice addition, there are lots of apps which support the Chromecast, including Google’s own YouTube and Google Play Movies players.
As we noted when this pricing first leaked, $49 is expensive compared to the $US35 launch price, especially since the original US version also included a trial Netflix subscription. Undoubtedly many Chromecast enthusiasts have already imported their own, but for anyone who didn’t want that hassle, local availability is still a plus.
Comments
11 responses to “Chromecast Released In Australia, Costs $49”
I’ll be curious to know if the Chromecast in Australia will work with US services like Netflix and Hulu. If using a DNS service like Unblock-Us, there shouldn’t be any reason it wouldn’t work, yeah?
I would imagine so. If you can view Netflix on your screen, then you should be able to send it to your Chromecast.
As I understand it, google locked down the Chromecast so that it uses the hard-coded Google DNS and you can’t change it to point at custom DNS servers or use your router’s settings, so services like unblock-us are off the table. Which basically makes the thing useless IMO.
I have a couple of Chromecasts and use Unblock-us to watch Netflix with no issues at all.
just bought mine! 🙂
Does anyone have stock in store?
I’m pretty sure it doesn’t when you “Cast” something you are sending a url to the device so unless you have some proxy stuff happening at your router level you’ll have no luck . Maybe someone has a proxy that is included in the path that could work. Also disappointed as I bought one on ebay from the states back maybe 2 months ago and it cost exactly the same with shipping.
DNS is hardcoded on these devices. a static route pointing the google DNS to some other IP on your router is your only workaround . finicky but it works .
How would one do this?
I would find this more useful if it connected to old style TVs. If a TV has a USB port it has a fair chance of containing Ethernet as well.
Hey guys I bought a chromecast today from dick smith and it works with netflix.
bought mine today at Dick Smith for $49. They were looking at me all secretive like I wasn’t mean’t to know it was out today and I was like ‘it was on lifehacker last night bitches’. So far I’ve used it for Plex which looks and works great. The initial setup was relatively easy. my only concern is that the chromecast app is a little lacking in features and without installing a third party app you can’t send pictures of videos from iphone straight to your tv which i wanted to do.
So can anyone else confirm it works with netflix here