You’ve probably noticed that there is a battle between a few major companies right now on how to best deliver high quality video content to your TV. This is great for us home theater speaker folks because we don’t need to constantly worry about our speakers becoming outdated, but we can expect better and better content to watch and listen in our living room. Most recently, Google has announced the Chromecast which is a wireless HDMI receiver that plays content directly from the cloud and is controllable from either your mobile device or your laptop. Currently the most notable services available to stream are Youtube, Netflix and Pandora, and at only $35 for a Chromecast, why not give it a try? That is, unless you already don’t have a device in your home theater system that can play that content… which in my case is pretty much every piece of equipment in my system aside from a power amplifier. But!, the Chromecase proves to be a very easy to use piece of equipment and I think will be moderately popular, however there are some other options to consider.
Apple TV has been around for quite a few years and offers a more complete solution compared to the Chromecast, as long as you’re mostly using iPhones, iPads or iTunes. At $99, Apple TV is still quite a bargain for what it can offer, and although it’s barely on the radar for Apple in comparison to their main products, there are 12 million Apple TV units out there already. To top this off, there are constant rumors that Apple has something bigger planned, perhaps an actual iTV.
What this means for all you audio and videophiles out there is that having more and more high definition content with digital sound to watch and enjoy is going to become easier than ever. If it’s only going to take $35 to bring virtually unlimited content to your HDTV that can be enjoyed on the best screen and with the best sound in your home, then sign me up and let the battle continue, as us consumers are the ultimate winners.