Chromecast Ultra overheating is causing Stadia shutdowns
The old Chromecast Ultra overheating issue has cropped up again thanks to Stadia.
A number of users on the Stadia subreddit have been sharing stories about their Chromecast Ultra devices getting very hot to the touch.
In at least two cases, users reported disconnects from the network as a result of the high temperature, which caused them to restart it in order to resume playing. It's getting so hot, in fact, some Stadia Pro members decided to stick to playing on laptops instead of Chromecast Ultra.
The issue of Chromecast Ultra overheating is not new, having been a problem since the device's release. Google previously said it's normal for it to heat up, reiterating that it shouldn't disrupt normal operation.
In response to the reports from Stadia users, a Google community manager said the company hasn't observed any heat-related Stadia shutdowns on Chromecast Ultra during testing.
"We know any sort of heat on a device can be worrisome, but we can confirm there is no thermal overheating issue with Chromecast Ultra," they wrote.
"During normal usage (like watching cat videos on YouTube), the surface of the device may get warm to the touch, but this is working as designed."
This is particularly worrisome for users who intend to use Stadia long-term. The service streams video to Chromecast, and doesn't do any processing locally, but it seems the bitrate of game streaming compared to 4K video streaming is causing the device to work overtime.
It remains to be seen if this is going to be a major problem for Stadia, not that the service doesn't have its fair share of those already.