I was fortunate to get my hands on a Chromecast at my local BestBuy the other day, and after a full day of use it is one of the best $25 (had a $10 reward cert) I have spent since my last trip to Outback Steakhouse .
Getting the dongle up and running in my entertainment center was a bit awkward with the mini USB required for powering the device, but all went smoothly. First time set up was simple, requiring installation of the Chromecast app on my HTC One which was able to pair with the dongle and hook it up to my home WiFi network. Once connected to WiFi, it's ready to use, displaying the "Ready to Cast" home screen.
Google Play Music was the first app I tried out, and I was immediately disappointed to get the error message "Unable to Cast sideloaded content". Hopefully an update for local content will be added to phones and tablets in the near future, since it is only possible within the Chrome browser on your Mac/PC. Music playback through their Unlimited music service worked as advertise though, however the Now Playing interface displayed on the TV could use a bit more polish. It doesn't look awful, but it doesn't look very good either. Every now and then I would get an error when selecting songs saying "Could not stream your selection at this time," where I would have to kill the app from the multitask screen and restart.
Where this device thrives is video playback. Netflix, Youtube, and Google Play Videos are the only content supported so far but they deliver. Watching AMC's The Killing and The Avengers in 1080p by simply "casting" to my TV with my new Nexus 7 is a real treat. And the best part is I can use my tablet while watching for anything I want. Be it games, web browsing, reading, or music; it doesn't effect playback at all since it is being streamed by the dongle, not your phone/tablet/computer. Even better, ChromeCast has minimal effect on battery life of your device. I started an episode of The Killing with 55% battery, after the episode was over about an hour later my battery held at 54%.
I have not been able to try out screen mirroring yet, but will update once I play around with it. Overall I am satisfied with my purchase. The lack of local media support on phones/tablets are preventing it from being a serious threat to AirPlay and the Apple TV, but at the same time being 65% cheaper make it a more than reasonable trade off. The way I see this device: it makes watching Netflix on my TV simpler. Before it was turning on my PS3, navigating to the Netflix app, waiting for it to load, choosing between regular content or kids, and then finally getting to pick what I would like to watch. Now I just switch to the input my Chromecast is hooked up to, fire up the Netflix app on my phone/tablet (whichever is closer), make my selection, and then "cast" to my TV.
If you are looking for a fast simple way to watch Netflix, YouTube, and movie rentals through Google Play this device is for you. If you are expecting an Airplay/Apple TV killer, well this device isn't for you...yet. With its open API for future dev support, it is just a matter of time for local files and more streaming sites such as HBO GO and Hulu to be supported.
The oneinfour score: 7.5/10 - lack of local content playback and wacky music playback issues hold back an otherwise solid streamer.
interesting read.
I think we may be waiting a bit for Hulu to get on board. They're a bit quirky regarding the various contract and licensing agreements. To me, they should just view this as HDMI out on the Hulu app, but who knows. Sometimes they're just obtuse because one can just hook up a PC to the TV and have all content available.
It's early, so to some degree, we're going to see a lot of growing pains as the product matures. I look forward to trying it out myself when I eventually get one.
Chromecasting a chrome tab on your desktop allows HBO go (and others I presume) to work with your chromecast. I was even able to drag and drop a local mkv file into the active chrome tab and it played on my TV just fine. Some pixelation and artifacting, but mostly negligible. Audio synced up fine too. Here's a video of it in action
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT2XUI-yZxE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Chromecast messes with AdBlocker
You can't expect it to be compatible with every third party app. Adblocker needs to fix on their end.
As far as Chromecast.. I went to buy one and it is sold out every where.
What would be amazing would be a device that would allow us to send screen to TV for gaming, etc.. With the higher res this would be awesome on my 1080 Bravia!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
oneinfour said:
The way I see this device: it makes watching Netflix on my TV simpler. Before it was turning on my PS3, navigating to the Netflix app, waiting for it to load, choosing between regular content or kids, and then finally getting to pick what I would like to watch. Now I just switch to the input my Chromecast is hooked up to, fire up the Netflix app on my phone/tablet (whichever is closer), make my selection, and then "cast" to my TV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what makes it a potentially killer app. I own a roku, a wdtv, an htpc (out of commission because of fan noise), and I have had multiple cable boxes. In terms of interfaces, nothing has gotten it right. Interfaces are either time consuming to get working, slow, unpolished, or difficult to navigate. Worse, sometimes they rely on unstable hacks that are destroyed by API changes. The difference with chromecast is that most of the apps on your tablet and phone are fairly polished, speedy, and easy to navigate. Most importantly, the video is separated from the UI, meaning you don't stop what you're doing to look at something else. There are a lot of great ways that this can be used: Playing a movie automatically brings up more information about that movie on the tablet; it could tell you the names of the actors on the screen (I think amazon has something like this). Song lyrics could be displayed on the tablet. Sky is the limit in that respect.
Yes, screen mirroring would be nice, but I doubt it will ever work as well as we want it to on this device. Google has not released an API for windows or mac os so speed may never be something we see on the desktop. We will see though.
It would depend on the screen it was being mirrored too and would not be perfect but it would be awesome.
Ideally instead of having to stay media info chrome I would just like to my screen on the TV. That would be a huge selling point for Google.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Why do you think direct local streaming was not included? Just seems like no brainer to me... Anyway I think ill probably go pick one up once Skype gets on board with suppprt.
Great review, I agree with everything you wrote. I am loving mine so far too. If Amazon wakes up and adds support, this will be a killer little dongle. Though, if they don't, then I will just starting buying my TV shows and Movies from Google's store instead =)
I too would like to see the ability to stream local content soon, and also from the cloud services like Dropbox/Box/Drive/etc. The developers have already proven it to be possible, with great results ... it is really up to Google now to allow it to happen. The fact that they released the Chromecast without local file support has me a little worried. But I am hoping this was more a scheduling decision to get it out the door to beat the competition to the punch and get people talking.
This cheap little gadget has the potential to shake up the media industry in a big way.
When I first got my Chromecast, I was able to play a video (on hulu for example) in fullscreen mode, then alt tab back to Chrome so I could still use my laptop while casting to the TV in full screen.
In the past week, it no longer works. When I alt tab, it automatically goes out of full screen mode. So now I have to have my laptop playing the video in fullscreen if I want to cast it in fullscreen to the TV.
I can't find anything in my searches about this happening to anyone else when I google the problem. Has anyone else run across this issue?
Thanks
swillard said:
When I first got my Chromecast, I was able to play a video (on hulu for example) in fullscreen mode, then alt tab back to Chrome so I could still use my laptop while casting to the TV in full screen.
In the past week, it no longer works. When I alt tab, it automatically goes out of full screen mode. So now I have to have my laptop playing the video in fullscreen if I want to cast it in fullscreen to the TV.
I can't find anything in my searches about this happening to anyone else when I google the problem. Has anyone else run across this issue?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, it works fine for me, and I have the latest update. Maybe reinstall?
aiiee said:
Sorry, it works fine for me, and I have the latest update. Maybe reinstall?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do I reinstall? I've reinstalled the cast extension and that didn't fix it. I have the most current version of Chrome. I can only thing to uninstall and reinstall Chrome to see if that fixes the problem.
swillard said:
What do I reinstall? I've reinstalled the cast extension and that didn't fix it. I have the most current version of Chrome. I can only thing to uninstall and reinstall Chrome to see if that fixes the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know, I don't have the problem.
What about Flash?
swillard said:
When I first got my Chromecast, I was able to play a video (on hulu for example) in fullscreen mode, then alt tab back to Chrome so I could still use my laptop while casting to the TV in full screen.
In the past week, it no longer works. When I alt tab, it automatically goes out of full screen mode. So now I have to have my laptop playing the video in fullscreen if I want to cast it in fullscreen to the TV.
I can't find anything in my searches about this happening to anyone else when I google the problem. Has anyone else run across this issue?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My guess is this is related to the Flash Player or the player on the site that you are using. I have seen this happen on my two monitor setup where when I go to the second screen it breaks out of full screen mode on the first monitor. I'm pretty sure all i had to do was restart my machine. But I would try reinstalling Flash, clearing cache, cookies, etc.
Do you see the same behavior when you are not using Chromecast?
Good luck.
srgibbs99 said:
My guess is this is related to the Flash Player or the player on the site that you are using. I have seen this happen on my two monitor setup where when I go to the second screen it breaks out of full screen mode on the first monitor. I'm pretty sure all i had to do was restart my machine. But I would try reinstalling Flash, clearing cache, cookies, etc.
Do you see the same behavior when you are not using Chromecast?
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It happens with any video, whether casting or not. I used to be able to watch Hulu.com in fullscreen and cast it to the tv, then I could alt tab to another tab to check FB or something. Now it doesn't work. I've tried hulu, youtube, and some other video sites and they all the the same thing. When you hit Alt they immediately go back to the small screen page. I've rebooted my computer and reinstalled the Cast extension. Wondering if I need to reinstall Chrome. It did crash one me a few times this weekend, though not in the past couple of days.
swillard said:
It happens with any video, whether casting or not. I used to be able to watch Hulu.com in fullscreen and cast it to the tv, then I could alt tab to another tab to check FB or something. Now it doesn't work. I've tried hulu, youtube, and some other video sites and they all the the same thing. When you hit Alt they immediately go back to the small screen page. I've rebooted my computer and reinstalled the Cast extension. Wondering if I need to reinstall Chrome. It did crash one me a few times this weekend, though not in the past couple of days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had a similar issue. I received mine on Tuesday and the first day full screen worked for espn and I was able to Alt+Tab to continue browsing. Last night, I tried to do the same thing but It would only display a picture of the tab with the embedded video (when I would go to full screen, the embedded video was black with the tab content around it. when I would exit full screen the embedded video began playing again.) Essentially, I can no longer go into full screen mode for any flash based video (tried with NFL network too). Mine did an update first thing when I turned it on yesterday. I didn't write down the original version I had nor what it updated to. My flash player also updated recently but I think that was before I tried it for the first time. I did not try to reboot my machine or reinstall flash / chrome but I did attempt to do it from 2 different computers on my network and both suffered from the same issue.
m2cool2go said:
I have had a similar issue. I received mine on Tuesday and the first day full screen worked for espn and I was able to Alt+Tab to continue browsing. Last night, I tried to do the same thing but It would only display a picture of the tab with the embedded video (when I would go to full screen, the embedded video was black with the tab content around it. when I would exit full screen the embedded video began playing again.) Essentially, I can no longer go into full screen mode for any flash based video (tried with NFL network too). Mine did an update first thing when I turned it on yesterday. I didn't write down the original version I had nor what it updated to. My flash player also updated recently but I think that was before I tried it for the first time. I did not try to reboot my machine or reinstall flash / chrome but I did attempt to do it from 2 different computers on my network and both suffered from the same issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found a post on another forum that helped me resolve the issue. In your google chrome browser (assuming that's what you are using), type in about://plugins. Click on the Details icon (+) on the far right of the Plugins title bar. Look for Adobe flash and you probably have 2 plugins listed. Look for pepflashplayer.dll . It should be listed in the location section. Click on disable. You may need to restart the browser. Try your fullscreen again.
That fixed it for me, so I hope it fixes it for you.
I just found a pretty neat trick to do fullscreen.
Install the "Chrome Toolbox" which allows you to open flash videos by themselves, separate from anything else on that webpage.
Go to the page with the flash video you are playing. Cast that tab. Hover over the video and an icon will appear to allow you to put it on its own window. Chromecast will now only show the video, same as if you went fullscreen. Video quality seems better when the window is not minimized.
hpcolombia said:
I just found a pretty neat trick to do fullscreen.
Install the "Chrome Toolbox" which allows you to open flash videos by themselves, separate from anything else on that webpage.
Go to the page with the flash video you are playing. Cast that tab. Hover over the video and an icon will appear to allow you to put it on its own window. Chromecast will now only show the video, same as if you went fullscreen. Video quality seems better when the window is not minimized.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip but I can't get it to work. I have Chrome Toolbox installed, went to Hulu and cast that tab and not getting anything when I hover over the view to pop it out as a separate window.
swillard said:
Thanks for the tip but I can't get it to work. I have Chrome Toolbox installed, went to Hulu and cast that tab and not getting anything when I hover over the view to pop it out as a separate window.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have the same problem. Cant switch tab by using alt+tab
Does anyone has another solution?
ps: i am using mac
swillard said:
Thanks for the tip but I can't get it to work. I have Chrome Toolbox installed, went to Hulu and cast that tab and not getting anything when I hover over the view to pop it out as a separate window.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's working now. Thanks for the tip. I can use this trick to cast to the TV and still use my laptop for other stuff.
Toolbox Pop-out link??
Hi guys!
Any chance of a link to the Chrome Toolbox in the app store? The one I'm looking at is probably not the one I'm looking for.
BTW, Alt-Tab is working for me, but the full-screen video is playing in the background so I can see it in place of the Windows taskbar. I can move about the desktop though
hpcolombia said:
I just found a pretty neat trick to do fullscreen.
Install the "Chrome Toolbox" which allows you to open flash videos by themselves, separate from anything else on that webpage.
Go to the page with the flash video you are playing. Cast that tab. Hover over the video and an icon will appear to allow you to put it on its own window. Chromecast will now only show the video, same as if you went fullscreen. Video quality seems better when the window is not minimized.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately Chrome Toolbox doesn't work on Windows 8? And isn't available anymore anyway?
This is really annoying. Just got Chromecast.
But when casting a tab of full screen video on certain websites and I move from the tab it reverts to its original frame.
Basically I just want to be able to play full screen content from sites like BBC's iPlayer while doing other things on the computer.
Fiddling with flash plugins doesn't seem to change it. I looked for other possibly relevant extensions in the web store but none really worked.
This seems to me a fundamental but should be pretty simple problem for Google to fix.
Any other ideas now?
Thanks, Tom
tomwood said:
Unfortunately Chrome Toolbox doesn't work on Windows 8? And isn't available anymore anyway?
This is really annoying. Just got Chromecast.
But when casting a tab of full screen video on certain websites and I move from the tab it reverts to its original frame.
Basically I just want to be able to play full screen content from sites like BBC's iPlayer while doing other things on the computer.
Fiddling with flash plugins doesn't seem to change it. I looked for other possibly relevant extensions in the web store but none really worked.
This seems to me a fundamental but should be pretty simple problem for Google to fix.
Any other ideas now?
Thanks, Tom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure about Windows 8, but in 7 I am pretty sure I can hit the Windows key + D which will minimize the browser and allow me to continue what I am doing.
Obskure said:
BTW, Alt-Tab is working for me, but the full-screen video is playing in the background so I can see it in place of the Windows taskbar. I can move about the desktop though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like that "feature" - my old ATI TV tuner card used to have that.
tomwood said:
But when casting a tab of full screen video on certain websites and I move from the tab it reverts to its original frame.
Basically I just want to be able to play full screen content from sites like BBC's iPlayer while doing other things on the computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems to depend on how the player achieves full-screen. Some sites have a full-screen option from the browser level, and that seems to behave differently (also sometimes different resolution) than using the full-screen/zoom option in the player.
Good example is www.BabyFirstTV.com
The blue-background full-screen button just full-screens the video in the tab and shows the Exit Fullscreen button when casted.
The full-screen button in the player window (bottom right corner) make the video full-desktop size (and replaces my desktop background), and doesn't show the (annoying) Exit Fullscreen button. The bottom does get cut off, likely because my desktop is 1920x1200 so I'm losing the bottom 180 pixels.
For me at least, either method allows me to Alt-Tab to another application without messing up the Chromecast playback though.
bhiga said:
It seems to depend on how the player achieves full-screen. Some sites have a full-screen option from the browser level, and that seems to behave differently (also sometimes different resolution) than using the full-screen/zoom option in the player.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, unfortunately though for me when using that browser-level full screen video, and I move from the tab, it reverts to its original frame.
I'm using Windows 8 x64 with Chrome Beta 32.
Obskure said:
Hi guys!
Any chance of a link to the Chrome Toolbox in the app store?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-cast/boadgeojelhgndaghljhdicfkmllpafd
Also found another interesting Chrome App....
Turns your Browser into a Chromecast Target that you can stream to!
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cr-cast/acmfmindblghbicdipoakcolegkcddbk
tomwood said:
Thanks, unfortunately though for me when using that browser-level full screen video, and I move from the tab, it reverts to its original frame.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you try it on www.babyfirsttv.com ? I'm guessing any browser/tab-level zoom will depend on how the site is coded.
bhiga said:
Can you try it on babyfirsttv? I'm guessing any browser/tab-level zoom will depend on how the site is coded.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, if it takes up just the tab it's ok, but when going completely full screen it doesn't stay like that if I move... And unfortunately many sites with video, like the ones I want to use, only have that option.
Hi all. LONG time browser. First time poster. Hope you guys can assist. Tried searching and found no results. Kinda surprised it hasn't been brought up before.
So here goes. Is it at all possible to bypass/skip the "cast to device" prompt on an Android device. As I only have one (1) Chromecast device it seems kinda redundant to select it every time I have something to cast. Granted certain apps like Plex, Youtube, Netflix have the option to connect from the get go and bypass the said prompt. I am hoping to achieve this function constantly. More specifically with Google Chrome on Android. As I stream a lot of anime, choosing my Chromecast after every episode seems redundant, especially when I only have one (1) Chromecast in the household.
Can anyone assist? Thanks, GIGA.
GIGAkun said:
Hi all. LONG time browser. First time poster. Hope you guys can assist. Tried searching and found no results. Kinda surprised it hasn't been brought up before.
So here goes. Is it at all possible to bypass/skip the "cast to device" prompt on an Android device. As I only have one (1) Chromecast device it seems kinda redundant to select it every time I have something to cast. Granted certain apps like Plex, Youtube, Netflix have the option to connect from the get go and bypass the said prompt. I am hoping to achieve this function constantly. More specifically with Google Chrome on Android. As I stream a lot of anime, choosing my Chromecast after every episode seems redundant, especially when I only have one (1) Chromecast in the household.
Can anyone assist? Thanks, GIGA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
People with two chromecasts might not like your idea !!
tharmor said:
People with two chromecasts might not like your idea !!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know but it would still be a nice feature if at all possible. Btw I realized I can somewhat simulate the desired effect if I play another video while the current one is still casting (Chrome Android). In this way the connection doesn't break. But if the video stops or completes then I once again have to be prompted "cast to device" to watch another video. Is it possible for someone create an addon/extension/plugin for Chrome Android that adds the option to connect constantly like Netflix, Plex, Youtube etc?
GIGAkun said:
I know but it would still be a nice feature if at all possible. Btw I realized I can somewhat simulate the desired effect if I play another video while the current one is still casting (Chrome Android). In this way the connection doesn't break. But if the video stops or completes then I once again have to be prompted "cast to device" to watch another video. Is it possible for someone create an addon/extension/plugin for Chrome Android that adds the option to connect constantly like Netflix, Plex, Youtube etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1....even i hate this !! Hopefully chrome will soon have a option to connect to chromecast and video will play automatically once opened in the browser !!
Hi,
I am looking for a way to mirror the screen to an external display while using Gear VR.
I tried screen mirroring (screencast) however when I get to "my videos" the screen blacks out.
any methods ?
I'd appreciate any comments.
Not possible ?
I tried to cast my screen to my Chromecast before inserting my phone into my VR. It will show images in 10 - 15 second intervals. These images are also in a split screen view so not too effective for others to see what you see. Not sure if its just too much for the CPU or what.
Afaik it is currently possible with "MirrorOp".
Check this thread out from the oculus forums: Gear VR S6 Screen Mirroring / Chromecast problem
(especially this posting for setup details)
Best way I found is to use samsung's Sidesync app. It takes a couple trys but it works! You just use the wifi sync and you can mirror the screen over to your pc
Has anyone checked on the Google Home Hub if you can cast your entire screen onto it using the cast icon in the pull down menu on say a pixel phone or some other Android type phone?
no you cannot it work with apps like youtube, movies and other apps that support casting but for some reason casting the entire screen does not seem to work currently
Similar to if you try casting Netflix to the Hub. It does it for about a second, then it seems to remember "that's something I'm supposed to tell the user I can't do," so it stops and says (best HAL9000 voice) "I'm sorry Dave. I don't know how to do that yet."
So CAN it do this (is it technically capable)? Yes. WILL it do it? No.