Google Chromecast

[bearxor]

I was about to mention this, do we have any idea on what the costs for android tv is going to be? It is very likely with a bigger box that costs more we will get 5ghz, ethernet, and a remote. The only question is how much more are we going to pay for it? $50, $75, $100, $200?

I'm expecting $100-$150, which is why I mentioned I'm kind of holding out to see if Apple decides to do something with AppleTV.

 

[Silenus]

I was about to mention this, do we have any idea on what the costs for android tv is going to be? It is very likely with a bigger box that costs more we will get 5ghz, ethernet, and a remote. The only question is how much more are we going to pay for it? $50, $75, $100, $200?

I think given that Android TV is a platform we may see a range of prices/features. Perhaps some with a game controller and some without for example. I bet plenty that they will mostly be right at $99 like most of the others.

 

[cronos]

My HTC One M7 is listed as supporting this new feature (the M8 isn't). I installed the update, and it crashes every time I try to cast my screen.

I'm on custom (Sense) ROM though.

 

[rh71]

Works perfectly on my note 3 so far. Kids getting a kick out of me flinging angry birds all over the screen. Also seems better at streaming the YouTube app vs casting a chrome tab of YouTube (lag).

 

[jhansman]

I'm a happy Roku user, but I'm jealous that Lynda.com has worked a deal to stream their content to the Google device. I was hoping they would work that deal with Roku, but no joy. The workaround is to download courses to my Nexus 7, then stream it to my Roku via Allcast. A bit of a pain, but there it is.

 

[Eug]

Wow, this thread is huge. Needless to say, I didn't read all 554 messages.

Someone please tell me: Is the Chromecast as limited as I think it is on iOS 8? I got one free with a TV and I'm not entirely sure what to do with it. Netflix seems more of a pain on this thing than TV boxes.

I'm thinking of maybe using it at my mom's house to cast photos and videos from my iPhone to her TV. However, she has no network at all. Any recommendations? On iOS does casting without a home WiFi network work well? What apps to use?

As for Chrome on iOS, there is barely any casting support for websites right?

 

[sweenish]

Netflix or Hulu or Youtube or Twitch or Google Play Movies/Music or Pandora or Rdio or whatever shouldn't be so different.

Open app. Connect to Chromecast. Press Play.

Chromecast is HDMI-CEC capable, so it will turn on your TV for you. If your receiver is capable, it will turn on your sound system and set it to the proper input for you, as well as turning on your TV.

I'm sure there are far less iOS apps that take advantage of a Chromecast than there are on Android. It will also not get baked into iOS for screen-casting, and I doubt a standalone app will ever make that possible.

 

[Red Storm]

I've found that Plex on the iPhone sucks with the Chromecast. Takes forever to reconnect, often can't connect, is laggy in general and just a pain to use (this is with the iPhone 5 and 5S). On Android (Nexus 5, Nexus 7, G3, and Note 3) it works much better.

 

[Eug]

I do have a Nexus 7, but that doesn't really help. My camera-phone snaps are on my iPhone obviously, so for photo casting using my Nexus 7, I'd have to transfer the pix over first, which would be a waste of time.

As for Netflix, I found that it doesn't consistently connect with the Chromecast on iOS.

Anyhoo, has anyone used the network-less casting? As in ad-hoc WiFi. About the only thing I can find that I'd use the Chromecast for is photo/video casting. I'd leave the Chromecast on my mom's TV, and then when I go over there, I'd cast pix from my iPhone to the TV. (She doesn't have a network, or even internet access.) I'm not sure what apps are best though, and I'll have to read up on network-less casting. It wasn't immediately obvious to me how to do this when I set up the Chromecast yesterday.

 

[dlock13]

I, too, found that Netflix on iOS sucks with the Chromecast. I never had an issue when I had an Android phone.

 

[Wingznut]

Oops, nevermind.

 

[sweenish]

I do have a Nexus 7, but that doesn't really help. My camera-phone snaps are on my iPhone obviously, so for photo casting using my Nexus 7, I'd have to transfer the pix over first, which would be a waste of time.

As for Netflix, I found that it doesn't consistently connect with the Chromecast on iOS.

Anyhoo, has anyone used the network-less casting? As in ad-hoc WiFi. About the only thing I can find that I'd use the Chromecast for is photo/video casting. I'd leave the Chromecast on my mom's TV, and then when I go over there, I'd cast pix from my iPhone to the TV. (She doesn't have a network, or even internet access.) I'm not sure what apps are best though, and I'll have to read up on network-less casting. It wasn't immediately obvious to me how to do this when I set up the Chromecast yesterday.

Could you not just tell g+ app (or whatever other multi-platform app of choice) to back your photos up to the cloud so that they are accessible from any device? That just sounds like a weak excuse.

I don't have any personal experience with iOS + Chromecast, but one of my friends does, and we're both fairly certain the issue is not the Chromecast or his device, but his home network. He has admitted to having a pretty lousy router, he just doesn't want to bother replacing it. Even so, it hasn't stopped him from constantly casting and even buying more Chromecasts for the rest of his house.

I also have no experience with any ad-hoc type casting. As far as I know, you have to be able to connect the device you're casting from and the Chromecast to the same network so that they'll talk with each other. An update should be out by the time L drops that allows people to connect to Chromecasts without needing your wi-fi password, but the Chromecast itself still needs to be connected to a network.

 

[Eug]

Could you not just tell g+ app (or whatever other multi-platform app of choice) to back your photos up to the cloud so that they are accessible from any device? That just sounds like a weak excuse.

On iOS, I have photos on iCloud. But that doesn't help me here because my mom has no internet access.

 

[cronos]

Anyhoo, has anyone used the network-less casting? As in ad-hoc WiFi. About the only thing I can find that I'd use the Chromecast for is photo/video casting. I'd leave the Chromecast on my mom's TV, and then when I go over there, I'd cast pix from my iPhone to the TV. (She doesn't have a network, or even internet access.) I'm not sure what apps are best though, and I'll have to read up on network-less casting. It wasn't immediately obvious to me how to do this when I set up the Chromecast yesterday.

I think the new Microsoft streamer thingy does that. It uses wifi direct so you don't need a wireless network.

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/p/wireless-display-adapter

 

[WelshBloke]

I think the new Microsoft streamer thingy does that. It uses wifi direct so you don't need a wireless network.

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/p/wireless-display-adapter

Isnt that a miracast streamer?

iOS doesnt support miracast does it?

 

[cronos]

Isnt that a miracast streamer?

iOS doesnt support miracast does it?

Yes, it is. I was skimming through his post and saw that he's got a Nexus 7.

I don't know if there's a solution for iOS. Maybe there's an AirPlay hack or something?

 

[TiredEngineer]

Late to the post, but I waited a year to buy a Chromecast and now I wish I had two lol (tired of moving it between rooms). I have a 23 month old and I play a lot of YouTube educational videos for him. Yes...I have YouTube on multiple devices connected to my TV, but none are as FAST and simple as using the Chromecast. I have a video up and going within seconds.

Also...the quality of WatchESPN rivals that of HD tv. I much prefer it over watching it browser based (which always seemed to lack...something...hard to describe).

Very happy with a purchase that was so cheap.

 

[sweenish]

I do have a Nexus 7, but that doesn't really help. My camera-phone snaps are on my iPhone obviously, so for photo casting using my Nexus 7, I'd have to transfer the pix over first, which would be a waste of time.

Could you not just tell g+ app (or whatever other multi-platform app of choice) to back your photos up to the cloud so that they are accessible from any device? That just sounds like a weak excuse.

On iOS, I have photos on iCloud. But that doesn't help me here because my mom has no internet access.

You seem to be jumping all over the place here.

 

[Eug]

No the commonality is the stuff is on my iPhone and I want to display it on her TV.

She has no internet access so any cloud based solution wouldn't work, whether it is Google or Apple. The Nexus 7 idea doesn't work either because I don't want to waste time manually transferring photos from my iPhone to my Nexus 7, nor do I want to carry around a Nexus 7 anyway.

She has no WiFi either, so any WiFi connection between the iPhone and the Chromecast would need to be ad-hoc.