musick

It is blatantly misleading
same as their video (46:22)
http://youtu.be/GbXeZ16FoCY

Chromecast will not turn on my tv and switch to the correct input no matter how subtle and cool he says it is

55:25 also shows casting of Pandora from iOS which is not possible (yet)

RichC2

It actually does turn on your TV and change it to the proper HDMI input -- if your TV supports HDMI-CEC. The caveat with that is you MUST use the AC adapter to power on the TV with Chromecast. Numerous Blu-ray players have a similar capability. If you have a mid-range TV from the last few years (lets say $1000 / 52") your TV should support HDMI-CEC.

Otherwise you still don't need a remote, but it does make life easier.

Pandora is still in development so they jumped the gun on that one. Along with AOL On, HBO Go, Hulu Plus, Redbox, Revision3 and Vimeo.

musick

well if I understand it right my tv has HDMI-CEC (Panasonic Viera Link) ... maybe I just don't have it enabled or understand how to set it up so I could control the tv in such a way via a mobile device and Chromecast ... I usually control everything via a Directv remote

RichC2

Possibly.

From the Chromecast FAQ:

Shady12

Hmm, my 2011 Mits just calls it CEC.

One thing I hadn't thought about then looked up last night- Plex is going to offer Chromecast support, which will basically also make it a home theater PC. I'd be shocked if XBMC doesn't support it also.

I won't use it much but I did try casting from Chrome on my laptop and I can't get it to find the Chromecast(I do have the TV on and on the Chromecast input when trying).. Hmm. edit> Got it and CEC to work. With TV and receiver off, I just hit the cast button on my phone and blam my TV and receiver come on and start playing the content.

Shady12

Something odd. Last night when trying to use the Chromecast, my wi-fi would drop from around 15mbps to virtually nothing as soon as I tried to stream. Then tried streaming with my blu-ray player and it did great without killing the wi-fi speed. Don't know why that would happen but if it's not an anomaly I'll have to return it. I usually have everything hooked up with an ethernet cable anyway but obviously not an option with the Chromecast.

Why So Blu?

I used it last night and it worked great. It's much faster than the app that's on the PS3.

RichC2

I've heard about the Wifi being finicky, that seems odd though.

Shady12

Yeah I'll try it again later. My router is two rooms away and shows two out of four bars on the Chromecast stream which isn't great, but when I put on that Netflix test thing that shows the resolution and everything it was as high as it could get two days ago. Blu-ray player was showing three out of five bars last night and I'd alternate between and that was crystal clear and Speedtest.net was showing it as being fast while streaming Netflix on blu-ray, then switch over to Netflix on Chromecast and it dropped it to like .15mbps.

RichC2

Hulu Plus was added.

Brent L

Awesome, thanks for the heads up.

I love this thing. We have one for the living room and bedroom, and use one of them almost every day.

lopper

Can you stream music stored on your Android device to this thing, or is it strictly for cloud-based media?

Supermallet

You can use Google Music on it, but I do believe it's playing from the cloud.

Goat3001

I ordered a Chromecast straight from Google. First day I got it I played around with it without any issues. A few days later when I was trying to use it again it didn't work. It would stream but the video would be pink and 'pixely'. I don't know a more appropriate term for it but it reminded me of when the old NES cartridges would get dusty and the game would show up on the screen all screwed up.

When I went to remove the Chromecast from the TV I noticed that it was incredibly hot. After letting it cool I tried to give it another whirl but no go. Still the same issue.

So I contacted Google support and they decided that I had a defective device. They said a specialist would be in touch with me in 48 hours. They said they would send me a link to fill out a form and they would send me a new Chromecast and that I could use that box to return the defective one. I figured that shit happens and wasn't too upset about the situation.

Well now it's been two weeks and they have yet to resolve the situation. Every time I email them about it I get the same response: that they're working on it. It shouldn't take two weeks to fix this at all. It's insane.

The reason I'm posting that is to warn anyone that wants to buy a Chromecast: Don't buy it through Google. It's quite a hassle I'm dealing with for a $35 device.

RichC2

Yeah, Google's storefront is underdeveloped and has been a pain on previous devices as well, I recommend going through Amazon or similar.

RichC2

Chromecast now supports HBO Go

spainlinx0

I want Chromecast to allow me to mirror my cellphone. I just used the mirroring of my Note 3 to a new Samsung TV. Can someone tell me the easiest way to get this functionality on my Panny plasma? I don't think it has DLNA or anything like that built in.

RichC2

Plex support added! Though apparently it's only PlexPass for now.

Also, RealPlayer Cloud, Vevo, RedBull.Tv, Songza, PostTV, Revision 3, Viki, BeyondPod, and Avia

DJariya

I've read some really mixed reviews about this product. A lot of posters, especially on Amazon are saying it's absolute crap. In fact, I was at Best Buy recently and some guy was returning a Chromecast he bought there for $30 during Black Friday and said it was crap and malfunctioned.

So basically if you already have Directv like me, a Roku or an Apple TV box, there is really no point to you having this device huh? Unless you watch to watch say HBO Go in a different room that doesn't have a cable or satellite box and is HDMI ready. Plus you always have to have an Ipad or Laptop on as well to access the programming.

RichC2

I think the biggest issue with the Chromecast is people want it to be a Roku or Apple TV. It isn't, don't think it was ever meant to be. The Chromecast is a device to get the contents of your tablet or phone onto the TV with minimal effort, and for that it works phenomenally well. It also shares Desktop/Chrome Tabs really well (and it's a great way to get Spotify on your sound system without paying for it, or having to jump through any hoops).

What is isn't is a HTPC or standalone TV/Stream box. It's a $35 dongle that is meant to integrate your mobile devices (Laptops, Smartphones, Tablets) with your home theater. It's also great if you're sitting around watching TV and somebody sends you a YouTube link, you press the cast button and you're watching it on your TV (Many TVs/Receivers allow an auto-switch feature for HDMI devices). But I think the original intent was so if you start watching a show on your tablet on Hulu/Netflix/HBO Go, you can get home, press a button and resume it on your TV. In my experience, it also works a lot more reliably than AirPlay.

This is actually one of the few products where Google envisioned something and got it working right, unfortunately a lot of people didn't share the same vision and had totally different expectations.

House

Has anyone tried watching RedBull Tv with Chromecast? For me it just says loading. Or if it does actually load the video it freezes like every 30 seconds.

Netflix works great, but for some reason Redbull TV is horrible.

Also for tabsharing using my laptop. It wont' work unless my laptop is sitting right next to my tv.

RichC2

Finicky Wifi for the Tabcasting issue it seems like. Haven't tried RedBull yet.

House

Im using redbull with my Asus tablet now and so far no freezing. It was freezing using my Galaxy S3

Edit: Redbull tv just started freezing up.

Brent L

I have two, I still love it, and I use it all the time. I bought one as a Christmas gift as well.

A lot of the issues of them being defective are people trying to stream from their laptop in power saving mode. I had a problem back in August and thought mine was defective because it was working fine one day then the next the video of anything I'd try to cast would totally freeze after a few seconds but the audio would continue. The problem ended up being that my laptop had switched to power saving mode when I unplugged it. I have switchable graphics and it needs to be in High Performance GPU mode to function properly.

If you know what you are getting into, I'm not sure how you can hate it at all. It's a fantastic piece of technology, especially at this price.

I used mine, and this I'm not afraid to say at all, this past Sunday night to stream the horrible WWE PPV from my laptop to my TV. It does an awesome job at that.

RichC2

I just bought a second one myself ($25 off Amazon) for the upstairs TV now that I'm using my Wireless HDMI for something a little better. They're a great value.