Me, Myself and Chromecast

Last Wednesday Google held a press conference where they announced the newest Nexus 7 tablet, Android 4.3 and Chromecast. Being an Android fanboy I was interested to learn what is new in 4.3 but I also know I won’t get to try it out until a new ROM featuring it is released that I want to install on my phone. What I was most excited about though from the announcement was the Chromecast. The Chromecast is a HDMI Dongle that you plug in to your TV and it allows you to stream media content from your computer or mobile device.

I had initially heard rumors about this a few weeks ago from a couple tech sites I follow. Back then I thought it would be interesting especially when they said it would cost around $50. After reading the details about the new device I knew I had to have one, especially after the announced price was just $35. I went looking for it on Good Play but by the time I got there my order would not ship for over a week. It was then that I remembered reading that it would be available on Amazon. It took a few hours for it to show up on Amazon but as soon as it did, I ordered one. Thanks to Amazon Prime it would be delivered by Friday afternoon.

Once I got my Chromecast it was time to have some fun with it. After opening the box I got to see all that was inside. The Chromecast comes with the HDMI Dongle, a HDMI Extension cable in case your HDMI port is hard to reach and a USB Cable with power block to power the unit. The USB cable has a good length to it but I didn’t need it to be too long. My TV has a USB port so I plugged the Chromecast in to one of the HDMI ports and the USB cable in to another port and I was powered up. Once changing my TV to the proper tuner I was presented with a screen welcoming me to Chromecast. It listed a web address to go to, to get the Chromecast software for your PC. The software download was simple and I was ready to complete the setup. My PC found the Chromecast within range and gave me a notification ID to confirm that the Chromecast it found was the one connected to me TV. After confirming it was, it asked for my Wireless password to connect it to my network. Once that was done I was ready to go. I installed the Chromecast extension in my browser and also the Chromecast app to my phone and tablets. In all I was up and running in under 5 minutes from plugging in to casting.

At this time the Chromecast extension allows you to share what is on display in your browser whether it be a specific web page or YouTube videos. To cast a video all you have to do is hit the extension icon which will open up a drop down asking which Chromecast you wish to cast to. Select your Chromecast and you’re ready to go. It took less than a second for my Browser tab to show up on my television. Once it is displaying you can browse the page or watch the video as you wish. You can also go between tabs on your browser but the Chromecast will stay with the initial tab you selected. To cast a different tab hit the extension icon again and select “Cast this tab”. If you wish to stop casting all together select “Stop casting.” There is about a 1 second lag when scrolling within your browser and it showing up on your TV screen. I didn’t think that was too bad. Casting Netflix or YouTube is even easier as the players for both of those websites have a cast button right in line with play and pause. Once you hit cast with those players it takes about a second or two for the Chromecast to pick it up and then once the video loads it starts playing seamlessly. I did not notice any audio sync problems with casting from Youtube or Netflix. The Chromecast extension has a hidden experimental feature that allows you to cast your entire computer screen. I say it is experimental and it is easy to tell. The lag was a bit more when trying to cast my entire screen. When trying to play locally stored media the lag grew even more and there was no audio. This is something I hope gets fixed and improved in the coming future because the idea of seamlessly streaming locally stored media to a TV is very interesting.

Casting from a mobile device is just as simple. With the Chromecast application installed on your Phone or Tablet open it up and it will confirm that there is a Chromecast on the same network as your device and you’re ready to go. In the YouTube or Netflix apps there is a cast option available once you select your video. Once you select cast from the application and choose which device the video will load and begin to play. Again I didn’t notice any audio sync problems and the video didn’t lag once it loaded. I have also tested out Google Music and casting it from my phone to the Chromecast. One thing I thought that was pretty cool while casting Google Music from my phone was that I could take a phone call and it didn’t interrupt playback at all.

During my testing of the Chromecast I decided to take it to over to my parents house and try it on their TV. From plugging in to casting it took less than 3 minutes which was nice. The biggest slowdown was putting in the wireless password, and that was hardly a problem. One drawback that I found when bringing it back home was that it didn’t remember my wireless password or network. It was looking for my parents network. I don’t see myself running in to this problem much because the Chromecast will be staying home most of the time. This might cause a problem from some users though if they are going back and forth with it.

Overall I am very happy with this device after playing with it for only a couple days. I look forward to seeing what the dev community comes up with for it. Whether you have a Smart TV or not this is a very fun device to play with and use. At this time I am not sure if it will fully replace cable for people but I would say it is on its way. It is a bargain at just $35, that is if you can find one to buy.

Package includes:

·         Chromecast HDMI Dongle

·         HDMI extension cable

·         USB Cable and Power Block

Pros:

·         Easy to setup

·         Ability to stream content to non-Smart TV

·         Supports Windows based PC/Laptops, Android devices and iOS devices.

o   I do not have a MAC or iPad so I was unable to test all cross platform functionality.

·         Only minor lag when casting Chrome tab to Chromecast. I expected a bit more of a lag.

Cons:

·         Previous network connections are not remembered.

·         Not really a con but since the item is only a few days old there is only a few programs it currently works with on Mobile devices. I say within 2 months the developer community will have expanded its functionality.