meStevo
I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
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Chromecast - the new Google TV
- Thread starter Joeboo
- Start date
Joeboo
Molten Core Raider
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Joeboo
Molten Core Raider
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I ordered mine on release date, so still had the Netflix code, but I just got an email that my Netflix code will not be emailed to me until 5 days after the device ships. That sucks, I have Amazon Prime so I have 2-day shipping, so I'll have the thing for 3 days before I can use my Netflix code/trial. Poor timing on Amazons part there.
Bought one yesterday from Best Buy and received a Netflix code. Worked on my existing account and got three free months. World great so far for Netflix and we are having our fantasy draft tonight and I'll be projecting the Google doc spreadsheet of our board onto the living room TV.
Joeboo
Molten Core Raider
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Been playing around with my Chromecast for the last few hours, here's my thoughts so far.
Nice device, and has a lot of potential once there are some more robust apps compatible with it, but right now it is definitely not a replacement for a Roku or Boxee-type device.
It plays Youtube, Google Music, Google Movies, and Netflix great, they all work very well, but those are the only 4 apps so far.
Playing "downloaded" video through the device from your home network is very sketchy. If the video type doesn't play in your desktop google chrome browser, then it obviously won't stream to the Chromecast. Right now, Google Chrome is not compatible with .avi files, and any .mkv files that contain AC3 audio(which out of my hundreds of HD movies I have downloaded, is a LOT, I'd guess maybe 50% won't play with audio in Chrome)
Using it to project your PCs web browser to your TV is nice for static images(pictures or documents), but the screen is VERY laggy if you are scrolling around a lot through a large document or webpage. I'm sure some of that has to do with your wireless connection, but I was testing in a pretty typical situation with my ASUS wireless-N router in the same room as my laptop and TV/Chromecast, that should be pretty close to as good as it gets with home use. Any web page that has video but does it through Silverlight, won't work on the Chromecast(namely, Hulu). The video has to be Flash/HTML5 right now to work.
Hopefully some updates(either first party or some creative 3rd parties) can get some more robust features and codecs into this thing.
So basically, if there's a specific app, it works great, sending your own files and web pages is REALLY hit or miss at the moment. I'd estimate that less than half of my video files worked. .avi is straight out non-functional and a lot of .mkv will give you audio or video issues depending on the exact encoding types.
Oh also, mobile Chrome browser (phones/tablets) has no Chromecast plugin, you cant send browser pages from mobile devices, they can ONLY use the specific apps that are built for Chromecast so far.
Once the Plex app is available for it, that should make a world of difference. I hope it's out pretty soon.
Nice device, and has a lot of potential once there are some more robust apps compatible with it, but right now it is definitely not a replacement for a Roku or Boxee-type device.
It plays Youtube, Google Music, Google Movies, and Netflix great, they all work very well, but those are the only 4 apps so far.
Playing "downloaded" video through the device from your home network is very sketchy. If the video type doesn't play in your desktop google chrome browser, then it obviously won't stream to the Chromecast. Right now, Google Chrome is not compatible with .avi files, and any .mkv files that contain AC3 audio(which out of my hundreds of HD movies I have downloaded, is a LOT, I'd guess maybe 50% won't play with audio in Chrome)
Using it to project your PCs web browser to your TV is nice for static images(pictures or documents), but the screen is VERY laggy if you are scrolling around a lot through a large document or webpage. I'm sure some of that has to do with your wireless connection, but I was testing in a pretty typical situation with my ASUS wireless-N router in the same room as my laptop and TV/Chromecast, that should be pretty close to as good as it gets with home use. Any web page that has video but does it through Silverlight, won't work on the Chromecast(namely, Hulu). The video has to be Flash/HTML5 right now to work.
Hopefully some updates(either first party or some creative 3rd parties) can get some more robust features and codecs into this thing.
So basically, if there's a specific app, it works great, sending your own files and web pages is REALLY hit or miss at the moment. I'd estimate that less than half of my video files worked. .avi is straight out non-functional and a lot of .mkv will give you audio or video issues depending on the exact encoding types.
Oh also, mobile Chrome browser (phones/tablets) has no Chromecast plugin, you cant send browser pages from mobile devices, they can ONLY use the specific apps that are built for Chromecast so far.
Once the Plex app is available for it, that should make a world of difference. I hope it's out pretty soon.
Same for me. I had already accepted that I couldn't get it, as I ordered it around midnight (still on release day, though). That made me way more happy than getting $27 should.
Amazon is pretty awesome... I wonder if they or Google paid Netflix to make this happen. Has to be a significant loss for Netflix since this also counts for existing accounts.
And for us consumers, that means the Chromecast stick was $8... that's a ridiculously good deal.
Confirming this. I wouldn't even call what I was experiencing "lag" -- in most cases, Chromecast would broadcast the first thing on my screen when I clicked the cast button on my browser, then wouldn't update at all, regardless of what I was doing. I would have to Recast to update the image. Right now there is almost zero functionality with Google's other goodies, like Drive and Docs, which is a shame, but will hopefully get updated in the near future.
Vandyn
Blackwing Lair Raider
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Good review, and pretty much sums up my concerns for it at this point in time. I've currently got the set-up where my PC is already in my family room so all I do is run an HDMI cable from the PC to the TV to stream whatever I want. But it's still a pain in the ass to control since the PC isn't directly in front of the TV. We watch HBOGo on a pretty consistent basis and if Chromecast could get that, perhaps maybe Pandora and some others, I would pick it up, as it would let me remove the HDMI cable plus allow me to control the tv with my phone.
I'd love to get Joeboo's feedback on that..... 60% of my TV Time is Twitch (SC2/LOL) and the least 35% is divx i downloaded (various formats).
So it's a great alternative from some Android TV i've been looking into :
http://www.dhgate.com/product/mk808b-mini-pc-smart-android-4-2-tv-box-hdmi/161116889.html#s1-3-1|2279882851
http://www.dhgate.com/product/2012-new-mk802-ii-android-4-0-4-mini-pc-wi/143420692.html#s1-6-1|3570391446
As it's stream only you still need a PC / Tablet around, which kinda makes it "meh" ....
Joeboo
Molten Core Raider
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Yeah, it seems really random. A lot of the time, I would cast a webpage to the TV, and it would just sit on the static image that first appeared when I hit the cast button. Did this over and over again on various web pages. Then a little while later I'm just using my tablet to check some websites, and I look up and the TV is updating and moving right along with me, just lagging a little behind.
It's wildly inconsistent with web pages right now.
Joeboo
Molten Core Raider
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Another BIG gripe at the moment. I can't cast web content from my desktop PC that is hardwired at ALL. The setup process completely stops, telling me that my wifi is turned off, when obviously my desktop PC does not need wifi, it's hard-wired into the same network as my wifi.
Lame
Lame
Delly
Trakanon Raider
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Well all the current apps seems to work great. Watched Netflix and YT videos so far. No lag, decent to great quality. Also here is the link for that.. I thought it said specifically TI3 but I don't see that now, though it does state Twitch.
http://techland.time.com/2013/07/30/...3A+Techland%29
Void
Experiencer
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When football starts again, someone tell me if this works to stream Verizon NFL Redzone to your TV. Last year I was able to get it for just a couple of dollars on my phone, but as soon as you plug in any kind of HDMI display extender it immediately disconnects your Redzone feed. I'm assuming that's so you can't hook it up to a TV in a bar and broadcast it for free to hundreds of viewers or some bullshit like that. I understand their intent, but it was still pretty shitty that I can fullscreen my phone on my TV for pretty much every single thing if I want to, but Redzone auto-detects that shit and shuts it off.