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Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 9:55 pm
by TheCatt
So I bought one the other day. They were still giving out the free 3 months of Netflix, which I don't use so I gave it to someone here.
I'm using it to watch one of the videos that Leisher posted in the short movies thread.
Setup was a bitch.
1) It doesnt use 5GHz radios, which is what my 802.11n AP right next to the damned thing uses. So I had to reconfigure it to 2.4GHz.
2) If you have other network connections (VMWare, VPNs, etc) that are active, they will interfere with connectivity. So I had to disable 3 different connections so that I could get them to talk.
Once they finally WERE talking, it was pretty straightforward. Bring up a video, click the Chromecast button, and it shows up on TV.
Do the same thing with browser tabs. There is a little bit of lag, but this is only noticeable with real-time things (watching myself type on the TV).
Decent deal for $35. Can use the TV as a second screen to watch my YouTube videos while I use my laptop.
Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 10:05 pm
by GORDON
So... what is it? A piece of hardware? Software? Designed to do what?
Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 10:09 pm
by TheCatt
It's a small piece of hardwarethat costs $35. It is like a USB drive, except it plugs into an HDMI port directly. If it cannot get enough power from the HDMI (newer TVs only can do this), you plug a USB power plug into it.
It then enables to you stream video directly to your TV, controlling it from other devices (phone, laptop, etc). It's integrated into YouTube, Chrome browser, NetFlix, and I think it's coming to Hulu and others soon.
You download a plugin onto your machine, and then you can click a button to make that stuff show up in the TV. You can mute, and pause. You can also use your machine as the remote (so go to youtube to move the video forward/back).
It's much easier than most streaming solutions... the upside and the downside is no remote. So nothing to lose, or learn, but nothing that's small and handheld (although, if you use a phone, maybe good enough).
Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 10:20 pm
by GORDON
It's easier than the Roku and other media boxes?
Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 10:25 pm
by TPRJones
You download a plugin onto your machine, and then you can click a button to make that stuff show up in the TV.
I can do the same thing with my XBMC on Raspberry Pi setup, which also cost $35 and has the full functionality if XBMC. Also no remote, but it has USB ports so if you want one for another $35 you can get flirc and make it work with any IR remote.
I am curious about hearing more of this Chromecast, but felt I should mention the other cheap alternative as well.
Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 10:27 pm
by GORDON
I would mention the PS3 which I use for all that stuff, but it certainly doesn't cost $35.
Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2013 6:57 pm
by TheCatt
GORDON wrote:It's easier than the Roku and other media boxes?
Kinda. It's much more straight-forward, but also more limited. I'm not sure how to stream stuff from my server, for instance. Although, apparently if I can play it in a Chrome tab, it can play on the device.
Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2013 11:18 am
by TheCatt
Hacker makes it so you can stream from any Android app to Chromecast. Progress. So if you can play it, you can stream it.
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 1:10 am
by WSGrundy
Do you like it any better or worse since your last post? Was thinking of getting it and then borrowing a HBO Go password. Cheaper then buying dvd sets.
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 3:07 am
by Cakedaddy
My wife bought a Roku 3 and loves it. She set it up herself and watches Netflix, Amazon Prime streaming, etc. More expensive than $35, but HD and stuff.
It can stream local content as well. Looks like it will stream off of android/ios devices as well.
Has a USB port and a micro SD slot too.
Edited By Cakedaddy on 1387182033
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 4:01 am
by TheCatt
I like it, but I don't use it much. We have a laptop setup as a media PC. The Chromecast is convenient for sending YouTube to the TV (to share with the family/kids for instance), but I don't use it for TV/movies. Having more apps will certainly help, but I dont use Netflix or HBO Go.
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 9:46 am
by TPRJones
My wife bought a Roku 3 and loves it. ... It can stream local content as well.
Will it stream directly from a NAS through an SMB share? Or do you have to open stuff on another computer and feed it to Roku from there?
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 1:55 pm
by Cakedaddy
I don't know about the NAS thing as I don't have one, didn't look into it. But I would guess if it is of the USB kind that plugs into your router, it could plug into the USB port of the Roku. For streaming from your PC, you do have to load some software on the server (some free, some cost money) and load an app on the Roku. Forums say it's easy, but I have not set it up yet. I have always intended to rip all of our movies to a hard drive, but have not found a good ripping program that doesn't suck ass. They work well for putting them on portable devices with 10" or less screens, but not for large screen viewing. So I have not actually done it yet. But I want to, so I made sure the Roku could do it.
Wife uses hers every night for streaming movies from different online sources.
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 2:06 pm
by TPRJones
Ah, NAS is Networked Attached Storage. It's a stand-alone file server connected to my network via ethernet. If my apartment were a company, it'd probably be called the "public folders" or "network fodlers".
Based on the streaming from PC part, though, I'd bet Roku still can't do SMB shares. Oh, well.
Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 1:35 am
by WSGrundy
Catt have you found anything that you can view in your web browser that you can then stream to your TV with chromecast?
I know some apps don't allow airplay with apple tv. Curious if you came across any of those with chromecast?
Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 8:50 am
by TheCatt
Youtube works well, and Pandora. I haven't messed around with it much, I mostly just use it to show Youtube videos to my kids.
Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:44 am
by Leisher
I'm using it to watch one of the videos that Leisher posted in the short movies thread.
Which one?
Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 10:26 am
by Paul
Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 7:25 pm
by TheCatt
My Chromecast just got infinitely more useful. I bought a refurbished Kindle Fire 8.9" which was briefly on sale for $119.
I then rooted it, and installed Android Jelly Bean on it. I can now Chromecast from that to control my music, videos, etc, which is 100% more useful than doing it on my laptop. And access all my Google apps, which of course the Fire could not do natively (don't get me started on fragmentation. I'm so sick of iOS versus Android versus Windows versus Steam versus Amazon. If I buy something once, I own it everywhere... or should).
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 7:44 pm
by Paul