For Christmas my wife got me a Google Chromecast. After I figured out that my tv has one working HDMI port it was a pretty neat device that let me stream from Netflix, Hulu Plus, or Youtube from my tablet.
Despite liking it there seem to be some big limitations to what it does. The biggest is that it does not seem to run any apps locally meaning that you have to stream from another device. Not only that but the application must be programmed to support it.
I also had some issues setting it up and using it. First when it says it wants you to set up the device with a phone or computer it means it. It would not set up from my android tablet. Probably it needs the Bluetooth to set up a connection to your WIFI. Another frustration was that android chrome will not stream to chromecast. Apparently that is beta and only available as a desktop chrome extension.
The thing that makes it really neat though is that the desktop version of chrome does have an extension that makes chrome chromecast enabled. Basically anything you can open with chrome is castable. This makes me hopeful for the future of the device. Chromecast is very new and in the future I could see android having the chromecast ability baked into the operating system, and all google apps supporting the feature. This device does not currently replace my Roku, but it also does something my Roku will not. It streams anything on the web to my tv.
I definitely recommend getting this device if you watch video on the web. It can be found at local retailers, or at http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromecast/.
No comments:
Post a Comment