Chromecast

[Swanny]

Who has one and what apps/devices are you using?

Currently using Localcast on my samsung tablet with great results. Having a difficult time with running things from the PC. Browser streaming works well but can't find a decent video player that supports cast.

[F34R]

I use one, I stream Youtube, HULU and Netflix daily. It never breaks up stream or grainy pixel. I heard it sometimes grains if you stream wifi to it. But my wifi is pretty beast.

I use my tower hard lined to stream directly to it, best part; is when I want to watch some funny youtube thing, I can just show everyone from my phone directly to the big screen.

Worth every penny, simple to setup and works without fault.

[Swanny]

I find the hulu/netflix thing redundant since the xbox, and bluray player already have that function. As of now the only way I can snap downloaded videos to it is to transfer them to the tablet then play through an app. Granted I can use an hdmi cord but who wants that shit strung across the room?

[F34R]

I stopped paying for live, so this works amazing for my desires.

[Jand3rson]

Works great for Pandora all the time, and works great for YouTube about 75% of the time. The other 25%, the video will stop playing on my phone, but keep playing on the TV, and then Chromecast app on my phone will tell me it lost connection with the Chromecast. It's cool, but it doesn't really do that much amazing stuff, or work all that well yet. Once they open it up to other developers, it might get a lot better. But Roku just came out with their own version, which also has it's own remote, and has WAY more available for it. I got my Chromecast for free, so I might get a Roku one ($50) and give it a shot, too.

[Swanny]

Would be very interested in your review if you do grab one.

[325Projectz]

mine seems to lock up a lot, and without a android device the chromecast seems to be pretty limited... you can stream to it via youtube or chrome. you can also use chrome to playback certain local file types.

i wanted to stream the olympics to it but any other flash player other than youtube is just about useless. there are tricks to expand the flash players through firebug, etc... but doing that gets old, quick.

if anyone has any other tips, please let me know!

overall for $35, it was worth it.

otherwise, i enjoy my apple tv with firecore firmware to stream all types of files.

[agent]

My first one was defective, and I just replaced it last week. Casting from my tablet to my TV works great (now).

I'm curious about the new Roku device as well.

[Ryan Stewart]

I have two. One in the living room and one in the bedroom. HBO Go, Netflix, Google Apps, all the usual suspects. Also on top of that I kill the chromecast browser extension. ESPN3.com is how I watch a lot of games since I have just enough cable to get some stupid channel with the Zach Morris show.

i wanted to stream the olympics to it but any other flash player other than youtube is just about useless. there are tricks to expand the flash players through firebug, etc... but doing that gets old, quick

Its probably their player, your browser, network or computer. I have had no issues with ESPNs player, which is shit, or Comcast's online player for the On-Demand stuff.

I haven't run into anything that doesn't look as good on the TV as it does in the browser (everything is always a half second behind but its all behind so its all in sync). Being said I am doing it on an i7 computer with 8gigs of memory and an SSD and I had to upgrade my networking from a shitty netgear to ASUS dual band router and cards. Once I did that though its spotless.

Actually, that is probably your issue. The way the chromecast works is, if the app is using the cast API, the app is just a remote control for the chromecast. The chromecast goes straight to youtube for its content, only using one channel on your network. Casting from a tab means the content has to get to your computer, one channel, then back to the router, another channel, then to the Chromecast, so you end up with the same shit going over your network 3 times.

[325Projectz]

it's in my office which runs over a cisco 4506 and cisco aps. the network nor the computer are the problem... it's not run over some shitty e1200.

when you stream from your pc, do you start the flash player then go full screen?

[Ryan Stewart]

Yeah, I usually start the stream and then maximize. So it shows on the Chromecast in the window playing first, then takes over the entire screen (as well as the monitor the tab was on). Being said, when using the on-demand option it starts a playlist so the stream resets full screen between episodes and its never skipped a beat. It also drops from full screen for the commercial portions and goes back to full screen once its done without issue.

Using the most recent version of Chrome, since 32.x trough an ASUS N66. Maybe confirm settings on routing as well, I know there are some network isolation settings that fuck with Chromecast.

[BobombETA]

We use a Vizio Co-Star (Chromecast) in my office for the screen in the lobby. We've had it for about a month now and I've already had to factory reset it.

We purchased a second one for a different area and it was defective out of the box... YMMV.