Chromecast
is a digital media streaming adapter introduced by Google. It is user-friendly,
even non-techie individuals will have no problem using it. All you have to do
is plug it into your TV and then stream video and music from apps running on
your iPhone, Android device, or laptop. Chromecast itself has no remote so whatever
device you’re streaming from, acts as the remote. It has no user interface of
its own. Rather, it’s got a single screen, which appears when nothing is being
streamed, that shows the time and whether or not it’s connected to a Wi-Fi
network. Chromecast is a wireless portal to your TV, and doesn’t try to be
anything more.
 |
| Image Source: http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromecast/#netflix |
A Box of Surprises
Surprise
1: The Price
Chromecast only
costs $35. According to Google, they’re not selling them at a loss even after
accounting for the Wi-Fi chip, the CPU, 2GB of flash memory, the RAM, licensing
the right to use HDMI, assembly, packaging, and shipping them to the States. Somehow
Google is probably making money selling these things with a profit margin of four
cents.
Surprise
2: Easy Setup
Setup is really easy.
All you have to do is plug it into an HDMI port, give it some power through the
USB, which most new TV’s have, then run the Chromecast app on any computer to connect the app to the Wi-Fi network.
Surprise
3: App Compatibility
Chromecast is compatible
with most notable online video apps, including Netflix and YouTube. There is no
need to update the apps. There’s even an extension
for Chrome that drastically expands the functionality of the device.
Surprise
4: The Chromecast Announcement Was a Complete Surprise
Google managed
to keep Chromecast a secret until just before
its intended debut, even with outside parties involved like Netflix, Pandora, and
YouTube for purposes of compatibility.
Video
Streaming Quality
Video streaming
quality is quite good and is similar to Xbox 360 or Apple TV, particularly when
pulling from an app or website that’s been tailored for compatibility like Netflix
or Google Play.
If you’re using Chromecast
on your laptop to project from an incompatible video site like Hulu or HBOGO,
video quality can become a bit dumped depending on your setup. The problem may
be your laptop that acts as a middle man to encode the video signal and
broadcasts it to Chromecast. Incompatible sites normally send video straight to
the source.
The app even has
the ability to stream local videos from your laptop to Chromecast. Just drag a
video into Chrome and it’ll start playing in a new tab. You can stream legitimate
videos without bringing any other software into the mix. It even works well
with AVI and MKV formats.
Cross-platform compatibility is good when using Chromecast with both Android and iOS. This is
because Google has more freedom on the platform. For instance, Chromecast can
take priority over the lockscreen of an Android device and allows the user to
play/pause/skip a video without having to fully unlock their device.
