Try playing We Found Love by Rihanna. Or any video that would require age verification. Believe me it doesn't use your google account - the Chromecast sees you an an anonymous user. It's a massive fail.
Nope as I now have a quad core android tv box £57 from DX.com
Ive also got a HTPC as well.
Can't think anything the Chromecast can do anything more then I already have? Unless you can convince me?
At the end of the day what we are all looking for is an all singling all dancing system we plug in to tv that will play anything from any device wirelessly. We are not quite there yet,
Personally, my main requirement is to access UK catch-up tv services.
I use a NOW TV for most of what I need (except ITV player). I can stream videos etc using plex as well
I use chromecast for playing ITV player (most usage), and web-based viewing (occasional e.g. CBS.COM).
To me, chromecast has been largely superseded as it has taken so long to get to UK market, but it is still useful for some things. I wilh probably hardly use it once ITV Player comes to NOW TV as anticipated.
So, do I need to convince you? Ultimately, you pay your money and take your choice. It all depends on what you personally choose is important for you.
At the end of the day what we are all looking for is an all singling all dancing system we plug in to tv that will play anything from any device wirelessly. We are not quite there yet,
Personally, my main requirement is to access UK catch-up tv services.
I use a NOW TV for most of what I need (except ITV player). I can stream videos etc using plex as well
I use chromecast for playing ITV player (most usage), and web-based viewing (occasional e.g. CBS.COM).
To me, chromecast has been largely superseded as it has taken so long to get to UK market, but it is still useful for some things. I wilh probably hardly use it once ITV Player comes to NOW TV as anticipated.
So, do I need to convince you? Ultimately, you pay your money and take your choice. It all depends on what you personally choose is important for you.
Yes, good post. This is not an all singing all dancing stick that will meet all your big TV video streaming needs. But it is a very convenient way towards that goal for many people.
Personally I bought my first one (from the US) exclusively to watch Youtube videos. I already had access to Youtube via XBMC and my TV's clunky UI. But for me being able to fire up the app on my phone or tablet, navigate easily to the content I needed, then click a single button and sit back was well worth the $30 I paid. Many will be perfectly happy to access YouTube in other, more convoluted ways but for me it was worth buying for the convenience alone.
I got a second one when they came out here to access local media via Plex and BBC iPlayer on my older bedroom TV.
And that's it. I am not interested in having it do much else. For me the Chromecast very conveniently filled a hole in my set-up, does it to a pretty high quality and has been well worth the price .
It also works in a completely different and more efficient way. With a cable it is the mobile device which does all the donkey work. With Chromecast the phone or tablet's only role is to transmit instructions to the Chromecast which then does all of the heavy lifting. The video is ordered up from the internet directly from the router and not via the mobile device.
Just in case anyone isn't aware, the chromecast app has recently updated and you can get a free credit of £4.99 to use on the Google Play store. I assume you can use it for apps as well, but I grabbed a film with it to cast via the app.
Just bought one, to watch films...nothing else....suits me fine.
After paying sky for the last 13yrs i'm saving a packet
I can go over the pub to watch any football.
now going to get a pvr.
how much could i sell my sky hd box for?
Just in case anyone isn't aware, the chromecast app has recently updated and you can get a free credit of £4.99 to use on the Google Play store. I assume you can use it for apps as well, but I grabbed a film with it to cast via the app.
Why on earth can you cast more from apple devices than android?
Why is it 60hz fixed instead of 50hz which = judder. (Google now apparently looking into this before some how forgetting to do so when launching into a 50hz market)
Just in case anyone isn't aware, the chromecast app has recently updated and you can get a free credit of £4.99 to use on the Google Play store. I assume you can use it for apps as well, but I grabbed a film with it to cast via the app.
Thanks for the tip - just turns up as credit in the Google Wallet so I guess it can go on apps too.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could buy the kind of access MLB supplies for our own sports individually:).
So for around £75 you can buy a full season ticket to literally thousands of top baseball games. Imagine if we could have something like that for the Premiership or Test Match Cricket!
Hang on though, we have something like that here don't we? With Now TV you can a Day Pass to Sky Sports. But, oh yeah, thing is each day will cost you a tenner. So it would only take a week or so to clock up the cost of a full season pass for the baseball . Anyone heard if Sky are actually managing to sell any of these?
Problem is of course that our sports bodies sign away any rights to sell their own product when they do these ridiculously priced exclusive deals with the likes of Sky.
Thanks for the tip - just turns up as credit in the Google Wallet so I guess it can go on apps too.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could buy the kind of access MLB supplies for our own sports individually:).
So for around £75 you can buy a full season ticket to literally thousands of top baseball games. Imagine if we could have something like that for the Premiership or Test Match Cricket!
Hang on though, we have something like that here don't we? With Now TV you can a Day Pass to Sky Sports. But, oh yeah, thing is each day will cost you a tenner. So it would only take a week or so to clock up the cost of a full season pass for the baseball . Anyone heard if Sky are actually managing to sell any of these?
Problem is of course that our sports bodies sign away any rights to sell their own product when they do these ridiculously priced exclusive deals with the likes of Sky.
Sports broadcasting in the UK is pretty fragmented due to the silly deals made with different TV companies. That and the silly prices charged to watch are reducing the appetite for a lot of sports viewing. I suspect that all this will change in the next couple of years with more choice becoming available, platform wise.
Imagine if we could have something like that for the Premiership or Test Match Cricket!
I'd love that. I've always been a fan of the idea of team-specific season tickets to access all of their matches on television but i doubt we'll ever see it as long as the likes of Sky and BT fight it out over television rights.
Overseas MLB fans get a great deal as no 'blackout' restrictions apply. Its not quite so good for US fans, as any game that's shown on local TV stations (i.e. the ones most want to watch) aren't available to stream.
Bit like how premiership fans outside the UK can watch 3pm kick off games live, and we can't...
Why on earth can you cast more from apple devices than android?
Why is it 60hz fixed instead of 50hz which = judder. (Google now apparently looking into this before some how forgetting to do so when launching into a 50hz market)
Ours doesn't judder. Maybe that's because the TV is happy auto switching between PAL and NTSC ... ?
Ours doesn't judder. Maybe that's because the TV is happy auto switching between PAL and NTSC ... ?
The TV isn't the issue neither is NTSC or PAL (these are analogue colour TV standards).
The problem is when the box outputting the video will not output 50Hz source content at the native frame rate but insist on converting to 30/60 frames per second.
The same issue is present on many laptops and PC's. The graphics card will often only output at 60Hz which makes content created at 25/50 fps a bit jerky.
You get a similar problem using a Blu-ray player with a TV that isn't capaple of synching to 24p, or with content created at 1080p24. Blu-ray is nearly always produced with 1080p24 content,
Don't have the Gizmo, but if it has the HD version of iplayer this is delivered as 720p25. This should show any problems if present.
I've just checked this out on a fibre connection watching MOTD2 on Chromecasts attached to a 40" 2011 Smart Sony and a rather older 19" totally dumb Grundig.
Plenty of fast action and rapid pans here. The Chromecast handles the motion just as well as the Sony's own iPlayer app and is a hell of a lot easier to access. If there is what you are calling judder then it is very, very slight indeed on both of my sets.
If your connection speed is good enough for the "HD" stream to kick in, the PQ, whilst pretty good, is still not up to the standard of Sky's iPlayer which of course does not stream as such but delivers higher resolution downloads which are distinguishable from the broadcast programmes only in as far as they are sometimes actually superior in quality .
So anyone with a Sky or Virgin Media box attached will not be wanting to use the Chromecast to view iPlayer but for other sets around the house it is a great solution.
BTW just noticed Flixster is now supporting the Chromecast so you can now watch UltraViolet titles a lot more conveniently too now .
I haven't tried iPlayer via Chromecast for the past week or so, but when I last looked everything appeared to have the so called filmic look (eg. Eastenders looked like Hollyoaks). It's a bit hard to describe but that might be the "judder" someone else has noticed. All other apps are fine with perfect video playback.
Don't be tricked by the pics of the little dongle in a TV either. In reality itneeds a USB wire connected for power (or power cable and plug) and possibly the HDMI extension. Not as nice as a little box sitting under the TV, .. Instead a load of wires.
A load of wires? It's one wire going from the stick to the power supply. Big deal. I already have wires going from my TV to my PS3 and Xbox. What difference does another one make? It's a thin wire too. And the wire is in the advert.
I've had no problems playing movie files from Chrome. Works brilliantly and has instantly replaced my PS3 as my media streaming device. My only issue is panning seems a tiny bit stuttery which reading here seems to be a common issue. I really like the iplayer support too. For me it's a good product.. it meets my streaming needs.
After a couple of days this thing really is shite.
Honestly there's better options out there like roku.
The only thing I have found handy is watching Google play movies on your TV.
The 60hz issue really bugs me. IPlayer playback is not as smooth as playback in my TVs smart interface because its 60hz default where as uk stuff is 50. Basically if your going to feed this thing anything other than 30fps or 60hz stuff then you will get frame correction judder. If other apps like 4od or BT sport for come along they will have the same problem unless Google implement refresh rate switching.
There is no easy way to send pictures or videoa from your phone or laptop to the TV either. Wtf? - you can't been photos from your android device gallery to another android device intended for TV?????
Google play music works however, aswel as YouTube etc, but that's about it.
Really limited and classic Google.... Lies and bull.
Playing video from your chrome browser to TV is also dodgy. Your laptop needs to be very high spec and stuff like BT sport is a no go, mine just jumps and stutters with no full screen suport. Handy uf you want to didplay a web tab on you screen, but who the f does that anyway?? Your connection needs to be fast and trouble free too.
Perhaps it will get better, but its another example of what pisses me of with Google....
A half baked products. If you were wanting to be serious, why not bake into android full Chromecast capability like Airplay etc???? Instead its a half arse attempt.???
Don't be tricked by the pics of the little dongle in a TV either. In reality itneeds a USB wire connected for power (or power cable and plug) and possibly the HDMI extension. Not as nice as a little box sitting under the TV, .. Instead a load of wires.
You get what you pay for.
What are you on about????
mine is plugged into my AV amp then a thin cable up to a usb in the tv
What are you on about????
mine is plugged into my AV amp then a thin cable up to a usb in the tv
Likewise. It's rather lost within the mass of HDMI, Ethernet, speaker and mains cables already there...
Very handy gizmo, even though I still haven't found the need to use it for anything other than YouTube viewing, where the tablet UI is a vast improvement on anything else I have, and really lends itself to watching a series of short videos. In fact, finding things on the tablet and lining them up to watch on the TV with great sound via the AV amp is just a little bit addictive...
But I still use iPlayer (on the rare occasions I use it) through a PS3.
Comments
this We Found Love by Rihanna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=tg00YEETFzg
casts fine for me. As do other age restricted vids.
At the end of the day what we are all looking for is an all singling all dancing system we plug in to tv that will play anything from any device wirelessly. We are not quite there yet,
Personally, my main requirement is to access UK catch-up tv services.
I use a NOW TV for most of what I need (except ITV player). I can stream videos etc using plex as well
I use chromecast for playing ITV player (most usage), and web-based viewing (occasional e.g. CBS.COM).
To me, chromecast has been largely superseded as it has taken so long to get to UK market, but it is still useful for some things. I wilh probably hardly use it once ITV Player comes to NOW TV as anticipated.
So, do I need to convince you? Ultimately, you pay your money and take your choice. It all depends on what you personally choose is important for you.
Yes, good post. This is not an all singing all dancing stick that will meet all your big TV video streaming needs. But it is a very convenient way towards that goal for many people.
Personally I bought my first one (from the US) exclusively to watch Youtube videos. I already had access to Youtube via XBMC and my TV's clunky UI. But for me being able to fire up the app on my phone or tablet, navigate easily to the content I needed, then click a single button and sit back was well worth the $30 I paid. Many will be perfectly happy to access YouTube in other, more convoluted ways but for me it was worth buying for the convenience alone.
I got a second one when they came out here to access local media via Plex and BBC iPlayer on my older bedroom TV.
And that's it. I am not interested in having it do much else. For me the Chromecast very conveniently filled a hole in my set-up, does it to a pretty high quality and has been well worth the price
No cable stretching across the room ... ?
After paying sky for the last 13yrs i'm saving a packet
I can go over the pub to watch any football.
now going to get a pvr.
how much could i sell my sky hd box for?
yep. How to claim the credit:
https://cast.google.com/chromecast/offers/
MLB.tv now also supported
Why is it 60hz fixed instead of 50hz which = judder. (Google now apparently looking into this before some how forgetting to do so when launching into a 50hz market)
Thanks for the tip - just turns up as credit in the Google Wallet so I guess it can go on apps too.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could buy the kind of access MLB supplies for our own sports individually:).
So for around £75 you can buy a full season ticket to literally thousands of top baseball games. Imagine if we could have something like that for the Premiership or Test Match Cricket!
Hang on though, we have something like that here don't we? With Now TV you can a Day Pass to Sky Sports. But, oh yeah, thing is each day will cost you a tenner. So it would only take a week or so to clock up the cost of a full season pass for the baseball
Problem is of course that our sports bodies sign away any rights to sell their own product when they do these ridiculously priced exclusive deals with the likes of Sky.
I'd love that. I've always been a fan of the idea of team-specific season tickets to access all of their matches on television but i doubt we'll ever see it as long as the likes of Sky and BT fight it out over television rights.
Bit like how premiership fans outside the UK can watch 3pm kick off games live, and we can't...
Ours doesn't judder. Maybe that's because the TV is happy auto switching between PAL and NTSC ... ?
I've never seen any judder on mine, either - but I only use it for YouTube, so it's quite possible I've never tried to view 50 fps material.
The TV isn't the issue neither is NTSC or PAL (these are analogue colour TV standards).
The problem is when the box outputting the video will not output 50Hz source content at the native frame rate but insist on converting to 30/60 frames per second.
The same issue is present on many laptops and PC's. The graphics card will often only output at 60Hz which makes content created at 25/50 fps a bit jerky.
You get a similar problem using a Blu-ray player with a TV that isn't capaple of synching to 24p, or with content created at 1080p24. Blu-ray is nearly always produced with 1080p24 content,
Don't have the Gizmo, but if it has the HD version of iplayer this is delivered as 720p25. This should show any problems if present.
I've just checked this out on a fibre connection watching MOTD2 on Chromecasts attached to a 40" 2011 Smart Sony and a rather older 19" totally dumb Grundig.
Plenty of fast action and rapid pans here. The Chromecast handles the motion just as well as the Sony's own iPlayer app and is a hell of a lot easier to access. If there is what you are calling judder then it is very, very slight indeed on both of my sets.
If your connection speed is good enough for the "HD" stream to kick in, the PQ, whilst pretty good, is still not up to the standard of Sky's iPlayer which of course does not stream as such but delivers higher resolution downloads which are distinguishable from the broadcast programmes only in as far as they are sometimes actually superior in quality
So anyone with a Sky or Virgin Media box attached will not be wanting to use the Chromecast to view iPlayer but for other sets around the house it is a great solution.
BTW just noticed Flixster is now supporting the Chromecast so you can now watch UltraViolet titles a lot more conveniently too now
A load of wires? It's one wire going from the stick to the power supply. Big deal. I already have wires going from my TV to my PS3 and Xbox. What difference does another one make? It's a thin wire too. And the wire is in the advert.
I've had no problems playing movie files from Chrome. Works brilliantly and has instantly replaced my PS3 as my media streaming device. My only issue is panning seems a tiny bit stuttery which reading here seems to be a common issue. I really like the iplayer support too. For me it's a good product.. it meets my streaming needs.
What are you on about????
mine is plugged into my AV amp then a thin cable up to a usb in the tv
Very handy gizmo, even though I still haven't found the need to use it for anything other than YouTube viewing, where the tablet UI is a vast improvement on anything else I have, and really lends itself to watching a series of short videos. In fact, finding things on the tablet and lining them up to watch on the TV with great sound via the AV amp is just a little bit addictive...
But I still use iPlayer (on the rare occasions I use it) through a PS3.