Maybe I am mistaken but I am pretty sure I did not get a power adaptor just a usb cable. I did buy from Amazon in early days. As you say might have been a later addition.

Rather than get the picture from your laptop, the chromecast actually goes to the webpage which you want to stream and takes it directly from the web, freeing up your laptop/tablet/phone to do other things. Therefore, to answer your question, there's no loss of picture quality.

I defo got one with each of my Chromecasts (v1).

Will still suffer with juddering as google are leaving it at 60hz sadly.

I can confirm that the V2 also comes with a power adaptor. However, I just plug mine directly into the TV's USB port for power, and it works perfectly fine. (it also has the advantage of switching off when I power the TV down, which is great if streaming live TV)


U.I.
Most people want a sofa-friendly way to watch TV. We generally don't want a laptop or computer sitting next to us. Nothing beats a traditional TV remote, but the closest would be something like the chromecast where you use a tablet's app for control. (though I still prefer a STB with remote if I have the choice - and I do)


It depends on how you stream as there are three ways:

1) The first way is the recommended, and this is via native Chromecast support. This is when your app on your mobile device has a Chromecast button. In this case you don't loose video quality. It will come through at the highest level the broadcaster sends it. If this is in 1080p HD, then that is what you will see. (But some services still send crappy video despite this)

2) tab mirroring: This has improved enormously from Chromecast V1. Now, tab mirroring (where you use the Chrome browser to mirror a tab to your Chromecast V2) looks quite good. Not as good as method 1, but for the most part watchable. The advantage of this is that at least in my tests so far, it will mirror every streaming service across, and in full-screen. You can also use the computer for other things, but you must leave it on.

3) Screen mirroring: This is an additional way to mirror, and it can mirror any app or anything on your computer's screen. Good for presentations, but video quality is horrendous. For video, choose method 1 first if available, then method 2 if not.


Already got mine. Review available here!

So with Chromecast I can use my Windows Laptop and stream to the TV using a Chrome browser? But surely the video still looks better on the smaller screen rather than a big screen where the picture is stretched? Does the picture ever 'jump' or stutter?

I can certainly see the benefit of the non UI over an Android Dongle which is a pain at the best of times even with their make-shift keyboards.

See my post above. Method 1 should look as good as any other set-top-box (Roku, Apple TV etc). Method 2 looks ok, but you can still get some forms of juddering every now and again.

Method 3 is terrible.

I have a chromecast V1 and it ain't bad.

What I am seriously considering is a We-Tek OpenElec version.


This is a mini STB with remote something ovbg might be interested in.

The added bonus is you can get a DVB-S2, DVB-C/T/T2, or an ATSC tuner in it. (I'm going for the DVB-C/T/T2).

I've seen a few vids and performance is slick. The OS lives on a micro SD card on the right. Means that if we have a firmware failure we just swap out the SD card.

more details HERE it's like one of them Android MX boxes but with much better interface.

and OpenElec can run on its own without the android bit. Makes this a real boon.

Use the TVs remote control. https://medium.com/@jankoroettgers/c...0b1#.u81uypccq

BBC iPlayer Radio has now added Chromecast support, and All 4 says it's coming soon

This new feature is definitely advantage, especially if your parent's TV actually supports CEC. Mine doesn't. Like many older people, my folks don't buy the latest in television tech every few years.

Still, it is a great feature now, and I'll test it out on my TVs.

I set up my Chromecast last night on my laptop and watched something from BBC iplayer, it worked great. I hadn't realised just how it worked so was surprised to find it still casting when the laptop screen went off. However I forgot I was watching via Chromecast and tried to use my remote control to rewind

I have Chromecast on my phone as well as my laptop. When watching BBC iplayer there was a Chromecast icon under the video which I clicked on. When I tried to do the same thing from my phone there was no Chromecast icon, when I clicked to play the video I was taken to BBC Media Player app. So I'm assuming I would have to download the app in order to use my phone in the same way as I did my laptop. When I open Chromecast on my phone I am presented with Google Play Movies, Google+, YouTube and Google Play Music. So I presume if I download the BBC Media App I will be able to see that also if I open Chromecast on my phone? I'm fairly sure all this is correct but want to confirm my assumptions.

^^ You need to download the BBC iPlayer, and if your phone is an Android also the BBC Media App. (Android is weird in that way)

You then just use the BBC iPlayer and chromecast from there.

Gotcha: Keep in mind that as you found out, the phone can switch off, or even leave the room and the stream will continue. Catch-up is not a problem, as when the show finished, the stream stops.

But live content will continue, and this could eat into your data caps. Imagine if you left it running before going on holiday ;O)

One way to get around this, is to power your Chromecast from your TVs USB port. When the TV switches off, it powers down the Chromecast.

Thanks for that.

I probably won't bother casting from my phone as I don't want to have to install BBC Media Player, BBC iplayer, ITV Player and any other TV players I may wish to watch.

ITV Player and Demand 5 don't support Chromecast, All4 will support it in a coming release apparently.

There's nowt wrong with the iPlayer app, so there's no reason not to install it if you want BBC catchup services/.

That's something I've never thought to try. Just tried it out on YouTube works perfectly.
Though I'll probably keep using my phone as the remote - by the time I found the remote it would be quicker!

I'll just use Chromecast from my laptop. Not that there would be anything wrong with BBC iplayer, I just don't want too many apps on my phone.

I've been pondering getting a Chromecast for a while now but I'm not sure I 'need' one. I have Sky+ so don't need it for catch up. I don't have any other TV subscriptions so I wouldn't need it for that.

I was mainly thinking about getting one for YouTube casting from my laptop, though could I just use an HDMI lead to display my laptop's screen on my TV?

Are there any other benefits of getting one or would I be wasting my money?

Chromecast works very well with android tablets/phones eg you cast youtube from an android tablet/phone. You can still use phone tablet normally, but the big plus is the tablet/phone acts as a remote control as well.

I rarely cast from my pc these days as it is clunky compared with a phone/tablet.

If you are just using your laptop, no real benefit over an hdmi cable other than wireless convenience.

I had/have the same question. It does have 2 apps that my Sony Bravia doesn't - Spotify and Mubi. And there's a £20 Google play offer on at present, which I think is only redeemable for movies (?) which is interesting.
I can of course link Spotify via cable, but Mubi on a Sony Smart TV was a nightmare and in the end I gave up and cancelled.
On iPlayer, I find that there are (for eg) more episodes of a current series on the tablet or phone app than available to download on the smart TV app. I emailed iPlayer support about this and they said not all their catch up is available by the app on my TV (??!).
If this is the case, then Chromecast could be interesting. (if it's easy to set up: I'm clueless)

As of today. All 4 now offers Chromecast. Haven't tried it yet, so don't know if it is still as advert driven as before, where even just selecting various points of a programme meant having to sit thought 3 or 4 sets of 4 min adverts.

Regrettably enforced adds are still an issue. I just record the session using aimersoft video recorder (not free) and then just skip through adds on playback,

Even that does not always work if All4 crashes on initial playing which forces you to start over sometimes).

I have a phone and tablet, both on iOS. My TV isn't smart though.

I think the advantages of getting a Chromecast over using an HDMI is being able to use my phone/tablet, and being able to use any devices while casting.
But then using an HDMI cable won't use any of my slow (despite being fibre optic) internet connection, and would save me £30. I'm still torn.


Oh yeah, I forgot about Spotify. And I like the sound of the £20 Play offer.

And now Amazon has the Roku streaming stick for £30, which I also was considering.

just read that Chromecast is faster than using the smart TV apps. On a Sony Bravia, navigating via the built in apps is slow and annoying, especially with text input.
However is this true? I have BT Infinity so pretty quick wifi connection and TV is in the same room as the router.

Depends on the app, and the Smart TV. If you have a really old Smart TV then perhaps. I prefer Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer etc via a proper app like that found on the ATV4 or Amazon Fire TV. It is faster and more accurate.

However, something like Spotify works great with Audio Chromecast.

Chromecast is certainly easier when typing as a mobile device has a keyboard. But it has a lot of quirks that can make it slower to do other things.