Chaps,
Seen this like the look of it. but is there anything around the same price point thats worth a look ?
Cheers
Chaps,
Seen this like the look of it. but is there anything around the same price point thats worth a look ?
Cheers
Can't fault the chrome cast, just make sure your internet is half decent (more than 10mb ish)
It's a very neat piece of kit
A Now TV box is similar, you can sideload on an app that will let you stream media from your computer as well.
Now TV box is only a tenner IIRC.
I was about to ask this as well. Seen it advertised at the cinema at the wekend.
Was messing about with mine at the weekend. Currently use my phone as a plex remote to cast onto it from my plex media server.
Few friends came round sat around the TV and was casting videos up on it via youtube and queuing them one after another. Pretty good for music playlist thing if you know what I mean.
You can get localcast on your android device which allows you to cast any local media up to it and it's free.
Iplayer etc works on it well too.
I'd say it really depends what you want it for. Without faffing around with external servers etc, all you can really do is use the chromecast to stream online videos (youtube, netflix etc) or iplayer etc from their respective mobile apps, or stream music from an android phone / google music web page.
If you install something like Plex/BubbleUPnP on your computer/tablet as said you can stream 'offline' content to it - but the formats the chromecast supports natively are pretty limited (MP4 mainly - no .avi / mkv etc) so the computer has to convert it on the fly for you (which can require a beefy computer).
That said - they are very neat bits of kit. I use mine when I'm travelling for work, plug it into the hotel telly and fling movies to it from my laptop or android tablet - works very well...
So its a dongle you plug one end into one of your TV HMDI port and the other into the TVs USB port (for power) then you can use a phone or laptop as a TV remote to chuck youtube via your wireless network to the TV.
Interesting...
Yep, pretty much... You can also stream tabs from the chrome browser on a laptop or whatever, or locally stored movies if you install extra software on your laptop (something like Plex). For 'just' home use it doesn't really do anything a Smart TV doesn't already do, but for travelling and watching content on the big screen in a hotel room it's great (although I could do the same by taking the laptop -> HDMI cable along I supposeOriginally Posted by Jonny Wilkinson
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This is what I do ATM for big screen viewing from my laptop....although I could do the same by taking the laptop -> HDMI cable along I suppose
Got one, Not massively impressed as plex cannot stream to the device without it stopping every 5 seconds or so - then working for 30 mins then not working at all and you have to restart what you are watching.
Xbox media centre has no issue and is taking the info from the same HD on my pc.
That's probably either the network bandwidth being an issue on the wireless, or your plex server not having enough grunt to transcode the streams on the fly. With the premium version of plex it works pretty well, or directly streaming a supported format (eg. H264 MP4) - try dragging a movie file into a chrome tab then casting the tab via the chrome extension...
What Jonny said. I have no issues running Plex streaming 1080p across wifi.
I have to admit though...my machine is a i7 quad core, 16gb ram, 4gb graphics and ssd machine...
I would use my laptop. But it doesn't have HD out.
I think I may just buy this as at £30 it sounds good.
So with Chrome cast, or NOW TV plus an app you can effectively turn your standard TV into a Smart TV? As well as stream offline files from your PC to your TV?
and my machine is faster than that......
What kind of wireless do you have, and can your router tell you what speed the chromecast is connecting at? If the connection's not great then you may run out of bandwidth streaming hi def stuff..
I'd also check you have the latest version of the plex server as they supposedly improved the streaming in it - it can be a bit flakey, but it's a software problem not a chromecast problem..
I think it is either a wireless not being able to handle it or the plex server software not converting fast enough on the fly. Follow what Jonny says and upgrade your plex server and see if that helps.
My guess is its the BT infinity router at fault - its crap.
My infinity 3 router was a piece of shit, I've got the new infinity 5 one thats much more stable.
Still I hate using wireless for stuff.
I have the Chromecast and i think its got some catching up to do compared to the ATV.
I switched from an iPhone to Android and got told by a guy in Currys that its the same as ATV. It isn't.
I can't watch any of my apps apart from the approved ones which is a pain. I still use my iPad and ATV to watch things like Cartoon HD, Flixster and mirroring. I think the Chromecast will catch up but Google have got to open it up a bit more.
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