What is it?
Putting it simply, a Chromecast is a thing you plug into your telly that enables you to watch stuff from sites like YouTube, Netflix and BBC iPlayer on said telly. It looks like a USB memory stick and plugs directly into an HDMI socket on your tv. You then plug the supplied USB cable into the Chromecast and the other end plugs into the supplied power adaptor. Or alternatively, if your tv has a USB socket somewhere on it then you can plug into that and your Chromecast will have power. My tv has both HDMI and USB sockets on the back so I used those. This looks very neat as the Chromecast and its cable are then completely hidden. And no, you don't need to worry about the Chromecast not being able to see the remote control, because there isn't one.
How easy is it to set up?
The answer is very. So once you've plugged your Chromecast in, you switch on your tv, select the correct HDMI source and then you'll see a welcome screen instructing you to visit the Chromecast website to continue setup. You can go to the web address on your netbook or laptop, or alternatively you can download the Chromecast setup app for your smartphone. I had my netbook handy so I used that. Plus I thought there might be typing involved, which is always easier on a proper keyboard. You then download and run a small program which guides you through the setup process. It's extremely easy and your Chromecast needs very little information from you to get up and running. You basically select your wireless network, give it the password for said network, give your Chromecast a name (mine's called Colin) and you're done. Here are a series of screenshots taken from my tv and my netbook that show just how easy it is to set this thing up. Honestly, I think I was done in under two minutes:
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| (TV) Just visit the address given to begin setup |
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| (PC) Download and run the small setup program |
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| (PC) Chromecast found... just click Continue |
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| (PC) Enter your wi-fi details and name your Chromecast |
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| (TV) Your Chromecast will make sure it's up to date |
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| (TV) That's it! You're ready to cast |
How easy is it to use?
Again the answer is very. There are quite a few apps and websites that support the Chromecast and the list is growing all the time. The first thing I did was fire up the BBC iPlayer app on my phone. Now in the app there's the addition of a little Chromecast icon in the top right corner. Choose something to watch, tap on the little icon and the name of your Chromecast appears. Tap on the name of your Chromecast and hey presto, you're watching iPlayer on your tv. I assume it shows the name of your Chromecast so that if you have more than one you can choose which one you want to cast to. Now I've seen quite a few reviews that have mistakenly said that your smartphone, tablet or laptop 'beams' the content to your Chromecast, but that's not how it works. Your smartphone, tablet or netbook just acts as an interface to the Chromecast. Just think of it like a remote control. So using iPlayer and my phone as an example, I select what programme I want to watch on my phone, tell my phone I want to watch it on my Chromecast, then the Chromecast springs into life and streams that programme using my internet connection. I can continue to use my phone completely as normal. I can use the phone at any time to pause, play, adjust the volume etc. of the programme being streamed, but the stream itself is handled by the Chromecast. I hope that kind of makes sense because it's an important distinction to make. And it seems that some people who should know better appear to misunderstand the process.
Is it any good?
I think the picture and sound quality is excellent. I watched an entire episode of Top Gear with no buffering, no weird picture glitches, no drops in sound (or the sound getting out of sync with the picture). It worked flawlessly. And it's far better quality than anything my cable box can produce. I'd go as far as to say that the quality is better than what my Roku can produce too. (By the way, I stopped using the BBC iPlayer service on my cable box years ago as the interface seems to have been designed by a monkey. And not a very smart monkey either). I tried the Netflix app next and the results were equally impressive, as were those from the YouTube app. Whatever I threw at the Chromecast, it played it without fault. I know the Chromecast is basically only a dongle, but I think the build quality is good too. It feels solid and well put together. And I love that it can sit behind my tv with no wires showing.
What about streaming movies and videos from my computer?
Yes there's a wealth of content out there on t'internet, but what if you just want to watch videos stored on your computer on your tv? Happily this is possible with the Chromecast too. I downloaded an extension for the Chrome browser called Videostream. It only supports .mp3 and .mp4 files at the moment, but I'm sure more file types will be supported soon. I just selected an Ellie Goulding (don't judge me) .mp4 video that I have saved on my netbook and voila, it started playing on my tv. Again the quality was excellent. And yes, this process actually does involve 'beaming' the content to the Chromecast because you're playing something that's saved on your computer. Because of this I thought my very low end netbook would struggle at sending the content to the Chromecast, but again it performed perfectly. Okay I thought, that's just a music video, but can it handle a whole film-length video? Happily again the answer was yes. I selected the film Blade Runner that I have saved as an .mp4 on my netbook, and again it streamed the film without any issues at all. I was seriously impressed as I hadn't expected this process to be very successful at all, certainly not with my lowly netbook. There are other apps and extensions for Chrome that will stream local content, such as Plex for example. Just go to the extensions section in Chrome, search for Chromecast and you'll find all the compatible extensions. By the way, I haven't tried the Plex web app yet as it required me to sign up for a free account and I haven't got around to doing that yet. But it's definitely on my list of things to try.
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| (PC) Using Videostream, select a .mp3 or .mp4 file to play |
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| (TV) Quality is excellent. Yes this is a photo of my tv screen |
Is it better than a Roku?
I'm not quite sure how to answer this one. People keep comparing them, but personally I think they do slightly different things. The Roku feels a bit more like the traditional tv experience. You have a box with a remote, you have 'channels' and you have an interface on the tv. On the Chromecast there is absolutely no interface on the tv, it just shows you the content, and some very pretty pictures when it's not streaming it has to be said. With the Chromecast your mobile device is the interface. The Roku may have many more channels than the Chromecast has supported apps, but the number of apps is increasing all the time. And this is a Google product after all, so I don't think it's going away any time soon. Also the quality of some of the channels on the Roku is just dire. And I'm talking about the quality of the content here, not how good it looks. A lot of the Roku channels seem to be American-centric, religious, or American-centric religious. And to be honest that sort of content doesn't interest me in the slightest. I think in summary what I'm saying here is that the Chromecast does quality over quantity. Another plus for the Chromecast is of course the official YouTube channel, which despite promises and assurances has yet to appear on anything other than the Roku 3.
Is it worth the money?
On balance I think it is. It's 30 quid at the moment and I think that's a fair price. It's quite a bit less than what I paid for my Roku LT at the time. Of course the Chromecast is cheaper in the US, but then their technology always is. It's 35 dollars over there, which Google tells me equates to 21 quid here. But I certainly don't begrudge paying 30 quid for my Chromecast. I think Google have probably got the price just about right. And I'm sure you'd be able to get it cheaper if you hunt around.
So you're happy then?
Yes. I've only been using the Chromecast for about a week now, but I'm pretty impressed by what it does. I have my Roku connected to my tv in the bedroom and the Chromecast is connected to the tv in the living room. So now in either room I have the option of watching online content. And to be honest that's pretty much all I do these days. Mainstream tv is so appalling that I gave up watching it quite some time ago. The only thing I switch my cable box on for these days is to watch the news and the weather before leaving for work in the mornings. It never goes on apart from that. And now I have the ability to watch Netflix, BBC iPlayer, YouTube and the like without having to switch on my PC. It's so nice to watch stuff without the continual whirr of a PC fan in the background. So yep, I'm pretty happy. There is the chance my opinion could change over time, but I'd have to say at this stage that if my Roku LT ever gives up the ghost, I'll be buying a Chromecast to replace it.
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