5 ms·

Your friends with Android phones can't cast to Airplay, but they can cast to Chromecast.

by skelsey 13y ago

untog 13y ago
Cast what though, beyond YouTube and Netflix?
- spankalee 13y ago
  Play Music & Movies, Pandora, Hulu, Chrome tabs, HBO Go, Plex... See http://chromecast.com/apps http://chromecast.com/apps for the current list. I really only use Google Play, Netflix, YouTube and tab casting though.
  - untog 13y ago
    I know what's available- I have one myself, I just don't ever use it. I don't have a Hulu Plus subscription, nor do I buy music/video through the Play Store. Chrome tab performance is weak at best. I guess I'm just hoping for a lot more than what I have right now.
    - jggonz 13y ago
      Chrome tab performance may be weak due to a slow router. I bought a newer Asus and it helped quite a lot. I can play youtube videos within a Chrome tab and it works perfectly well, even with the router several bedrooms away.
    - spankalee 13y ago
      That's the reason to be excited about the SDK release, but honestly, regardless of the number of apps even available, I just don't use that many services that I want to stream to my TV. The current crop does pretty well. I would like to see the ability to throw a Flash object to the screen so I can play any embedded video, and I hope to see interesting games and ambient apps, but that's about the extent I can think of.
- bitskits 13y ago
  HBO Go and Plex are two apps I am using very frequently with my Chromecast... That gets me both external and locally stored content without a dedicated HTPC to play the media.
  - menriquez 13y ago
    Plex has been a pleasant surprise to me...im wondering how the release of this api is going to improve the usability of it
- sethhochberg 13y ago
  With the opening of the SDK, presumably anything - even so far in the comments on this HN posting there are already few individuals who are happy their local media streaming servers can be published, and it wouldn't be too hard to imagine that VLC plugins or something similar are too far behind.
- fernandotakai 13y ago
  i use plex and netflix extensively and i use more youtube than i thought.
- aggronn 13y ago
  If you stream sports, chromecast is a godsend if you don't want to hook up your computer to the TV.
  - hershel 13y ago
    Are there places to stream sports with reasonable amount of content without being tied to a cable company ? And does it increase cord cutting ?
    - aggronn 13y ago
      legally and in high quality? not really. I wouldn't throw a superbowl party without tv access, but if you want to watch your favorite team when you otherwise can't, its definitely possible.
      - Touche 13y ago
        search.twitter.com Team Name stream
isomorphic 13y ago
By "cast," you mean "tell the Chromecast to fetch/display content", rather than "show streaming video of my device's screen"? This is part of what I'm asking: I don't get the usage model. I prefer using the STB directly with a remote (and no other client device), or pushing the client device's screen to the STB. If you're saying that you use "tabcasting" (which I guess is remotely-directed Chromecast web surfing), then fine. It's not something I'd ever use, but I understand that the equivalent doesn't exist on other STBs. Please don't get me wrong: I would prefer if there were an open AirPlay equivalent that Android and iOS devices supported at the OS level. But I don't think that's what you're talking about.
- bane 13y ago
  No, you can also stream to the chromecast. e.g. Google's "cast tab". I use it to watch stuff off my plex server or hulu (don't have a hulu plus account).
- ajross 13y ago
  > I prefer using the STB directly with a remote The idea is that your phone (or tablet or laptop or whatever) becomes your remote. If you want to watch something on Netflix you pull the phone out of your pocket, launch your Netflix app, and then hit the Chromecast button to send the output to the TV. It's not a separate UI, just a separate destination for the video content you've already selected. For me, the simple fact of never having to hunt for a remote is enough to justify the $35. On a technical level: what the chromecast is doing is simply streaming content from local devices on the Wifi LAN. It has no UI of its own and won't fetch content by itself. The codec suite is limited when compared to Android: it supports H.264 baseline, VP8, MP3 and AAC. And I believe the container must be either MP4 or WebM.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]

Your friends with Android phones can't cast to Airplay, but they can cast to Chromecast.

by skelsey 13y ago

Your friends with Android phones can't cast to Airplay, but they can cast to Chromecast.

untog 13y ago

Cast what though, beyond YouTube and Netflix?

spankalee 13y ago
Play Music & Movies, Pandora, Hulu, Chrome tabs, HBO Go, Plex... See http://chromecast.com/apps http://chromecast.com/apps for the current list. I really only use Google Play, Netflix, YouTube and tab casting though.
- untog 13y ago
  I know what's available- I have one myself, I just don't ever use it. I don't have a Hulu Plus subscription, nor do I buy music/video through the Play Store. Chrome tab performance is weak at best. I guess I'm just hoping for a lot more than what I have right now.
  - jggonz 13y ago
    Chrome tab performance may be weak due to a slow router. I bought a newer Asus and it helped quite a lot. I can play youtube videos within a Chrome tab and it works perfectly well, even with the router several bedrooms away.
  - spankalee 13y ago
    That's the reason to be excited about the SDK release, but honestly, regardless of the number of apps even available, I just don't use that many services that I want to stream to my TV. The current crop does pretty well. I would like to see the ability to throw a Flash object to the screen so I can play any embedded video, and I hope to see interesting games and ambient apps, but that's about the extent I can think of.
bitskits 13y ago
HBO Go and Plex are two apps I am using very frequently with my Chromecast... That gets me both external and locally stored content without a dedicated HTPC to play the media.
- menriquez 13y ago
  Plex has been a pleasant surprise to me...im wondering how the release of this api is going to improve the usability of it
sethhochberg 13y ago
With the opening of the SDK, presumably anything - even so far in the comments on this HN posting there are already few individuals who are happy their local media streaming servers can be published, and it wouldn't be too hard to imagine that VLC plugins or something similar are too far behind.
fernandotakai 13y ago
i use plex and netflix extensively and i use more youtube than i thought.
aggronn 13y ago
If you stream sports, chromecast is a godsend if you don't want to hook up your computer to the TV.
- hershel 13y ago
  Are there places to stream sports with reasonable amount of content without being tied to a cable company ? And does it increase cord cutting ?
  - aggronn 13y ago
    legally and in high quality? not really. I wouldn't throw a superbowl party without tv access, but if you want to watch your favorite team when you otherwise can't, its definitely possible.
    - Touche 13y ago
      search.twitter.com Team Name stream

isomorphic 13y ago

By "cast," you mean "tell the Chromecast to fetch/display content", rather than "show streaming video of my device's screen"? This is part of what I'm asking: I don't get the usage model. I prefer using the STB directly with a remote (and no other client device), or pushing the client device's screen to the STB. If you're saying that you use "tabcasting" (which I guess is remotely-directed Chromecast web surfing), then fine. It's not something I'd ever use, but I understand that the equivalent doesn't exist on other STBs. Please don't get me wrong: I would prefer if there were an open AirPlay equivalent that Android and iOS devices supported at the OS level. But I don't think that's what you're talking about.

bane 13y ago
No, you can also stream to the chromecast. e.g. Google's "cast tab". I use it to watch stuff off my plex server or hulu (don't have a hulu plus account).
ajross 13y ago
> I prefer using the STB directly with a remote The idea is that your phone (or tablet or laptop or whatever) becomes your remote. If you want to watch something on Netflix you pull the phone out of your pocket, launch your Netflix app, and then hit the Chromecast button to send the output to the TV. It's not a separate UI, just a separate destination for the video content you've already selected. For me, the simple fact of never having to hunt for a remote is enough to justify the $35. On a technical level: what the chromecast is doing is simply streaming content from local devices on the Wifi LAN. It has no UI of its own and won't fetch content by itself. The codec suite is limited when compared to Android: it supports H.264 baseline, VP8, MP3 and AAC. And I believe the container must be either MP4 or WebM.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]