6 ms·

I think people confuse the ChromeCast tab/screen mirroring (which is slow and laggy) and ChromeCast DIAL/casting from apps like Netflix which actually just send

by eclipxe 13y ago

I think people confuse the ChromeCast tab/screen mirroring (which is slow and laggy) and ChromeCast DIAL/casting from apps like Netflix which actually just sends a URL to the Chromecast to stream

Touche 13y ago
But even with the latter there is lag for pausing/playing.
sanderjd 13y ago
Yeah, ChromeCast is a great product and a major marketing failure. Hardly anybody (even techies!!) understands that it is about competing with Apple TV (and now Amazon Fire TV) in the streaming market, not sending arbitrary stuff from the browser to your TV. Honestly, they should have launched without any of the confusing and crappy tab-casting functionality at all and probably called it something different than ChromeCast. The thing has (ridiculously cheaply) solved my entire internet-television-entertainment problem but I've literally never once used it for a browser tab.
- shanknbake 13y ago
  as a techie that doesn't know how to use ChromeCast the way it should be used (as you've mentioned) would you mind enlightening me? How, exactly do you use it if not with the tab-casting?
  - thezilch 13y ago
    Use any of the following apps, and use the button supplied in those apps to instruct your ChromeCast to play the given media directly. https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromecast/apps.html https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromecast/app...
- jonathansizz 13y ago
  I don't understand why Google are so bad at advertising and marketing. Probably the only reason Chrome itself took off was that they put a big ad for it on the Google homepage. Maybe they should now switch that ad and advertise something else?
laxatives 13y ago
Okay, that's great. But I don't use Netflix at all. I'd like to watch something from VLC, but apparently the plug in that enabled that was killed. Google's so simple its stupid makes it impossible for me to find out how the thing actually works and why I can't try to configure it to work any better.
- canvia 13y ago
  It's awesome for YouTube and you can stream any local media using Plex.
  - nikoftime 13y ago
    +1 for Plex - works perfectly from the browser/iPhone/iPad/Android phones and tablets. Great Chromecast integration.
- fpgeek 13y ago
  AllCast (one of the more notable apps that supports streaming from local apps like VLC) got its Chromecast support back once the official SDK (finally) came out: http://phandroid.com/2014/02/04/allcast-chromecast-update/ http://phandroid.com/2014/02/04/allcast-chromecast-update/

by eclipxe 13y ago

I think people confuse the ChromeCast tab/screen mirroring (which is slow and laggy) and ChromeCast DIAL/casting from apps like Netflix which actually just sends a URL to the Chromecast to stream

Touche 13y ago

But even with the latter there is lag for pausing/playing.

sanderjd 13y ago

Yeah, ChromeCast is a great product and a major marketing failure. Hardly anybody (even techies!!) understands that it is about competing with Apple TV (and now Amazon Fire TV) in the streaming market, not sending arbitrary stuff from the browser to your TV. Honestly, they should have launched without any of the confusing and crappy tab-casting functionality at all and probably called it something different than ChromeCast. The thing has (ridiculously cheaply) solved my entire internet-television-entertainment problem but I've literally never once used it for a browser tab.

shanknbake 13y ago
as a techie that doesn't know how to use ChromeCast the way it should be used (as you've mentioned) would you mind enlightening me? How, exactly do you use it if not with the tab-casting?
- thezilch 13y ago
  Use any of the following apps, and use the button supplied in those apps to instruct your ChromeCast to play the given media directly. https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromecast/apps.html https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromecast/app...
jonathansizz 13y ago
I don't understand why Google are so bad at advertising and marketing. Probably the only reason Chrome itself took off was that they put a big ad for it on the Google homepage. Maybe they should now switch that ad and advertise something else?

laxatives 13y ago

Okay, that's great. But I don't use Netflix at all. I'd like to watch something from VLC, but apparently the plug in that enabled that was killed. Google's so simple its stupid makes it impossible for me to find out how the thing actually works and why I can't try to configure it to work any better.

canvia 13y ago
It's awesome for YouTube and you can stream any local media using Plex.
- nikoftime 13y ago
  +1 for Plex - works perfectly from the browser/iPhone/iPad/Android phones and tablets. Great Chromecast integration.
fpgeek 13y ago
AllCast (one of the more notable apps that supports streaming from local apps like VLC) got its Chromecast support back once the official SDK (finally) came out: http://phandroid.com/2014/02/04/allcast-chromecast-update/ http://phandroid.com/2014/02/04/allcast-chromecast-update/