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Remember the Nexus Q? (Chromecast Discussion)
- Thread starter palmtree5
- Start date
Well Amazon delivered my chromecast 1 day early! I got it yesterday and played with it last night.
The box comes with the chromecast dongle, a micro USB cable, a HDMI extender, and an AC adapter. The AC adapter is either 650 or 850 mA; black on black is so hard to read. I didn't use it as my TV has USB ports. The instruction said that you have to connect the USB for power, but I read that if your HDMI port 1.4, you could get power from that. I tried all 4 of my TV's ports and it didn't work. I have a Samsung UN55D7000 LED TV. As soon as I connect the USB, the led light on the dongle turns red and a few seconds later it became white.
The setup was very easy. I just follow the instruction to download the chromecast app on my laptop. All it does is ask to select your WiFi connection and enter password. You could change your chromcast device name too... the default name is ChromecastXXXX, XXXX is a number. Both my friend and I (we ordered it on the same day) had a slight problem on the setup initially. On the first try, the app would not auto select the WiFi network. It gave an error if you type in the SSID. But once the app was close and restarted, the WiFi name shows up automatically. The app disconnect you from the router and connect you directly to the chromecast dongle during the setup. Once the dongle is connected to the WiFi router, it will disconnect your laptop and connects it back to the router.
The first thing I tried was the Chrome Tab streaming. I downloaded the latest Chrome browser on my laptop. The browser shows up on the TV with just the tab part under the address bar. The image was zoomed in at about 95% size. I adjusted my TV's setting and changed from 16:9 to Standard and it shows the full screen. Everything on the browser shows up on the TV. The quality of the picture is not as good as if I connected to it via HDMI cable, but it was fine. I tried a few streaming websites, Hulu, History Channel, MTV, etc... and I am sad to say that you really cannot watch streaming videos from the browser right now. The video will freeze/skip every 2 to 5 seconds. The audio was fine though. The good news is everything on the browser tab (flash video, HDML5) did show up on the TV.
Right now it is probably good for displaying pictures or other static things. Next I tried YouTube and Netflix. They both streamed very well and no freezing. I watched a few HD trailers on YouTube. They don't really look HD, but more like DVD quality to me. And on Netflix, I feel like my TV's app and the Xbox Netflix app both look better than from the Chromecast. I have not done a side by side yet, but I don't think I will be using Netflix streaming. I hope Amazon Instant Video will support this soon as Samsung would not make an app for it for my TV.
And I also tried streaming from my Galaxy Note 2. I thought I could streaming from my Chrome browser on the Note 2, but I guess the Chrome Tab streaming only works for computer browser not Android's. Netflix and Youtube both works, but I could stream them before using the Beam app to my TV via DLNA.
UPDATE:
I switched option under Google Cast extension from 720p to 480p and now the videos from Chrome Tab cast are smooth. I think my wireless router is the problem. It is an older router came out more than 5 years ago. Maybe it is time to upgrade the router.
The box comes with the chromecast dongle, a micro USB cable, a HDMI extender, and an AC adapter. The AC adapter is either 650 or 850 mA; black on black is so hard to read. I didn't use it as my TV has USB ports. The instruction said that you have to connect the USB for power, but I read that if your HDMI port 1.4, you could get power from that. I tried all 4 of my TV's ports and it didn't work. I have a Samsung UN55D7000 LED TV. As soon as I connect the USB, the led light on the dongle turns red and a few seconds later it became white.
The setup was very easy. I just follow the instruction to download the chromecast app on my laptop. All it does is ask to select your WiFi connection and enter password. You could change your chromcast device name too... the default name is ChromecastXXXX, XXXX is a number. Both my friend and I (we ordered it on the same day) had a slight problem on the setup initially. On the first try, the app would not auto select the WiFi network. It gave an error if you type in the SSID. But once the app was close and restarted, the WiFi name shows up automatically. The app disconnect you from the router and connect you directly to the chromecast dongle during the setup. Once the dongle is connected to the WiFi router, it will disconnect your laptop and connects it back to the router.
The first thing I tried was the Chrome Tab streaming. I downloaded the latest Chrome browser on my laptop. The browser shows up on the TV with just the tab part under the address bar. The image was zoomed in at about 95% size. I adjusted my TV's setting and changed from 16:9 to Standard and it shows the full screen. Everything on the browser shows up on the TV. The quality of the picture is not as good as if I connected to it via HDMI cable, but it was fine. I tried a few streaming websites, Hulu, History Channel, MTV, etc... and I am sad to say that you really cannot watch streaming videos from the browser right now. The video will freeze/skip every 2 to 5 seconds. The audio was fine though. The good news is everything on the browser tab (flash video, HDML5) did show up on the TV.
Right now it is probably good for displaying pictures or other static things. Next I tried YouTube and Netflix. They both streamed very well and no freezing. I watched a few HD trailers on YouTube. They don't really look HD, but more like DVD quality to me. And on Netflix, I feel like my TV's app and the Xbox Netflix app both look better than from the Chromecast. I have not done a side by side yet, but I don't think I will be using Netflix streaming. I hope Amazon Instant Video will support this soon as Samsung would not make an app for it for my TV.
And I also tried streaming from my Galaxy Note 2. I thought I could streaming from my Chrome browser on the Note 2, but I guess the Chrome Tab streaming only works for computer browser not Android's. Netflix and Youtube both works, but I could stream them before using the Beam app to my TV via DLNA.
UPDATE:
I switched option under Google Cast extension from 720p to 480p and now the videos from Chrome Tab cast are smooth. I think my wireless router is the problem. It is an older router came out more than 5 years ago. Maybe it is time to upgrade the router.
Doesn't the Chromecast just seem to be Google's answer to these stick pc's?
The Chromecast runs a basic version of the Chrome OS compared to full Jelly Bean, but the premise is the same, right?
The Chromecast runs a basic version of the Chrome OS compared to full Jelly Bean, but the premise is the same, right?