For someone as techno-friendly as me, I still find it shocking just how mish-mash my approach to home entertainment is. I’ve got so many things connected, in so many ways, that sometimes even I have to take a moment to figure out what needs to be connected to where in order to do what I want. The main problem I’ve had is with streaming media, mostly films and TV.
My TV is new-ish but not smart, so I don’t have anything in the way of a good video player, and no built-in Netflix. I have a blu-ray player that does BBC iplayer, but not much else, a Humax Freeview HD box that does the same, and Sky+ HD which again does catch-up, and better than both the others. However, if I want Netflix or anything I’ve got stored locally, it’s another story. I have an aging PS3 and an ancient Xbox 360, both of which do Netflix, but both of which are noisy and run through my AV receiver, which isn’t too easy for my other half to get on the right inputs etc.
More recently I’ve been using my laptop which has worked nicely. Netflix is controllable with a wireless keyboard and mouse, and Plex (media player) works with an android remote control app. Again, there’s a caveat. It means I need to plug my laptop in somewhere else, hook up an HDMI cable etc., which is a faff for me, let alone my wife.
Which brings me (longwindedly) to the point of this post. My latest little acquisition, the Google Chromecast. They’ve been available in the US – and therefore import – for a while, but I waited for the official UK release, which happened recently.
Google Chromecast
It’s a little dongle that plugs straight into an HDMI port and draws power from a USB port on the back of the TV, or from a power adapter if you don’t have a USB port. A quick visit to the setup site on a phone, tablet or PC and it’s ready to go. Seriously, it took me about two minutes to setup and get running. From there it’s just a case of launching a compatible app on the phone or tablet (or computer) and clicking the ‘cast’ icon when I’ve browsed to what I want to watch or listen to. At first glance it looks like all it’s doing is streaming from your phone or whatever to the TV, but it’s actually more clever than that.
Once you click the ‘cast’ button, it hands over control to the Chromecast, and tells it where to go to get that media. It could be a video on iplayer or Netflix, a downloaded video through Plex, or music through one of those apps. Once that’s done, you can continue using the phone/tablet/computer as normal, with not change to what’s playing on the TV.
I wasn’t sure what I thought of it when I first heard about it, it seemed a bit in-between and pointless. After using it however, it’s immediately apparent how good it is. It’s small, low power, silent and my wife can use it. That pretty much ticks every box as far as I’m concerned. It’s also so small and portable that I could take it to anyone’s house (or even a hotel), plug it in, hook up to their wifi and do the same there. Youtube, netflix, and all that other good stuff. There are loads of apps on the way now that Google have released the SDK to developers and I can’t wait to see what else gets added. For £30 (which is still too high compared to the US where it’s $30) it’s a total no brainer. No extra remotes, no difficulty setting-up, no more boxes under the TV. Ideal.