What is Chromecast ? / What is Google Chromecast ?

 It’s surprisingly difficult to put a web browser on TV. It’s difficult for regular people — the best option is often just plugging in a laptop — and it’s been ridiculously difficult for the tech industry in general. From interface problems to weird remotes to clunky performance, attempts to put the web on TV have all met with failure of one kind or another. Google in particular learned a hard lesson with its Google TV platform, which crashed and burned so spectacularly when it launched in 2010 that hardware partner Logitech nearly went out of business.

But now Google’s back with the Chromecast, a far simpler way of getting the web on your TV. The Chromecast is a HDMI dongle that basically competes with Apple’s AirPlay system: when you use supported services like YouTube and Netflix on your phone, tablet, or computer, hitting the new Cast button sends the video to your TV. You can also send entire tabs from the Chrome browser on Macs and PCs, which means you can basically put any site or service on TV with just the click of a button.

Getting started

There's not much to say about the Chromecast itself aside from the fact that it provides a legitimate reason to say the word "dongle," which is great fun. The whole thing is a little under 3 inches long, and it'll stick out about 2.5 inches when plugged into an HDMI port. There's a short HDMI extension cable in the box to provide extra clearance if you can't fit the Chromecast against the back of your TV, but you might need something longer depending on your setup, as the extension really just makes everything stick out more.

On the back there's an LED, a button, and a Micro USB port, which is how the Chromecast gets power. Yes, power — Google actually recommends that you use the included external power adapter to plug the Chromecast into the wall. I suspect that's so the Chromecast stays on even when the TV is off, allowing it to turn on the TV and switch inputs using HDMI control if your TV supports it. You can also plug the Chromecast into your TV's USB port if it has one, but on my Samsung office TV those ports turn off when the TV does, shutting down the Chromecast as well. If you have a newer TV with HDMI 1.4 ports, you might find they can power the Chromecast directly, although Google isn't clear about how officially supported that is.

Once you've got the Chromecast plugged in and powered, the next step is getting it on your Wi-Fi network, which is easy: you download the setup app for Mac, PC, or Android, and it prompts you to choose your network and type in your password. (Only 2.4GHz networks are supported, which is a little bit of a bummer.) After that, you give your Chromecast a name, install the Google Cast Chrome extension on your computer, and you're all done. There's nothing else you need to configure or interact with the Chromecast itself — all the action moves to apps and your computer.

The Chromecast is basically a small Android computer that can connect to the internet and play video files. When you hit the Cast button in a supported app, the Chromecast directly connects to the internet and streams the video itself — it's not streaming from your device. (Apple's AirPlay also works like this in some cases, but it can also stream audio and video directly from iPhones, iPads, and iTunes on the Mac and PC.)

The only apps that support the Chromecast out of the box are YouTube, Netflix, and Google's various Play media apps. Using them is simple: you just find whatever you want to watch, hit the Cast button, and the Chromecast takes over while your device becomes a remote. And since the Chromecast is connecting directly you can switch apps, open new tabs, and even turn things off without interrupting playback. It's all very flexible, and when it works, it's super smooth. Netflix knows when it's playing through the Chromecast, and opening any Netflix app connected to your account allows you to control the video. And it all works everywhere: iOS, Mac, and Windows included.

CHROMECAST STREAMS FROM THE INTERNET, NOT YOUR DEVICE

All that flexibility can lead to some confusion. Since there's no single, definitive place to control the Chromecast, it's easy to find yourself watching a video without any immediate way to pause, rewind, or mute — you have to remember where the video came from and open that app. It's not a big problem, but it's added complexity. Google really needs to add basic playback controls like play, pause, and mute to the Chromecast setup app. Google also desperately needs to add in some basic password controls; right now anyone walking by can grab control of your Chromecast and send video to it. That makes it super easy to use, but also opens up a world of elaborate trolling.

That's it for app support. Unlike AirPlay, which is built into the system video player on iOS and integrated into OS X, Chromecast requires app developers to add support to every app individually. That's going to take time and some intense lobbying from Google. Pandora support is coming, but unless you're a heavy Google Play user, right now the Chromecast's entire app story is Netflix and YouTube.

Google says the tab casting feature is in beta, and it shows. Even at the highest quality video playback isn't perfectly smooth, and there are some glitches here and there. You'll also need a decently powerful machine: performance on my older Samsung Series 5 Chromebook was so terrible it was unusable, and I occasionally got performance warnings on my Core i7 MacBook Pro as well. But for the most part it works, and it works well enough to use regularly. I use a utility called AirParrot to send app windows to my Apple TV over AirPlay all the time, and Chromecast definitely works just as well — the improved AirPlay support coming in OS X Mavericks will probably be better than either solution, but for right now it's a wash. And if you're a Windows user, it's by far your best option.

 Chromecast, a little USB-stick-sized device called a dongle, streams Netflix, YouTube and websites to your TV. (But wait a second, aren't Netflix and YouTube also websites? Yes, but there's a technical distinction we'll get to in a minute.) Also, Chromecast is fast, unbelievably easy to set up, and pretty much foolproof to use. And it's $US35, which makes it one of the best values in tech, ever. Combine all that, and it's irresistible.

 First, you've got to turn on the TV, choose the right input, turn on the ancillary device, load up an app, find a show, and then press play. It takes a minute or two, and if your set-top box is really slow, maybe a lot more.

Chromecast eliminates a couple of those steps, and it makes others much faster. In this way, Chromecast is similar to other small digital set-top boxes, especially the Roku ($US98 or $US50) and the $A109 Apple TV (though there are some important differences). With Chromecast, you turn on the TV. Then you load up Netflix (or YouTube or Chrome) on any other machine that's handy - it could be a PC, a phone, or a tablet, or whatever you have lying around. It's much faster to navigate and type on those devices than on your set-top box, so you'll find your show much more quickly. Then press play. On many TVs, you won't even need to change your TV's input - Chromecast will do that for you. (Depending on how you set up Chromecast - that is, if you plug its power cord into an external AC adaptor rather than into your TV's USB slot - you might not even need to turn on your TV at all; Chromecast might be able to do that for you, too.) So, anyway, once you find your show, press play. Like black magic, your video just shows up on your TV.

Does this sound complicated? It's not. Once you have it set up, Chromecast becomes a natural extension of all of the devices in your house. When you're watching something on pretty much any machine, you'll be able to shuttle it over to your TV instantly without giving it a second thought. That's a great deal for only $US35.

Now, let me briefly mention a subtle but important technical limitation regarding how Chromecast works. The device streams videos in two ways - either directly over the Internet from a service like Netflix, or from the Chrome browser on your own computer. The first of these methods is the better one - because the video is coming directly from Netflix, your phone or PC is acting only as the remote, and you can turn it off after you've started watching the video. The downside is that, at the moment, only YouTube, Netflix, and Google Play support this direct streaming method.

Chromecast also lets you stream anything that you have open in a Chrome tab to your TV. Technically, this means you can play any Web video service on Chromecast, even HBO Go, Hulu, or even a Bittorrent-ed video that you drag into Chrome. All you do is play the video on your laptop in Chrome, then press the button to stream to your Chromecast. But this method - streaming from a Chrome tab - is kind of a hack. Because the videos you play this way come directly from your computer to your Chromecast, they require that your machine be on, and they tend to be of lower quality than the ones you stream from a service like Netflix.

But Apple TV has its disadvantages, too. First, it only works with Apple's mobile devices. If your household has multiple machines running different operating systems - if you've got an Android phone and Apple tablet - then Apple TV may not be right for you. Also, Apple TV is $A109. You can almost get three Chromecasts for the price of one Apple TV. If you've got several TVs in your house, Chromecast is obviously a better choice.

Plus, some of Chromecast's limitations are temporary. Google has released an API for the device - a way for developers to get their services to directly stream to the device - and several firms, including Vimeo and Redbox, will reportedly begin adopting it. I suspect that soon, most of the services that work on Apple TV and Xbox will work on Chromecast, too. (One of the really surprising things about Netflix and YouTube's support for Chromecast was that I didn't have to update their apps on my phone to get it - the Chromecast button just showed up in the apps on every device. Watch for that to happen with every other video service you use.)

In some ways, though, the most important thing about Chromecast isn't what it does. It's what it costs. By setting a profit-free low price on Chromecast, Google is signalling that it's not looking to make a lot of money on the device. Instead, it's aiming for ubiquity. And ubiquity, in and of itself, will improve Chromecast.

 Google’s Chromecast device is a Web media player, introduced by the company just a bit over a year after they first showed of a machine with very similar capabilities: the Nexus Q. Where the Nexus Q came into play as a bocce-ball-sized TV “box”, Chromecast is the size of a USB dongle, small enough to fit in your pocket. It connects through a television’s full-sized HDMI port and you’ll be able to pull it up with the input button on your television remote, the same as you would a DVD player.

 Instead of playing physical content, like DVDs or Blu-ray disks, Chromecast uses the internet to pull content from web-based apps. Chromecast does not have a remote control included in the box it’s delivered with when you buy it because it’s able to connect with basically any smart device you’ve got in your home – or in your pocket.

Size: 72(L) x 35(W) x 12(H) mm
Weight: 34g
Video Output: 1080p
Connectivity: HDMI, Wi-Fi
RAM: 256k
Processor: N/A
OS: Chromecast

You’ll plug Chromecast in to your TV, plug a microUSB power cord (included in the box) into Chromecast to keep it powered up, and press the single physical button on Chromecast to send out a wireless signal that effectively says, “I’m ready to go!”

Turning the television on and the input to the HDMI port you’ve plugged Chromecast into, you’ll see a screen that directs you to google.com/chromecast/setup. Note that this URL may change over time, but this is the first place you’ll be sent in this initial launch of Chromecast when this article is first posted.

This one-time setup connects Chromecast to the web – if you’ve got a password on your Wi-Fi network, you’ll need to enter it. You can do this setup process from any device with an internet browser, while actually sending content to Chromecast is limited to the following:

• Android 2.3 and higher
• iOS 6 and higher
• Windows®7 and higher
• Mac OS 10.7 and higher
• Chrome OS (Chromebook Pixel, additional Chromebooks coming soon).

At the moment you’ll be able to use Chromecast to connect with Netflix, YouTube, Google Play Movies, and Google Music. Using Chromecast’s “Cast” protocol, you’re able to “fling” content from your control device (laptop, smartphone, tablet) to your TV.

 So you’ll open up YouTube, for example, and play a video, but you’ll also be clicking the Cast button that, (once you’re set up), appears in the upper right-hand corner of your Chrome web browser or app. From there you’ll be able to control said media as it plays OR continue on with your regularly scheduled web browsing as the media plays on your TV.

Once the media you’ve chosen on your phone, tablet, or notebook has been flung to Chromecast, you no longer have to worry about it. If you DO want to control it again, you’ll have only to return to the app you were in and change it up. You can also choose to send something new to Chromecast, this immediately stopping the current media from playing, moving on to the next piece of media in kind.

There are also interesting side-loading features you can use if you’re not all about working with one of the few apps supported by Chromecast so far. At the moment Chromecast has a BETA mirroring feature that works with Chrome web browser windows.

You can open a file in a Chrome web browser window and fling it to Chromecast, your television then mirroring this window as you do so. This feature requires that you actually keep the window open if you want to keep watching it on your TV since the content is not on the web, it’s on your computer.

This BETA mirroring feature can be used for photos and video as well – we’ll be seeing how close we can get to real web-based gaming mirroring soon!