Hacker News Reader

Comment by coldpie | Hacker News Reader

Okay, someone help me. The article says:

> The new version of the Chromecast is launched. I was already in love with the existing version and [its] JavaScript API.

I have a Chromecast and I Don't Get It. I'll be honest, I haven't tried searching for cool stuff to do with it. Sometimes I stream Netflix or Youtube from my phone. I found a way to stream MKV videos from my computer using Chrome. But that's it, nothing there is cool or revolutionary.

So, what's some cool stuff I can do with my Chromecast? I recognize there's something neat going on here, but it seems so locked down that I can't figure out what it is. Can I write arbitrary apps for it somehow? Is there a cool collection of apps that do... something?

Help me out. What's cool about Chromecast?

View on HN

I really enjoy my Chromecast, I use it almost daily, and I agree with you, it doesn't do anything revolutionary. In my opinion what it does, it does a great job of. Before I purchased my Chromecast it was a nuisance to play media from my computer onto my TV, I had to mess around with long HDMI cable. If I wanted to play something from YouTube or Netflix I had to boot up my Xbox 360/PS3, wait for it to load, if there were updates I had to wait for those to download/install.

With Chromecast I can have the desire to watch something and have it playing on my TV within seconds. So it may not be revolutionary, but it certainly speeds things up.

Won't speak for anyone else, but it's basically a small, affordable media extender. I can mirror my phone or a Chrome tab on my computer. I can use my phone as a remote to stream Netflix/HBO/etc or using the Plex app to control my Plex server and stream from my local network. A few other basic uses like mirroring output from my security cams or other media sources but that still falls under the "media extender" umbrella. There are a handful of games (think more like Monopoly than CoD) you can play with other people where your phones are the controllers and the TV is the main display.

I dunno, for $35 it's more just a sweet spot for what it does than something groundbreaking. I also have one of the audio-only versions and it's nice for turning any old shelf system or set of powered PC speakers into wireless speakers in your house. Once they add streaming to multiple Chromecast Audios at the same time, I'll probably get a few more to use as an affordable alternative to a Sonos setup.

Instead of making your TV a smart TV, it lets your smartphone be smart on a bigger screen.

Tell me how. What do you use it for? What's cool about it for you?

I could never get my parents to use a ps3 or 360 or whatever to watch netflix, and them looking vod meant using a crappy service that let them download files into their own "media player". Since they have a chromecast, all they need to do is open whatever they want on their tablet and press a button.

As for myself, I use to it to stream my video games on TV using the "stream entire screen" option in google cast extension in chrome.

The Chromecast app includes a feature called 'backdrop' that allows using a photo album as background screensaver images.

You can use your existing apps that you already have on your smartphone and have it "cast" to your TV. "Casting" is simplying saying... take this video link, and play it full screen on my TV. Or if you were using Spotify, "play my music through the TV, instead of through my phone". All the while, you're able to keep controlling the experience (pause/rewind/etc).

* Backdrop. Now my TVs are slideshows. * Casting. Web, video and sound to my TVs. * Presentations. Can cast documents & presentations.

Little setup, compatible with laptops, tables and phones. Just works.

https://developers.google.com/cast/

As the author states, the Chromecast basically just displays a webpage. There are a large number of APIs available. Get hacking!

The only thing I'd add to this is that it displays a webpage that can be controlled from the originating device (and possibly other devices, though I'm not sure if that's baked into the API or if you are on your own as far as getting other device involved). Using your phone or computer as a "remote" is one example of what you can do with these apis.

It also has sufficient hardware video decoding capabilities to play back 1080p video streamed over the network.

Chromecast is a different approach to extending media. Most devices (Roku, FireTV, AppleTV) all requires proprietary apps to be installed on their devices. For example, Netflix developers would have to create a port of the application to be used on each media device. Obviously (or maybe not), you can't install apps on a Chromecast. The only thing it does is receive an instruction from a device on your wi-fi network. That instruction comes from a mobile app (such as Netflix) that implements the chromecast api, a way easier approach than porting the entire application.

It's amazing and simple. Chromecast is on to something...

The app needs to support Chromecast - so while I agree it's pretty awesome, some video (see network TV) apps won't support it for competitive reasons.

Also see: Amazon Prime Video.

Well yea. That's no different than that Amazon would have to develop an app for Roku or AppleTV.

Everything else remains constant, the only difference is supporting Chromecast is just implementing an API to your already existing application versus supporting another device is developing a whole new application for that device.

Third-party support is much easier to gain for Chromecast.

It's a network-attached browser engine on a TV. You can stream video, sure, but you can also load up an arbitrary webpage and render to the TV using standard web technologies. People have built multiplayer games played with multiple people's phones with the Chromecast as a shared area, such as card games. You could trivially show a persistent status page. Almost anything you can do with web technologies you can do on a Chromecast. (Notable exceptions: WebGL, and applying arbitrary transforms to live video.)

And in addition to client/server communication, you can easily send and receive messages between the page running on the Chromecast and the app or page that initiated that cast.

Cool! What do you use it for? Any suggested apps or games that you like?

Most of the time, I use it for Netflix, YouTube, device mirroring (which also works for Amazon video streaming), or audio casting (for music). I've also built a few small HTML experiments using a device in developer mode.

I'm currently trying to build a general audio/video casting library for use in Open Source projects, without depending on the Cast SDK.

What's cool about it? The ability to send any kind of video to your TV with very little fuss. That has historically been a pretty tricky thing to do.

Is that revolutionary? I'd argue no. It's effectively a virtual HDMI cable between your phone and your TV - more convenient, but not revolutionary.

I've long since ditched my Chromecast for a Roku, which is far easier to use in a shared environment, and (IMO, of course) having a remote is infinitely preferable to having to use my phone. That said, Chromecast comes with a bunch of interesting JS APIs that could be used to make something interesting. I just haven't seen anyone do it yet.

> I've long since ditched my Chromecast for a Roku, which is far easier to use in a shared environment, and (IMO, of course) having a remote is infinitely preferable to having to use my phone.

I'm glad you said that because when the Chromecast first came out (and AirPlay was already popular) the narrative was that this was going to be the future way of consuming internet content. I never believed it because:

1. Phones get low on battery. Remotes rarely do. Having to navigate the TV was your phone is on a charger is a shitty experience.

2. Phones are personal devices; TVs are social. Everyone looking for a movie to watch on their individual phones is terrible compared to browsing options on a TV screen together.

I do still use my Chromecast in some scenarios; like you said when I find a random video online. But these are things I just happen to come across, not things I seek out like you do with my TV watching.

I use it to watch media from my laptop and phone. It basically allows me to do things I'd normally do with a HDMI cable without the hassle. Sometimes my roommates and I will sit around taking turns throwing up youtube videos. I like the other comment on this post, it does allow me to make my 'dumb' TV smart.

Share your phone's screen.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com