Mirror Your Android Screen to the TV with Chromecast
chrome.blogspot.com
chrome.blogspot.com
Edit: Yep, restarting did the trick. Have media apps without Chromecast support suddenly become Chromecast capable? This is pretty awesome.
Edit 2: Why yes, yes they have! Now if only I could stream audio only ...
Screen casting with Youtube is a good benchmark of screen casting. Of course, for daily use you'd want to cast from the app directly.
A general thing is that as more and more devices become "smart" in terms of features and protocols etc, it becomes more and more apparent to me how bad the software is on many of these devices. My TV and my router are just some recent examples of buggy firmwares on top of very good hardware. The router supports lots of features like DLNA and VPN which can hardly be called stable and the interface and usability is really dated. Hardware and performance (Netgear R7000 Gigabit Wifi Router) is pretty awesome though.
Of course, there's the Apple Airports that have excellent stability and UI, and while I have one and far better than any router I've owned, it doesn't do stuff like VPN.
That thing never stops, once it's set up you forget its there and only have to reboot it to update the software (which happens around once a month and it's an event you can skip if it contains no security patches).
It is super powerful and I've never had to reset mine due to a lockup (although plenty of times due to misconfiguration on my part), but they're really competing with SMB network equipment at less than 1/4th the price (and require technical knowledge to really take advantage/utilise of).
If you're a network admin or have a lot of time to play (and are willing to read up on stuff you don't understand) then by all means grab a MikroTik router for your home or small business. If you're just some consumer who wants it to "just work" I definitely don't think RouterOS is for you, maybe grab an Asus and install DD-WRT.
Some features that I have used and like: - Solid hardware - Debian based base OS - Nice Web Admin for common tasks like port forwarding, FW, routes, etc. - Stable VPN - Advanced VLAN configs - Class-based QoS with shaping - DHCP snooping - Port mirroring
The Airport Extreme base stations seem pretty solid. But are 100% more expensive than a comparable Asus offering. I'll leave it to the reader to decide if they offer 100% more value to you.
I would also like to say that in this day and age having to use an app/application to configure your router just feels wrong to me. Every router on the market has had a web-server/webUI since the Linksys WRT54G became popular. It is obvious Apple does it as an ecosystem lock-in technique, just to stop Windows/Linux/etc clients from trivially configuring the devices.
Also, sure, you're probably right about the vendor-lock in thing. But I also think Apple wants to make sure the user gets a good experience. With a Web app it's harder to do that. But the apps are really nice and simple to use, and after I set up a device I don't mess with it besides opening up ports. That's just the tradeoffs you live with when you get Apple devices.
That's why I think there's a huge opportunity in creating well designed, good-looking, user friendly network equipment.
(serious question)
https://fbcdn-video-a.akamaihd.net/hvideo-ak-xfp1/v/t43.1792...
My Chromecast doesn't work too great due to my router, but I'm hopeful that it will once they release the feature that removes the need for the Chromecast and casting device to be on the same network.
It DOES NOT however not work on bad wifis and networks. Verify you your router configuration (there's tons of routers that block multicast over Wifi by default which doesn't work well with Chromecast) and wifi network quality.
I can't use Google Cardboard because the device doesn't have the sensors to detect movement or the magnetic 'tap'.
I can't use GoShow (which seems to be the most popular app for watching 3D video) because it crashes.
Today I finally had a reason to buy a Chromecast, until I saw no Moto devices are on the list of supported devices.
:(
The Moto E is really a low-end device, with a relatively weak CPU, so I wouldn't expect too much at all. Of course, having a Chromecast is still great for apps that support Chromecast.
Yes. Low-end CPU I can handle, as it's still turing-complete :)
It hadn't occurred to me that I would soon want to use apps that require a compass and gyroscope :(
Want a smartphone, buy whatever you want. Want a decent one, spend more then 299 $ ( current situation / most cases ).
I come accross enough discussions, where someone bought the cheapest smartphone and always wants the latest features. Just didn't think it would be here also...
It is a direct mirror of the screen scaled up.
The Chromecast is twice the price.
I use mainly it to watch YouTube stuff with my gran when I visit her.
they are a shade over $20 on ebay.com
There are others. I just took a punt because my Dad bought a Chromecast on the same day.
I've not yet seen a consumer device were video rendering is done on one device then displayed wirelessly on another that works well at all. (Note, most Chromcast apps - Netflix etc) just tell the Chromecast what to play and it does the rendering.
I have tried looking into my wireless network, with no result. I am just not sure if it is as good as it can be but some people don't care, or I should keep looking.
I've watched a 2 hour YouTube movie on it, with no prob - except that even on 1A mains power it discharges the battery quicker than it can charge it.
KitKat really should have been released for the device before official support was discontinued. I kind of feel fleeced given it was a flagship Nexus device (for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich!)
Though it does appear that CynaogenMod eventually ported ICS, so I could be wrong.
On the second point, KitKat is supposed to run reasonably well on very weak cheaper mobile hardware with 512mb RAM, which is popular in developing countries.
Galaxy Nexus has fairly high specifications with 1gb RAM, and at least 16gb of storage (which presumably is where the operating system is on this device), so I doubt the image size was the issue.
There is indeed a Cyanogen Mod ROM available (but I'm not sure how much trust CM). I wonder if Chromecast Android screencasting would work with the CM ROM..
Frame rate seems good enough for YouTube, though audio stopped working (didn't get sent to the ChromeCast, and wouldn't play on the device either) while the video was playing.