@zdunklee Why? Serious question. Why is being able to play things through your phone to your TV a good thing? Why not just get it through your TV to begin with? What is available on your phone, that is not available thru the TV (or smart BluRay player, or...)?
@G1 -they are cheaper than most set top media streaming boxes -have a large selection of apps with chromecast support -don't need another remote -I find it easier to search for media on my phone than through an app on my TV -makes sharing photos/videos with a group easy
@G1 I agree with everything @Ignorant said. The tv apps I've used tend to suck, my chromecast is actually hooked to a smart tv because it's a much more simple process to use my phone to search. I can look for my next thing I'm going to watch while the current one is playing as well.
Plus google gives a ton of free stuff away. I usually get 2-3 free movie rentals just because I have a chromecast each year, free money for google play at times, etc. You just have to keep an eye on the offers they have going and you can get a lot.
@zdunklee@Ignorant Thanks. So if you want to stream a movie thru the Chromecast, does it have to go THROUGH your phone 1st? Or does CC have the std. Netflix, Hulu, etc. as embedded apps?
@G1 you use the phone to control it but once it starts playing you can do anything you want with the phone, even shut it off. It's basically independent besides controlling it.
@zdunklee@G1 once you hit the 'cast' button in an app, that app loads itself up on the chromecast and anything you select to play is streamed directly from the Internet to the chromecast.
Here's what i do with the credit which i get: From time to time, when i see Android Police reviewing a game or app, if it looks good enough, I'll buy it (thanks Google Opinion Rewards). I've used my Play Store credit to get apps and games when they're on same which i otherwise wouldn't get because of their price. (I've snagged some good stuff for $0.10/each) I've also bought apps which i got from the Amazon store because updates are faster through Play Store. And finally, I've used my credit to buy premium versions of apps which i like so that eventually i could stop using an ad blocker on my phone and have one less reason to Root.
@dunda I've bought music, movies, and rentals using play credits. I also play Simpsons Tapped Out and Clash of Clans, and will occasionally use the credit to buy in game stuff.
I bought one not long after they were first introduced. It worked fine at first but as time goes on, it gets flakier and flakier. I suspect that as Google keeps updating the device SW and app, it becomes less and less compatible with the (older) version of Android on my devices. Or something. Don't think it is my home network/wifi, since my Roku continues to work great.
@macromeh if you mean the first generation ones... (they look like this ) I am not seeing any issues, however, the wifi can be pretty flaky on them... if you are looking for a fix without buying the new round one consider the ethernet adapter, that is how I got my 1st gen ones to perform better at chromecasting from my PCs.
I won a CC at a conference I went to. I thought "this will be cool, I can hook it up to the hotel TV." Nope. Unless I brought a wifi hotspot.
But it is occasionally cool to cast fail videos to the TV at home, since it's easier to do it from Youtube on phone than it is from youtube on Sony Youtube app on TV.
Also, since my TV does not have a microSD slot, I can cast videos from my CX-10c quadcopters from phone to TV and watch my crashes in HD! :-)
I bought two of them when I saw the deal for Christmas presents thinking that I get the $20 credit for myself, but it only applies when they are set up, right? So whoever sets it up gets the credit, not the person who purchased them?
@Lister From what I understand it is tied to the Chromecast serial number... so in theory you could open them up, put them on your network, do the "get offers" while logged into your google play account, then factory reset them and re-gift them? :)
Last year they did the same promo so i bought one to set up in my parents living room so they could watch netflix and I selfishly redeemed the $20 for myself. Well as it turns out the internet wasn't fast enough to stream netflix so I returned it to bestbuy the next day and I STILL have the $20 sitting on my account.
To be clear it was comcast's fault the internet was slow. I have my own chromecast that i use daily and it works great (it's streaming pandora as i type this). I'll probably pick up a gen 2 while this promo is still going.
@craigthom took around 24 hours for it to show up, but it eventually did... I just redeemed it. I did it via chrome on my windows machine with the googlecast extension enabled.
@thismyusername My computers aren't on the same network as the wifi, but the app shows the same offers, I think. I called support and they told me to wait up to seven days.
I keep on thinking about if I should get one, and when I saw this deal on Android Police, I actually read the article with info about the deal.
In other words, I may eventually get one.
@FroodyFrog they are worth it. I might just jump on this to buy one for my other tv.
@zdunklee Why? Serious question. Why is being able to play things through your phone to your TV a good thing? Why not just get it through your TV to begin with? What is available on your phone, that is not available thru the TV (or smart BluRay player, or...)?
I'm just trying to learn.
@G1
-they are cheaper than most set top media streaming boxes
-have a large selection of apps with chromecast support
-don't need another remote
-I find it easier to search for media on my phone than through an app on my TV
-makes sharing photos/videos with a group easy
@G1 I agree with everything @Ignorant said. The tv apps I've used tend to suck, my chromecast is actually hooked to a smart tv because it's a much more simple process to use my phone to search. I can look for my next thing I'm going to watch while the current one is playing as well.
Plus google gives a ton of free stuff away. I usually get 2-3 free movie rentals just because I have a chromecast each year, free money for google play at times, etc. You just have to keep an eye on the offers they have going and you can get a lot.
@zdunklee @Ignorant Thanks. So if you want to stream a movie thru the Chromecast, does it have to go THROUGH your phone 1st? Or does CC have the std. Netflix, Hulu, etc. as embedded apps?
@G1 you use the phone to control it but once it starts playing you can do anything you want with the phone, even shut it off. It's basically independent besides controlling it.
@G1 yea,you have to start it from your phone. Most apps have a chromecast icon that makes it simple. Nothing is really loaded onto the device itself.
@zdunklee @G1 once you hit the 'cast' button in an app, that app loads itself up on the chromecast and anything you select to play is streamed directly from the Internet to the chromecast.
I bought one months ago. I was able to redeem the offer anyway. Cool!
Remember if you need more than one they are 2 for $55 at the play store... (and you can mix and match audio and video units).
https://store.google.com/category/tv_and_audio
I have $30 in Play credit and have no idea what to spend it on.
@dunda
Here's what i do with the credit which i get:
From time to time, when i see Android Police reviewing a game or app, if it looks good enough, I'll buy it (thanks Google Opinion Rewards).
I've used my Play Store credit to get apps and games when they're on same which i otherwise wouldn't get because of their price. (I've snagged some good stuff for $0.10/each)
I've also bought apps which i got from the Amazon store because updates are faster through Play Store.
And finally, I've used my credit to buy premium versions of apps which i like so that eventually i could stop using an ad blocker on my phone and have one less reason to Root.
@dunda when they do this (they have weird offers like this from time to time) I usually end up renting a movie instead of waiting for dvd-netflix.
@thismyusername @dunda This. It's the best way to use credit and feel you've gotten value for it (also music, apps, etc)
@dunda I tend to get music with my credits. They have good sales from time to time.
@dunda I've bought music, movies, and rentals using play credits. I also play Simpsons Tapped Out and Clash of Clans, and will occasionally use the credit to buy in game stuff.
I bought one not long after they were first introduced. It worked fine at first but as time goes on, it gets flakier and flakier. I suspect that as Google keeps updating the device SW and app, it becomes less and less compatible with the (older) version of Android on my devices. Or something. Don't think it is my home network/wifi, since my Roku continues to work great.
@macromeh if you mean the first generation ones... (they look like this
) I am not seeing any issues, however, the wifi can be pretty flaky on them... if you are looking for a fix without buying the new round one consider the ethernet adapter, that is how I got my 1st gen ones to perform better at chromecasting from my PCs.
I won a CC at a conference I went to. I thought "this will be cool, I can hook it up to the hotel TV." Nope. Unless I brought a wifi hotspot.
But it is occasionally cool to cast fail videos to the TV at home, since it's easier to do it from Youtube on phone than it is from youtube on Sony Youtube app on TV.
Also, since my TV does not have a microSD slot, I can cast videos from my CX-10c quadcopters from phone to TV and watch my crashes in HD! :-)
I have one of the first gen units, used more before i bought my smart tv from meh, now i honestly couldn't tell you where it even is...
I bought two of them when I saw the deal for Christmas presents thinking that I get the $20 credit for myself, but it only applies when they are set up, right? So whoever sets it up gets the credit, not the person who purchased them?
@Lister From what I understand it is tied to the Chromecast serial number... so in theory you could open them up, put them on your network, do the "get offers" while logged into your google play account, then factory reset them and re-gift them? :)
Last year they did the same promo so i bought one to set up in my parents living room so they could watch netflix and I selfishly redeemed the $20 for myself. Well as it turns out the internet wasn't fast enough to stream netflix so I returned it to bestbuy the next day and I STILL have the $20 sitting on my account.
To be clear it was comcast's fault the internet was slow. I have my own chromecast that i use daily and it works great (it's streaming pandora as i type this). I'll probably pick up a gen 2 while this promo is still going.
Has anyone done this and gotten the $20? I don't see it under offers, and that's where the site tells me to look.
@craigthom took around 24 hours for it to show up, but it eventually did... I just redeemed it. I did it via chrome on my windows machine with the googlecast extension enabled.
@thismyusername My computers aren't on the same network as the wifi, but the app shows the same offers, I think. I called support and they told me to wait up to seven days.
@craigthom It was right there on the chromecast app once it was configured. Are you looking at the offers menu in the app or the website?
@ACraigL In the app. I've got other offers there (a free rental and a lot of free trials) but no $20 credit.
@craigthom As the others have said, I'd wait a bit and see if it shows.
It was there this morning, so it can take a while.