I had my Google Chromecast delivered from a local supplier last night, and thought that I would write a quick post on my experiences so far.
Seeing as though I have already had a large number of requests as to where I got it, I will answer that question first. I bought it from Takealot.com on the following URL http://www.takealot.com/tv-audio-video/google-chromecast-hdmi-streaming-media-player,29924636
Right, so the first thing that you need to do is plug the chromecast into a free HDMI port on your TV. Great. Easy enough. The box comes with an external power adapter as well as a USB adapter to power the device, but the external power plug is a US plug. Oops. Useless. USB power it is then! I would have liked to use the external power, simply for the fact that the TV does not have to be on for me to queue up online videos to the device, but alas, unless you are willing to screw around with clumsy power adapters and transformers, forget about it. The USB cable plugged into one of the TV USB slots and powered up the device without issue.
You are presented with a beautiful wallpaper and a device name, with the instruction to go and finish setup by connecting to your new Chromecast with an Android device or a laptop.
I tried to complete setup immediately with my Samsung Galaxy S4, having to download the Chromecast app from the Play store beforehand, which failed. I then tried to set up using my laptop computer, and was told by Google that I was using an unsupported OS (Linux), but I could try anyway. That failed too. Hum…
I then had a bit of an idea, and checked that uPnP was enabled on my (admittedly very old) wifi router, and enabled that. It would have been nice if that little caveat was covered in the intro screen, but it wasn’t. I use MAC address filtering to limit wifi access at home to specific devices, and one thing that I really did appreciate is that the Chromecast device displayed its MAC address on the setup page by default.
The setup, once started, becomes somewhat fiddly. My S4 has decided that a wifi connection is unworthy if it cannot reach the internet, and this was a big problem in completing the setup. I resorted to my laptop again, and managed to get through the steps after having to (confusingly) change wifi networks mid way to properly configure the device.
The device will not connect properly to anything but a 2.4GHz wifi network, so keep that in mind too.
I did have to do each of the steps a couple of times in order for the device to recognise my network and install itself properly, but once that was done, it was pretty plain sailing thereafter.
I immediately was able to stream a YouTube video to the TV in full HD without a glitch. The coolest part was that in the Chrome browser, I installed the Chromecast extension and was able to share not only a specific browser tab to the TV, but also my entire screen. There was some noticeable lag (about 500ms) when playing Kerbal Space Program via the network, but for a very graphics intensive app, and on a not-so-great wifi router, it was rather impressive (and still completely playable).
The apps that Google use to sell you the Chromecast (Netflix, Hulu etc.) are great, but not available in South Africa. Sure, I know that you can get a Netflix account (illegally) by spoofing a DNS service to make it look like you are in the US or UK, but the Chromecast has a trick up its sleeve. Google DNS services are hard coded into the device, so, even with a service like that, you would still need some trickery to get it right.
On the other hand, however, DStv BoxOffice works beautifully via a Chrome browser window, and you are able to enjoy the entire Online catalogue at R30 a movie, even if you are not a subscriber! To me, that is well worth the purchase price, as you are not entitled to pay a subscription, and you can rent when you want to. It is way cheaper for a family to grab a BoxOffice movie in this manner than it is to go to the cinema!
Overall, I think that the device is well worth getting (if you don’t already have an XBMC device or similar), although the price could come down a little in my opinion. There is a LOT of potential here, and I do think that we are only seeing the beginnings of something here for TV viewing.
The ultimate best awesome crazy cool killer feature of this device, though completely undocumented, is for people that do a lot of presentations. If you are a regular speaker, you will know that fiddling with projectors and screens on your laptop can quickly become a nightmare. I would suggest getting one of these things to pop into your laptop bag, and carry around with you. When you need to give a talk, simply plug it in and cast your presentation, saving a lot of time and stress!
I don’t normally do reviews like this, so I don’t really know how to end it off, but, yeah, get one of these things, they are OK tending towards good. In the future, depending on the climate, they may be awesome.