Chromecast review
As you most probably have heard, Google’s Chromecast made it on this side of the Atlantic. I was looking forward to it because it was promised to be quite good. It would turn any TV to a Smart TV. It would have BBC iPlayer, Netflix, YouTube, and other TV and streaming services. I was actually hoping that by the time they would launch it, it would have ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 on demand and a handful of video streaming services.
I didn’t rush out to buy it on the day it was launched but I got it of Amazon as a part of an order with multiple items for another project. So, it took me a couple of days or so to connect it to my TV and test it. I registered with Netflix for a free 30 day trial and watched a few movies. I also watched a couple of YouTube videos and used a Chrome extension that broadcasts to Chromecast whatever is on the Chrome tab you had open.
Netflix has some audio-video sync problems from time to time. YouTube is jerky at high resolutions and any video through the Chrome extension is slightly jerky, too. I prefer having something like the Chromecast rather than connecting a laptop or PC to my TV. Chromecast gives you Dolby 5.1 sound and different audio channels if they are available. The audio from the laptop will have to come out of the mini-jack unless you have a sound card with digital out and a TV or an AV-Receiver with a digital input. Unless 2-channel audio is your thing. Personally I like my movies in HD and 5.1 audio.
Verdict
Chromecast is good but it needs more apps. Hopefully, Google, will publish an API or SDK and content providers will pick it up and create apps that can work with it. For £30 it’s not really expensive and for this sort of money it’s good at what it does. Is it worth buying? If you don’t have another similar device (media player, Roku, Apple TV) or if you really need to use a service that Chromecast covers, then, yes.