Chromecast - A new device form Google for enabling your TV screens for online streaming. At 35$ a piece it was too hard to resist 
, so I ordered one through Amazon and friend of mine brought it over from US. Now its available for shipping to India on eBay, but it costs almost twice.
So after playing around with it for few days, here is my review.
Short Summary: The best YouTube experience on your TV.
Detailed review: The installation is breeze. You just hook it up to any available HDMI port and start the configuration. You can configure it using any Smartphone(Android and iPhone), tablet or simply via browser. Make sure the device is on the same wifi network. It detects the device and lets you name it. There is a chromecast app that is sort of a catalog to all the apps that support c-cast like YouTube, Netflix and Hulu. You can also stream or cast(as google calls it) your chrome browser window also, which means anything that can play in Chrome can be sent to the TV. Here is my experience with each of these.
YouTube: Its Googles baby and they know how to play it best. I have played YouTube through various devices like Xtreamer, WD and XBMC based HTPC but this was the best experience playing YouTube so far. Casting videos is a breeze. Good thing is that it doesnt stream from you device, C-Cast talks to the YouTube server directly freeing up your device. So you can use any other application like checking mails or making calls without disrupting the video on TV. Your device acts as a remote only. You can also queue various videos for playing-on-TV in case you want to create a playlist of sorts. There is no way to specify the video quality but it switches to best resolution based on available bandwidth. I also tried in on my 60? projector (via AVR) and I could see 1080p level of quality(since there was no sure way to check) on my 8 mbps connection. Using the latest YouTube app, browsing videos and queuing is very easy and seamless, even on a mobile device.
Netflix/HULU: Yes, you can use these services in India using DNS services like un-Block etc. I was not able to cast Netflix on TV using C-cast. Netflix played fine on my phone and computer which confirm that DNS is working fine but when I send it to TV/Projcetor it is stuck with the loading sign. Same with Hulu- I could play it on any device but when I send it to TV/C-cast it says its not available outside US which is weird. This means when C-cast is contacting Netflix/Hulu directly its not passing the location test. Which means it cannot be used in India for these services using DNS solutions.
Casting via Chrome browser: You need to install a browser plugin to enable this. Once its installed, you can easily cast/send the browser tab to TV. It worked fine with text and images but casting video was not stable, it kept crashing. No wonder they have marked it Beta as of now.
Google Music/Video: You need to buy music/movies to cast them. It did not let me cast my local media(music/video).
My final take: You cannot do much other than watch YouTube. Though Google has said it expects more apps soon but seems like as of now only YouTube is usable in India. With 35$ (around 2100 Rs) price tag and given its smooth YouTube experience its worth buying for YouTube alone.
, so I ordered one through Amazon and friend of mine brought it over from US. Now its available for shipping to India on eBay, but it costs almost twice.So after playing around with it for few days, here is my review.
Short Summary: The best YouTube experience on your TV.
Detailed review: The installation is breeze. You just hook it up to any available HDMI port and start the configuration. You can configure it using any Smartphone(Android and iPhone), tablet or simply via browser. Make sure the device is on the same wifi network. It detects the device and lets you name it. There is a chromecast app that is sort of a catalog to all the apps that support c-cast like YouTube, Netflix and Hulu. You can also stream or cast(as google calls it) your chrome browser window also, which means anything that can play in Chrome can be sent to the TV. Here is my experience with each of these.
YouTube: Its Googles baby and they know how to play it best. I have played YouTube through various devices like Xtreamer, WD and XBMC based HTPC but this was the best experience playing YouTube so far. Casting videos is a breeze. Good thing is that it doesnt stream from you device, C-Cast talks to the YouTube server directly freeing up your device. So you can use any other application like checking mails or making calls without disrupting the video on TV. Your device acts as a remote only. You can also queue various videos for playing-on-TV in case you want to create a playlist of sorts. There is no way to specify the video quality but it switches to best resolution based on available bandwidth. I also tried in on my 60? projector (via AVR) and I could see 1080p level of quality(since there was no sure way to check) on my 8 mbps connection. Using the latest YouTube app, browsing videos and queuing is very easy and seamless, even on a mobile device.
Netflix/HULU: Yes, you can use these services in India using DNS services like un-Block etc. I was not able to cast Netflix on TV using C-cast. Netflix played fine on my phone and computer which confirm that DNS is working fine but when I send it to TV/Projcetor it is stuck with the loading sign. Same with Hulu- I could play it on any device but when I send it to TV/C-cast it says its not available outside US which is weird. This means when C-cast is contacting Netflix/Hulu directly its not passing the location test. Which means it cannot be used in India for these services using DNS solutions.
Casting via Chrome browser: You need to install a browser plugin to enable this. Once its installed, you can easily cast/send the browser tab to TV. It worked fine with text and images but casting video was not stable, it kept crashing. No wonder they have marked it Beta as of now.
Google Music/Video: You need to buy music/movies to cast them. It did not let me cast my local media(music/video).
My final take: You cannot do much other than watch YouTube. Though Google has said it expects more apps soon but seems like as of now only YouTube is usable in India. With 35$ (around 2100 Rs) price tag and given its smooth YouTube experience its worth buying for YouTube alone.
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