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I am not really sure to be honest why I needed one, except my husband kept going on and on how fabulous they were.
So I took the plunge when it was Amazon prime week, and got the promotion. The cost at the time was £33.32, however had a £10 voucher, so added it. So the final costing £29.98. The price has gone back to the original and current cost of £58.78.
So basically the Chromecast is a dongle that fits either at the side of your TV or the back, depending on the model.
Arrived the next day with Prime, and to be honest wasn’t in a good place to get excited because all these type things come to me to sort with passwords etc as I am the one that knows them all.
I left it a day, and felt much better the next day. I need not have worried, apart from putting the dongle in the Hisense TV, I just followed the instructions. One thing that always happens to me, same with “Alexa” takes an age for the wifi to connect. The initial set up was easy, remember to download the app on your phone so you can cast to the TV. Everything was fine and eventually worked well after twenty minutes for a decent signal from my wifi to connect, tried re-booting the signal, plug in and out etc. Eventually worked. I do get this issue with everything that needs to be synced. I had the same issue when on Virgin BB, now the same with the new provider. Maybe walls etc to close to the hub, I am not sure, but anyway, the main thing I got it up and running.
We have just had our Pagan wedding review and had a stack of photos and my husband thought you could just cast from my phone and magically will appear on screen, well if it does, I have yet to suss that one out. According to Google, I have to download Google photo app to show on screen. So I downloaded the app, but in truth not looked on the TV as yet.
Unlike Netflix which I can watch in any room, the Chromecast only works on one TV at a time, so although everything comes through my TV in my downstairs bedroom, I would need to remove the dongle into the living room.
One thing I wasn’t happy about, the dongle overlaps two ports on the back back of my TV. My TV size in the bedroom is 43-46”. The dongle is big, and because of this and the overlapping of the port, I had to remove my NOW TV stick. So not happy about that. Why such a big dongle, some ports from different makes of TV maybe fine.
Another beef I have on the white control panel. So a scenic for you as I did it. I was watching for the umpteenth time Vikings, I got it ready and got in bed to watch with my husband. I clicked play, and it went back to the beginning of season one. Same with anything I watch, if I pause a film and press the button it goes off and I have to redo the lot again, this is a pain, as a program with a lot of seasons is a nightmare as it just will not pause and start in the same place. If I say paused to go for a toilet break, then hit play, it comes on fine, but leaving more than five minutes, the screensaver comes on and all lost, so basically I do not bother setting anything up if I am going to be a while.
I feel although the white control feels nice in the hand, there just isn’t enough to work with.
Now for the actual streaming, majority of what we have watched is pretty good, maybe because I have ultra 4K not sure, but going from Netflix to say you tube is very fast, better than using Netflix from the TV.
The volume on the side of the control doesn’t work unless you set it up correctly, go up to at least 80. Not that you will need it that loud, but I find it useful when watching old films that are not good quality.
Chromecast hasn’t got many apps at all, and certain ones to use need a subscription. I would have thought Now TV would be on there, but it isn’t, so that makes a mockery of having all the apps in one place.
Google do need to change the Chromecast, it is a bit behind some of the leaders. Firstly it is quite costly if other people want to watch their own device, the Chromecast isn’t multifunctional with all family members, only one.
Not all channels from your TV will show on Chromecast. For example channel 4 etc. So you may have to source it from free view or freesat etc.
There are a lot of you tube videos that actually are pretty good if you wanted to get the best out of it.
It is nice to have just the one control
So I have gone through some basics, some maybe irrelevant, some maybe useful, I am still learning.
I do like the colour of the control and the Google assist works well
I am getting used to just one control instead of three, so that’s a bonus.
It is a useful device, and I do use the Chromecast everyday,
I have given 4* because there are more apps that should and could be included, and that being said, free apps..
If you have a standard definition TV, maybe more advantageous having ultra HD or similar.
Amazon works well and Netflix.
I would only buy the Chromecast when on offer, I got a good price, so quite happy.
