Google’s Chromecast Is Magical, But Not Without Issues

Google’s Chromecast bills itself on the box as “the easiest way to watch online video on your TV.”

Google’s Chromecast bills itself on the box as “the easiest way to watch online video on your TV.”

Following in the footsteps of Google TV and the company’s never-released Nexus Q from last year, the easy-to-connect dongle represents Google’s latest attempt to takeover your living room.

Will it be successful? The device faces tough competition from a number of other connected devices ranging from the Apple TV to Roku. After the announcement event Wednesday Google gave us a review unit of the device to try out at home. What we found was while the dongle was easy to use and set up, it isn’t quite perfect.

Getting Connected

In order for Chromecast to work the device needs to be connected to an open HDMI port on the back of your television, a power source and your home’s Wi-Fi network. Easy enough.

For me, my first challenge arrived when it came to power. Chromecast comes with a microUSB cable, but the cable wasn’t quite long enough to reach from the back of our television to the power strip on the floor below. The cable is fairly standard in length, but it has to make it all the way from the top of our 40-inch TV to the floor, a feat that none of our other connected devices have to accomplish, and one that the Chromecast fell a little short on.

For the purpose of my review, I repurposed another power strip in our home to bring the power a little closer, but long-term I’m going to have to invest in a USB extender if we want to keep Chromecast connected all the time.

If your power source is behind your television, then you shouldn’t have an issue. Some newer TVs have USB connections on the back that could be used to power Chromecast as well. Unfortunately, my television just doesn’t happen to be one of them.

Beyond the power issue, getting the device connected to our television was pretty plug and play, and without the power snafu would have taken less than a minute.

It Just Works

Once I had Chromecast connected to my television and power, my TV automatically turned on and displayed a set up screen for the device. Pretty cool. No need to determine what HDMI port I had actually connected it to, or navigate through different menus. It just works.

After I had Chromecast physically connected it was time to connect it to my wireless network, a slightly more complicated process that involves downloading an app from the web, and going through a short step-by-step connection tutorial. The process can either be done on your computer or through an Android app.

I was done in about 5 minutes, and ready to play.

Not Without Its Issues

Google billed Chromecast as an easy way for everyone in your household to control what’s on your television. Movies started on your Nexus 7 should be able to be stopped by your iPad. Someone on an iPhone nearby should be able to add a video to the queue to be watched next and everyone should have control of the volume.

I ran into a lot of issues actually making that a reality.

On both my Nexus 7 and iPad mini Chromecast had issues detecting both when I played a video and when I tried to pause it. Getting videos to play using both devices took pressing the button several times before it would register on Chromecast, and often it simply wouldn’t register at all. At one point I tried to switch the video playing using my iPad mini, and the app went into a thinking mode for over 20 minutes, causing me to have to force quit it in order to try again. Not exactly seamless.

My experience using YouTube wasn’t much better. The YouTube app on my iPhone didn’t always detect the Chromecast was even in my livingroom. When I did get it to work, adding videos to the TV queue was a simple proposition — you just tap “Add to TV Queue on the video itself — as was removing unwanted videos from the upcoming playlist.

All of my issues are ones that I might attribute to a bad connect to my home’s wireless network. In the same room we have an Apple TV connected to the television that has no issues playing movies or YouTube via Airplay. Speed tests on my laptop and mobile devices in the room proved that everything was not only connected to the router, but had a rather speedy connection to the web as well. These issues, whatever is causing them, are Chromecast specific.

The connection seemed to be worse when I first started using a device with Chromecast, and got slightly better over time, although still not quite perfect. Our New York office on the other hand had no issues connecting to one of their devices, or switching between different phones and tablets. On the other device in NYC, however, they did run into a handful of switching problems.

For now you’re also restricted in the type of content you can watch using Chromecast. The device is app-specific, so for now it only works with Netflix, YouTube Google Play and Music, and Chrome. A good mix, but definitely not the same selection you’ll find on some of Chromecast’s competitors. You’re also restricted to content you can stream from the cloud, so movies and videos stored locally on your device are going to be a no-go.

Bigger Than Just The Living room

While Chromecast is designed to be used on your television at home, I can see the pocket-sized device coming particularly in handy when traveling. I’m personally not a cable subscriber, and tend to watch entire seasons of shows over a week’s time, long after they’ve left the airwaves.

When I travel, which seems to be at least once a month these days, I wind up watching Netflix on my laptop or tablet rather than on the television in the hotel room. Chromecast is so small that it would be perfect to throw in my bag and take along for the ride. At the size of a USB stick, it’s not going to add any bulk to my bag, but could potentially make for a much better experience when it comes to late night Netflix watching.

The Lowdown

At $35, it’s hard not to want a Chromecast. The device is inexpensive, simple to install, and turns your television instantly into a Smart TV.

The connection issues I ran into with my device, however, made using the Chromecast also fairly frustrating. When it worked, it was magical. When it didn’t — like when I couldn’t get Netflix videos to stop — it had me desperately longing for a remote control.

Google’s Chromecast Is Magical, But Not Without Issues | The Red Elephant