is google\'s chromecast the future of television?
Google\'s Chromecast does not do much.
But what does it do, it has been doing well all the time and it is very cheap, so it quickly became a major part of my media --
Look at the routine
A little USB Chromecaststick-
Netflix, YouTube and other sites go to your TV. (
Wait, isn\'t Netflix and YouTube also a website?
Yes, but we will get a technical difference in a minute. )
In addition, Chromecast is fast, very easy to set up and very simple to use.
This is £ 30, which makes it one of the best value ever in technology.
It is irresistible to combine all this.
In the five days I have it, Chromecast has become my first choice
Make way for streaming on my TV.
British stores are expected to open before Christmas.
That\'s not to say that I\'m already lacking the way video streaming is done-my TV, DVD player and Xbox all have Netflix and YouTube apps that are very easy to use.
But Chromecast is simpler, faster, and more intuitive than any one.
It usually takes four or five steps for other methods to set up streaming.
First you have to turn on the TV, select the correct input, turn on the secondary, load the app, find a show, and press play.
It takes a minute or two if your set
The Top box is really slow and may be a lot slower.
Chromecast eliminates several of these steps and it makes the others faster.
In this way, Chromecast is similar to other small digital devices
Especially Roku (from £49. 99)
And 99 Apple TV (
Although I will discuss some important differences below).
With Chromecast, you can turn on the TV.
Then you fly the net (
Or YouTube or Chrome)
On any other handy machine-it can be a PC, a phone or a tablet, or anything you lie down on.
Navigating and typing on these devices is much faster than on your device --
So you will find your show faster.
Then press play.
On many TVs you don\'t even need to change the input of the TV-Chromecast will do it for you. (
Depending on how you set up Chromecast, that is, if you plug its power cord into an external AC adapter instead of a USB slot for the TV, you may not even need to turn the TV on at all;
Chromecast can also help you with this. )
So, anyway, press play once you find your show.
Like black magic, your video will appear on your TV.
Does this sound complicated? It\'s not.
Once you have it installed, Chromecast becomes a natural extension of all the devices in your home.
When you watch something on almost any machine, you can immediately transfer it to your TV without any further consideration.
It\'s only £ 30 and it\'s a big deal.
Now, let me briefly mention a subtle but important technical limitation on how Chromecast works.
The device transmits video in two ways-either directly from a service like Netflix over the Internet or from a Chrome browser on your own computer.
The first of these methods is a better one-since the video comes directly from Netflix, your phone or PC only acts as a remote control and you can turn it off after you start watching the video.
The downside is that only YouTube, Netflix and Google Play currently support this direct streaming method.
Chromecast also allows you to stream any content that is open in the Chrome tab to your TV.
Technically, this means that you can play any web video service on Chromecas or even on Bittorrent-
Ed video you drag into Chrome.
All you do is play the video on your laptop with Chrome and press the button to stream to your Chromecast.
But this way of streaming out of Chrome tab is a bit like a hack.
Because the video you play like this is transmitted directly from your computer to your Chromecast, they ask your machine to be on, and their quality is often lower than the quality you transmit from services such as Netflix.
I can already hear the booing from Apple\'s supporters about me because they didn\'t mention the bigger charm of the company\'s setup --
Apple TV set-top box.
They\'re right. In some ways, Chromecast is not as good as Apple TV.
Apple TV plays a lot more video service than you can see on Chromecast.
Apple TV also allows \"mirroring\" from Apple devices, which means you can send anything on your iPad to your TV.
In the meantime, Chromecast only allows you to mirror the Chrome tab from your PC instead of your mobile device.
So if you have a bunch of photos in Picasa on your Mac, you won\'t be able to stream slides to Chromecast as you would with Apple TV.
But if your photos are on the Flickr-ie the web, you can watch them on the Chromecast (
And Apple TV).
But Apple TV also has its drawbacks.
First, it only works on Apple\'s mobile devices.
If your home has multiple machines running different operating systems-if you have an Android phone and an Apple tablet-then the Apple TV may not be for you.
Apple TV also costs 99.
You can buy almost chrome-plated items for the price of an Apple TV.
If you have several TVs in your home, then Chromecast is obviously a better option.
Also, some restrictions on Chromecast are temporary.
Google has released the API for the device, a way for developers to let their services flow directly to the device, and several companies are reportedly starting to adopt it.
I suspect that soon, most of the services on Apple TV and Xbox will also run on Chromecast. (
One very surprising thing about Netflix and YouTube support for Chromecast is that I don\'t have to update their app on my phone to get it-the Chromecast button is just on each device.
In other video services you use, please note this. )
In some ways, however, the most important thing about Chromecast is not what it does.
This is the cost of it.
By setting profit-
Google\'s free low price on Chromecast shows that it doesn\'t want to make a lot of money on the device.
Instead, it aims to be everywhere.
Everywhere, itself, will improve Chrome.
I don\'t have any internal information, but if I\'m bold enough to guess, I think the ideal scenario for Google for Chromecast is like this: 1)
Many people buy this equipment. 2)
Many media companies are beginning to support the device. 3)
The dongle is gone-given the popularity and low price of the device, TV companies are starting to build the Chromecast protocol in their TV.
In other words, Chromecast becomes accurate.
Every video turned into Google TV.
In these three steps, Apple, Microsoft and Roku have already made the first two.
But none of them can get to the third step because all of their business models depend on selling equipment for profit.
No Google.
Instead, Google is interested in capturing the ecosystem-once every TV is Google TV, the company will figure out how to make money from it.
Will that happen?
I think this is a good opportunity.
For now, though, enjoy Google\'s generosity.
Buy a chrome platedIt\'s cheap. You\'ll love it.