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InterviewSolution
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Solve : Chomecast, $35. MatchStick, $12.? |
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Answer» Mozilla is promising a lot of content for small cash. From the looks of it, it works like most every streaming stick. The device sounds interesting but I already have a Chromecast which I don't use since I got a Roku. The Roku cost 3X what the Chromecast did but has hundreds of apps available while the Chromecast has about 2 dozen. The Roku is a much more polished and usable product. I too bought a Chromecast for $35, and actually only used it 3x. My biggest problem with it is that it can not run stand alone, and ties up a computer to function. If I am going to have to do this, I might as well just have a HDMI cable between TV and laptop and play direct, not have to be stuck with only using the chrome browser, and able to play everything and anything to TV that the laptop can vs the limitation list. On my recent trip to Oklahoma for business travel, I was out there 3 weeks and the local TV and few cable channels in the hotel got old quickly. I was at a Walmart out there and saw in the electronics department while getting a game time card for wow a Roku1, Roku2, and Roku3 on the shelf and the Roku1 was only $35 with the others with more FEATURES for more. Looking over the features that the Roku1 had, I figured I'd pick it up. It came with everything including the batteries for the remote and so I was able to open the box and connect the power cable and RCA A/V cable and connect it to the Hotel WIFI and then able to watch shows and movies streaming and with the ease of a small remote. I am very happy with my $35 purchase of the Roku1. The other Roku2 and Roku3 had added features such as ability to watch content and listen to the audio through a headset that can plug into the remote or something like that to I guess watch content and be silent in a home etc. I didnt need the extra features and so the Roku1 was the perfect price for features that I needed. Also the Roku1 although COMES with RCA A/V cables, you can connect the Roku1 to a TV with HDMI cable and have true HD content if playing high definition videos etc. The RCA A/V was plenty for me and free since part of the original Roku1 kit. The picture quality was no different than that of the other channels on the hotel TV and clear no blur etc. The only trick I had to do though with the Roku1, was spoof the mac address by way of the netbook that I had to agree with the Hotel wireless agreement in which you needed to have a web browser interface to be able to load the ibahn web page and agree to the conditions of the free wifi. Once agreed to conditions simply change mac address on netbook back to default and power on the Roku1 and it then was able to communicate with the hotel wifi. Prior to doing this the Roku1 came up with a communication error and gave info to contact support. I knew right then and there that I needed to just spoof the mac address to get authenticated to their service to allow traffic for that mac address and then it would be all set and it was. I also love my Roku If you use the Chromecast with an Android device then it can run stand alone. I assume from what you said that you were using a Windows laptop to "cast" to the CC using the Chrome browser. If you run an app such as Netflix or Hulu from an Android phone or tablet, once you start streaming the movie to the CC, you can actually turn the Android device off without effecting the playing movie. You typically don't want to do that because the device becomes your remote that allows you to pause, play, stop, etc... HOWEVER, you can use the device to do other things such as surf the web or check email and the streaming content will not be effected.Quote I assume from what you said that you were using a Windows laptop to "cast" to the CC using the Chrome browser. Yes this is correct a Windows Laptop to Cast to the Chromecast (CC). You might as well just go without the CC and just HDMI cable direct to TV from Laptop if you need to play content from web to TV and dont have a streaming device. Before I bought this device I mis interpreted the functionality from a friend describing it at work. From how he described it, I thought that the CC worked with a Google web service online to play content through an interface similar to how you can select to add movies and shows to a queue through the provider through a computer and then shut the computer down and play the content that is sitting in the queue from the device in this case the CC. But because the CC doesnt have a remote, I thought you could tell it to start to play content and it would do this and then the computer could be used for other purposes or shut down. From reading how you used the CC with Android device, this must have been what the coworker was describing with the ability to select the play something and then the ( he said computer ), he probably meant "Tablet" could be used for other purposes while it was CASTING. I was very disappointed in how with Windows, this is not available and essentially the laptop or desktop on the home network has to cast the content to the chromecast because the CC cant run stand alone once content was started using Windows. Pretty much with a Windows computer, you might as well just connect a HDMI cable to the TV direct in the port that the Chromecast would normally be using anyways and play anything and everything vs the limited list of castable content that CC supports. I have been tempted to sell my Chromecast, but for the fact that they have you register it to your Gmail account etc. I am not sure if it could ever be transferred of ownership without turning over my Gmail account with it. If that were the case, I'd just keep it and let it collect dust on the shelf unused or save it for some day if I ever get an android device to control it with in which I have no need for iPhone etc, and just have a simple trac-phone for cell phone use and thats all. I dont have a need to be that tethered to the internet and social networking sites from everywhere I go etc, and find people texting all the time an extreme annoyance when seeing them walking with it between both HANDS and not watching where they are going such as recently at airport in Atlanta, and you have to avoid walking into them because they are a bunch of texting zombies walking around essentially. I wanted to yank the mobile devices out of their hands and yell at them to watch where they are walking when walking and sit down or stand in place somewhere stationary when texting vs walking blinding in a direction and assuming that everyone around them will simply move out of their way. |
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