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Mirror Your Android Screen to the TV with Chromecast

89 points| prashantv | 11 years ago |chrome.blogspot.com

68 comments

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sandesh247|11 years ago

This is much smoother than I thought it would be. Even full screen youtube videos seem to have a passable framerate. Too bad the audio doesn't work.

Edit: Yep, restarting did the trick. Have media apps without Chromecast support suddenly become Chromecast capable? This is pretty awesome.

Edit 2: Why yes, yes they have! Now if only I could stream audio only ...

matt_heimer|11 years ago

Audio works, just restart your Chromecast and device.

notatoad|11 years ago

full screen youtube videos work pretty well with the cast button in the youtube app, no?

kayoone|11 years ago

Both my TV and my HTC One have Miracast support so i had this working a couple of months ago, making the connection is very unreliable though, so i hope the Chromecast can improve this.

A general thing is that as more and more devices become "smart" in terms of features and protocols etc, it becomes more and more apparent to me how bad the software is on many of these devices. My TV and my router are just some recent examples of buggy firmwares on top of very good hardware. The router supports lots of features like DLNA and VPN which can hardly be called stable and the interface and usability is really dated. Hardware and performance (Netgear R7000 Gigabit Wifi Router) is pretty awesome though.

fredsted|11 years ago

I think there's a huge startup opportunity somewhere in building reliable, stable router software with a slick webinterface built in Bootstrap (without framesets).

Of course, there's the Apple Airports that have excellent stability and UI, and while I have one and far better than any router I've owned, it doesn't do stuff like VPN.

fenomas|11 years ago

Will this let me broadcast my device screen to my laptop, asked everyone who's ever given a presentation on Android app development ever?

(serious question)

vidarh|11 years ago

If your device is rooted, there's a number of VNC servers that'll let you do that.

hughdbrown|11 years ago

Now if ChromeCast would only reliably work with my Linux machines.

Pawka|11 years ago

I've tried ChromeCast with my Ubuntu. It works perfectly. Even screen mirroring, while friends on OS X had problems with it. Just check for Chrome extension.

jfoster|11 years ago

What problem are you facing? Have you tried the Google Cast Chrome Extension? https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-cast/boadge...

My Chromecast doesn't work too great due to my router, but I'm hopeful that it will once they release the feature that removes the need for the Chromecast and casting device to be on the same network.

izacus|11 years ago

Chromecast DOES work reliably on Linux.

It DOES NOT however not work on bad wifis and networks. Verify you your router configuration (there's tons of routers that block multicast over Wifi by default which doesn't work well with Chromecast) and wifi network quality.

jahmed|11 years ago

Seriously this is awesome. Its magical. No wires no configuration. I just got home, tried it, and it worked.

rahimnathwani|11 years ago

I bought a Moto E, and am running the stock firmware (Android 4.4.3).

I can't use Google Cardboard because the device doesn't have the sensors to detect movement or the magnetic 'tap'.

I can't use GoShow (which seems to be the most popular app for watching 3D video) because it crashes.

Today I finally had a reason to buy a Chromecast, until I saw no Moto devices are on the list of supported devices.

:(

NicoJuicy|11 years ago

You bought a smartphone of 130 $, so you have a low-end phone.

Want a smartphone, buy whatever you want. Want a decent one, spend more then 299 $ ( current situation / most cases ).

I come accross enough discussions, where someone bought the cheapest smartphone and always wants the latest features. Just didn't think it would be here also...

microtonal|11 years ago

[1] says that support for other devices is coming soon. Given that Motorola is at the moment still Google, runs nearly vanilla Android, and is usually quick to get new features, I wouldn't be surprised if at least the Moto G and X get this soon as well.

The Moto E is really a low-end device, with a relatively weak CPU, so I wouldn't expect too much at all. Of course, having a Chromecast is still great for apps that support Chromecast.

[1] https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/6059461

GotAnyMegadeth|11 years ago

I just downloaded it for Moto X, haven't tried it yet though

tone|11 years ago

Does it bring up a phone and display apps as they would appear on a phone? Or do you just get a fullscreen, list of apps etc? I just basically want a bigger, 1 to 1 direct display of my phone on the screen for demonstrating and testing apps. Anyone know if this is possible with Chromecast?

SixSigma|11 years ago

I use a £15 thing I got from eBay that does Miracast and DNLA and outputs HDMI, the phone/tablet sends over WiFi.

It is a direct mirror of the screen scaled up.

The Chromecast is twice the price.

I use mainly it to watch YouTube stuff with my gran when I visit her.

lelandbatey|11 years ago

The use cases they list (images and google maps) are great for static or slow loading sources. Does this work for video? Can I stream video that's playing on my phone to the Chromecast and have it look decent? Because that'd be amazing and I would be extremely happy!

mikeryan|11 years ago

I doubt it.

I've not yet seen a consumer device were video rendering is done on one device then displayed wirelessly on another that works well at all. (Note, most Chromcast apps - Netflix etc) just tell the Chromecast what to play and it does the rendering.

someperson|11 years ago

I wish Galaxy Nexus was supported!

KitKat really should have been released for the device before official support was discontinued. I kind of feel fleeced given it was a flagship Nexus device (for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich!)

jrockway|11 years ago

I believe there were a couple problems; the SoC manufacturer getting out of the SoC business (TI) made driver development difficult, and the fact that the image didn't fit in the Galaxy Nexus's flash anyway.

Though it does appear that CynaogenMod eventually ported ICS, so I could be wrong.

segmondy|11 years ago

Reminds me of www.tinystic.com ,Tinystic promises to deliver the same thing and allow you to use your phone as a computer, video game, movie playing device, etc.

nospecinterests|11 years ago

Well that kinda takes the wind out of the sails of the cyanogenmod peeps. I wonder what the quality is. Anyone know if it will have decent frame rates?

kelnos|11 years ago

I'm confused... this feature has been available in CM11 nightlies for at least a month now (Nexus 4 here).

Frame rate seems good enough for YouTube, though audio stopped working (didn't get sent to the ChromeCast, and wouldn't play on the device either) while the video was playing.

sreyaNotfilc|11 years ago

Time to bring out those NES emulators and Wiimotes again!

matt_heimer|11 years ago

There is a slight lag with Chromecast mirroring. A HDMI adapter (MHL/Slimport/etc) with a wireless controller (I use a PS3 controller) is still going to be a better option.

ericflo|11 years ago

I wonder why HTC One M7 is supported but not M8.

nnutter|11 years ago

"these things came to iOS two, maybe three years ago"

Too|11 years ago

Android has had it for quite some time also if you have a smart tv with dlna support(most of the newer ones). What's new is the support in chromecast. Does the ios solution work with any smart tv or do you need an airplay?

chambo622|11 years ago

Android has had Miracast support (with display mirroring) for a while now...just nobody used it. Chromecast is/has the potential to be a much more widely used and supported protocol.

NicoJuicy|11 years ago

Chromecast is not Android.... It's like Apple TV but cheaper and crossplatform (Windows, Android, iOS )