What is Chromecast all about?
In a nutshell, Chromecast is a thumb-size media streaming device developed by Google, running on Chrome OS. It’s an HDMI dongle that needs to be connected to the HDMI port of your TV. The Chromecast lets you stream audio/video content from your Android smartphone, PC or from Apple’s iPhone / iPad using Wi-Fi network. Despite its tiny size, this media streaming device is capable of doing a lot more.
Screen Mirroring
The screen mirroring feature is pretty straightforward. As the name suggests, it allows you to mirror the screen of your smartphone or a tablet onto your HDTV wirelessly. With the help of this feature, you can use the big screen to play content stored in your smartphone or tablet. For instance, if you have a presentation or photos of your vacation that you want to show it to your family, friends or colleagues, the screen mirroring feature can come in handy.
Screen mirroring feature is supported on some Windows Phone 8.1 devices and also by Android devices running Jelly Bean 4.2.2 OS and above. In case of Windows Phone 8.1, you can go to Settings and tap on Project My Screen to start screen mirroring. Similarly, on an Android smartphone, you can go to Settings, tap on display and enable Castscreen. In some devices, such as Samsung’s mid-range and high-end smartphones, there’s a separate option called Screen Mirroring, which can be found in settings.
That’s not all; you can even use your Chrome browser installed on your PC, laptop or Mac to mirror the browser screen onto the TV. There’s a small plug-in that you need to download and enable in the Chrome browser. You can download that plug-in from here. Once that is done, you can easily cast the browser screen onto the TV where Chromecast dongle is plugged in.
DLNA Media Streaming
There are times when you have songs, movies and music videos on your smartphone and you wish you could play on your TV. If your TV supports USB media playback, you can copy the contents to a USB flash drive and then play on big screen. While, this can be time consuming and a little irritating, DLNA feature comes in handy. Here’s
With the help of DLNA, you can wirelessly stream music and movies from your compatible smartphone on to your TV. Some top end Android smartphones have DLNA apps preinstalled, whereas for other devices, you can download BubbleUPnP from the Play Store. The app is easy to use and also connecting to a device that supports Wi-Fi Direct or DLNA is pretty simple. There are many other free options available.
Running apps
One of the best things about Google Chromecast is its support for Android apps. While not all Android apps are supported, a handful of important ones are. Google is also working with a lot of developers and trying to encourage them to add more apps to the list. As of now, TuneIn Radio, DailyMotion, Twitch, Plex for Android, YouTube, Ted, Google+, Google Play Music and Eros Now are some of the apps and services available to download for Chromecast. It improves the capability of the device from just its basic features.
Google Play Movies
With Chromecast support for Google Play Movies, you can now buy or rent your favourite movies from Google’s video on demand service and watch them anytime you want. Here’s a demo video on how to cast Google Play Movies to your Chromecast device
Play Games
Chromecast also supports a handful of Android games that you can play on your big screen. The way this feature works is by using your Android device as a controller. There are games specifically designed for Chromecast which you can download from here or you can search for Chromecast Games on Google’s Play Store. They are free to download, install and use.
Control your TV with a smartphone (HDMI-CEC)
Most of the recent HDTVs come with an HDMI-CEC feature. This feature communicates with the Chromecast dongle and allows your smartphone to turn the TV on and off. Remember to check if your TV supports this feature. You can even use your smartphone to control the volume, fast forward and rewind the video that is being played.
Custom ROMs
While rooting and flashing around the device isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, for those who like to tinker around, there’s an option to root the device and install a custom ROM. These ROMs add many more features to the product and let you do much more. You can go on XDA Developer Forums to look for the available ROMs and mods. There, you’ll also find the available downloads and rooting instructions. While rooting gives you an option to take your device to next level and unlocking some of the factory locked features, we wouldn’t recommend doing that. Rooting the device not only voids its warranty, but also increases the chances of it getting permanently bricked if something goes wrong. Only if you have sound knowledge of what you are doing and ready to take the risk, go ahead and install a custom ROM.
Conclusion
With all the above features, Google’s Chromecast is a no-frills media streaming device. It’s highly portable, easy to carry and available at the very affordable cost. You can buy Google’s Chromecast from any of the Reliance Digital outlets just for Rs. 2,999*. If you’re still confused about the practical use of Google’s Chromecast, our experienced and knowledgeable store staff will be happy to help you.
