Chromecast

[MojoJojo]

Why don't you try it and see?

[Beagle 2]

Because it's buried under about fourteen tons of stuff that we piled up in one room, and I'm not entirely sure which box I put it in! Just wondered if anybody knew offhand before I tried to find it.

[Johnny Textface]

No it needs WiFi to transmit.

[Koant]

WiFi should work, it's only local. But you'll only be able to talk to your chromecast. You'll obviously need internet (for example from your phone) for streaming iPlayer etc.. You should be able to play local files though, from VLC for example. I haven't tried that yet though.

[olliebean]

It is legal to stream but not download apparently? I dunno..

Well, OK, but it obviously isn't and if they're claiming it is they're lying, but thanks for the link anyway - not that I'd ever dream of using such an obviously illegal albeit useful thing, of course, or suggest that anyone else did...

[Paaaaul]

Free copy of the first X-Men film available if you check your Offers page.

[Paaaaul]

£15.00 free Google Play credit now available on the Offers page. Great investment.

[mook]

anyone know if it's possible to stream podcasts (from podbay) from my phone via chromecast to t'big telly? you know just using the telly as a set of effing speakers like!

[Johnny Textface]

You got plex?

[mook]

You got plex?

nope!... just having a read up on it now. thanks.

[biggytitbo]

£15.00 free Google Play credit now available on the Offers page. Great investment.

Can't see no £15 free google play credit on my offers page :(

[Paaaaul]

Can't see no £15 free google play credit on my offers page :(

It was supposed to be for anyone who registered their Chromecast after 1st December. I got mine about 6 weeks ago, but still got the credit. I didn't realise it wasn't a universal offer when I posted, so soz.

[biggytitbo]

You got my hopes up then cruelly dashed them. I hate you.

[Too Many Cochranes]

anyone know if it's possible to stream podcasts (from podbay) from my phone via chromecast to t'big telly? you know just using the telly as a set of effing speakers like!

If you're talking Android then I just started using Player FM the other day. Completely free and there's a Chromecast icon built into it.

I can't test it out on the bedroom telly at the moment though (we've got a Chromecast plugged into it) because the missus is sleeping next to me and she'll go apeshit.

[BPFHAY]

Also Plex.

[Too Many Cochranes]

Yeah. I've got Plex running on my freeNAS server, which is just set up for video files at the moment. It's worth paying the £1.27 for the Android app because it looks really nice and downloads movie and episode artwork for torrented files well.

Never tried it for audio yet though.

Decoding of video files is done by the Plex plugin on the freeNAS server, too. I was a bit fucked off when I first bought the Chromecast because it wouldn't decode certain video files (possibly mkv and mp4?) but now everything's decoded on the server before being sent to the Chromecast and it hasn't refused to play anything yet.

I've just noticed Plex for Android has gone up to £3.18 on the Play store. It was definitely under £1.50 a few days ago when the missus and I both paid for it.

[olliebean]

Free copy of the first X-Men film available if you check your Offers page.

Google are being very generous atm; in addition to this, they gave me a free copy of Gravity the other day for no obvious reason, and a free copy of Sherlock Holmes today for Christmas. (I don't think either of those were Chromecast-related, though.)

[Paaaaul]

Yeah,I got Sherlock Holmes, but didn't qualify for Gravity for some reason.

[olliebean]

Just discovered that using the built-in screencasting in Android Lollipop, I can cast not just video, but also Spotify (and presumably any other audio playing app that doesn't support it natively) to my Chromecast. The audio keeps casting when the screen is turned off. It has a bit of a stutter every few minutes, but it's a lot better than nothing. Unfortunately it's a bit battery hungry, but you can't have everything I suppose.

[Too Many Cochranes]

I've used ES File Explorer as my phones default file manager for ages now. It's got loads of extra functionality than a standard file browser and a completely free ace bit of software.

Since getting a Chromecast I was pleasantly surprised there's an ES Chromecast plugin too, which allows you to play audio files from your phone straight to TV. It's a pretty no frills basic presentation on the screen but it does the job.

I'm not sure if it'll work with Spotify (probably not), but for those with older phones running Jellybean or KitKat it's worth installing for the file manager alone.

[kngen]

Chromecast plus Plex plus giant network hard drive is bloody wonderful (my Xmas presents to myself). But I can't get iPlayer to work. The solution, as far as I can see, is not having your DNS settings on automatic. But as I'm overseas and using either UnBlock US or ZenMate to get round the region thing, this doesn't seem to help. Any other ex-pat Chromecast users got any tips?

[olliebean]

Chromecast is awkward with DNS, it has Google's DNS servers hardcoded into it and will only use the router's settings for DNS if Google's DNS can't be reached. So in addition to setting up your router to use Unblock-US or whatever for DNS, you also have to set it up (if you can) to block Google's DNS. The easiest way is if you have a router with access control, just set up rules to prevent the Chromecast from accessing 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. If not you have to set up static routes to redirect each of those addresses back to the router, which blocks them from everything and as a side effect means Netflix won't work on Android.

[kngen]

oof, sounds like a right pain, esp when I use Netflix on my phone a fair bit, too. Ah well, will just stick to HDMI-ing my laptop to the TV once a week when the missus wants to watch Waterloo Road[nb]inexplicable, i know![/nb]

[Gurke and Hare]

This is the site that Chromecast was made for.

[Repeater]

Are these easy enough to use? Ideally, I'd stream stuff from laptop to telly. I've never used one of these wee fellas, is it worth getting the 2017 version (35), or would it be just as worthwhile getting the cheaper 2015 version? Cheers.

[Beagle 2]

Yes, they're a piece of piss to use. Get the new one, I tried to use my 2015 one recently and it wouldn't connect to the app I was trying to use, whereas the new one worked fine. Just may as well, they're cheap enough.

[biggytitbo]

These come built into some new tellys now, plus the facility to cast is now baked into chrome without needing the extension.