Chromecast/Anycast Recommendations

[tmiranda]

I'm looking for the best way to cast video from my chromebook to my TV. My TVs have "anycast" built in, but not Chromecast. Evidentally they are not compatible and I need to get a chromecast dongle/device for my TV.

What's the best way to go? Are these devices any good or should I just use the HDMI capability of the chromebook?

As a side note, from my experience "unbundling" is way over rated. When I add up what I need to pay to watch Netflix, MotoGP, and now Star Trek, cable seems like a bargain.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

I'm looking for the best way to cast video from my chromebook to my TV. My TVs have "anycast" built in, but not Chromecast. Evidentally they are not compatible and I need to get a chromecast dongle/device for my TV.

What's the best way to go? Are these devices any good or should I just use the HDMI capability of the chromebook?

As a side note, from my experience "unbundling" is way over rated. When I add up what I need to pay to watch Netflix, MotoGP, and now Star Trek, cable seems like a bargain.

Most, if not all, Android TV boxes are also Chromecast devices. If you have MiBox ($69 at walmart) then it'll be chromecast (I think). I have the Nvidia Shield and it is for sure, since I've used it a couple times.

While you can get a chormecast for $35, I'd pay the $69 and just get a full box where the experience of Netflix, YouTube, etc, will be much better and you can possibly use it as a sagetv client (I do).

[SWKerr]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

I'm looking for the best way to cast video from my chromebook to my TV. My TVs have "anycast" built in, but not Chromecast. Evidentally they are not compatible and I need to get a chromecast dongle/device for my TV.

What's the best way to go? Are these devices any good or should I just use the HDMI capability of the chromebook?

As a side note, from my experience "unbundling" is way over rated. When I add up what I need to pay to watch Netflix, MotoGP, and now Star Trek, cable seems like a bargain.

Although I am not a huge fan of the MiBox because of the remote it does have Chromecast support built in. In addition you will probably have an app for anything you would want to stream from you Chromebook. It would give you the option to just use the remote to watch online content. I wish there was a Android TV that cost less then the Nvidia Shield and had a wired connection and a decent remote. Right now the MiBox is the only mid tier option. The Chromecast works fine as well but you are tethered to you phone, tablet of PC so not as simple as a tiny remote.

Adding up the cost of all the Online providers does not save much over traditional cable but for me it is about convenience. I got those services because they had a lot of content that I could stream when I wanted. Much of it not available anywhere else. Since I am paying for it anyway it makes it easier to walk away from Cable\Satellite.

Adding it all up:
Netflix $11
Amazon $9 (Free really since I would keep it just for free shipping)
Hulu $13 (No Adds)
HBO $15
Youtube TV $35
OTA Networks $0 (Freeish - Tuner, servers, disk space)
============
$83 a month

Still less than what I paid for DirecTV without a DVR service.

There may be a few shows I do not have immediate access to but they seem to show up eventually. Truthfully there is more good content then I can watch available.

The trend toward providers like CBS and Disney putting content in their own specific service may be a problem longer term. I suspect these may be failures unless they can add more value than they appear to have now. I am not paying CBS just for StarTrek since all the other shows are on OTA. Disney may get young parents but there non kid properties are things I could live without.

[tmiranda]

OK, I'll look at the MiBox. I don't really need an Android client because I have several spare HD300s and they are still the best Sage clients in my opinion.

[will]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

Since I am paying for it anyway it makes it easier to walk away from Cable\Satellite.

Great point.

Originally Posted by SWKerr

Adding it all up:
Netflix $11
Amazon $9 (Free really since I would keep it just for free shipping)
Hulu $13 (No Adds)
HBO $15
Youtube TV $35
OTA Networks $0 (Freeish - Tuner, servers, disk space)
============
$83 a month

Still less than what I paid for DirecTV without a DVR service.

Once you throw in Internet, like $40/$50, month you aren't saving much, if anything, compared to cable.

I have two major issues with streaming:

1. It takes a lot of work to find something good to watch (unless you know exactly what you want)
2. Shows disapear randomly

I have a Chromecast hooked into a HD-PVR. I go to channel "2000" to cast anything to my TV. It wouldn't work well for a computer as there is a 5 second lag but it works great for TV. One of the perks of doing it this way is I can signup for HBO Go for 1 month, record the entire series, cancel my subscription, and then watch the show on my timeline.

I'm looking forward to watching Star Trek on CBS but I'm going to wait until all the episodes are released, sign up for the trial and then record everything in SageTV and cancel the trial.

[will]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

OK, I'll look at the MiBox. I don't really need an Android client because I have several spare HD300s and they are still the best Sage clients in my opinion.

I've been a holdout on the Android clients because I love my HD300s as well. But I recently purchased a Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Plus as a kitchen tablet and I was really impressed with how well the Android client works. The menus were a little choppy but I think that is because I need to upgrade my server OS (which I plan to) but the video played extremely smoothly. I plan to use a Tivo bluetooth remote with the tablet - I haven't set it up yet but it should work.

When 4k content becomes the norm and I upgrade my TVs I don't think I will have any concerns with switching over to Android clients.

[SWKerr]

Originally Posted by will

Great point.

Once you throw in Internet, like $40/$50, month you aren't saving much, if anything, compared to cable.

I don't consider Internet to be an optional service. Maybe I would spend extra on more bandwidth because of streaming but internet is a requirement. I work from home at this point and spend closer to $85 a month on 300\20 service. Probably overkill but after being trapped with DSL I wanted great internet. With good internet I am now able to drop my home phone service and save $30 a month by moving to Ooma for phone service.

[SWKerr]

Originally Posted by will

Great point.



Once you throw in Internet, like $40/$50, month you aren't saving much, if anything, compared to cable.

I have two major issues with streaming:

1. It takes a lot of work to find something good to watch (unless you know exactly what you want)
2. Shows disapear randomly

I have a Chromecast hooked into a HD-PVR. I go to channel "2000" to cast anything to my TV. It wouldn't work well for a computer as there is a 5 second lag but it works great for TV. One of the perks of doing it this way is I can signup for HBO Go for 1 month, record the entire series, cancel my subscription, and then watch the show on my timeline.

I'm looking forward to watching Star Trek on CBS but I'm going to wait until all the episodes are released, sign up for the trial and then record everything in SageTV and cancel the trial.

It would be better if there was a central interface for all the services but I do not see that ever happening. As it stands I binge watch so I don't really spend a lot of time looking around for what to watch next. Show theme this week is?

I have considered just getting HBO or CBS for a month and doing a binge session on the new shows. HBO could definitely be a 2 months a year service.

I have used my HD-PVR Colossus with the Chromecast just like you are doing in the past but the metadata\renaming was a pain. I just use Playon for that now. Playon probably has a little less quality but it is easy and pretty reliable. You can also subscribe to something and it records when available. That works well for some of the options that only have the latest 4-5 episodes. Playon is not perfect but overall works pretty well.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

OK, I'll look at the MiBox. I don't really need an Android client because I have several spare HD300s and they are still the best Sage clients in my opinion.

Yeah, I get that. I have 3 HD300s (all sittingin a box right now, along with my 3 roku boxes). The Android Client is not going to work for everyone... but for me, all my content is mpeg4 ts files and it works flawlessly for me. I use 2 different units, twice a day (a Shield and a MiBox). Eventually, if I can ever find the time, I'd like to make the Android Client more usable for many others.

[will]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

Playon probably has a little less quality but it is easy and pretty reliable. You can also subscribe to something and it records when available. That works well for some of the options that only have the latest 4-5 episodes. Playon is not perfect but overall works pretty well.

I have the lifetime subscription to PlayOn but it never works reliably for me. I might have to check it out again but I feel like I test it out every 6 months and it just sometimes works. PlayOn would be a lot better than a Chromecast hooked into STV because the lack of metadata is really annoying.

It feels like there is never any silver bullets with this stuff and it is because the content providers aren't consumer focused. Maybe I should just read more books...

[SWKerr]

Originally Posted by will

I have the lifetime subscription to PlayOn but it never works reliably for me. I might have to check it out again but I feel like I test it out every 6 months and it just sometimes works. PlayOn would be a lot better than a Chromecast hooked into STV because the lack of metadata is really annoying.

It feels like there is never any silver bullets with this stuff and it is because the content providers aren't consumer focused. Maybe I should just read more books...

I have certainly had issues with Playon at times. It has actually been pretty stable lately. The whole thing never goes out. Just at times one provider or another has issues for a week or so. Since stuff does not fall off that quickly it really has not been a huge issue for me. Once recorded I can just watch it when I am ready.

[tmiranda]

I remembered that I had a Nexus Player laying around. I plugged it in and it worked like a charm.

[NetworkGuy]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

I have certainly had issues with Playon at times. It has actually been pretty stable lately. The whole thing never goes out. Just at times one provider or another has issues for a week or so. Since stuff does not fall off that quickly it really has not been a huge issue for me. Once recorded I can just watch it when I am ready.

I also have the PlayOn lifetime subscription. It is a great backup for recording anything that was missed.

I have also noticed that sometimes ono channel has a problem, I just report it and PlayOn usually fixes it within a week. (Their support is very responsive.)

One great feature is PlayOn will access Xfinity On-Demand. With On-Demand, I can access almost all of the other channels.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

It would be better if there was a central interface for all the services but I do not see that ever happening. As it stands I binge watch so I don't really spend a lot of time looking around for what to watch next. Show theme this week is?

I have considered just getting HBO or CBS for a month and doing a binge session on the new shows. HBO could definitely be a 2 months a year service.

I have used my HD-PVR Colossus with the Chromecast just like you are doing in the past but the metadata\renaming was a pain. I just use Playon for that now. Playon probably has a little less quality but it is easy and pretty reliable. You can also subscribe to something and it records when available. That works well for some of the options that only have the latest 4-5 episodes. Playon is not perfect but overall works pretty well.

Regarding the 'central interface', I find the google search on android tv does a pretty good job of finding content in the apps that support it. I wish more apps DID support it, including SageTV - but that's apparently not as easy as it sounds.