Google - Chromecast Ultra 4K Streaming Media Player - Black

I have been a great fan of Chromecast since its launch a few years ago and bought three of them (two Gen 1 and one Gen 2) prior to this purchase. I use them primarily for YouTube, Google Play Video/Music, Amazon Music, and Plex Media Server (for my personal collection of FLAC audio files and home videos). Recently I started shooting videos in DCI 4K and storing edited version in HEVC (h.265) at UHD resolution. Even though I have not upgraded to an UHD TV yet - my computer monitors are UHD - I saw the need to get a Chromecast Ultra so that I can avoid transcoding HEVC to h.264 and downscaling on Plex Media Server to feed the regular Chromecast, in addition I would like to transcode my older 1080p videos to HEVC to save storage space and the regular Chromecast cannot decode HEVC. While Chromecast Ultra excels at everything else, it fails miserably with downscaling UHD videos (regardless of h.265 or h.264 CODEC) for display on a 1080p display: the videos are shown in the wrong color space. This issue is specific to UHD videos played on 1080p TVs and monitors, and it impacts only the actual video, if any info (texts, thumbnails, etc) is overlaid on top it is rendered in the right colors, but regardless of what Chromecast-compatible app is used. I reached out to Google for support. Except the original chat session the communication has been one-directional, I have sent them screenshots as well as a sample video file. A week and a half later I have not heard ANYTHING back. My use case, while not the most common, is hardly unreasonable. With that in mind I am surprised this issue was not discovered in their software QA process. I would have stuck with them to work it out, however, if they had followed up, even if a workaround is not yet available. Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is on sale this week. I bought one and it renders UHD video on FHD TVs perfectly. If you are heavily invested in video/music contents from Google Play, then Chromecast is definitely for you, which is why I still recommend the product despite my troubles; otherwise take a close look at the competition - I am glad I did. Knocking one star off for functionality, and another for the poor support experience.

The original Chromecast was a great device, allowing playback of multitudes of streaming content to whichever TV you hooked it up to. The Ultra is more of the same with a noticeable improvement in performance. I upgraded from an original Chromecast to an Ultra so I could stream 4k content on a new 4k TV and so far it's been great, even if the selection of 4k content is still somewhat sparse. It picks up connected devices quickly, loads content faster and streams more smoothly, probably thanks to the higher speed AC Wi-Fi support. If you don't have an AC capable router, the Ultra conveniently has a wired ethernet connection in the AC adapter. The only semi-downside when compared to the original is that the Ultra has a dedicated AC power adapter instead of connecting to a USB port on the TV. Since the original model was powered by the TVs USB port, it would power down whenever the connected TV was shut off. Because the Ultra has its own dedicated AC adapter, it's always on and always shows up as an available device to cast to, even if the connected TV is off. It can get somewhat annoying since I have multiple Chromecasts in my house and will accidentally connect to the Ultra instead of another Chromecast because it always shows up as an available device. The Ultra is a great option for anyone looking to stream 4k content;; if 4k isn't necessary, it's cheaper and just as convenient to pick up a standard model.

If you purchase 4K content from the Google Play store the Chromecast Ultra is one of the few devices that will allow you to stream in 4k, otherwise your stuck with HD or SD quality depending on the device. I upgraded to the Chromecast Ultra after my original Chromecast (gen 1) finally failed after many years of use and abuse being moved around from TV to TV. Comparing this to the original, the use and interface is exactly the same. With 4k streaming content being particular as far as what can be viewed on which device from 'X' service I am happy to report that I have been able to watch 4k content from Netflix and Vudu. When comparing 1080 (HD) to 4K (UHD) streaming content, it was difficult to notice major changes in the quality of the picture, although there was an improvement. Some awesome added features are the functionality with the Google Smart Home now being able to show you some limited visual responses and a bit more snappy response from the device itself. I like the fact that the Chromecast offers an ethernet port to allow for faster and more stable internet connection by being hard-wired. If you own digital 4k content from Google, Vudu or have a premium Netflix account this is definitely a viable choice. I would not recommend this to the average user simply looking just to stream, additionally with the device frequently going on sale I believe its sale price is more fitting for this devices actual worth. Being extremely satisfied with my original Chromecast this was an easy purchase when I got it on sale. (It's also worth noting that any Chromecast has the ability to turn On and Off (modern) TV's with the Google Home, one of its best features)

The Chromecast works very well. I did not install directly to my TV's HDMI port which is in the instructions. Instead I connected it to an HDMI port on my receiver. This allows me to select my devices without having to change my settings on my Harmony remote. I use the Chromecast primarily to view YouTubeTv on my TV. I also use it to stream from my phone other apps such as Amazon Prime Music. I was pleasantly surprised that once I started viewing YouTubeTv I could turn my phone off and still watch an entire night without my phone even being on. I am assuming that YouTubeTv is a built in function on the Chromecast that only needs the phone to start playing. The phone is still needed as a "remote" to change programs but once selected you don't need the phone anymore. The install process on Android is simple. All you need to do is install / update the Google Home app. Once done you don't need to even access it. Google Home will automatically put an icon into any app that supports Chromecast and when you press that icon, the app will stream to your TV. Simple enough. I bought the Chromecast Ultra that supports 4K but the original Chromecast will work as well. I didn't mind paying the extra 35 dollars.

I love my Google products and this is definitely one of them. We utilize this product in our living room paired with our Google Home speaker for a better 4K streaming experience. My only complaint is that it is not a standalone product where you can simply control it right out of the box. It doesn't come with a HUB to browse on the television or a remote to control it. Your phone, tablet, PC, laptop OR Google Home speaker is your "remote". So if for some unearthly reason you do not have any of these things, you will not be able to control/use this. I planned on getting another one for our guest bedroom; however, I cannot justify requiring my guests to have Google's Home app, connecting to my wi-fi and using their phones in order to watch television in the comfort of their room while they stay with us. I also cannot justify having to spend additional money to put a tablet or Google Home speaker in there just to be able to control it either. If Google added a HUB to their product with an on-screen browser and a remote controller to use, this product would get a 5th star. For my guests, I had to get a FireTV stick to accommodate them as it is far simpler and less a hassle to get them up-and-running with their television viewing. I suppose I could have just taken the television out of that room and require them to interact with us instead of staying in the room. GOOGLE NEEDS TO WORK HARDER AT MAKING LIFE SIMPLER! :)

I already owned a Google Chromecast, but I now have a 4K TV so I wanted to the Chromecast to be able to handle 4K. It works perfectly. My Sony TV has Android TV as its OS, so the TV itself is basically a chromecast. However, the youtube app buffered non-stop, even on HD videos. 4K videos were impossible. It seemed to only be youtube. VUDU and Netflix are all fine, but youtube seems to have a problem. I got the Chromecast Ultra kind of as an experiment. It is attached to the TV so it is the same distance to my router. There is an Android app (Fast Speed Test for Chromecast) that will tell you the speed your Chromecast gets, and both the Sony Android TV and the Chromecast Ultra are getting 50+ Mbps, so plenty fast for 4K. The Chromecast Ultra plays 4K 60fps videos perfectly. Smooth and clear. The functionality of the Chromecast has always been good, and that hasn't changed. Using your phone to pick videos is very handy. The one thing I don't like is the power cord. Previous Chromecasts just had a micro USB power. You could plug it into your TVs USB port, so you didn't need to have another power cord hanging off the back of your TV. I assume the additional processing power needed for 4K videos required more power. One advantage is the power cord now has an ethernet port in it. So if you have ethernet available near your TV you can use it rather than WiFi if you WiFi is too slow.

At first I was very happy with this purchase. Setup was fairly straight forward (I had to have it search for the Chrome Cast device twice to finally set everything up). Once setup it worked great and my daughter (iPhone 7) and I (Samsung S7) were able to connect and control it with our phones. Netflix, YouTube, etc. (any Chrome Cast enabled app) worked fine. Added bonus for me was that I could cast my Galaxy S7 phone (something not supported for iPhones -- what's up with that?). After a couple of weeks or so it suddenly stopped working for both me and my daughter. After a couple of hours of troubleshooting I finally got it to work again (yesterday) and so far it's working again for us both. I had to unplug the device's power cord, reboot and then hit the reset switch for 15 seconds. Went through all the setup steps for the device again. I had done this previously and although my phone would connect to the device to set it up, after getting setup my phone would not be able to find it and connect again (even though it just had connected). Very frustrating! Now I'm waiting to see if it will stop again. If you're not the patient trouble-shooting type you may want to reconsider this purchase. When it works it's great! When this sort of thing happens it really sucks. My $0.02.

When coupled with a powerful Router capable of 4K bandwidth, the ChromeCast Ultra 4K delivers stunning Wi-Fi video and sound. If you have an older HDMI the product is backwards compatible which means "future proof" for your next 4K TV - especially if it doesn't have ChromeCast built in. The fact that it works so well with Google Home is a plus. ChromeCast Ultra 4K would be incredible if built in to more high-end receivers, for now this will do. Google would have 5 stars if they made the ChromeCast Ultra 4K work in Google Home with the ChromeCast Audio device(s). Imagine using any HDMI projector, and being able to use the Group Feature for your Wi-Fi Video and Audio speakers for an outdoor movie night - and without the lag or interruptions Bluetooth has - wifi can even carry better sound resolution. Research more on the internet. Google is on to something here. We'll see if Alexa will catch up.