Customer Ratings & Reviews

We have 4 tv's in our house. 2 lcd's 1 plasma, and an old 32" tube television ( great for playing my retro gaming systems.) I am seriously thinking about ditching cable this summer. We already have roku's on all 3 of our flat screen tv's. One is a non hd model though. I bought the chromecast to replace the non hd roku so that I could hook that one up to my tube tv. Setup was okay. You have to make sure you know how to set up a network connection on your iOs or android devise. I have 2 children and a dvd collection of 300+ dvd's. We actually only have 2 dvd players. Because I didn't want my kids handling the dvd's all the time, I installed a plex media server on my desktop computer. The roku's do a great job of streaming my movies from my computer to our tv's. The problem with the chromecast is that you have to have the plex app on your iOs or android device. That app will cost you another $5. I am afraid that this thing is going to nickle and dime me until i end up spending as much as a roku anyways. Some people claim that chromecast is a great way to stream video from network tv websites through the chrome web browser. When I tried this, the video was so choppy that is was unbearable to watch. Being that I am a photographer, I do like that I can connect my ipad up to the tv easily and show people photos on a big screen, it seems to be the only useful feature that I have found so far. Unfortunately for Google, I will be making a trip back to the store sometime soon to return this unit. Fyi. The advertisements are quite misleading. They make it appear that all you have to do is plug this stick in, similar to how you plug in a usb thumb drive. The reality is that it needs power from one source or another. You can power it through usb, if your tv has a usb port that will provide power. Otherwise you are stuck running a wire to an outlet to plug it in like you would your cell phone charger.

I have apple TV and this allows me to watch regular TV shows on basic networks on the TV.It doesn't work so great unless my laptop is sitting next to my router.

If you're a heavy youtube and netflix user and don't have any streaming device then I'd say go ahead and make the purchase. But other than that you can't do anything with Chromecast. I have DSL but it's impossible for me to stream whatever I'm playing on the browser to TV. I think a good ol' HDMI cable does a better job.

The initial set up was rapid but the update (which it did automatically,no choice) took 18 hours to finalize. (honestly). Then it would locate the device but I couldn't get it to do anything. I finally found the app to get the thing to locate the device on google chrome but it kept having errors. I was able to access netflix but it had no sound. I finally gave up after spending about 5 hours researching and trying various things. You may be lucky, apparently some people are but it isn't worth my time. Anything I got it to do was SLOW and bug prone.

It doesn't work. I plugged it in and the TV does not recognize it. No help from support or online. Packing it away. Another waste of money.

Was looking for an easy way to stream wirelessly and Chromecast provided the solution. A bit tricky to get set up and occasionally isn't found on the network, but good product all around.

I deducted for "features", but this is only temporary. As the real value in this is its potential. New apps with ChromeCast support are on the horizon... and I personally can't wait to see what this thing is going to be able to do.

Amazingly simple instalation. Been using it for a few weeks now. Will be getting one for all my televisions.

This is a gen 1st device and I have been using it for more than 4 years without any issues.

you can basically stream any chrome video content into this little thing onto tv.. not bad. if it got android on it, would be super.

For those complaint about useless when try browser to cast the best way is use a Chromebook. I use Acer C720 and it is quite stable. But when use browser you can't turn off the computer and it will burn battery faster.

It's a great little product to watch netflix and youtube on the tv, however, streamcasting is a little buggy and crashed 3 times when we first started using it. There are only two apps and thus limits you to casting your web browser. The stream is a step down in quality and is not that great. When using a laptop or computer and the movie is on fullscreen, you cannot use the computer for any other option. I might as well just plug the laptop on to the tv and just use a wireless mouse and keyboard to use it while on the couch.

Works for many of the basics, compared to a Roku. Would just like it if it could stream other stuff from Apple products like the AppleTv (but for less than the $100 price tag).

Set up is not quite that easy. Youtube is the only app that "casts" so big deal! My samsung tv already has youtube built in. I too thought I could cast movies, music, photos from my iPhone,you can't. Debating on whether to return chrome cast. Overall price is low, so are the benefits of owning one.

I'm an imagery scientist (engineer# and a strong supporter of the Google echo system so I'll say my opinion is somewhat scientific and objective. The truth is that I was very disappointed on my initial testing with Netflix. It takes a while to load Netflix #twice as more than on a PS3/Xbox#, it loses frames, to the point where most of the movie doesn't flow smoothly -it looks jumpy-. The initial two minutes had a lot of pixilation, many scenes lose sharpness and color gamut #contrast). On a couple of very fast scene on Transformers: Dark of the moon I had like 40 seconds of plain awful blocking or pixilation. I've never seen blocking so intense and for so long ever before, not even when streaming from a cellphone. The surround sound wasn't there all the time either, and on some scenes it was hard to understand the dialogues. These are deal breakers on a streaming device and I hope people can get over the hype. This device needs a lot of work. Bad value for the price becase it is cheap, but it does only one thing: streaming. It is pretty bad on doing it so. Lack of features is evident: it only streams #compared to an apple TV or PS3) Ease of Use: The fact that you can only control the chromecast from other devices makes it a bit cumbersome and clunky. Ease of Set Up: the fact that you have to download apps or use a computer to set it up makes the set up a bit choppy. My TV did not had USB. The provided power supply is a big box, I had to unplugged a couple of devices to make it work. The cable of the power supply is of very cheap material, and it tangles very easily.

Having tried and Rokku Apple Tv, Chromecast leave a bad taste, or sometimes freezes the image is lost, the only way to play videos is right through Chrome, can not do the mirror functions, and is quite complicated, missing Apps , takes to loong in sync with the tablet or cell phone, your tablet or phone become slow, definitely good for the price but this is no big deal, I like better Apple tv or roku are more complete

I keep meaning to sell mine as its not even close to the level of functionality I expect. The Netflix discount sold me on trying it out and if I can sell it, then it was definitely worth it. Video is ok, I don't like wifi, make sure your network can deliver it and your tv has CEC so its not always on (it gets hot). When I bought this, the additional functionality wasn't added so perhaps I'm a little biased.

It does not support iphones, ipads, or surface rt. There are only a few apps that work with it, netflix, you tube, supposedly chrome but that does not work yet for me. If you have a tv or dvd or blueray player that allows streaming don't waste your money. They work better than the chrome cast. For $35 dollars it is still a waste of money.

Its a waist of time....do not buy....I bought one and now I have to drive back to return it!!!! TO MANY ARE DEFECTIVE IF LIGHT TURNS OFF IT WILL NEVER TURN BACK AGIN!!! I called the google 1800 number for support but they just told me I was still under the 30 days of purchase and to take it back to Best Buy google rep did not help didn't even try..... my kids were very disappointed because we couldn't get it to work. Don't put yourself or your family through a disappointing situation.

Wanted to watch tv wireless from my laptop. Device is unreliable working correctly only 50% of the time. Lots of skipping and freezing during playback on tv while streaming correctly from laptop. I like the theory of this device but in reality it doesn't work. If I didn't live so far from the store I'd return it instead it'll be thrown in the back of my junk drawer. Total waste of money!