Want to stream content from the Internet to your TV? There’s a new player in town, Google’s Chromecast. It’s super easy to use and priced to move. What’s not to like? If you’re happy with just Netflix, you’re good. If you want Hulu or HBO Go, paying a bit more for Roku or Apple TV may make sense. If you prefer the rental ecosystem of Amazon or iTunes over Google Play, Chromecast isn’t for you. Then again, for only $35, maybe you’ll decide it’s worth being a second device.
The Players
Chromecast is entering a space where two other major Internet-to-TV devices already exist, Apple TV and Roku. Here’s a quick look at the players:
Chromecast: About the size of your thumb,
Chromecast plugs into the HDMI port of a TV, and you power it using the supplied USB charger or using a USB cable plugged into a spare USB port on your TV or receiver. It connects to the Internet through your wifi.
Chromecast is controlled via your smartphone or tablet, via apps that are enabled to send to the Chromecast device. You pick a video you want to watch, tap to queue it to your Chromecast, and it’ll start playing. You can do the same for anything you’re viewing using Google’s Chrome browser, when on your desktop computer.
At $35, Chromecast is the cheapest of the devices.
Apple TV: About the size of your hand, you run an HDMI cable from
Apple TV into your TV. It connects to the Internet through wifi or ethernet. You control it through a small remote, and it allows you to flip through various apps — think of them as channels — on the device. Select the content you want to view from within the apps, hit “Play” and off you go.
At $100, Apple TV is the most expensive of the devices, other than the highest-end of the Roku models. Apple TV, however, also features AirPlay, the ability for you to stream content on your iPhone, iPad or Mac to your TV.
Roku: Also about the size of your hand,
Roku works just like Apple TV. It connects to your TV through an HDMI cable (some models also offer an analog connection). Roku connects to your wifi or via ethernet, with the high-end version.
You select channels you want to have on the device, and various content providers will stream their material through it. Pick content you want to watch from those channels, hit “Play,” and lean back.
Roku ranges from $50 for the low-end 720p-only model to $80 if you want the 1080p-version that matches what Chromecast and Apple TV do. Step up to $100, and you can play games.
Apps Versus Mirroring
Before I get into what you can watch, a caveat, which I’ve added to this article based on some comments. The Chromecast will allow you to watch anything you want, as long as you want to open your laptop or desktop computer, use the Google Chrome browser and send that data to the Chromecast and thus to your TV. So, some of the things listed as “No” on the chart below are indeed available that way.
That is not, however, how the devices that Chromecast is competing with operate. The Apple TV and Roku are designed to free you from opening up a laptop, to make it easier than that to get internet-based video content to your TV.
Indeed, with a $6 HDMI cable, that’s all you need to get video from many laptops to a TV. But it’s not convenient. The chart below, and this article’s focus, is on how conveniently you can get that internet video to your TV while sitting on the couch and not reaching for anything but a small remote or your phone.
The Content Comparison Chart
What can you watch on these devices? Lots of things! But here are the major options:
The chart above is based off one
I did a few years ago, when Google TV first came out. At the time, it seemed like Google TV might be a rival in a space where Roku and Apple TV, much less Boxee, were still relatively new. But Google TV ran into an immediate problem. The promise that you could stream TV from any site on the Internet died quickly, as networks blocked it. A promised solution for Hulu still has never arrived.
Subscription Channels
Since that time, my view is that there are three major “channels” (in the US) that have emerged that, if supported by an Internet TV device, make the device a compelling choice. These are Netflix, Hulu and HBO Go.
I describe these on the chart above as being “Subscription” services. That’s because they allow you to watch anything you want for flat monthly subscription (with HBO Go, you effectively pay this to your cable or satellite TV company).
Here’s more about each of them, as well as Amazon Prime, a strong Netflix rival:
Netflix: For $8 per month,
Netflix allows you to stream any of the movie or TV content it has. Of course, it doesn’t have everything. But there’s an amazing selection of TV content, especially, for the “binge viewers” out there. Netflix also has original content such as House Of Cards and Arrested Development. All three players support Netflix.
Hulu Plus: Hulu offers a huge amount of content from the major US television networks of ABC, Fox and NBC, all of which are investors in the service. On the Web, you can watch some of this for free. But through an ITV (Internet-to-TV) device, you need
Hulu Plus, for $8 per month. Roku and Apple TV support Hulu Plus; Hulu
says it’s working with Google to come to the Chromecast. We’ll see. Three years ago,
Hulu said it was working on a Google TV app. That still hasn’t arrived.
HBO Go: Want to catch up on that HBO show you missed?
HBO Go is great and comes with your cable or satellite subscription, allowing you to use Internet-to-TV devices to stream content. One caveat. Some providers like DirecTV might not allow HBO Go to work on particular devices (like the Roku). Hollywood can be weird. Google’s device doesn’t have HBO Go.
Amazon Prime: If you’re an
Amazon Prime member, for $80 per year, you get unlimited two-day shipping. But beyond that, you get access to tons of TV and movie content to watch for free, similar to the type of offerings that Netflix has.
Rental Options
Beyond the subscription channels, the device needs some type of rental facility, so that you can buy premium content: TV shows and movies that are not offered by the subscription services. Without a rental option, I don’t feel a device will be that compelling. In my experience, the pricing and availability of content from any of these rental services is about the same.
Something to keep in mind about each of these services is how “locked” your content might be. If you’re just renting for the night, you probably don’t care whether what you’ve bought will play on your laptop versus your TV or your smartphone.
On to the rental options:
Apple iTunes: Surprise, Apple only offers TV and movie rentals through its own service,
iTunes.
Google Play: Surprise again, Google offers TV and movie rentals through its own service,
Google Play.
Amazon Instant Video: Just like Apple and Google, Amazon offers TV and movie rentals through
Amazon Instant Video. It’s one of two choices that Roku offers to its users.
Vudu: Backed by Walmart,
Vudu has a huge offering of TV and movie rentals. It’s the other choice on Roku.
YouTube
There’s also YouTube out there for video content. While YouTube serves as an alternative face for Google Play rental content, my focus in listing it on the chart above is whether you can stream “free” YouTube content through your device, everything from your personal videos to whatever’s going viral at the moment.
You can, other than for Roku — which is the main weakness of that player. On Apple TV, the weakness I’ve found is that the search capability for YouTube content often seems poor. With Chromecast, it’s pretty awesome.
Remote, Cross-Channel Search
It’s awesome because, unlike with Apple TV and Roku, you’re actually finding the content you want on your smartphone or your computer, making use of its keyboard, then telling the Chromecast what you want. After that, Chromecast itself fetches the content. With the other players, you’re using a “dumb remote” with no keypad (though you can get apps for Roku and Apple TV to help).
Roku is outstanding among the devices in offering a “cross-channel” search feature, which I might revisit in more depth later. Basically, you can search across various channels on your Roku to see which has the content you want and for how much.
Google TV had this and still does. It’ll be interesting to see if somehow this gets turned into an app that can work with Chromecast. The problem with Google TV’s search, however, was that you couldn’t “tune-in” to some of that content that it pointed to on the Web, because of network blocking.
Mirroring & No Network Blocking
That’s where Chromecast shines. It supports mirroring from Chrome on a desktop computer. Whatever you see in Chrome, you can send to Chromecast. That includes any content you might find on a TV network’s site. So, if you don’t mind opening up your laptop to get that show, Chromecast has you covered.
Will the networks be able to block this? Nope. Well, not easily. Google tells me that all the content fetching comes from your Chrome browser itself. That means the networks can’t block Chromecast in the way they could block Google TV. To block Chromecast, they’d have to block anyone using Chrome. That’s a huge audience to alienate.
By the way, Apple TV can do mirroring and more with its Airplay feature (see The Verge’s comparison
here). Plus, if you have Apple TV, you might find you just want to use Hulu Plus rather than firing up your computer to mirror.
They’re All Pretty Great
There are other factors to consider beyond content. For example, if you have a lot of Apple devices, you might want the support Airplay offers for talking with your TV. If you’re a big music fan, there are music options I’m not covering here.
In terms of major video content choices, I’d say the Roku gives the most options for the least price. Still, at $35, you’re not risking much with a Chromecast — and it can be pretty fun to have various people sitting around “flinging” YouTube videos at it.
As someone with all of these devices, I’ll say that you’re not going to make a bad choice whatever you decide. All offer great value and make getting video content from the internet to your TV much easier.
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