Tech review: Chromecast offers easy connection for online media to TV

Source: Tulsa World, Okla.自存倉Aug. 30--By now, many people are familiar enough with media streaming devices like Roku and Apple TV to know what to expect. Connect them to a TV and get a portal to all kinds of online media content.But Google's entry into the streaming world is an odd beast that's nothing like its competitors. Rather than act as a portal, it's more of a wireless connection between your television and your tablet, smartphone or computer.As a result, you'll need to adjust your expectations. But I came away from my Chromecast experience impressed with what it can do.Chromecast breaks the record for smallest size in a product category that already leans tiny, as it's just slightly bigger than a flash drive, only with a circular bulge at one end.But that size doesn't quite make it vanish in your home theater. Not only does Chromecast need to be plugged into an HDMI port directly, it also requires an additional power source. I wish it connected to TVs via a wire, because the current setup looks a bit awkward.The good news is that the setup is a snap, and can be done with any device that connects to it. Since I didn't have any problems with my Wi-Fi network, I was able to get it up and running in less than five minutes.Right now Chromecast use is limited to four apps -- YouTube, Google Play Movies, Netflix and the Chrome Web browser. Each app that uses Chromecast needs to be written to be specifically compatible, so you can't just toss an迷你倉新蒲崗thing onto your TV. With luck, more apps will be linked to the device.The three video apps work beautifully. Simply queue up a video, hit the cast button in the app and within a second or two the video will pop up on your TV. Occasionally the video gets a bit blurry if there's buffering, but otherwise the image and sound quality are excellent.Oddly enough, the video on YouTube, Google Play Movies and Netflix isn't streamed from the device to the TV. Instead, the videos are streamed into Chromecast directly. That means you can use your smartphone or tablet to do something else, and the video quality won't be affected at all.That leaves Chrome. Hit the cast button and anything you pull up on the browser is mirrored onto your TV screen. Although there's a one-second delay, the quality is still great. Finally, there's a cheap and wireless way to transfer things from your computer to the TV.And yes, video works via Chrome, too. Remember how Hulu has a weird aversion to letting you access its content on your TV? Chromecast will let you do it, and there's nothing Hulu can do to prevent it.Again, it's better to think of Chromecast as a device connector than a media streamer.Chromecast$35Pros: Easy to set up and use, good video quality, inexpensiveCons: Limited content sources, requires additional powerCopyright: ___ (c)2013 Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) Visit Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) at .tulsaworld.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉出租