Google doesn't have the best track record in the living room. Google TV was a solid idea for adding the Internet to the familiar TV experience, but it hasn't taken off—consumer response has been tepid, few manufacturers have built in support, and many content providers have blocked its devices from accessing their shows online. And the Nexus Q shown off at 2012's Google I/O conference never actually reached the market.
For its next attempt to help you watch online video on your TV, Google thought smaller: The Chromecast is a thumb-size dongle that plugs into an HDMI port, receives power from USB, and acts like a Chrome browser, which allows it to play movies, TV shows, music, and photos on your HDTV. You control it using any Android or iOS device, a Mac or Windows PC, or a Chromebook.
Although I hit a couple of snags in my hands-on—crashes on a crowded Wi-Fi network, and no luck having the Chromecast turn my TV on for me—it turns out that once those problems are solved, this little device is a pretty big deal.
How it stacks up against set-top boxes
The Chromecast has plenty of competitors: The Apple TV and the lineup of Roku set-top boxes deliver similar results, even though they don't work exactly the same way. The Chromecast's first advantage is price—it's only $35, compared with $99 for the Apple TV. Roku boxes start at just $50, but to get the 1080p playback the Chromecast is capable of, you need to buy at least the Roku 2 XD for $80. (Google pulled the plug on a "three months of Netflix included" promotion the day after the Chromecast went on sale.)
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