All About Chromecast

screen mirroring

How to Chromecast Amazon Prime Video to your TV?

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How to Chromecast Amazon Prime Video to your TV?

In July 2019, Amazon Prime Video finally supported Chromecast, and you can easily Chromecast Amazon Prime Video on your TV.

Now, you can enjoy the Prime videos on the TV without a Fire TV dongle/box/cube. Chromecast and the Amazon Prime Video app are the only requirements.

This Chromecast how-to guide explains how to use Chromecast to stream Amazon Prime videos and the difference between Chromecast and Watch on Second Screen.

Update 1: Chromecast with Google TV (the 4th Gen of Chromecast) and Google TV Streamer are running on Android TV OS. You can install Amazon Prime Video apps from the Google Play Store directly on Chromecast with Google TV or Google TV Streamer. You can enable developer options and even sideload apps on these devices. For example, you can sideload the SmartTube app to watch YouTube without ads (and it is free.).

Fire TV vs. Chromecast

For a long time, Amazon has fought against Google on all fronts.

Chromecast was banned on the Amazon platform. Fire tablets removed anything related to Google. Amazon used Bing instead of Google as the default search engine on their devices.

Google fought back by removing YouTube support on all Amazon devices (Fire … Continue to read the post....

How to use VLC for Android to stream local media to Chromecast?

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use VLC for Android to stream local media to Chromecast

With version 2.9.1, you can now use VLC for Android to stream local media to Chromecast. Videos and music files of all formats supported by the VLC media player can now be streamed to Chromecast. Chromecast Ultra, Chromecast Audio, Google Home, Google Home Mini and Google Home Max. In this guide, I will try to use Chromecast to represent them all, instead of listing them all.

For PC users, you can stream local video and music files to Chromecast very easily with VLC media player version 3.0 RC2 or later.

This Chromecast guide shows you how to use VLC for Android to stream local media to Chromecast: installing the app, enrolling in the Android beta program, streaming local media with VLC for Android, and Chromecast streaming controls for VLC for Android.

Update 1: with the release of VLC 3.0, Chromecast is officially supported. Therefore, it is not necessary to join the beta program to use VLC for Android to stream local media to Chromecast. PC users can use the VLC media player to stream local music and videos to Chromecast, Chromecast Audio, and Google Home devices, as detailed in this guide.

Update 2: the 4th … Continue to read the post....

What’s new in the new Chromecast (Chromecast 2015)

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new_chromecast_2015_new_featuresUpdate: Chromecast 2018 (3rd generation) is out. You may check this guide for new features in Chromecast 2018.

Google just announced and released the 2nd generation of Chromecast on September 29, about 2 years after the initial release of Chromecast.

You can order the new Chromecast through Google Store or Best Buy now.

You may wonder what’s new in the new Chromecast (Chromecast 2015) and whether you should update to the new Chromecast.

In this post, I will share with you the top 5 new features and improvements of the new Chromecast (Chromecast 2015).

Detailed how-to guides for the new Chromecast will be added gradually.

1. Chromecast Audio: a new member of  the new Chromecast family:

In addition to the normal Chromecast with HDMI interface, Google released the new Chromecast Audio for your speaker.

You can connect Chromecast Audio to a speaker (or a soundbar or even your home theatre system) through the 3.5mm audio cable.

Chromecast Audio instantly turns your speakers or soundbar into a “smart” and “connected” device. It can stream music from the cloud or from your phones or other devices. Please check Chromecast Audio guides here.

It is better than a Bluetooth speaker:

  • It
… Continue to read the post....

How to use Chromecast on Amazon Fire tablets (Fire HD, Fire HDX and Kindle Fire HDX)

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use_Chromecast_on_Amazon_Fire_tabletsUpdate (November 2023): an updated guide on installing Google Play Store and apps from Play Store on Amazon Fire tablet

If you are using an Amazon Fire tablet from the 5th gen to the current model (the 13th gen, including the Fire Max 11), it is now easier to install the Google Play Store on the Fire tablet.

Please check this updated guide on how to install the Google Play Store on a Fire tablet.

Also, Fire OS 8 supports screen mirroring (Miracast) on Fire HD 8 12th Gen or later, Fire HD 10 13th Gen or later, and Fire Max 11.

Update (July 2019): Amazon Prime Video app now supports Chromecast

As explained in this guide, the Amazon Prime Video app on Android and IOS now supports Chromecast.

However, the Prime Video app on Fire tablets still does NOT support Chromecast. And you cannot install the Google Play Store version of the Prime Video app on a Fire tablet.

Update (2016/02): Android screen mirroring works on Fire tablet 5th generation and later

For Fire tablet 5th generation and later ONLY (you can check yours in Settings– Device options–Device model), you can also use Screencast for … Continue to read the post....

Chromecast guest mode guide

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Chromecast guest mode allows your guests to cast to Chromecast without connecting to your WiFi network.

This Chromecast guide explains everything you need to know about the Chromecast guest mode: what the guest mode is, how it works, how to enable or disable it, how to cast in the guest mode, and the limitations of the guest mode.

What is Chromecast guest mode? When will you need it?

By default, the only way to use Chromecast is by joining your device to the same network as Chromecast.

This is part of the security consideration: you don’t want your neighbor to mess up your TV screen.

Sometimes, you have some guests in the house and they want to share something interesting from their devices through Chromecast. In this case, you have to connect their devices to your network to use the Chromecast.

If you have some sensitive files in your home network, you probably are reluctant to have them connected to your network. You may trust your friends, but you cannot trust their devices which may have nasty malware.

Chromecast guest mode comes to solve your dilemma. Thanks to the recent update in Chromecast.

You can turn on guest mode … Continue to read the post....

Android screen casting for Chromecast is now supported on all Android devices with KitKat 4.4.2 or later

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Screen_mirroring_with_chromecast_cast_screen_casting_now

The latest Chromecast app (1.9.6) update brought  Android screen casting (screen mirroring), one of the most anticipated features of Chromecast, to all Android devices with Android KitKat 4.4.2 or later.

If you are new to this feature, you may refer to this post.

Android screen casting makes the TV your second screen!

Essentially, Android screen casting (screen mirroring) through Chromecast will make your TV the second screen of your Android devices.

You can enjoy videos, games, music, and everything on the TV with Android screen casting through Chromecast.

Anything displayed on your Android screen and the audio can be mirrored on your TV through Chromecast.

This makes your $35 Chromecast more valuable.

Previously, the screen casting feature was only supported on a few selected (high-end) devices.

How to start and stop Android screen casting?

After you update the Chromecast app to 1.9.6 or later, you can find the cast screen option as shown below.

If your device is not among the supported device list (see this post for the updated officially supported devices), you will see the following warning message.

“Screen casting is not optimized for this device, your experience may vary.”

Tap OK to continue, as shown below.… Continue to read the post....

Chromecast VS Miracast: everything you need know about Chromecast, wireless display and screen mirroring

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chromecast-vs-miracast

Update 1: Android screen mirroring through Chromecast is available! Please read this post for details.

Chromecast was hailed by Time Magazine as the most innovative gadget in 2013.  This affordable HDMI dongle changes the way people consume content, especially online video and music.

Most people now have multiple screens: smartphones ( normally 3.5-7″), tablets (normally 7-12.2″), laptops (normally 10-17″), PCs (normally 19-34″), and of course, TVs (normally 34-80″).  Different sizes give different experiences and some content. For example, full-length movies are preferred on a larger TV screen.

How to unify these screens?

There are different answers from different vendors. But most of them are vendor-dependent. In other words, the solution only works for some specific-branded devices. For example, Apple has AirPlay (which requires Apple TV); Samsung introduced  AllShare Cast since Galaxy S3 (which requires certain Samsung Galaxy devices).

Chromecast delivered an answer that is independent of hardware vendors!

Another hardware-independent answer is Miracast.

Because Android has supported Miracast natively since Jelly Bean 4.2, a lot of Chromecast owners confused Chromecast with Miracast.

I will try to explain to you Chromecast vs Miracast: the difference between Chromecast and Miracast (Miracast enabled devices), the advantages and disadvantages of … Continue to read the post....