Related Articles
Just £30 will buy you Google’s Chromecast today from Amazon, PC World and Google’s Play store. Nearly eight months after it went on sale in the States, Google has finally released its video streamer here and it includes support for BBC iPlayer.
The 2-inch dongle plugs straight into an HDMI port on a TV and streams video from YouTube and Netflix along with Google’s own music and movie services. It competes directly with Apple TV, which has more to watch right now (although no iPlayer), but costs £99, and Roku’s upcoming Streaming Stick, due for release in April.
The Roku stick will cost £50, but for the extra money you get a load more channels, including Now TV, Sky Sports, Demand 5 and Spotify, alongside YouTube, Netflix and iPlayer. Speaking of Now TV, the company has its own £10 box that gives access to its own services along with iPlayer and catch up from channels 4 and 5.
Like the Roku Streaming Stick, the Chromecast can stream content directly from the cloud rather than via a laptop or tablet. They can also mirror what you’re watching on a computer on the TV, although in CNET’s review of the US Chromecast, we found that reduced video quality. When streaming directly from the cloud, however, our review noted the picture looked good.
Google started the process of increasing the amount of content available on the Chromecast in February by opening it up to all developers with the release of a software development kit designed to help phone and tablet apps work on the TV. The company has previously said that 3,000 developers have signed up for this, and it has high hopes for gaming in particular.
Will you be buying a Chomecast, waiting for a Roku, plumping for a Now TV box or are you Apple TV all the way? Let me know in the comments.
