The contrast in Hulu was a little more striking: 15 seconds to start, 20 to optimize on the second-gen machine and 9 seconds to start, 19 seconds to optimize on the third-gen machine. That's a 20 percent difference in start time but only a 3 percent difference in optimization time.
FLIXSTER CHROMECAST MOVIE
When I watched Thor: Ragnarok on Netflix, the movie took 11 seconds to start and 41 seconds to reach 1080p on the second-gen Chromecast, while the same film took 9 seconds to start and 41 seconds to reach 1080p on the third-gen device. SD resolutions look like, and a collection of videos on Netflix, Hulu and YouTube.
So, I tried to evaluate the difference using a stopwatch, a general sense of of what HD vs. This is supposed to make the new gadget up to 15 percent faster than the old one.īecause 15 percent is not a night-and-day increase, and because the old device wasn't slow to begin with, this is not easy to test. The only significant difference that Google advertises between the third-gen Chromecast and its second-gen predecessor is better hardware. Google Chromecast (3rd Generation): Performance The process is just as straightforward now as it was when the Chromecast debuted, but it's also quite a bit faster now. From there, you can pause, play, fast-forward, rewind and adjust volume via your phone. For example, in Netflix, all you have to do is open the content you want to watch, press the Cast button and wait for your media to appear on your TV. The best reason to buy the Chromecast, as always, is that it has the simplest, easiest-to-understand interface of any streaming device on the market.Ĭontrolling the Chromecast is as easy as any given app makes it. This may seem like a subtle point, but true screen-mirroring requires daisy-chaining devices together and often results in a subpar experience. Instead, your phone is simply instructing the Chromecast to go pick up a signal directly from the content provider (Netflix, for example).
By installing the Google Home app on your mobile device or by clicking the Cast option in a computer-based Chrome browser, you can simply "cast" whatever content you're watching onto your TV.