Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I was excited when I read that Chromecast would allow me to cast anything from my chrome browser to the tv. Since I've already got a Roku HD Streaming Player (and because not everything I watch is on Netflix), that was really the only feature I really cared about. Given that I ordered early enough for the Netflix promotion, I thought it was worth the $11 investment. Despite my interest in casting Chrome from my computer, my first trial was casting Netflix from my phone. It worked beautifully, and I was very happy with my purchase... until I got around to casting from Chrome. That was an utter failure. We've got enough bandwidth that streaming video has never been a problem, either on the computer or through the Roku. But stream to the computer and Chromecast to the tv, and suddenly stops and starts so much, it's unwatchable. In the moments when it's playing instead or pausing, the video doesn't even match the audio. I still think the Chromecast has potential if more developers start incorporating it, and it works well if all you watch is Netflix and YouTube. But if you want to stream video via Chrome, Chromecast won't cut it. UPDATE: Just a few additional notes, based on comments posted by other users. 1. Chrome tab casting is in beta. Thanks, for the reminder. Let's hope it gets better. 2. Computer performance can significantly impact quality of casting. Our macbook is several years old, so that could be a contributing factor. 3. Video quality settings can improve the performance. We tried the low resolution setting. It improved the performance but not to the point of making it watchable. SECOND UPDATE: I'm not sure if there have been upgrades to the firmware or if it's because I've been careful to make sure all other programs and browser tabs are closed before starting a video, but I've been having more luck with streaming video via Chrome. We use it regularly now, and, although it still has issues, it's no longer "unwatchable." It freezes or produces mismatched video and audio most times we use it, but those issues rarely occur more than once (sometimes twice) in an hour-long show (I do have to restart the video whenever this happens). Given the problems we still have, we don't even bother trying the HD stream. But if other users are having trouble, definitely make sure your computer isn't trying to do anything else while Chrome is casting, and that may help. Although it's still not perfect, it's performing quite capably for a $35 piece of equipment.