Google Removes Restrictions on Live Streaming for Chromecast
April 11, 2014
By David Gutbezahl, TMCnet Contributing Writer
In July 2013, Google (News - Alert) unveiled its TV dongle, Google Chromecast, allowing customers to watch internet streams directly on their television sets. All a person has to do is plug the Chromecast into the HDMI port of their TV, and they will be able to watch Netflix, Youtube and other forms of internet content directly on their TV. For only $35, the Chromecast seemed like a pretty good deal, however when first unveiled, there was a major restriction on its Youtube streaming service that perhaps lowered the value of the TV dongle. Android (News - Alert) Police, a website that focuses on breaking news about Android products, revealed on April 9 that this might be changing.
With the Google Chromecast, the ability to watch Youtube videos in HD on your TV was supposed to be one of its great advantages. However, it turned out that many Youtube videos were not accessible on Chromecast. Live streams, private videos or any video requiring a subscription were off-limits to Chromecast users. Either they would not work at all, or a user would receive only the audio with a few choppy frames.
Google has addressed the issue, and now users can watch all their favorite Youtube videos on TV. With the newest update, users are able to open a live or private video on their PC, and stream it directly to their Chromecast. Currently, this is only possible directly from PCs, Android and iOS devices will still be unable to stream these videos to Chromecast.
Surprisingly, Google hasn’t actually made any announcement about this update, and has not even addressed it on the Chromecast support page. The reasoning for this silent update is unknown. Perhaps they did not want to even draw attention to a past mistake, or there are further updates that they are working on with plans to announce the full update together.
With this update, and the Chromecast’s other streaming abilities, the Chromecast is coming into its own as an excellent choice for TV streaming. At only $35, the Chromecast is in an exceptionally strong place to overtake its competitors, Apple (News - Alert) and Roku. Apple’s TV box costs $99, while Roku has a line of products that cost around $49.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi