cwilson830

Sold out on Amazon and Google

docbert

Amazon will still let you order. No ETA for delivered, but you can always cancel anytime before it ships - and at least it gets you in the queue...

cblaisd

Does does the Chromecast avoid this problem: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ighlight=hotel

ScottC

Uh, no.

BigFlyer

If it works like DLNA devices, both the laptop/tablet/phone and the dongle would need to be on the same wifi network - which might be difficult in hotels.

I would hope that it would be more like a wifi direct situation where it would use wifi but you would not need to be connected to a router for it to work.

stimpy

A lot of hotel TV's these days have USB ports and I've had no problem plugging in a key that has .avi films. Works great. Why wouldn't it also work with HDMI and this new dongle?

But I have a question, will this dongle work if I carry it to Europe? HDMI is a global standard, but what else is happening under the covers? Any issues between NTSC and PAL? Is there a complete technical description of this gadget somewhere?

cblaisd

Did you read the thread? At least three out of four hotel tv's I encountered are locked down so tight that you can't feed from any other port.

I concur that where that is not the case, it's easy to use a USB drive or iPad-to-tv cable.

(And of course, there's often "interesting" issue of the physical contortions required to actually access those ports/inputs even if the tv is not electronically locked down)

stimpy

Yes I saw that thread where some people have success and others don't. I first began to do this several years ago (2009 I think?) when the Intercontinental Nairobi installed new Samsung TV's in all the renovated rooms. As I have Samsung at home it was pretty easy. And most hotels I go, when I bother to use the USB, it works fine. And many of the higher end properties even have HDMI wall jacks, especially in Asia. I think all the MO's in Asia have had HDMI wall jacks for some time now. And new Intercontinentals have it too, like the new IC Westminster in London.

So back to Chromecast, will a US purchased device work at a non-US hotel like the IC Westminster that has an HDMI wall jack? Assuming the WiFi allows packets to freely pass between your i-device and Chromecast of course.

lensman

(back) Ordered one on Amazon to see how it works. Am concerned about getting it connected to the hotel wifi but I'm also wondering how long it will be before I forget the thing in the hotel room when I check out.

I wonder if I will be able to get it to work with Plex?

TraveltheWorld

Since it's a dedicated device it frees up your tablet/notebook from being tied down as your media device.

I like to multitask and this would allow me to get some work done on my laptop while I have a movie or TV show in the background. Or I could stream Pandora to the hotel TV speakers and still read my tablet on the bed.

The biggest drawback is it relies heavily on apps to be created for it but hopefully many of the big players will jump on soon. I'd love to have Slingbox on it where I can basically recreate my home setup while I travel.

ne52

Point taken on the ability to still use the tablet/laptop.

Coincidentally, Roku just dropped the price of the HD model (which can also be controlled via Android/iPhone) by $10 for the next couple of days.

SkiAdcock

Link is broken.

richarddd

It appears the Chromecast can only stream from the internet, but can not stream movies, etc. from your computer (although presumably you could first upload to the cloud and then stream from there).

Am I missing something?

PTravel

No, you're not though, presumably, at some point someone will write an app or program that will permit it.

stimpy

I heard from someone at G that Netflix will require a US IP address, but otherwise it should work ok overseas. We'll see.