Gadgetory

and your authority what is going on this is Kevin the tech ninja and today I'm doing a comparison between the Google chromecast and the Belkin miracast video adapter we're going to find out the pros and cons of each and also help you decide which one is right for you let's go the Google chromecast rollout has been an interesting one there was an initial surge when I first came out a device to watch Netflix youtubes and even your web browser on your big-screen TV for only $35 then as quickly as it started the buzz ended the restrictions on chromecast really handcuffed did a lot of the developers and since the device had such limited functionality taking this away really made it stale after a while out of the box chromecast only worked with a small handful of applications play music play movies YouTube and Netflix then seemingly overnight the floodgates open Pandora HBO Go and Plex just name a few applications that came to the forefront this always has been the easiest way to watch content on your TV but now it has the apps to back it up also you can use your mobile device as a controller and it's so easy even my girlfriend can use it now don't forget the chromecast had about a six-month head start on the Belkin miracast video adapter let's see what Belkin did within the six months just with any great tool there's alternates out there that tries to steal its thunder the Belkin miracast video adapter may not be as cheap as a chromecast but the possibilities are unlimited the miracast adapter uses miracast technology to clone your display from your mobile device to your TV just like the chromecast you can watch Netflix YouTube and also anything else that's on your device you can possibly play Android games on your big-screen TV without using wires although the price point may not be as sweet at $35 it still comes in at a reasonable $80 both tools try to achieve the same result but each of them have a different way of doing so let's see how they match up the chromecast uses an HDMI stick to connect to your TV and uses USB for power even if your TV does not have a USB port you to find a way to get this dongle plugged into an outlet the miracast has an HDMI stick as well that connects to your TV but it's a bit larger than a chromecast I did have to move a few cables around to make it fit and I ended up using the HDMI extension cable that was included the Belkin miracast also requires the USB power the chromecast initial setup is painless and does not require much effort if you are able to connect to a Wi-Fi connections and connecting to a chromecast should be quite simple the initial connection from time to boot up to watching my first video was less than five minutes and to my surprise connecting to the miracast device was shockingly faster than my chromecast just needed to go into settings on my Android device select my TV as a connection gave it about 45 seconds or so and then it connected and it was mirroring my tablet now let's flip back to the chromecast for a moment I really can't figure out a different way to make this thing easier it's honestly dubbing proof when you're in an application that has chromecast support it tosses an icon in the top right corner press the icon and it displays on your TV then from here the play stop pause buttons are paired with the TV you can turn your screen off on the host device and the video still plays the chromecast is actually playing the video so you can save your battery on your device now depending on your device the option to enable mirror casting could be in a different location it's usually somewhere under options display it may say screencasts it may say wireless display or maybe in your drop-down menu in your notification bar it just depends on the device that you currently have as you can see there's a slight delay when making any actions even though it's advertised on the Box gaming for me was almost impossible I have a pretty decent set up with Comcast at my house and even with my Comcast connection I still couldn't play games at a high frames per second and some games even crashed while playing it but I had no issues playing stickman golf I had no issues playing paper toss or Angry Birds but when I played grand theft auto played in the emulators or even played burnout which is on the cover of the actual miracast box it crashed on me I use the Nexus 7 2013 Nexus 7 2012 gal see note three moto X and the Nexus 5 and I have the exact same results with each device something for thought now that you see how they work let's talk about some pros and cons of each chromecast pros easy one-time setup ease of use anyone can use it beautiful splash screens when it's not active and you could use it as a screen saver more applications are being supported since video to chromecast so you're not draining battery on your phone or tablet great price at $35 so let's talk about the Belkin miracast video adapters Perls the initial setup is pretty much non existing unlimited possibilities videos work exceptionally well you can use this with your laptop to cast to your TV so there has to be some cons here too right chromecast cons limited and functionality the only application supported our Google allowed still no open SDK not internationally available and no official local streaming yet here the Belkin Scott's your host device needs to have the screen on the whole time gaming is advertised but it's almost impossible with the inherit lag that it has each time you want to connect it takes 30 or 40 seconds and due to the size of the device an HDMI extension cable may be required all right guys this concludes my video comparison between the Google chromecast and the Belkin miracast video adapter now if you guys notice but I'm a personal good+ page when I get a new device in I do an unboxing and initial impressions of it and also I try to get an idea of what you guys would like to see in the video review and also I try to answer any questions that are Android related because in this video piece I can't really go into in depth about the device and it's not truly Android because this is your authority as always guys you can go ahead and subscribe to this channel and drop us a like below if you like what we do I'm Kevin the tech ninja and this is Android authority your source for all things Android take care guys