Streaming the Mid America Race to my TV

[birddog]

Not sure if this is the proper forum to ask this question, but here goes.....

I assume many of the pro racers on this board watch the race at home via the live internet video stream that John provides for his races.

I'm going to watch the Mid America race this year and would like to do it "in style" on my big screen rather than huddle around the computer screen in the office.

I was thinking of purchasing a nice little dongle called a "Google Cast". It cost $35 and plugs into an HDMI input on your TV. You set it up via a tablet or smartphone and then it will simulcast videos from many different apps onto your TV. The app that would seem to work for this is casting a Google Chrome tab.

If I stream the video using a Google Chrome browser and then use google cast to send it over my WiFi in my home to my big screen TV, I could sit back and watch our cars race down the track in style from my big comfy chair.

Has anybody tried this?

Anybody using a different setup that can do something similar?

We are currently building 4 cars (2 open scout cars (one oil, one graphite), 1 open kid car and 1 open adult car) for the race and hope to have them finished by this weekend. They are in paint now.

birddog

 

[Guest]

I have a HDMI port on my computer that I plug directly into the TV. I use it a lot to watch videos plus the NPWDRl races.

 

[3phase]

If you use the chrome browser on your computer , google has a chrome extension for the browser that will let you 'cast' to the chromecast dongle.
I'm on my phone, if i remember i will take a screenshot when i get home.

 

[Crash Enburn]

I have a HDMI port on my computer that I plug directly into the TV. I use it a lot to watch videos plus the NPWDRl races.

+1

 

[Papa V Racing]

Ah good Idea .. I thought about this once....but never tried it... If it works out we go live but I can spend all day in front of the tv streaming HDMI from laptop to TV.. if we can't ... Got a menu put together for the day if we stay home....

 

[Obsessedderbydad]

If your TV has WiFi capabilities you should be able to pull it on your TV already

 

[birddog]

My newest TV is about 5 years old or so. It has HDMI inputs, but no WiFi.

My computer does not have HDMI out either. Still stuck in the stone age I guess.

Sounds like at least one person has tried this successfully. If I decide to give it a whirl, I'll post the results of how it went.

birddog

 

[Obsessedderbydad]

I have not tried this because I either watch it on my computer or TV, but yes I believe that would work.

 

[derbychip]

many blue ray or surround sound systems have wifi built in also

 

[kpendle]

The Google Chromecast is not going to work as good as good as a direct HDMI connection to your TV. It requires a fast laptop and you will need a reliable wireless network. I have a 3+ year old inexpensive laptop and it works horribly casting from the Chrome bowser. I tried it with a newer laptop and it was a lot better but still not very good in my opinion. It will not stream Amazon Prime video unless you force it to use Flash which sucked to watch. It does not work with video using Microsoft Silverlight. Not sure how it would work casting from a phone or tablet. My smartphone is too old to even have chrome and my tablet is the original Kindle Fire. Both of mine are ancient in the technology world.

The Chromecast works great for sites with native support like Netflix or HBOGO. Those sites cast directly to the chromecast and bypass your laptop or phone once you kick it off.

I use a direct HDMI connection to my TV for league races. I use Windows 7 with a 2 display extended desktop. I watch the race on the TV and have the chat and results windows on my laptop. I also run the audio off the TV.

The Chromecast is fun to play with especially given the price. But it is still in its infancy in my opinion. I also have a Roku and it does a lot more. I rarely even use the Chromecast.. The only advantage for me is for the HBOGO capability because COMCAST does not support HBOGO on the Roku. Since the performance of casting from the laptop, even the newer one I tried did not work well it was not all that great for me.

This information is just based of my experience and specific situation. It could work good if you have an optimum setup but it did not look promising and I was not willing to buy a top of the line laptop and do additional testing. The new laptop I tried should have worked well. I also have a new router and the WiFi performance should have been sufficient. And my cable internet is fairly fast also.

KP

 

[3phase]

PC in living room

Master bedroom

 

[3phase]

It does say the performance of the cast is affected by the computer speed. When I use my phone it does not directly cast, but queue videos or songs (depending on the app I am using).

 

[The Iceman]

I run a media center 24x7 in the basement and living room. If you have an old pc thats not too old try it! I have about 1500 movies, 1200 Music videos, 80,000 songs and can hit the Web, netfix,Hulu and Cable. (card I use is a Ceton InfiniTV) This card will allow you to view tv streamed from that card on up to 4 different PCs and record on 4 different channels. In the basement/man cave I view it all on a 58" tv runing through a stereo system.

So when I watched the last race I still needed a laptop to talk back and forth though. I have a remote keyboard but I like to maximize the screen.