How to make Chromecast work with a tablet?
Last summer I bought Chromecast, in order that we could watch online transmissions from The Opera Platform and the Berliner Philharmoniker in the comfort of the lounge, rather than squeezing into my tiny study.
With the gadget plugged into the TV and the software installed on the laptop it worked, to some extent. However, the laptop is an old former Vista machine, and usually gives a very poor picture when cast to the TV, and is sometimes virtually unwatchable.
Adding a Wi-Fi adaptor near the TV doesn’t really work either. Once it was connected to the home network, it became possible to view the pictures from my desktop on the TV, but nothing else. Perhaps it’s because the PC is connected to the router by ethernet, which may prevent sharing for some reason.
A few days ago I decided to try casting from the Nexus 7 tablet my wife bought at least a year back, which I set up for her, and hasn’t been used since. Eventually, I found how to download and install the Chromecast software, but it isn’t much use. There is now an icon on the desktop, which only gives a choice of items stored on the tablet, i.e. a couple of songs and a magazine from 2013 which came pre-installed and no longer work.
Logging in to theoperaplatform.eu, choosing any of the works currently available and running it doesn’t replace the series of photos which appear when one selects HDMI4 – which is where Chromecast resides.
This morning I tried again with the laptop. When logged into a site a Chromecast icon is present, clicking that and selecting Lounge – the somewhat original name chosen for the TV – all worked fine, in fact the picture was quite good. Reverting to the tablet, there is no Chromecast icon on the browser, and so no means of sending the programme to the TV. It turns out that the icon looking like an ice-cream cone and filling I had been using is for the network.
However, it seems to work in reverse. Trying to remove the photos Chromecast keeps showing, in the hope this might help, I switched out of AV, then back again, only to see the photo on the TV now appeared on the tablet also. Who can explain that? It was one of their pictures, not mine.
The Nexus manual has not helped, other than in the setting up section it gives instructions for inserting a SIM card, for tablets other than Hi-fi only. Maybe that is the problem, as this tablet doesn’t have a Sim card drawer. Or am I clutching at straws, as SIm cards seem to be for use with phones, and the laptop doesn’t have one.
Any suggestions on how to get this working gratefully received.
Finally, season’s greeting to all loungers.
George
