Google Chromecast – The Good, The Bad, and the Wishlist

I have had a Google Chromecast for a couple of months now, and until recently was disappointed with it. That all changed this week when Google announced support for 10 news apps including Plex.   Previously I had used Netflix a little over Chromecast and it worked well, but I have quite a bit of content on my Plex server to watch as well.  With Plex on Chromecast it comes closer to taking over for the Roku box.   So here is my good, bad and wishlist for Chromecast

Good

• Very easy to set up using a browser, or the app on iOS or Android
• Works as advertised, you control the player from your device but can close the app and use other apps while the content is playing
• App support – this was on the Bad list until this week, now it moves to the Good list for me with the new apps being supported

Bad

• Sending display from a Chrome Tab to Chromecast – while it is labeled beta it clearly is beta does not always work as advertised and sometimes the tab just decides to leave the Chromecast

The Wishlist

• Support for multiple networks – every time you move the Chromecast you have to set it up again, while a simple process I would love to be able to save 2 or 3 network configurations and let it just connect to what it sees at a given location
• Ability to play content direct from a device to the Chromecast. For example be able to use locally stored content on my iPad or Android phone and send it to the Chromecast, even locally stored Plex content will not do this as Chromecast expects to connect back to the server and stream the content.  While that is how it is designed to work, being able to create just a wifi connection from device to Chromecase and stream local content would be nice especially when traveling)
• Ability to cast anything – full PC screen, iPad or Android screen (I suspect some of this will come in a future update)

Overall I like the idea behind the Chromecast, and hopefully Google will continue to add support for apps (Hint: support for Amazon would be nice), and some of the other items on my wishlist, might even free up my Roku box to be used on another TV down the road.