I bought a Chromecast

I'm having trouble getting Netflix and Hulu plus to work on my Chromecast. Netflix gives a random error and Hulu says that I need to be in the US, although my dns is set to unotelly. Any ideas?
 
I set up my Chromecast last night, and boy was it a mission.

So I first followed the Unotelly instructions to set up the static routes, rebooted the router, updated Unotelly with my new IP, tested Netflix from my Roku, and it worked fine. I then plugged in the Chromecast, then installed the Chromecast Android app on my mobile phone. The Chromecast broadcasts its own WiFi network, which the Android app then connects to in order to configure the Chromecast for you.

The problem is that I kept getting an error saying that the Chromecast is connected to my WiFi network, but that it doesn't have access to the internet. This was strange, because my internet connection was fine, and my Roku could stream perfectly while it was giving this error message, and all my other devices were connecting to the internet just fine.

I rebooted my router a few times, disabled the recently added static routes, factory reset the Chromecast (press and hold the button on the Chromecast for 25 seconds :cry: )a couple of times, and still nothing changed. I then hopped onto Google to search for an answer, but couldn't find anything conclusive, except ramblings about the Chromecast not being compatible with all WiFi networks.

My WiFi network was setup to use WPA1 + WPA2 (AES + TKIP) / mixed mode. I then changed this to only WPA2 + AES encryption, factory reset the Chromecast, and rebooted the router, and then I made a little progress. The Android app then told me a couple of times that the Chromecast was successfully setup. The Youtube Android app could pick up the Chromecast, but any attempts to cast content to my TV either failed or timed out. The Chromecast would also still give the message about not having access to the internet, even though it was connected on WiFi.

I then did some more Googling, and read something about WiFi channels that didn't make much sense, something about some US devices only connecting on channels 3, 6 and 11. So I changed my WiFi network to broadcast on channel 6, rebooted, and factory reset the Chromecast via the Android app (thank God for this). But still no difference. Did some more reading, made sure UPNP was enabled, Wireless AP isloation was disabled, and then everything else looked OK. I then then decided to change the region of my Netgear DGN2200 router from Europe to US under the Wireless settings, rebooted router and factory reset Chromecast. When everything came back online, the Chromecast seemed to finally connect, and the first thing it did was download a firmware update.

After the firmware update was downloaded and installed, everything worked fine. The Chromecast didn't complain about anything, and the Youtube app could cast videos to my TV. Netflix still wasn't working, but I then re-enabled the static routes I set up initially as per the Unotelly website instructions, and then it worked very well.

What I didn't like about Netflix on Chromecast, is that when the video starts buffering initial, it doesn't show you the percentage completed (or any form of prog. So you have no idea how long you're going to be waiting for, or even if your line / ISP is misbehaving and sitting and waiting is gonna be a waste of time. The Roku app however does show you the percentage, which is a big plus. Such a small thing is a progress indicator goes a long way to improving user-friendliness. What I did like though is that I could control the volume on the TV via the Netflix app. This is a simple feature sorely lacking on the Roku. I don't understand why they didn't include it.

Next up briefly tested Hulu, which worked. No comment yet, as I just wanted to make sure it worked and then video would actually play through the Chromecast. I did notice that the Hulu app didn't allow my control volume on-screen, but using the volume rocker on my Android phone allowed me to control the volume on the TV.

Next step will be to sign up for a Plex Pass subscription, and starting casting Plex content from my Media Server, via the Plex Android app.

So far, I'm not that impressed with the Chromecast. I however do love for the portability, cost and size of the device. For now I see it as more of a toy to play around with, then something that might actually be useful. I suppose if I didn't have a Roku 3 already, I would think differently. Getting the Chromecast makes more sense for people who don't already have a Smart TV or a media player like the Roku. I guess as more apps are released for the Chromecast, we will get to see much more innovative and interesting ways of using the device.
 
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Set up the static routes and Netflix and Hulu working great. On Netflix, streaming quality is lower than on the WD TV Live but it streams smoother and doesn't buffer.
 
Yeah, there's been quite a bit of activity on the Chromecast front lately:

1. Plex now supports non-Plexpass subscribers, allowing anyone to use the Chromecast as a full-featured media centre (yay).

2. As of this morning, Pocketcasts now has Chromecast support. And the whole app has received an awesome redesign.

3. There are some cool party games available for the Chromecast now. Qcast is a quiz game. Dehumanize Your Friends is a Chromecast version of Cards Against Humanity. DrawCast is an app that lets you draw on your TV screen, which is pretty cool for pictionary.
 
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