Chromecast integration with Android TV is completely unintuitive and should be better.

by SimpleAnswer

I hope that just by bringing this up you will know what I mean.

I moved from Chromecast to an NVIDIA Shield about 3 months ago. I still really enjoy finding content on my phone and casting, but I also like the advantage of lean-back content choosing using the remote and all the other advantages of the Android TV platform. What I don't like is having to remember how I got the content playing. While watching Youtube for example I'd like to be able to cast from my phone, then later press back on the remote and find myself in the android tv shield menu, then later load another video using the remote and add to the up next list using my phone. That would be intuitive to me. As it stands I have to remember how I got the content on the screen and stay in my lane.

ccspdk

If you use the built-in YouTube app instead of your phone when finding content, it will work as you want.

I agree with you that when you cast from your phone the TV should be intelligent enough and stream the video you wanted in the appropriate app instead of in the cast receiver.

Have same problem with Spotify. Making TV play from the phone can be done in either Spotify connect mode (requires that Spotify is running on the TV) or in Chromecast mode, where only basic information is shown on screen while streaming the music)

Would be nice if the TV could detect the incoming cast stream, and have a setup option where the user could decide the action depending on the incoming stream

Tired8281

Kodi with the TubeCast addon does this, at least for YouTube.

CenterInYou

While i don't have the same issues as you I whole heartily agree! You would think coming from a Chromecast (user since CC1 back in 2013) that an AndroidTV (Shield TV no less) would just be a Chromecast with an interface on steroids. Unfortunately that hasn't been my experience. I wouldn't say it's bad. Just not what I expected. It's great for users who would like to have that interface / remote experience.

The issues that pop into my head right away are ones that revolve around Google Home. You can't tell Google Home to play something on AndroidTVs, the default TV option is also a mess with AndroidTVs. Things like that.

On the topic of Chromecast, I actually really love the casting built-in on my Vizio. Before I had a older Samsung and some of the CEC thing didn't work ( turning off the TV, muting). Casting built-in just feels like more part of the TV than a Chromecast + TV. With the Vizio I love that I can tell Google Home to turn on the TV and it does while NOT changing the input to the casting screen. If I tell it to change the volume (or change the volume from my phone) it actually changes the real TV volume, not the virtual casting volume.

It things like that that keep me using the Vizio for casting and I just disable the cast app on the ShieldTV and us it with a remote when I want that experience.

gabstance

It works much more like you want it to, if you instead use the option to link the YT app on your Shield to your YT account, then use the que feature on your phone. Once you link a device, you will have the option to add videos to the que. After you que the first video, it will immediately start playing on the Shield. You can pause, forward, or rewind on the shield with the remote. As you que more videos from your phone, they will immediately appear in the list of qued videos on the Shield when you click down once with the remote, and you can then choose which one to watch next.

To link your Shield, just select the settings option in the YT app @ "link with TV code" to generate the code. Then open the YT app on your phone, select the settings option to link a device and enter the code. I use this all of time and love it.