Is Chromecast a waste of money?

[Beevee]

OK. I admit it. I bought Chromecast to access the channels I don't already have in an attempt to acquire viewing without having to pay extra to do so. It doesn't work that way.
I have a 4k Smart TV. So, there are various apps supplied by the maker, Samsung that I can use. But they aren't the ones I want to use. And those I want to use can't be uploaded through their Play Store.
I thought Chromecast was the answer but it isn't since it does supply the channels I want to watch but restricts me to those I already pay for under my ISP provider.
I could already get those anyway, by attaching a laptop to the TV with a HMDI cable so, I am no better off than I was originally.
Where did I go wrong?

[Peter1469]

I just use the laptop with the TV. The wife has NetFlix and Hullu. I have Amazon Prime.

[Common]

OK. I admit it. I bought Chromecast to access the channels I don't already have in an attempt to acquire viewing without having to pay extra to do so. It doesn't work that way.
I have a 4k Smart TV. So, there are various apps supplied by the maker, Samsung that I can use. But they aren't the ones I want to use. And those I want to use can't be uploaded through their Play Store.
I thought Chromecast was the answer but it isn't since it does supply the channels I want to watch but restricts me to those I already pay for under my ISP provider.
I could already get those anyway, by attaching a laptop to the TV with a HMDI cable so, I am no better off than I was originally.
Where did I go wrong?

All I can tell you that here the paper says people are dropping cable entirely and going streaming. Maybe thats your problem you still have cable, but im not sure.

I have a great deal right now with dish and I have only have internet through the cable company. For as much as we watch TV were good.

I do stream the dazn which is short for dazone, its a combat sports streaming channel, I pay 99.00 a year and get that back in two PPV fights, the channel includes fights that the cable company charges from 60 to 80 bucks for.

[Beevee]

I guess you use the laptop to mirror to the TV.
But Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime are viewed by you and your wife on a subscription basis. So, Chromecast would only give you the same because if you access, say, Netflix, it asks for your ISP and password.
I just wanted the advantage of not upgrading a 7 year old out of date laptop for a faster service but it denies me access to anything I don't already pay for, so I still have to use the laptop because Chromecast won't Cast when a VPN is detected.

[DGUtley]

I bought it and gave it away.

[countryboy]

I just use the laptop with the TV. The wife has NetFlix and Hullu. I have Amazon Prime.

We do something similar. Cut the satellite a couple of years ago, and picked up Netflix, and Netflix DVD, which the wife mostly watches. I mostly watch YouTube. Couldn't be happier with the 25 bucks a month bill, compared to the 100+ we were paying for DirecTV.

After hearing what you have to say, I might pick up Amazon Prime. What do you mostly watch on there? Plus the added benefit of express shipping, right?

[Beevee]

I bought it and gave it away.

Why? Because it didn't give you anything more than you could already access?

[DGUtley]

Why? Because it didn't give you anything more than you could already access?

Yes. I basically found it useless. I ended up buying the apple one so that I could mirror my Ipad to my TV. That gives me Big Ten Network, which was my goal b/c we don't have it in our county.

[Chris]

I have it in a couple rooms. All it is is a way to stream from various apps to your TV. Example, I have the History Cannel app installed in order to watch Knightfall. I fire it up, start a Knightfall episode and click it's video's Chromecast icon and choose the TV I want to stream to. Ditto USA, AMC, FXNOW, etc apps. Some are pay but my ISP covers many of them. But, again, all Chromecast is is a way to stream from app to TV.

[Peter1469]

I guess you use the laptop to mirror to the TV.
But Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime are viewed by you and your wife on a subscription basis. So, Chromecast would only give you the same because if you access, say, Netflix, it asks for your ISP and password.
I just wanted the advantage of not upgrading a 7 year old out of date laptop for a faster service but it denies me access to anything I don't already pay for, so I still have to use the laptop because Chromecast won't Cast when a VPN is detected.

I never had chromecast so I don't know what it does. I do own a house in Louisiana where my brother lives. I pay for the cable there. It is Cox. Cox has a service called Conture that you can access anywhere streaming. So I have access to that as well.