Qotd

Chromecast has transformed the mobile phone into a highly effective TV remote – which is fantastic, up until your TV remote’s in the local vicinity, but your phone’s not anywhere to be seen.

Chromecast users have now been given the ability to un-pause and pause videos with the infrared remote for their TV. Although it doesn’t seem as if Google’s officially announcing the added functionality, it’s been thoroughly tested by many users and they’ve discovered that it, at least generally, works smoothly and without a hitch.

One of the biggest issues in the past with Google’s Chromecast is that it’s not been able to be controlled aside from with a laptop, tablet or phone.
The latest update to Chromecast now allows users to pause and un-pause at will. It’s gained popularity because of it’s usefulness when paired with Netflix and how it’s a very simple way to get your TV all set up with the least hassle possible. The added functionality allows users to have some control over videos by using their TV remote, offering an easy way to stop and play Chromecast apps.

Although it is certainly a relatively small update, it will go a long way in improving the Chromecast’s general usability. According to the latest reports on the Chromecast, it is currently working well with YouTube, Netflix, Watch ESPN, HBO Go, Google Play Music and Google Play Movies and TV.

The new feature utilizes HDMI-CEC, the protocol that’s also used to permit the Chromecast to have the ability to automatically turn on your smart TV when you decide that you fancy watching a few videos.

Unfortunately, this will not work with every TV. Although the majority of TV’s made across the last few years should probably work, some won’t feature HDMI-CEC and therefore will not work with Google’s latest update.

At this stage, the Chromecast is still somewhat limited in that it’s unsupportive of other playback commands such as rewind and fast forward – two things that a lot of people would expect as a standard. As well as this, the feature isn’t yet able to be used across every Chromecast app.