Ok,I have a Roku and a Sony smart box on my other 2 TV's in the house. I thought I would get a Google Chromecast dongle for 30 bucks for my bedroom TV. Never got this aggravated trying to set up something "so simple" according to what it says on the box. I can't load the setup program on my desktop because it is not "wireless". I can't load it on my wife's surface RT because Google App's don't work on Windows 8.1 on an RT system. It does not work on my Kindle either. I bought it through Amazon so I don't want to deal with shipping it back. Some of the things I read to do was switch up some things on my wireless router. I did that,too!

Does anyone on here have any tips?

Thanks in advance

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Return it and get a roku 3.

Maybe you have to put your router code in so it connects.

Just a guess.

Downloading the google play store and opening an account on your Kindle might work.

If you or your wife have an android phone, set it up from there.

sorry man...I had no issues. I have an Ipad though.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Thanks for the help. I hit the internet and found there are a lot of people who can't load the set-up either. My daughter's in laws had the thing working at their house. I have worked with computers,routers,etc. in my professional life so it makes me feel like something less of a man when I can't figure this stuff out. It basically non-android devices that can't talk with Google. Kindle was one of the devices.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

chromecast is useless. my dad has one and IIRC there have to be specific apps for chromecast otherwise you just end up doing that thing where you can have chrome dump out the browser's visual output to a TV, but then it gets really lagged and shitty and crappy and perpetually-loading and etc etc etc. i actually asked my brother yesterday (when we saw chromecasts for sale @ best buy) if dad actually uses that thing for anything and the answer was a sensible chuckle (magazine!) before "of course not"

he got the thing because i had decided to pay vince the $10/month for the WWE last year in time for mania (this way i can sleep easy with my superior not-lagged streams knowing i'm paying vince for what i wtch) and i let my dad use the proper WWE/network login, so he was figuring that chromecast was the easy/no-BS way to get the network dumped out to a television (when i told him "hey man you have $$$ and things... just get a desktop computer for video out, prolly like 300-400, and use that to dump EVERYTHING from your PC to the TV without bigtime loss" he was just like "...we'll try that chromecast!") and of course it's all proprietary because like, instead of making easy/no-bs external cards you plug into a computer to basically dump the PC's display to the TV, everyone wants to have their own little proprietary thing that people buy and media conglomerations make special apps for (go figure you can watch youtube like a champ on chromecast, right? =) and it's just a load of shit.

i think the roku thing works out better than chromecast cuz while i think it too has some proprietary apps and whatnot you can do more in terms of just dumping "what i see on my computer" to the TV, which is what you want here. TV out which is basically HDMI out nowadays is super super SUPER common on laptops.... i've got my low-end open box laptop with HDMI out so i can easily dump whatever's on my laptop to a HDTV and if i'm streaming sports and stuff well HEYOOOOOO. so with a pre-existing desktop without HDMI out (and i'd guess that you can find a special "media center" desktop in that $300-400 range where you can use the HDMI cable to drop the computer's visual output to the TV and then you're perfect) but all these chromecasts and rokus and stuff might be useful, bigger nod to the roku than the useless chromecast, but they tend to be a gatekeeper as they're relatively cheap so they also have to be relatively useless cuz when they've got a captive market like "people who already own nice PCs/laptops/tablets and want to have it on their TV" they prey on their ignorance to make claims that you gotta spend like $100+ to get something that simply takes your computer/tablet's visual output and dumps it to tv, which is why i was saying hey if they're gonna try to get you to spend 100-200 to dump video out with no bullshit/bells/whistles/proprietary-apps, man, just go buy a new PC/laptop for ~$300 that's got HDMI out and then you can easily put anything on your HD/TV and there's no problem whatsoever. i'm sure they have HDMI >> A/V cables out there which would do the job (assuming your SDTV doesnt blow up from HI RES) and that's the way to go IMO.

but chromecast? yeah man... if you can spend 30-50 bucks on something that makes it seem like it's the answer to all of your "dump whats on my computer to my tv needs" then you know it's gonna barely work, if at all, because when they've got rubes like you out there and you havent already got a simple/easy means of dumping out your computer's visual output to a TV, well they're gonna do everything in your power to make you pay another $100-200/+ because they got you. but hey all of you guys are like scrooge mcduck rich compared to me and if i had your middle-class-$$$ i'd just buy a nice little $200-300 laptop with HDMI out and set it up by the TV to like, you know, put on a movie/stream/WWE-network/whatever on the laptop and then have that get outputted to the TV with little to no drama and fanfare and etc.

or maybe the roku does everything? i know my friend had a roku 1/2 and said it pretty much worked but there was some bullshit, and while i THINK there's proprietary roku apps and stuff, i think this thing pretty much does the job you want it to do..... so if they're on a new v3.0 right now i reckon it'll do what you want it to do, which is simply dump whats on your computer screen to your TV, which again is something that should be easily handled on the hardware level. and notice i'm not taking about putting in a TV out card into your PC cuz idk if you're the type of guy to open up a desktop PC and add in an extension board (they've gotta be lightyears beyond PCI so it's.... fuck what is the standard after PCI? i know it's a smaller connector and it's on the tip of my tongue) but that'd be an option to.

so yeah get whatever $$$ you can get for your chromecast or if it's like $30 just take the hit and remember that when you're a captive market like that, especally when you're a captive market of people trying to do something that most contemporary desktop/laptop PCs do by default on a hardware level, they're gonna assume you're a rube if you're not doing that so they're gonna try to take $100+ from you to get the same kind of quality that you're used to by just using the built in HDMI out port.

going to the roku 3 website i read >>> 1,800+ channels* in the US
Over 200,000 movies and TV episodes; plus music, news, sports and more. It couldn’t be easier to watch what you love.

*Some channels require payment and/or a subscription to access content. Channel availability is subject to change—not all content is available in all countries in which Roku® products are sold.

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so if they're boasting over 1800+ channels and 5x faster (....than what exactly?) it sounds like a bunch of bullshit and if you want it the way it should be done, just have a PC with a HDMI out... like i said even el cheapo laptops have them and like, if i wanna watch anything on a HDTV i just whip out the $10 cable i got and have the dual display of laptop screen and HDTV going and whaddya know, if my computer can handle the stream/video/etc the tv merely has to show it. if these breakout boxes have "speed" issues and whatnot well then you're entering a world of pain, smokey, and im telling you what you REALLY want is this HDMI out because that means ANYTHING ON YOUR PC GOES ON A TV.... which i dont even think the roku is because you gotta have apps and this and that and compatible and does it run fast enough and why should speed be an issue if all you're doing is taking your computer's display and dumping it to a tv?

TLDR = just get a new laptop with HDMI out for $200-300 and designate that your media PC. you can load it up with movies/streams/whatever and watch them on teh laptop whenever and ANYTHING you wanna dump out to the tv, even if it's a game of starcraft 2 (oh shit protoss pack out soon! we're gonna find out the end of the story with the rogue xel'naga and shit! and i so would with kerrigan btw. which word/s out of "bitch queen of the universe" dont vibe with me? =) and that is what you want jimmy. not some box that's gonna get you closer to god in convenient proprietary apps format. and why the fuck is speed an issue when you're just taking PC video output nad putting it on a TV? these HDTVs are basically overblown computer monitors anyways so if theres a problem its because these external breakout boxes are doing more than taking video out and putting it on the giant monitor that masquerades as a television!

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got a refurbed one for $21 a couple months ago off groupon... i dont use it that often but it works well from my nexus 5 and my galaxy tab pro tablet. the nexus lets you mirror the phone to the TV (some other phones have this enabled now as well). overall i'm pretty impressed... but i have not tried the various other streaming devices

I have a roku 3, a chromecast and an apple tv. Apple Tv gets the workout, because it already has espn, mlb, nba and acc on it. roku I use somewhat and chromecast was a cheap fix to make one more tv an internet machine.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

I'm perfectly okay with my Chromecast, so mileages vary. The deal is, it needs an android device during its original setup. It needs to be told how to connect to your wireless router. (E.g., its name, login credentials.) You can borrow anyone's android to do that.

Once that's done, then you need something that can communicate with the Chromecast, e.g., so you can direct it what to display. I've downloaded the Chromecast plugin for google chrome, and my PC is then the "remote control" for directing what's streamed to the Chromecast. I believe there are plugins for Windows, Mac and Linux; I use the Linux one.

That's it. If you need something with a dedicated remote control, then that's the Fire. If you don't give a flip, then the Chromecast is more than good enough. They're all little Linux boxes, either way

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

Thanks guys!!!

My Fix (MAYBE): I ordered a 50 buck Tablet that has Google Chrome pre-loaded. I'm hoping that takes care of the set-up issue. I wanted another cheap tablet anyway. One I can bring to my car with downloaded music or a downloaded radio show. I'll let you guys know if it works but thanks for the tips.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."