Chromecast Yanks Input Feature.

Playing with Google Chromecast over holiday season. Looking at all the apps to cast. The Chromecast has a nifty feature of grabbing the HDMI input on our Toshiba TV. That HDMI-CEC feature alone is useful. Read on.

Our Toshiba like many TVs has about ten inputs. It has has a standard input selector (pressing "input" switches to next input source). But the loop of ten types of inputs (and their respective timeouts for signal detection) make it almost impossible to loop through to the desired input. And though it has an option to select input by number, that numeric option apparently works only through the Toshiba remote and not universal remotes.

Enter Chromecast: Hook it to the first HDMI input (usually grouped together) immediately before the most interesting input or group of inputs. In the in-laws-TV case just before the main composite input of interest (cable box or other).  In Toshiba case HDMI-1 just before cable box on HDMI-2. Basically hook it up to the input in the loop as close as possible and before the desired/main TV input source (apart from Chromecast itself of course *grin*).

One simply gets the right input for Chromecast by invoking a cast application (like YouTube or other). To get back to other main most-used inputs one can simply push the input button once or twice (not six or seven times).

Actually wish the DVD players and TV set top box had this HDMI-CEC "yank" feature built in (linked to menu or play - NOT volume or channel change - for obvious contention reasons). Then there would be no more pressing input at all. When target device was accessed via remote, it would simply grab an HDMI port.

Brings up idea of an HDMI selector box with four inputs and one HDMI output and built in HDMI-CEC control feature. Button on top for "emergency" manual select. "Yank" by ability to sense HDMI control.

Chromecast itself is well worth it alone just as HDMI "yank" input.