Web Video Cast | Browser to TV

What it does

Web Video Cast | Browser to TV is for watching web-based video on a television or other supported receiver. Its built-in browser looks for playable media on web pages, so the phone can act as the way to find and send a video rather than relying on a cast button in the site or player. It also supports casting media stored on the phone.

It suits people who regularly watch video from websites and want to move it to a larger screen. The receiver needs to be compatible, and casting depends on the phone being able to reach that device over the network.

Where it fits

Compared with a TV maker’s companion app or the cast controls built into a streaming service, Web Video Cast is aimed at content spread across the web. The browser and media detection are useful when a page does not offer an obvious route to a TV. The trade-off is that results can depend on how a particular site serves its video; this is not a way to make every web page castable.

Supported receivers include Chromecast, Roku, Fire TV and DLNA devices. Subtitle options and support for M3U8 live streams also give it uses beyond sending ordinary on-demand clips, though people who only watch through a few major streaming apps may find those apps’ own controls sufficient.

What to weigh

This is a utility for connecting web playback to another screen, not a replacement for a streaming subscription or a general-purpose TV platform. It asks for a compatible receiving device and a working network connection; the phone is used to browse and choose media. A built-in browser keeps those tasks together, but users who prefer a dedicated app for each service may find the extra browsing layer unnecessary.

Track record

Published by InstantBits Inc, the app has a 4.62 rating from about 2.34 million reviews and more than 50 million installs. Those figures indicate broad use, but they do not guarantee that every website or receiver will work in the same way.