Avia and Chromecast, An Awesome Tag Team

In Google's last wave of Chromecast apps, Avia was updated with Chromecast support.

I have been surprised it has not been more heavily promoted by +Google. It was only recently listed on the Chromecast page.

Avia is usually dismissed in favor of Plex which I have never gotten to work and whose pricing scheme is $3.99 a month. You can get Chromecast support with Avia for $2.99.

So what does Avia allow me to do? 

1. I have an simple way to cast the photos and videos on my device to my TV.  This is great for sharing a photo or video I just took with family via a large screen TV.
2.  Avia connects directly to Google Photos which gives me access all my instantly uploaded content. I simply load an album, click play, and Chromecast it.
3.  If I download movies to my device I can cast them via the Avia app. This works great for 720p and below with buffering issues at higher bit rates.

I think $2.99 is more than fair price for these three features. There are a lot of complainers of Avia, it seems to have more to do with the "audacity" of Avia charging for a product. The criticisms of it being slow or sluggish has less to do with Avia than the device its casting from.

n8