TV Cast Pro for LG webOS

Review by eFreeware

If you own an LG Smart TV and keep running into the same wall, this app is aimed at you: the video you want is sitting in a web page on your phone, and the TV has no tidy way to play it. TV Cast Pro for LG webOS is a paid Android browser from 2kit consulting that finds the video inside the page you are viewing and hands it to the television, so it plays on the largest screen in the room rather than a handset. It has been on Google Play since November 2016 and sits at a 4.1 average from more than five thousand ratings.

The pitch is narrow and specific, which I appreciate. This is not a general-purpose mirroring tool or a replacement for the streaming services you already pay for. It is a bridge between the open web and an LG television, and it wants to be judged on whether that bridge holds for the sites you actually visit. The developer sells it outright at $6.99, with no ads in the app and nothing to buy inside it.

What the browser does with a video

The routine is straightforward. You browse to a page inside the app, and it looks for an embedded video on that page. When it finds one, the video appears as a link below the browser window, and a single tap sends it to the TV. There is no cable. The formats the developer lists include mp4 and m3u8, and the stream is delivered in full HD.

That last point matters more than it sounds. The phone only sends the video, so even a low-resolution Android screen can cast in full HD. It is handing the video address to the TV, which then pulls the stream itself. The developer frames this as the core advantage over Miracast screen mirroring, and the reasoning is sound: mirroring routes everything through the handset and is capped by whatever the handset can display.

The practical consequence is multi-tasking. Because the phone is not doing the work of playing the video, you can close the app while casting continues. You can take a call, answer a message, or line up the next video in the browser while the current one is still running on the television. Your phone can even be shut down entirely, and the stream keeps going. For anyone who has used mirroring and felt chained to the handset, that freedom is the whole argument for this app in one feature.

Where the casting actually works, and where it stops

The app is built for web video in the broad sense: clips embedded in articles, online movies, livestreams and live TV shows found through a browser. If your viewing habit is wandering through websites rather than opening a dedicated app, this fits that habit closely. The developer also notes that the phone is not used while casting, which keeps Wi-Fi usage lower than a mirroring setup would.

The exclusions are stated plainly and they are wide. Third-party apps are not supported as sources, nor is Flash video. Neither are Google Play movies, Netflix, Amazon, HBO or other DRM-protected services. That is not a defect the developer is hiding; it is the boundary of what a browser-based caster can touch. If most of your watching happens inside subscription apps, this tool will not help you with it, and no amount of fiddling will change that.

The developer is unusually direct about this last point: test your sites and videos in the free edition first, because upgrading will not make a failing video work. I read that as an honest warning rather than a sales tactic, and it is worth taking literally. Find the pages you care about, try them in the free version, and only then decide whether the paid edition is worth adding to your setup.

What the Pro edition adds to the browser

The paid edition unlocks the premium set. A remote playbar gives you control over the running video from the phone while you keep browsing, covering scrubbing, forward, rewind, play, pause and stop. The app itself shows no ads, and its ad-blocker, which can be switched on or off in the settings, blocks ads and popups on most sites. Bookmarks can be added and managed either from a dedicated menu or straight from the browser.

Two smaller options round out the list. Desktop mode changes the browser's user-agent so a site loads its desktop version instead of the mobile one, which is often the difference between a page offering a playable video and a page offering a prompt to install something. You can also set your own homepage once you have bought the app. None of these are exotic, but together they turn a one-trick caster into something you can browse with for a while.

The paid edition carries no advertising and there are no in-app purchases, so the $6.99 is the entire cost. The developer's refund window is 24 hours from purchase, and a Google Purchase ID is required to request one. That is a narrow window, which makes the free-edition trial the safer route to a decision rather than buying first and testing after.

Setting it up on the TV and the phone

Install the free companion app from your LG TV's app store. The app supports both webOS and Netcast LG Smart TVs.

Pairing is done by hand, from the TV. Pair by scanning the TV's QR code or typing your Android device's IP address with the remote. The camera permission exists for the QR route, which is the quicker of the two. Once the two ends are talking, the browser is ready to send video.

The developer's claim that this works on all Android devices is worth noting, because it is precisely where a mirroring-based approach tends to fall down. There is no additional streaming box in the chain. If you already have the TV and an Android phone, the hardware side of the equation is settled.

Who gets the most from this

The clearest fit is an LG Smart TV owner who watches web video and wants it on the television without adding another device to the shelf. That person browses to a clip, sends it across, and gets on with something else on the phone while it plays. The multi-tasking behavior and the independence from the handset's screen resolution are the two features that carry the most weight here.

A second fit is anyone who has tried mirroring and disliked being tethered to the phone. The ability to close the app, take a call or shut the phone down while the stream continues is a real change in how the setup feels, and it is the difference the developer leans on most heavily.

The app is a poor match for someone whose viewing is centered on subscription services, since those are named among the unsupported sources, or for anyone who wants a general screen-mirroring utility rather than a video caster. It is also a paid app with a 24-hour refund window, so the free edition is the sensible place to confirm that your sites cooperate before any money changes hands.

A paid bridge worth testing first

TV Cast Pro for LG webOS does one job and does it in a way I find easy to reason about. It browses the web, spots the video on the page, and pushes it to an LG television in full HD while leaving your phone free. The Pro layer adds a control bar, an ad-blocker, bookmarks, a desktop user-agent and a custom homepage, and the $6.99 buys all of it with no ads and nothing further to purchase.

The limits are as clear as the features. DRM-protected services, third-party apps and Flash video are out of reach, and this limitation is stated up front rather than buried. With a 4.1 average across more than five thousand ratings and over a hundred thousand installs, there is a body of users behind it, but the deciding factor for you is narrower than any average: whether the pages you actually open will cast. The free edition answers that question, and the developer's own advice is to use it before paying.

Buy this if you have an LG Smart TV, watch video found through a browser, and want it on the big screen without a streaming box or a phone tied up for the duration. Try the free edition on your own sites first, and treat the paid upgrade as the step you take once a few of them have worked.

What's new in version 2.60

- Bugfixes Please rate us on Google Play == It‘s very quick and will help us improve this app to provide you with better features and services.