Using Chromecast with mobile VR

There are tons of reasons you might want to mirror VR content to a TV from a phone based head mounted display such as Samsung GearVR. Exhibitions, conventions, conferences, exams, collaboration and more. This guide will take you through the steps required to show your VR content on your display of choice.

Requirements

• Samsung GearVR / Google Cardboard
• Google Chromecast
• TV or monitor with HDMI input
• Available Wi-Fi network

You can use a second phone capable of creating a mobile hotspot as your wifi network if there isn’t one available, or if you are on a public network that restricts contact between devices. Many university networks are set up in this way.

Guides on how to set up a mobile hotspot can be found here:

• Android
• iPhone

Set-up

Step 1. Setting up the Chromecast

Depending on your device, pick one of the following guides for setting up your Chromecast:

• Android
• Computer
• iPhone / iPad

Step 2. Setting up the phone

To make the mirrored VR on the monitor run with an acceptable framerate, you need to set up your phone to simulate a secondary display. To do so, you need to enable developer mode first. The first step in order to do this is to head to the About phone subsection of the settings menu.

In the about phone menu, keep tapping the Build number until you get a prompt confirming your developer status.

Head back out to your settings menu, and you should now have a Developer options menu.

In the Developer options menu, find a setting called Simulate secondary display.

Click that, and select 480p. You can experiment with higher resolutions in the future if you have a very powerful phone, but this will do for now.

If you see a small copy of your display in the corner, the phone is set up correctly.

Step 3. Casting your display

The final thing you need to do is start casting your content to the Chromecast. Head into the Google Home app to get started. In Home, hit the menu button in the top left corner.

Select the Cast screen option.

Finally, click the large blue Cast screen button.

Pick the correct Chromecast device and you’re all set.

Step 4. Open your VR content

Now you are free to open whatever VR content you wish to display. Just open it up like you would normally, be it Cardboard content through a website, or GearVR content through the Oculus app. Whatever content you open will be mirrored to the monitor via the Chromecast.