Maybe it's the blue ones?

First, I'm still on Team Roku. I've had Roku devices since 2010, and cut cable on January 11, 2011. Roku is my streaming device of choice.

Lately, I've been using Chromecast. For four weeks. Okay, 27 days. Today is the 28th day. Or will be.

Anyway, I've ran into an issue with one of the devices. I replaced the Chromecast HD (1080 version) that I had on my main TV. A while back, I replaced my 1080 TV with a UHD/4K TV. I had a Chromecast HD on it. With some swapping around of devices, including setting up a family member with a Chromecast, I would up with an HD device on my UHD/4K TV.

Rather than try to undo some of that, which would involve taking back a device from someone, I decided to just get a new Chromecast UHD/4K device. Only, rather than the standard white, as I have always done, I got a blue one. Google calls the color "Sky" but it's what I would call light blue.

That's the device with which I had a recent issue. New device, issue, it gets returned, right? Right. And the replacement arrived recently.

Same issue.

The device will sometimes not respond to a button press on the remote. Google calls it the "directional pad." It's where the arrows would go. It's just a round thing that you treat as if it were arrows.

That's where the problem is. Sometimes presses aren't recognized. Then, sometimes a single press moves the highlight several places. It could be the remote or it could be the device. But my white Chromecast doesn't have this problem. My blue one does. And I sent the blue one back and got another blue one to replace it. Same problem.

Maybe I need to send the new blue one back and try a pink one. Google calls it "Sunrise" but it's kinda pink. Or just get a classic white one.

What I'll probably do is take the remote from the Chromecast HD (the 1080p Chromecast device) and use it. The remotes are the same. I think. I'll find out.

It's really odd that two Chromecast devices that are blue have the problem, but the same model, only white, doesn't have the problem. So, I've now (while I'm writing this and getting ideas) paired the white Chromecast HD remote with the Chromecast (UHD/4K) device.

That wasn't as easy as I thought. You have to pair the Google Home app with your Chromecast, then use the remote function of the app to control the Chromecast, then navigate to the Remote settings, then try to pair it. And it didn't pair the first time, but did the second. So now I have a different Chromecast remote paired to the Chromecast device.

Initially, it's working properly. But I saw something that concerns me. There's a software update available for the remote. Not for the Chromecast, but for the remote.

Maybe that's the problem. So, I'll not apply the update just yet. I'll use the remote as is, and see how it performs. Maybe for a week, if all goes well. Then, I'll update the remote software and see if things go sideways. Then I'll see what happens next.

My Streaming Life shouldn't be this hard. Maybe I'm just making it hard. But I still enjoy it. This is a bit of a challenge, trying to figure out why the blue Chromecast devices act wonky. But a fun challenge. And I can watch TV and call it research. That's a win, any way you look at it.