Monday, 2 December 2019

Nope, it's not you, casting Disney+ doesn't work on Vizio TVs

Posted By: Rockerz December 02, 2019 Leave a Reply

Best answer: Yes, and no. There's no built-in SmartCast app yet, and the built-in Chromecast feature doesn't work yet because Vizio's version of Chromecast built-in is outdated. Apple's AirPlay feature does work right now, and an update in December should enable Vizio's Chromecast built-in to work with Disney+.

A galaxy of videos: Disney+ ($7/month at Disney+)
Cast properly: Google Chromecast ($35 at Amazon)

Here's what's going on

There's no Disney+ app in the built-in SmartCast operating system. That's a shame — especially for those who only use the built-in OS with their Vizio TV without any other sort of streaming device plugged in. And that shouldn't be (and in fact isn't quite) the end of the world because all modern Vizio TVs also serve as a target for Chromecast — Google's (and Android's) method of getting video from a phone to a TV — and Apple's AirPlay protocol.

AirPlay works just fine. If you have Disney+ on an iPhone or iPad, you can use it to to get Disney+ onto your Vizio TV without anything else plugged into it.

Chromecast, however, does not work. Try, and you'll be greeted with an error message. Turns out, the Chromecast built-in version that Vizio's been using on its TVs is horribly outdated, so they'll be pushing out an update in December to get Chromecast built-in to a current version that Disney+ supports.

In the meantime, you can plug in virtually any modern streaming dongle, box or stick and get access to Disney+ — and a lot more than you'll get natively with SmartCast, now that we think about it — that way. Grab a $29 Roku Express. Or use a $35 Google Chromecast. Or how about a $49 Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K? It really just depends on what you want to use — they'll all get you there.

Vizio also says it's expecting a native SmartCast app from Disney+ in 2020, but we don't have a more concrete timeline for it, yet..