Amazon may never officially endorse AirPlay or Google’s media streaming technology. But the company I will be the first to support Matter Casting, the video and audio streaming capability of the Matter smart home standard, to its smart displays and smart TVs, Amazon announced this morning at CES 2024.
Once Matter Casting comes to Amazon’s Prime Video app for Android and iOS, users will be able to cast content to supported Amazon devices — starting with the Echo Show 15 — by pressing the new dedicated Matter Casting button. Beyond the Echo Show 15, Amazon says Matter Casting support will come to Fire TVs, including Panasonic smart TVs with built-in Fire TV and — on the app side — Plex, Pluto TV, Sling TV, Starz and ZDF later this year.
“Customers can start watching a movie or browse for their next favorite show from Prime Video on their phone and stream it to their compatible Fire TV or Echo Show 15 device,” Amazon writes in a post. published on her official blog. “This is a first demonstration application of Matter Casting.”
Matter Casting is an open local area networking protocol that does not require a specific hardware stack. It is available to any application or hardware manufacturer to implement and is not limited to specific operating systems or partnerships, making it easier to implement than proprietary alternatives.
However, while the generic Matter standard is supported by Apple and Google in addition to Amazon, the two former tech giants have little real incentive to adopt Matter Casting given that their respective proprietary casting technologies are well established. Unsurprisingly, Google announced this week that its casting technology, Chromecast, would be built into all new LG TVs — but it made no mention of Matter Casting.
The Matter Casting specification — which was developed with significant input from Amazon — can accomplish more than casting, in theory. It allows you to control the basic functions of a TV, such as adjusting the volume, changing the channel and switching between HDMI ports. However, it is up to app and device manufacturers to support these features.
