Miracast from PC - minimum requirements and how it's supposed to work?


  1. Posts : 45
    Win 10
       #1

    Miracast from PC - minimum requirements and how it's supposed to work?


    I am an older techie but I do understand most of the newer technology. I do not own a Smartphone or Tablet.

    I have an older "Smart TV", about 5 years old. I've been to the manufacturers site but their explanation is severely lacking. My TV is a Sharp Aquos LC-70LE735U. They barely start to mention Miracast to their Smart TV's and jump to casting from an iPhone or Android, and don't mention casting from a PC (unless I missed it). They didn't have a list that I could find regarding Miracast compliant models. The TV is at the latest firmware and so is my Sony Blu Ray player.

    I assume that I will need to buy a dongle for the TV so it supports Miracast, is that true or can I Miracast to a Blu Ray player and let the output go to one of the TV's HDMI ports? Or is the Blu Ray player also an unsupported device even though I bought it a week ago?

    I can't get my wireless PC to "discover" the TV or the Blu Ray player using Edge's Miracast. I don't know how to put either the Blu Ray player or the Smart TV into discovery mode or whatever they decided to call it.

    All my PC's are Win 10 but only one of them is capable of Miracast and has a wireless network capability.

    My Blu Ray player is a BDP-S6700. The manufacturers site says that it is capable of Streaming but does not mention Miracast. Again, unless I missed it.

    Why doesn't Microsoft maintain an up-to-date list of compatible Miracast devices?

    Any thoughts on where I can start? Or do I need to throw everything out and start over.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
       #2

    Not knowing the specs of your TV and Blu-Ray player, my recommendation is to get a Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter: https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-P3Q...isplay+Adapter

    I have one, can wholeheartedly recommend it. Plug it to an HDMI port in TV and start casting. I am using it to allow three displays on my laptop; as you know most laptops can only use two displays, laptop's built-in and one external display. Using Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter I now have three displays available.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 15,485
    Windows10
       #3

    Personally, I would buy a Chromecast dongle - far more flexible.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 31,660
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #4

    BigRich said:
    II have an older "Smart TV", about 5 years old. I've been to the manufacturers site but their explanation is severely lacking. My TV is a Sharp Aquos LC-70LE735U. They barely start to mention Miracast to their Smart TV's and jump to casting from an iPhone or Android, and don't mention casting from a PC (unless I missed it).

    ...I assume that I will need to buy a dongle for the TV so it supports Miracast,
    Your TV (like my Pannasonic) supports DLNA. This means that you have two choices. You could set your PC up as a media server then you can, from the remote of your TV, browse the network for your media server, select photo/music/videos and play them from the server.

    The other option (and the one I prefer) is to cast from your PC to the TV. None of this requires Miracast or any form of dongle. For watching my videos, or a slideshow of my photos I regularly use 'Cast to...' from File Explorer. For videos you can also cast to a DLNA device from within Films & TV.

    The TV manuals major heavily on how to request media from a media server, but hardly (if ever) mention that it works the other way round too. Yours says...
    Enjoying Photo/Music/Video Playback
    Playing Back Files on a Home Network (DLNA) Server
    https://www.manualslib.com/manual/31...u.html?page=55


    Up until the Creators Update, Edge could use DLNA to cast to a TV, but this feature was inexplicably removed in the Creators Update. It can now only use Miracast.
    Bree said:
    Reverting to a 1607 system image shows what Edge should be capable of - but can no longer do in Creators Update.
    Creators Update - Edge cannot cast media


    The Edge development team have confirmed this as an issue, but as yet don't seem to have done anything about it.
    DLNA devices not shown in "Cast media to device"
    Confirmed Issue #11633738 • Assigned to Chi O.
    https://developer.microsoft.com/en-u...sues/11633738/
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 273
    Windows 10 Pro 1709 x64
       #5

    On my Early 2014 Sony TV (XBR 850b), there's a "screen mirroring" option that you have to select first so that it is waiting for the PC to connect. If I click "Connect" on my laptop on the action center, the TV shows there and I can miracast support it.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
       #6

    cereberus said:
    Personally, I would buy a Chromecast dongle - far more flexible.
    I have both, never had any issues with wireless display adapter. In addition, it allows not only casting but also extended desktop (external wireless display in extended mode), whereas Chromecast only allows duplicating either a tab in Chrome or desktop but not extending it.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 15,485
    Windows10
       #7

    Kari said:
    I have both, never had any issues with wireless display adapter. In addition, it allows not only casting but also extended desktop (external wireless display in extended mode), whereas Chromecast only allows duplicating either a tab in Chrome or desktop but not extending it.
    In the end, it comes down to what a user wants i.e. horses for courses.

    The real power of a chromecast is when using chromecast friendly programs, as the chromecast takes control of the streaming, and you do not use any pc resources. Indeed you can even switch off the PC entirely.

    In fact, I rarely use a pc for mirroring to chromecast. I use an android tablet where it is so much slicker. If I do stream a video from PC, I use Plex or Videostream etc, as these hand off the streaming to the chromecast dongle.

    What is quite slick, is you can set a plex session running from pc, switch off pc, and then control the streaming from plex on a tablet etc. i.e use tablet as a remote control

    Only time, I mirror from pc is if I want to display pc on TV which is rare. Most users simply want to play videos wirelessly.

    Of course, chromecasts do not do wifi direct which may be a limitation in some cases.

    Another plus for chromecasts is they work on virtually any pc, from windows 7 onwards.

    My laptop is not miracast capable unfortunately.

    My tv has miracast built in and I can cast videos via my tablet/phone directly, but I have to leave device powered on and cannot use it for anything else. So I just use the chromecast instead, and can use device as I wish, or put in standby etc, saving battery resources etc.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 45
    Win 10
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Thank you all for the many good suggestions and recommendations.

    It will take a while to sift through the replies to see which best suits my desired end result. My goal is, well actually was, to stream a cable movie or show from my laptop to the big screen.

    After some additional thought, I've decided to go wired. My old laptop supports an HDMI video out and I was able to get the streaming video to work with the big screen. The only disadvantage is the cable running under the rug to where I sit. The laptop's video is not Miracast compliant, so there's no other way with that machine.

    My other desktop machine that has 802.11n is Miracast compliant but, as several have suggested, I need to add a dongle to the TV. The downside of that is that if I want to pause a movie, or otherwise control it, I need to get off my lazy behind and go to the desktop machine.

    Once again, thank you all.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 9,790
    Mac OS Catalina
       #9

    MIracast has gone away like the Dodo bird.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 45
    Win 10
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Thanks bro67. I guess that's the story of my techie life. Oh, did I mention, my TV is 3D, another Dodo.

    In this case I never had a need or desire to stream. Then I replaced my cable boxes with boxes I own, then I find out the cable company won't allow them into their database which is required for On Demand. Then I dig around and find this Miracast "solution" which turns into a non-solution.

    Problem solved, I'll just watch On Demand using HDMI under the rug until I fall for the next "advancement" in technology.
      My Computer


 

  Related Discussions
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 10 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 10" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

© Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 23:23.
Find Us




Windows 10 Forums