Miracast compatible HP Lappy advice needed please.

Miracast compatible HP Lappy advice needed please.

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Discussion

Big Al.

Original Poster:

68,798 posts

257 months

Sunday 7th February 2016
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So just purchased a new HP lappy that is Miracast compatible, it's due for delivery tomorrow, in the mean time I've just purchased one of these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00ZWOU5R2?psc=...

I primarily want to cast/stream movies from my lappy to my TV.

Does anyone have any experience using one of these?

I'm not that IT savvy so please be gentle with me. smile

TYIA

sgrimshaw

7,311 posts

249 months

Monday 8th February 2016
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I've got an older version of that "stick".

Presumeably, your TV is not Miracast compatible ....

Anything you particularly want to know?

wseed

1,501 posts

129 months

Monday 8th February 2016
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Like the poster above I have a similar older device and the only issue I had on setup was it defaulted to Apple mode. Not sure if yours will have a switch between modes but the printed leaflet was relatively easy to follow to switch between the 2 modes.

When you first set it up you use it as an access point and then configure it to connect to your home router. You should then be able to find it in devices on your laptop and select it as an external monitor.

sgrimshaw

7,311 posts

249 months

Monday 8th February 2016
quotequote all
Did you notice these two bits in the item description:

"Support Multi-OS: IOS 5.0 or above; Android 4.0 or above; Windows XP/Vista/7/8"

"NOTE: If the dongle doesn't work with the windows PC software, please download and use the old version.
Probably this dongle is not completely compatible with the newest version. "

I may be wrong, but I think this might be "Chinglish" for it doesn't work with Windows 10.

What version of windows is coming on the HP Laptop?


ETA - There is actually a review which says it doesn't work on a Windows 10 PC.

Big Al.

Original Poster:

68,798 posts

257 months

Monday 8th February 2016
quotequote all
Got the lappy today and it's currently being configured and files transferred from my old Lappy, Both new and old lappy run on Windows 10, if your saying that you've read that it wont run on W10 then I'll ship it back and get one that does.

sgrimshaw

7,311 posts

249 months

Tuesday 9th February 2016
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Big Al. said:
Got the lappy today and it's currently being configured and files transferred from my old Lappy, Both new and old lappy run on Windows 10, if your saying that you've read that it wont run on W10 then I'll ship it back and get one that does.
The reviews are contradictory .... some say it works with Win10, some that it doesn't.

The item description seems to indicate that it might not.

It's not the most expensive item in the world though .... if it didn't work, can you make use of it for something else? Streaming from iOS or Android for example?

The earlier version that I have isn't the easiest device in the world to set up, and I found it to be a little unreliable. The reviews of this later version would indicate that this is much better though.




Funk

26,254 posts

208 months

Tuesday 9th February 2016
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It's me setting up Al's new laptop for him; we had a play with the EZCast setting it up with my Nexus 6P and it wasn't the most intuitive I must say. Al currently runs his laptop into his TV using HDMI and it's this step we were looking to try and eliminate, ie. 'casting' a clone of the laptop screen and audio to the TV.

I've just finished sorting the new one so I'll have a play with it tonight on the laptop as it's intended to be used and see what it does...

sgrimshaw

7,311 posts

249 months

Tuesday 9th February 2016
quotequote all
Funk said:
It's me setting up Al's new laptop for him; we had a play with the EZCast setting it up with my Nexus 6P and it wasn't the most intuitive I must say. Al currently runs his laptop into his TV using HDMI and it's this step we were looking to try and eliminate, ie. 'casting' a clone of the laptop screen and audio to the TV.

I've just finished sorting the new one so I'll have a play with it tonight on the laptop as it's intended to be used and see what it does...
I must admit to resorting to using an HDMI cable when I want to connect the laptop for "mirroring" purposes.

I've never managed to get Miracast to work reliably, and that includes using the inbuilt Miracast receiver in two different LG TV's as well as the EZCast stick.

Be interested in your findings.

Funk

26,254 posts

208 months

Tuesday 9th February 2016
quotequote all
sgrimshaw said:
Funk said:
It's me setting up Al's new laptop for him; we had a play with the EZCast setting it up with my Nexus 6P and it wasn't the most intuitive I must say. Al currently runs his laptop into his TV using HDMI and it's this step we were looking to try and eliminate, ie. 'casting' a clone of the laptop screen and audio to the TV.

I've just finished sorting the new one so I'll have a play with it tonight on the laptop as it's intended to be used and see what it does...
I must admit to resorting to using an HDMI cable when I want to connect the laptop for "mirroring" purposes.

I've never managed to get Miracast to work reliably, and that includes using the inbuilt Miracast receiver in two different LG TV's as well as the EZCast stick.

Be interested in your findings.
In theory it *should* do what we want but as you say it's rarely as straightforward! Not something I've played with before, I still use HDMI from my PC for video but audio to an external USB soundcard which feeds the amp.

sgrimshaw

7,311 posts

249 months

Tuesday 9th February 2016
quotequote all
Sometimes I think these devices fail due to their attempt to be a one stop solution.

The EZCast is Miracast/Airplay/DLNA/etc ....

Often it's worth biting the bullet and going for something from a "known" manufacturer designed for the specific purpose.

Personally, even though I'm a Windows user, I'm in no way a lover of Microsoft but you simply cannot take away from them that their peripherals are extremely good.

So with that in mind, I'd wager that if that EZCast doesn't work reliably .... this almost certainly will:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-CG4-00003-Wirele...



Funk

26,254 posts

208 months

Tuesday 9th February 2016
quotequote all
sgrimshaw said:
Sometimes I think these devices fail due to their attempt to be a one stop solution.

The EZCast is Miracast/Airplay/DLNA/etc ....

Often it's worth biting the bullet and going for something from a "known" manufacturer designed for the specific purpose.

Personally, even though I'm a Windows user, I'm in no way a lover of Microsoft but you simply cannot take away from them that their peripherals are extremely good.

So with that in mind, I'd wager that if that EZCast doesn't work reliably .... this almost certainly will:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-CG4-00003-Wirele...
The MS one is video-only by the looks of it. Miracast streams audio with the video...

pozi

1,723 posts

186 months

Tuesday 9th February 2016
quotequote all
sgrimshaw said:
I must admit to resorting to using an HDMI cable when I want to connect the laptop for "mirroring" purposes.

I've never managed to get Miracast to work reliably, and that includes using the inbuilt Miracast receiver in two different LG TV's as well as the EZCast stick.

Be interested in your findings.
I have to agree, Miracast is always a bit fragile and generally suffers from an irritating lag making it fine for general presentations but streaming video or gaming are more likely to trip it up.

Miracast is also very sensitive to the master device, not really an issue with a laptop but low end Android phones/tablets just turn everything into a pixelated mess.

sgrimshaw

7,311 posts

249 months

Tuesday 9th February 2016
quotequote all
Funk said:
The MS one is video-only by the looks of it. Miracast streams audio with the video...
According to the reviews it is Audio as well.

I'll let you know, I ordered one this morning wink



bimjim

249 posts

162 months

Tuesday 9th February 2016
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The Microsoft adapter does do audio too, I can confirm

Funk

26,254 posts

208 months

Tuesday 9th February 2016
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Well that's interesting to know... Gonna pop over to Al's later and see what we can get the miracast to do. If not I'll get him to send it back and get the MS device instead.

Edited by Funk on Tuesday 9th February 18:53

R8VXF

6,788 posts

114 months

Tuesday 9th February 2016
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I have the MS one too. Audio and video work from my surface but seems only video from my Lumia 950xl.

sgrimshaw

7,311 posts

249 months

Thursday 18th February 2016
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I just got time to play with the MS Wireless Display Adapter.

I'm very impressed.

Plugged it into the TV and a USB power source, selected the correct HDMI port on the TV and a message was displayed on the TV telling me that it was ready to connect.

On the laptop (Win 8.1), I went to Devices -> Project -> Add a wireless display

A short list of devices was displayed, I clicked on the Microsoft Wireless Display and it just simply worked.

Both picture and sound are sent to the TV from the laptop.

I then tried a Win 8.1 Tablet and a Win 10 Tablet - no issues with either device.

There is some overscanning going on but I'm sure that can be resolved either in the display properties or by downloading the Windows Display Adapter App from the Windows Store (as advised on the devices intial display whilst waiting for a connection).

It's a common occurance when displaying to a TV.

R8VXF

6,788 posts

114 months

Thursday 18th February 2016
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Yup, the app can even set up password protection smile