Miracast and Windows 7

elrasho · 9 Jun 2015 at 10:58

Hi,

At work everyone has Windows 7 laptops. We want to be able to project the screen onto HDTV's that are nor SMART TVs.

I've looked into Miracast dongles as they create an Ad-Hoc Wireless connection so it wont affect the Staff WiFi. However does it work on Windows 7?

PoD · 9 Jun 2015 at 13:35

You need a WiDi supported Graphics card and you are then able to send information to smart TV's. The facilities to do this easily are built directly into Windows 10 via the Devices menu and choosing project to screen.

On Windows 7 providing your graphics card supports it you need to download the WiDi update for your graphics card.

You then load the WiDi tool and choose connect to the relevant Smart TV or you can use the Microsoft wireless display adapter for devices that are not smart (such as projectors).

elrasho · 9 Jun 2015 at 15:40

Only Intel based WiFi adaptors work with Miracast? Most laptops here have Realtek based ones. Is there third party software I could try?

elrasho · 10 Jun 2015 at 14:22

It arrived today but the WiFi on the Laptops wouldn't see it. My LG G2 phone connects fine though.

Looks like you need a Dual Band WiFi adaptor for this to work. Wish it said that in the description.

Pho · 12 Jun 2015 at 11:52

What about ChromeCast? If you install the beta Chrome extension then you can choose to cast your entire screen (not just Chrome) in 1080p in the advanced options. The only issue is the mouse is a little laggy if you need it to be realtime.

It joins to your normal WiFi, but broadcasts it's own wireless point for the initial set-up. You can also enable a guest mode to let people who aren't on your network cast to it.

elrasho · 12 Jun 2015 at 13:09

Thanks Pho I tried a Chromecast but the problem is the Laptops won't see the Chromecast through our WiFi. I think maybe some ports might need opening on the router or switch?

We have a Cisco based network and I found this: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/doc...hnotes/7-6/chromecastDG76/ChromecastDG76.html

Has anyone else successfully used Chromcast in the workplace?

Pho · 12 Jun 2015 at 13:26

We have fairly old Cisco Aironets (for wireless mesh) and the ChromeCast could see them and connect fine. It did keep complaining about not being able to access the internet once connected but we think that may be down to our fibre provider's firewall. You do need to disable wireless isolation mode if it's turned on in your wireless config for it to work also.

We've actually got it connected to a TP-Link Wireless-N Nano router at the moment which connects to our guest network and it works fine.

PoD · 12 Jun 2015 at 14:40

ChromeCast is not good for presentations because it does not show animations and it is just generally clunky.

As a simple solution you could just get a long cable and plug that in.

elrasho · 12 Jun 2015 at 15:11

We want to move from cables as people keep breaking then and they look messy