Intel’s Wireless Display, a superset of the Miracast wireless display standard is going to get a boost with Skylake and an on-board real-time video encoder. It should improve latency and efficiency and Intel thinks it will be good enough to extend WiDi to wireless-screen gaming.
At €39 the Amazon Fire TV Stick is very interesting. For Prime customers it’s a must-buy but for those of us with Miracast-enabled devices it means that the Miracast feature (Screen Mirroring) also brings extra value. Early firmware builds for the Fire TV Stick didn’t support Miracast from Windows 8.1 but I’ve just received a stick here in Germany, upgraded the firmware and tested Miracast on two Windows PCs, a Windows smartphone and an Android tablet. All of them worked but there are still some issues that need sorting out. Read on for a review of the Fire TV Stick, a focus on Miracast and some thoughts about KODI, iConsole Micro and Chromecast.
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The Amazon Fire TV stick was looking like the best Miracast option for Windows 8 PCs; A real no-brainer. The problem is that it isn’t working. Owners are reporting that it’s showing up as a remote display on Windows 8.1 but no-one is reporting a successful connection. Does this mean it’s a no-go? Fortunately not because Amazon have recently indicated that Windows 8.1 support is coming soon.
Update: I’ve reviewed the Fire TV Stick now and put a focus on testing Miracast.
Fire TV Miracast for Windows support coming soon
April 2015 Update: A recent firmware update is helping but big issues exist. Source: Thurrot.com
It seems that a number of owners aren’t happy with Amazon FireTV sticks they bought for Windows and Miracast use. I’m not happy either as in my eyes, Miracast support is Miracast support and not ‘a subset of Miracast devices support.’
Quite how long we’ll have to wait for Miracast on Windows 8.1 with Amazon FireTV sticks is another question but at least Amazon is on the case and have committed to doing something. Keep your eyes on the product page, this forum thread and firmware updates.
Note that Miracast isn’t he same as WiDi although a WiDi compatible device works with a Miracast receiver. WiDi has more features than Miracast and is now up to version 5.1 with 4K support. I’m not aware of any products that have it yet.
We’re focusing on mobile PC solutions here at ‘Ultra Mobile PC Portal’ but always have a quiet eye on the emerging and complex areas of Internet of Things, In-Vehicle-Infotainment as well as areas that affect UMPCs such as USB3.1, WiDi and Thunderbolt. A number of detailed and revealing PDFs are now available from the Intel IDF Shenzen content catalogue that I would recommend you download and glance through if you’re working in any of these areas.
Here’s a list of PDFs available now. The list will update tomorrow with day 2 presentations.
We’re in a good place with Ultrabooks right now. Haswell gave us the battery life we were waiting for and prices have come down. Effectively the Ultrabook project is over but the brand, and the soul of the Ultrabook continues. A Dell XPS13 has been leaked for Q3 and it’s highly likely we’ll see a launch at Computex in June but don’t expect any large-scale products or refreshes until Q4. While some may say that’s a slip, it was much the same with the last generation.
With Broadwell we can expect another tick (or was it a tock?) in the Intel strategy of improving processor architecture and then improving the manufacturing process. This time round we’re moving to a 14nm process which, like the move from Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge, gave us power efficiencies. We also got a refreshed GPU in that round too so maybe we’ll see some ‘Iris’ action on Ultrabooks later this year.
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We’ve tested a number of Windows tablets here at UMPCPortal and one of the biggest issues we hear is on video output. People like their HDMI ports and when it’s not available on their ‘PC’ they’re not happy. There are questions to be asked about how often you’d really use it on a device that’s targeted at consumption, yes, but these Windows tablets do more than just help users consume content and that’s the point. Luckily there are options for those that don’t have the port. They come with limitations, yes, but they can also have advantages. Take the wireless video solution WiDi for example. In this article I take a deep-dive into this wireless display technology that you’ll find on many new Intel-based Tablets, 2-in-1s and Ultrabooks.
We’ve already heard that all Ultrabooks based on 4th-Gen Core (Haswell) will have to have WiDi capability and touchscreens but PCWorld have just published some more details from Intel.
On target for a launch around the Computex (June) timeframe the 4th generation Core processor, Haswell, is now shipping to OEMs. Intel announced the status at the Developer Forum keynote in Beijing and took the time to re-promote some of the features we already know about. A new Toshiba hybrid Ultrabook was shown on stage and WiDi got a push too.
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