How can I mirror to a UHD TV?

[Arizona Willie]

I will presume that < most > of the viewers here have a Surface Tablet of some variety.

Do you have one of the new UHD TV'S?

If so, can you mirror your Surface to the TV WITHOUT using any form of adapter?

You < should > be able to ... depending possibly on the TV brand whether it carries the Miracast capability or not.

My original version Surface Pro will put the Start Screen on the TV for one second and then it disappears.
Tech support doesn't want to hear about it.
I have a Sony tv and Samsung owners have the same kind of problem.
But I'm curious if all UHD tv's have this problem or if it works with, maybe, a Vizio or LG tv.
Have you tried it?

Check your tv's manual if necessary and find out about it's inputs.

The Sony has an input labeled MIRROR which is expressly stated is for mirroring smartphones and TABLETS to the tv.

Other brands may use a different technique but most are probably supposed to be capable of this.
People report smartphones work but tablets don't ... at least Surface tablets.
Haven't seen anything about other kinds of tablets.

Anyway ... if you'd like to participate --- try to mirror your Surface to your UHD TV and report back whether you can get it to work or not and what brand and model you are trying with.

These units < should > work out of the box without buying Microsoft Miracast adapters.

 

[sharpuser]

What 'Surface' device are you trying this with, Willie?

 

[Arizona Willie]

I'm using the original Surface Pro ( version 1 ) trying to project to a 2014 Sony Bravia XBR-55X850B UHD TV.

The TV says it is mirroring the Surface and I can get the Surface's Start Screen to mirror to the TV for approx one second and then the TV screen goes to black. But it < thinks > it is still mirroring the Surface so presumably the screen goes black because it is no longer getting a signal from the Surface.

If I go into Device Manager and tell it to show me hidden devices it shows Miracast with the Bravia TV model listed below that.

In Devices and Printers the TV shows up and in it's properties it has the correct MAC address for the TV.

Everything looks like it < SHOULD > work but it doesn't.

The TV recognizes the Surface and says it is mirroring it and the Surface recognizes the TV and DOES project for one second.

So it seems likely that some setting in the Surface sees that it just projected to the TV and says " hey wait a minute you can't do that " and shuts off the signal.

No one in the Sony forums has a solution and no one in the Microsoft forum has an answer and tech support hung up on me when I began to describe the symptoms !!!!!

I can only presume they have heard so many complaints and have no solution so they don't want to hear about it.

I am curious if it is only the Sony and Samsung tv's that have this problem or if it works with other brands.

It SHOULD NOT be necessary to buy that Microsoft Miracast adapter but that's what they want you to do.

But since the two recognize each other and it does work for one second that means something is stopping it --- perhaps it's deliberate to force us to buy the adapters?

 

[GreyFox7]

If time has any value what's your return on investment?

 

[Arizona Willie]

Time?

I got nuthin' but time.

I'm retired and can fight this all day long if I have to.
I could afford to buy the adapter but it makes me mad that they seem to be deliberately making it not work and are trying to force us to buy another product in order to make something work that should work out of the box.

The Surface tablet OBVIOUSLY has the capability to project to the TV because IT DOES === but is limited to one second and then SOMETHING shuts it off.

Both devices recognize each other and have the correct MAC addresses etc. etc. etc. and the Surface DOES show up for ONE SECOND and then gets shut down.

Samsung owners have the same problem and I'm just wondering if other brands work.

I presume it is < possible > that Samsung and Sony have somehow produced something that doesn't work with Miracast but don't know what advantage there would be for them in that.

MICROSOFT is the company that would make more money if they can force people to buy an adapter ... not the TV companies.

============

Welcome to the United Corporate States of America.
Democracy is dead.
Long live the Corporation

 

[GreyFox7]

I think they only way you'll get this piece of code changed, assuming that something in the MS code is at fault, is to figure out how to make a security exploit thru the Miracast protocol during connection setup. Even then it may not help as they might just shut it off completely.

Here's a plausible explanation why some things never get fixed. A segment of code is contracted out to a 3rd party with a certain specification. Contractor completes code according to spec and contract is over, resource goes poof. Bug arises which falls into a gray area of a standard for which vendors develop their own non standard solutions with varying degrees of compatibility or informal cross agreements. There's no resource on hand to address the anomaly and they aren't about to initiate a contract for said issue. Their ROI for this is nill and businesses are loath to reopen code modules unless absolutely necessary especially when resources unfamiliar with the module would be used. There are actually a few scenarios here that present hurdles any one of which is enough for a Project Manager to refuse to act and a business manager isn't likely to force the issue. That's the reality.

I seriously doubt MS thinks they will make any money off such a wonky feature. It's not uncommon at all for incompatibilities to arise in "Standards" implementations especially early on in their life.

 

[Arizona Willie]

I have no doubt that everything you said is true.

BUT as a customer who purchased their product --- it makes me very angry to see something like this that LOOKS like they deliberately disabled Miracast in order to force you to buy their adapter.

If the Surface didn't send ANYTHING to the TV EVER it would be easier to buy the concept that it is / was an accidental coding error than when it works and then STOPS for no apparent reason --- and their only solution is to tell you to GO BUY ANOTHER OF THEIR PRODUCTS.

Every Surface owner of EVERY generation of Surface should be screaming at Microsoft demanding they fix this --- whether they want to actually do it or not.

 

[jnjroach]

I'm active on the Official MS Boards and it looks to be an issue with Sony and Samsung TVs, both work great with their respective Android Tablets and on other Android Tablets but not on any Windows Devices (this also happens on the Amazon Fire Stick).

I see people connecting to Visio and LG sets....

So far my Windows Devices connect to all of my Miracast Devices (Netgear, ScreenBeam and Microsoft). I understand the frustration, but isn't necessarily Microsoft's fault....

 

[GreyFox7]

I don't mean to make it sound simple:
According to Wi-Fi Alliance®, “Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast™ adopts many famous and dependable techniques from Wi-Fi, including Wi-Fi CERTIFIED n (mproved throughput and coverage), Wi-Fi Direct™ (device-to-device connectivity), Wi-Fi Protected Access®2(WPA2™, safety protection/ security), Wi-Fi Multimedia™ (WMM®, traffic management)) and Protected Setup™ and so on. Besides, some Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast™ devices also support TDLS (Tunneled Direct Link Setup), making these devices connect with each other via basic network. What is different from traditional basic network is that TDLS supports high-efficient data transmission and also advanced application of Wi-Fi function.”
As a result, since Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast™ certification program is based on the technical standards and legacy infrastructure network as mentioned above (as in picture 4), it is necessary to take a certain level of connection speed and reliability of safety connection into consideration. As for companies, when companies want their Wi-Fi products to get Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast™ certification, their products are required to pass Wi-Fi CERTIFIED n, Wi-Fi Protected Access®2 and Wi-Fi Direct™ certifications. And TDLS is optional, depending on companies’ demands. Currently, in terms of the speed of transmitting, products that are able to go through Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast™ certification program are products of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED n, others like a, b, g are all unavailable for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast™ certification program due to it’s speed limitation.

In addition Intel WiDi is a separate specification and would be different than the mechanism used by Android....

We know that Amazon Fire TV only works with Android and iOS. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these TVs have similar issues.

Either party can end a conversation and if one or the other gets something it didn't expect or doesn't get something it expected that's the most likely outcome, end of transmission.

Over and out.

 

[jnjroach]

I don't mean to make it sound simple:
According to Wi-Fi Alliance®, “Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast™ adopts many famous and dependable techniques from Wi-Fi, including Wi-Fi CERTIFIED n (mproved throughput and coverage), Wi-Fi Direct™ (device-to-device connectivity), Wi-Fi Protected Access®2(WPA2™, safety protection/ security), Wi-Fi Multimedia™ (WMM®, traffic management)) and Protected Setup™ and so on. Besides, some Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast™ devices also support TDLS (Tunneled Direct Link Setup), making these devices connect with each other via basic network. What is different from traditional basic network is that TDLS supports high-efficient data transmission and also advanced application of Wi-Fi function.”
As a result, since Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast™ certification program is based on the technical standards and legacy infrastructure network as mentioned above (as in picture 4), it is necessary to take a certain level of connection speed and reliability of safety connection into consideration. As for companies, when companies want their Wi-Fi products to get Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast™ certification, their products are required to pass Wi-Fi CERTIFIED n, Wi-Fi Protected Access®2 and Wi-Fi Direct™ certifications. And TDLS is optional, depending on companies’ demands. Currently, in terms of the speed of transmitting, products that are able to go through Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast™ certification program are products of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED n, others like a, b, g are all unavailable for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast™ certification program due to it’s speed limitation.

In addition Intel WiDi is a separate specification and would be different than the mechanism used by Android....

We know that Amazon Fire TV only works with Android and iOS. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these TVs have similar issues.

Either party can end a conversation and if one or the other gets something it didn't expect or doesn't get something it expected that's the most likely outcome, end of transmission.

Over and out.

Miracast and Intel WiDi v.4 or later is 100% Cross Compatible....

 

[Arizona Willie]

Well I tried to update the video adapter driver but it would not let me.
I downloaded and unzipped it but it would not install.
I found and followed the instructions for doing it manually but it STILL would not let me do it.
Kept getting the message that the latest drivers WERE installed and it's obvious they are NOT.
The driver number listed in the Properties of the video adapter is nowhere near the number of the latest driver from Intel.
But they have it fixed --- apparently --- so I can't even manually change the driver.

I think this is the end of this. I've spent far too much time on it.
Fortunately, I don't NEED to do this.
I originally saw a message from someone who couldn't get his Surface to mirror to his Samsung UHD TV so I thought I would try it.
When I found it only worked for one second I tried to find a solution but there just ISN'T one.

But Microsoft WILL NOT sell me an adapter --- it just isn't going to happen Microsoft. You can stick it where the sun don't shine.

This issue needs to be reported to some famous tech writers because THEY sometimes have some influence and might get Microsoft and Sony / Samsung to work together to fix it.

Thanks to all who tried to help.

I QUIT