What's the best way to connect the SP2 to a TV, wirelessly?

[Darren Donovan]

What hardware do I need? I understand that there will/may be a lag. I'm thinking of hanging a spare LCD TV in the backyard, and bring my SP2 out there occasionally.
Thanks,

 

[jnjroach]

You will need a Miracast Device, the Actiontec ScreenBeam Pro is the favorite of the Surface Team, I use the Netgear PTV3000 personally...

 

[Darren Donovan]

Thanks. I have 2 questions:

[1] How do you power your PTV3000, USB to TV, or AC adapter? Does it make a difference? In one of the reviews, I read that if you use USB, there will be a waiting time every time you start it up, because the PTV3000 will need to wake up. However, if you use the AC adapter, the PTV3000 is always on, thus no waking up is needed?

[2] The Miracast, or the WiDi app, is that something that I'll need download to the SP2?

 

[bamaster]

My LG TV has built in widi and I am able to project to it with my SP2.

From the charms bar, I click on Devices. Then to Project. Then to Add Wireless Display. It was a little tricky getting it to work, but I was able to do it without any adapters.

I think that's how I did it, anyways.

 

[jnjroach]

Thanks. I have 2 questions:

[1] How do you power your PTV3000, USB to TV, or AC adapter? Does it make a difference? In one of the reviews, I read that if you use USB, there will be a waiting time every time you start it up, because the PTV3000 will need to wake up. However, if you use the AC adapter, the PTV3000 is always on, thus no waking up is needed?

[2] The Miracast, or the WiDi app, is that something that I'll need download to the SP2?

I use a USB port to power my PTV3000 (no problems). Windows 8.1 has Miracast (Supports Miracast and WiDi 4.0 and higher natively) support built in so there is no need for 3rd Party Software (The Surface Family uses Miracast not WiDi which Intel's implementation of Wireless HDMI).

 

[Darren Donovan]

I use a USB port to power my PTV3000 (no problems). Windows 8.1 has Miracast (Supports Miracast and WiDi 4.0 and higher natively) support built in so there is no need for 3rd Party Software (The Surface Family uses Miracast not WiDi which Intel's implementation of Wireless HDMI).

That's great to know. So the PTV3000 is only needed if the TV doesn't have Miracast built-in, correct? Bamaster posted above that he doesn't use any add-on hardware. But his TV has WiDi already built in. Are Miracast and WiDi compatible with each other? Say, if I get a newer TV (which can have either Miracast or WiDi), then I don't need to buy the PTV3000. Since the SP2 uses Miracast, I'll need to get a TV that is also Miracast compatible, right? Thanks a lot, all this is new to me.

 

[jnjroach]

That's great to know. So the PTV3000 is only needed if the TV doesn't have Miracast built-in, correct? Bamaster posted above that he doesn't use any add-on hardware. But his TV has WiDi already built in. Are Miracast and WiDi compatible with each other? Say, if I get a newer TV (which can have either Miracast or WiDi), then I don't need to buy the PTV3000. Since the SP2 uses Miracast, I'll need to get a TV that is also Miracast compatible, right? Thanks a lot, all this is new to me.

Correct, if the TV supports WiDi/Miracast you wouldn't need an adapter but verify that the SP2 works with your TV before purchasing (some Sony TVs support Miracast but the SP2 isn't able to connect). Typically, if it supports WiDi 4.0 or greater, it supports Miracast (YMMV).

 

[mennogreg]

You will need a Miracast Device, the Actiontec ScreenBeam Pro is the favorite of the Surface Team, I use the Netgear PTV3000 personally...

Care to share your thoughts as to why the Surface team likes that one, and why you like the Netgear?

Interested because I'm looking to buy one to connect to my (non-Miracast) TV.

 

[jnjroach]

I already owned the PTV3000 prior to me owning the Surface. The Surface Team stated that they have had good success with Actiontec ScreenBeam and is what they tend to use in demos, etc.

 

[Rvacha]

To be accurate you may not NEED Miracast - there's another option if you have a DLNA TV. If the TV is DLNA and you have it on your network you can use Win8's Play(To) function. Open app, start playing content, select the Devices charm, then Play. If your TV is shown in the list (not likely) select it and away you go. I do this and it works VERY well. MS, in it's infinite wisdom starting with Win8, will only show devices that have been certified to MS's Play requirements, thus most TVs will not show up even if they are DNLA 1.5 certified. There are easy registry fixes to get around this. I've done the fix on all my Win8 PCs. If you have lots of DLNA devices as I do, I think the little effort involved is quite acceptable since when you get done you aren't limited to a single TV. In my case I have 3x Roku Soundbridges (music players since discontinued), 2 DLNA TVs, 2 DLNA Blu-ray players, an old Netgear EVA, 2 DLNA media servers, a Pioneer N-30 music player and 3 PlayTo PCs and I can pair content between any of them. There are other pleasant surprises too. I have Metro Media Player on my SP2 and with this it is possible to start a video, Play it to the TV, then open another video and play that on the SP2 while it continues streaming the first video to the TV, all at 1080p

See the following for the reg hacks
Using MSFT Uncertified Play To DLNA devices with W8 Modern UI Apps | Barbs Connected World
Using An Old Non MSFT Certified Legacy DMR with W8 Device Charm | Barbs Connected World

 

[jnjroach]

There are limitations of playing HDCP Encrypted Content through DNLA (Anything that is considered Protected Content).

 

[BeR2Y]

This might not be the "best way", but here’s my two cents worth on this subject.

I have a brand new Samsung smart TV, 5500 series. Samsung calls their mirroring system Allshare. I had no luck connecting my SP2 to it. That is until last night. I downloaded a new software update for the TV [version 1121] and today, the SP2 mirrors to it without a problem.