Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/Wchrabaszcz/archive/2014/02/02/windows-8.1--god-bless-the-miracast.aspx
As happy owner of the most sexy ultrabook Samsung NX900 i5 - I always wanted to use my TV as secondary wireless monitor. Why? Number one: for watching movies?, number two: as additional display when I work from home. Today's post will be much more related to the lifestyle, than IT technology. However this setup gave me much more excitement than deployment of hundreds stateless VDIs.
Many people still asks themselves: "why should I migrate into Windows 8.1". In my case the answer is Hyper-V and Miracast. Hyper-V because it is easy, free, and efficient hypervisor. Of course if someone love VMware Player or VirtualBox he can stay with it. But personally, I shy a bit, that … as declared and certified ? Microsoft engineer I know WMware PowerCLI better than Hyper-V PowerShell commandlets . So, good bye Hyper-V GUI, since now everything what I do will be implemented via PowerShell.
But … let's stick to the point.
Consider this post as usecase, not the endorsement of anything in particular. So, we've got i5 Samsung NX900 laptop with Intel 3000 GPU, declared by manufacturer WIDI support and brand new Samsung F6640 TV set.
A little background
WIFI direct - it is a very young streaming standard, your TV set have to support it, otherwise you will need to buy any WIDI or Miracast receiver
Miracast – it is a streaming technology originally designed for Android devices, and in my opinion, it is one step from becoming global standard. If I understood correctly what I read, WIFI direct covers/includes Miracast
Intel WIDI - it is an old PC streaming technology, based on Intel GPU, NIC, and Audio components – your laptop must support it. Since version 3.5 Intel WIDI supports/emulates Miracast streaming.
Windows 8.1 brings out of box support for Miracast
After few failed tries on Windows 7 I decided to upgrade my laptop to 8.1, including the installation of all hotfixes and drivers. During long hours of tests I found that for WIDI it is very important to have PROPER graphics driver, WIDI version, (WTF !!!) Network adapter driver and Audio device driver. The easiest way to reach it is to install Intel WIDI update tool: http://supportkb.intel.com/wireless/wireless-display/templates/selfservice/intelwidi/#portal/1026/article/16168 . It will download and install all required components for you. My current configuration:
Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_product|where { $_.Name -like "*Intel*"} | Format-Table Name,Version
Name Version
---- -------
Intel(R) WiDi 4.3.3.0
System Requirements Lab for Intel 4.5.22.0
Intel(R) PRO/Wireless Driver 16.07.0000.0730
Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless Software for Bluetooth(R) Technology 2.6.1209.0268
Intel® PROSet/Wireless WiFi Software 16.7.0.0297
Intel(R) Update Manager 1.6.0.56
Intel® Trusted Connect Service Client 1.24.388.1
My apologies, but I'm not going to break original PowerShell formatting. Once you install all required drivers, reboot your laptop and in the meantime make sure that you have the most recent firmware installed on your TV. Don't forget to connect your TV to your home network?. Windows 8.1 should install couple of hotfixes, and after the reboot you'll be able to discover your TV set in WIDI software as well as device in your Settings | Change PC settings.
I noticed about 1 second delay on streamed screen, so for gaming you'll still need to relay on HDMI cable, in any other scenarios it works perfect.
Maybe my method is not efficient but for sure it works …