Miracast - The Future of Wireless Display Technology

[Fish]

So here's the industry equivalent to Apple's Airplay... Sounds pretty awesome...

As any user of Apple's Airplay technology will tell you, it's a pretty damn cool feature. It allows you to send video and audio to multiple devices wirelessly on your network. Watching a video on your iPad, iPhone, or Mountain Lion machine, you can effortlessly send it to your AppleTV to display over your TV. Along with a host of other uses.

But the problem is.... it's owned by Apple. So it only works on Apple devices. Boo...

Enter Miracast...

EASY-TO-USE, MULTI-VENDOR WIRELESS DISPLAY HAS ARRIVED: WI-FI ALLIANCE® LAUNCHES WI-FI CERTIFIED MIRACAST

On the go or at home, users can display video, pictures, and applications instantly between certified devices from any brand

AUSTIN, TX, September 19, 2012 – Wi-Fi Alliance® today announced the launch of the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED MiracastTM certification program. Miracast devices provide simplified discovery and setup, so users can quickly transmit video content from one device to another. Industry analysts predict annual shipments of Miracast-certified devices to exceed one billion units within the next four years.

Miracast users can do things like view pictures from a smartphone on a big screen television, share a laptop screen with the conference room projector in real-time, and watch live programs from a home cable box on a tablet. Miracast connections are formed using Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi DirectTM, so access to a Wi-Fi® network is not needed – the ability to connect is inside Miracast-certified devices.

"Wi-Fi users around the world want to experience multimedia on the device of their choice - no matter what brand - and Miracast is the breakthrough they have been waiting for," said Edgar Figueroa, CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. "We have been delighted with the level of enthusiasm and support among our member companies for this new offering."

Miracast supports protected content streaming, enabling devices to stream feature films and other copy- protected materials. To protect premium content, Miracast uses a wireless adaptation of the trusted content protection mechanisms widely used today for cabled interfaces like HDMI® and DisplayPort. In addition, the latest WPA2TM security protections are automatically enabled on every device, making the transport of all multimedia content private.

"Miracast builds on Wi-Fi Direct with a compelling application," said Brian O'Rourke from IHS iSuppli Research. "This is a big step forward in a market migration from single-vendor display solutions, into an offering from a wide array of vendors. With more than 1.5 billion Miracast devices expected to ship in 2016, the program is poised to have broad adoption."

The technology underlying Miracast was developed in Wi-Fi Alliance by a diverse group of mobile and consumer electronics manufacturers and silicon vendors to standardize methods for simplified video sharing. Based on the Wi-Fi Alliance Display Specification, products bearing the Miracast brand interoperate across vendors, making it easy to enjoy video on screens throughout the home or office.

The first products to be designated Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast, and which form the test suite for the certification program, are:

• Broadcom Dualband 11n WiFi
• Intel® WiDi
• Marvell Avastar USB-8782 802.11n 1x1 Dual-band Reference Design
• MediaTek a/b/g/n Dualband Mobile Phone Client, MT662X_v1 and DTV Sink, MV0690
• Ralink 802.11n Wireless Adapter, RT3592
• Realtek Dual-band 2x2 RTL8192DE HM92D01 PCIe Half Mini Card and RTD1185 RealShare Smart Display Adapter

The first consumer products certified since testing opened to vendors include the Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone and Samsung Echo-P Series TV.

More information, including a list of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast products, the Wi-Fi Alliance Display technical specification, white paper, and more is available at www.wi-fi.org/miracast.

[Fish]

Galaxy S III and Optimus G adopt Miracast in hopes of taking on Apple's AirPlay

The non-Apple segment of the electronics industry is gaining another standard for video streaming to compete with Cupertino’s AirPlay ecosystem. The standard is called Miracast, and industry standards body The Wi-Fi Alliance is announcing the start of a certification program for what it hopes will be the one living room standard to rule them all.

MIRACAST TAKES CARE OF ALL THE VIDEO SETTING NEGOTIATION BETWEEN DEVICES

Miracast has a lot in common with DLNA and AirPlay. You can use it to stream video between devices, say from your smartphone to your TV or conference room projector. But what distinguishes Miracast is that it can be used in places with no Wi-Fi network available — it supports streaming over Wi-Fi Direct, a kind of ad hoc wireless network. And what Miracast offers over vanilla Wi-Fi Direct is "mechanisms to negotiate the best possible resolution between devices… all the additional negotiation that needs to happen to make the audio and video experience as seamless as possible to the user," the Wi-Fi Alliance’s Kevin Robinson explained to Ars Technica. Miracast supports copy protection with HDCP, but unlike DLNA and AirPlay, audio-only devices aren’t part of the standard.

The first consumer devices with the new Miracast certification are the LG Optimus G, the Samsung Galaxy S III, and the Samsung Echo-P Series TV, but the standard is compatible with existing WiDi-enabled displays, as well. And we’re expecting a lot more devices down the road. If iSuppli’s prediction is to be believed, we’ll be seeing as many as 1.5 billion enabled devices shipping in 2016.

[L.A. Chieffan]

Isnt that like DLNA? What I already use to sync my phone and my PC with my PS3?