Miracast, and specifically the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter

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neb

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#262009 29-Dec-2019 19:08

Assuming this is more Gadget than HTPC, so posting here... after many, many iterations of plugging and unplugging Mrs. Neb's laptop into the TV, I've wondered about getting a Miracast device to simplify the process. Mention of these have occurred from time to time here but the threads have been somewhat short and inconclusive. The Microsoft Miracast adapter seems to be the most ubiquitous, and available from TM for under $50, and then there's an infinite number of generic Chinese hockey-puck ones in the $20-30 range.

I'm leaning more towards the MS once since they're less likely to be full of vulns in their WiFi Direct/WPS implementation, but wondering if anyone has any experiences in terms of video quality. Amazon reviews are a 50:50 split of "fantastic, 5 stars" and "sucks, 1 star", which doesn't help much. It won't be anything super-HD, things like Youtube Timeline documentaries (yeah, Time Team!) and the like.

Edited to add: What I'm specifically interested in is what security the MS one has. From watching several video reviews it seems to have no security whatsoever, it's totally open to anyone within wireless range, but surely there must be something there?

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#2382632 29-Dec-2019 19:37

Chromecast is probably a better option. Have you investigated that?

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snnet

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#2382634 29-Dec-2019 19:42

I purchased one of these years ago - though barely used it. From memory you can set a password with the configuration app on a PC

neb

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#2382636 29-Dec-2019 20:01

snnet:
I purchased one of these years ago - though barely used it. From memory you can set a password with the configuration app on a PC

Hmm, thanks. Just looking at it now, the app doesn't allow you to see what you can do in terms of security without having one of the adapters to connect to, the MS Store has screen shots but not of the security settings page, and the description of "Set a password to lock the adapter" (is this a WPA2 password or some token password that gets checked after you've already connected?) and "Change adapter pairing mode" (to do what?) is completely useless.

This stuff makes Microsoft Bob look high-security in comparison, I can't believe they're shipping a product in 2019 that defaults to no security whatsoever.

neb

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#2382638 29-Dec-2019 20:03

Updated: Found a review on a German web site, apparently the password protects the settings in the Windows app (!!) and only the PIN code, disabled by default, actually does anything.

Microsoft, this is a joke right? You're having a laugh at our expense, you haven't really shipped something this utterly insecure into millions of people's homes?

yitz

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#2382639 29-Dec-2019 20:06

It's not a 2019 product though more like 2014/2015 at the latest which is when casting took over... so you shouldn't expect the latest security. The only up to date implementations I have seen since have all been for projectors.

neb

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#2382642 29-Dec-2019 20:13

Sure, but even for 2014/15 it's ridiculous, particularly since the WPS vulns were published in 2011/2012. The Microsoft adapter isn't vulnerable because it doesn't implement security, which is a crazy position to be in - no security vulns because there isn't any security.

I'm still flabbergasted that they would ship a product with no security present.

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gehenna

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#2382691 29-Dec-2019 23:07

I think you're being unreasonably harsh. It's a wireless display protocol, it's designed to be open to devices requesting to use it. If your phone's Bluetooth is in pairing mode it can get requests from anyone, just like if your airdrop on iOS is able to get requests from anyone if it's configured to more than just your contacts.

allan

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#2382749 30-Dec-2019 09:40

Does your TV have any sort of Wi-Fi direct capability? If so, you may find you can use Win 10's built-in casting capability without having to resort to a miracast device. As an example, this process "just works" with my four year old Samsung TV.

neb

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#2382918 30-Dec-2019 13:25

allan: Does your TV have any sort of Wi-Fi direct capability?

No, it's a basic display-only TV specifically to avoid all the crap that's in "smart" TVs, so it doesn't do anything except display video.

gehenna

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#2382943 30-Dec-2019 14:27

Right, so you want to add smart functionality to a tv you didn't want smart functionality on?

neb

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#2382992 30-Dec-2019 18:18

gehenna: Right, so you want to add smart functionality to a tv you didn't want smart functionality on?

No, it won't have any "smart" functionality, it'll still be the same view-only TV as before, just without the need to plug/unplug a cable to the laptop.

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gehenna

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#2382998 30-Dec-2019 18:36

Yeah, by using an adaptor that adds smart functionality of wireless display protocols 🙄

neb

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#2383000 30-Dec-2019 18:40

A "smart" TV is one with a 600MHz A15 CPU running unpatched Android 4.3, not one with an HDMI-over-wireless interface.

gehenna

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#2383007 30-Dec-2019 19:29

Sure, that's one definition. Another would be: a TV that does something other than just display images from a device that's plugged into one of its ports via a cable.

So yes, using wireless display protocols is smart functionality. There's software involved.

Odds are high you'd have got the functionality you want just by getting an actual smart TV... Of which there's many types, not just Android...e.g WebOS.

However given the focus you seem to be putting into (the wrong parts) of security, perhaps you're better off with just an Apple TV or Chromecast.

Hang on, don't tell me, you're against Google and Apple too?

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#2383157 30-Dec-2019 22:56

I have a Micrsoft Wireless Display Adapter.

It works well. One advantage over Chromecast is you can project anything from your computer, pretty well as if you have a second screen, You are not stuck with only being able to cast from Chrome browser as wih Chrome cast.

The MWDA also works with my Anroid tablets and I can cast their screens to the TV as well. I've even used the MWDA to mirror my laptop to a larger monitor.

While the MWDA may not be the perfect option for eveyone it certainly does what I've wanted of it.

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