Microsoft Announces the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter
by Brandon Chester on September 23, 2014 12:17 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Microsoft
- Mobile
- Tablets
- miracast
Today Microsoft introduced their new Miracast-based wireless streaming device for HDMI monitors and televisions. Its lengthy name is the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter and it's Microsoft's take on an HDMI streaming dongle. One of the most popular devices in this category is Google's Chromecast, and there are many similarities between the two devices. Like the Chromecast, the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter is a small adapter that plugs into an HDMI port on your television and uses a USB port for power. From the photos Microsoft has provided, the USB connector seems to be wired directly into the adapter which could pose a problem depending on your television's arrangement of ports as the cord does not look very lengthy.
The adapter allows streaming and display mirroring from any device with support for Miracast screencasting. Because of this, the adapter is able to work with a variety of devices running on different operating systems, rather than being a device limited to devices that run Windows or Windows Phone 8.
At $59.95 USD, the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter is around $25 more expensive than Google's Chromecast. It is available for pre-order now on Microsoft's online store, and it will ship in October 2014.
Source: Windows Blog
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coburn_c - Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - link
Ah, I just checked and Belkin does make one. At the same price.Impulses - Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - link
There's cheaper Miracast dongles out there, I bought my Netgear one for less than this over a year ago... It's more of a little deck of cards shaped box than a dongle but whatever.phoenix_rizzen - Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - link
Know of any that include an Ethernet port instead of (or in addition to) wireless?My TV doesn't move. And there's Ethernet right there.
Impulses - Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - link
Miracast doesn't connect to your network... It's a point to point Wi-Fi connection between the dongle or box and your mobile device or laptop. Not sure what Ethernet would get you...bkiserx7 - Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - link
A little late to the game and overpriced at that, gonna need to bring more to the table...K_Space - Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - link
Will this allow casting from a Silverlight based video? (Looking at Amazon Instant Video)Last I checked Silverlight does not support miracast (otherwise people would use their own chromecast stick and there be no reason to buy this). So will microsoft be introducing something propriety to allow casting from silverlight?
Thermogenic - Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - link
Microsoft doesn't even support Silverlight anymore. I'm surprised to hear Amazon is still using it.Impulses - Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - link
I think it's actually their default for Prime streaming... Only reason I know this is that when you wanted to stream Prime on Android using Dolphin/Flash and a desktop user agent (before the app offered official support recently) you had to go into Amazon settings and switch from Silvercrap to Flash.eddman - Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - link
What silverlight has to do with miracast?Miracast is done on the OS leverl. It's a wireless display standard.
It mirrors your devices screen and anything that is being shown on it.
LarsBars - Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - link
I haven't used Miracast before, but I am guessing that the Miracast display just shows up as another display in Windows that you can either duplicate or extend to. So if you can play it on your computer (Flash, HTML5, Silverlight, video, whatever) then it should work.