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For use in hotel rooms, via my phone. I intended to hook up my computer but in reality I never do this. Phone is a Samsung S6. I watch Netflix, Amazon prime and iPlayer.
So:
Cheapo Miracast bought from Amazon
Official Samsung Miracast
Chromecast
Amazon fire stick
Roku whatsit
Something else?
I appreciate that the Chromecast won't work directly on hotel WiFi, but I think I can use a travel router to sort this out. However Miracast does not require this as it links directly to the phone. Then again a Chromecast doesn't need the phone to be powered on, and it could also be controlled by the laptop.
I've tried the following for travelling:
Chromecast won't work on a hotel network, and requires internet access even if you take a travel router. It also doesn't work well with windows source devices (only chrome supports it, plex etc can't) or IOS. Works well with android though.
Miracast is flaky as anything, especially with a laptop as a source. Seemed to chew battery on a phone...
I now have a firetv stick that I use for travel, since I swapped to a windows 10 tablet instead of an android one and lost the support for chromecast. Works well streaming stuff from plex, as well as built in apps (netflix / prime etc). Having a remote is actually also really useful... Can also sideload kodi onto it and get access to that ecosystem or direct load content onto it (has a few gigs storage free).. It also seems to cope with captive portals on hotel wifi, but I tend to carry a travel router so authenticate on another device...
I use chrome as a browser anyway.
The only thing making me thing of Chromecast is the streaming of browser tavs, because there are a few services on each platform that aren't supported (4od). But to be honest I hardly ever use them
Just ITV player for the tdf usually.
Roku 2 still seems to do very well in all the tests. I've had one for over a year and it's been faultless.
It has a faster processor than the stick version and it's not tied to any particular system (unlike the Apple / Amazon versions). If you're on the road then the stick version is probably fine.
Chromecast doesn't do Amazon Prime apart from through your chrome browser and that is frankly pants. You'd be better off with a firetv or roku if you want to use prime.
it's not tied to any particular system (unlike the Apple / Amazon versions
What does this mean?
Chromecast has All 4 now for all your channel 4 needs.
I've used several Miracast dongles. The best of them is the Microsoft Wireless Adapter. It's excellent for mirroring a display (presentations, watching movies, etc), but too laggy to use as a primary display. It works fine with my Samsung Galaxy S5, but it chews through the phone battery pretty quickly so you need to keep the phone on the charger. All the Miracast dongles are powered by USB, so you are best to get a good quality smart charger that can power multiple devices instead of having to take a bag full of power adapters. Apparently, Microsoft have an updated version coming out soon. You should definitely wait for that.
I used to use a Roku stick at home to stream video from a networked hard disk, using Plex. That worked adequately, but was a PITA. I switched to an HDMI PC stick running Windows 10. That streams video much better than Miracast or Roku. It is small enough to take when you travel and has a micro-SD slot for expansion.
The PC stick idea is a damn good one but expensive. Plus it would need a keyboard and mouse.
The PC stick idea is a damn good one but expensive. Plus it would need a keyboard and mouse.
[url= http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883400001 ]You wouldn't want to try editing video, but cheap and keyboard/touchpad included[/url]
seen some stuff on facebook for screen broardcasts via wifi to HDMI dongles, want to try one out for us all?