Why Aren't Wireless Displays More Common?
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2018-05-06
·
1,059 words · ~5 min read
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remember what a big deal cordless phones were in the 80s and 90s
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well it wasn't too long before engineers expanded this untethering idea to other
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gadgets so nowadays we've got 2.4 gigahertz gaming headsets bluetooth
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christmas lights and enough lte signals flying through the air to make any
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passing extraterrestrials think that we communicate solely through some kind of
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primitive form of hieroglyphics but one modern device has lagged behind
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the others in this era of wireless keyboards wireless mice and wireless
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networking our monitors seem to be the
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one thing that still needs a long clunky
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cable running across the desk so what gives
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well for starters this observation isn't completely true there are wireless
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display standards that have been around for quite some time and i'm not talking
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about features like casting where your
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phone or your device just sends an instruction over wi-fi for your tv to
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access a youtube video or whatever i'm talking about real ways to connect a
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display and have it show anything you'd like just as you would with the wired
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monitor that might be sitting on your desk right now
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one currently popular option is miracast
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this is essentially an HDMI connection over wi-fi that works if you're using a
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computer or other device that has wi-fi built in
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the nice thing about miracast is that it doesn't need to go through a router
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rather it forms a direct connection from your computer to your display so you can
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use it even if your wireless network is slow or if there isn't one available at
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all in Windows 10 simply click connect in the action center and that will cause
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your system to scan for available miracast displays click the one you'd
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like to connect to and you are all set
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in theory although there are displays with
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miracast baked in as well as HDMI adapters that enable it miracast isn't
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compatible with everything Android devices dropped support for it some time
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ago mac and iOS users instead have to use airplay which by the way does
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require a proper wi-fi network and for devices without wi-fi at all like a
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desktop pc well no luck there either
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so if you want some more flexibility you might want to look at a standalone
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wireless display kit that lets you plug an HDMI connected transmitter into your
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pc or your source device even a camera for example and an HDMI receiver to your
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display these devices often use standards that
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transmit data quickly enough to avoid the huge loss NVIDIA quality through
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compression that can be a big problem with wi-fi based solutions
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so then with all those benefits and both miracast and standalone kits even
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supporting 5.1 surround audio just like
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a physical HDMI cable why aren't we all using them right now well it turns out
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you're gonna run into issues no matter which wireless display implementation
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you choose even if you go for a low compression non-wi-fi solution because
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wireless connections are nearly always slower than their wired counterparts and
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wireless display tech is no exception it's more difficult for these signals to
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carry the higher amounts of data needed for a high-res picture so want 4k well
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get ready to spend a lot of money if you can find something at all
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and of course we haven't even gotten to the elephant in the room the slow
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elephant in the room lag because these compressed wireless
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signals require extra processing at both ends you'll probably experience more
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latency with a wireless display this means that you'll have small delays when
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you do anything like move your mouse or type a sentence which might be fine for
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writing an email or giving a powerpoint presentation but it can be so bad as to
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cause desync issues with video playback and it's almost guaranteed to be a
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killer for gaming making matters worse many wireless HDMI
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kits perform best over very short distances and with a direct line of
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sight between your source device and your display making them once you factor
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in that you have to run a power cord to them anyway so you're not going full
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wireless actually a lot more work to set up than
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you might have initially imagined so then unless you really need a display
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in a spot where you just can't run accord to it i wouldn't bother investing
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money in extra equipment to make your setup wireless
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for now besides this gives you an opportunity to
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practice good cable management which i know is everyone's favorite part of
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