The technology is available as a standalone wireless display adapter and as a kit. The standalone wireless display adapter is called ScreenBeam and is compatible with a broad range of Miracast-certified sources such as laptops, smartphones, tablets, and other devices running WiDi 3.5 or higher. The kit includes wireless display software and a USB transmitter for Windows 7 and 8 PCs that lack native WiDi support.

ScreenBeam is the only wireless display solution that supports all Miracast-enabled devices. The product is also Wi-Fi certified and Miracast certified. The system supports up to 1080p HD resolution video and audio. The wireless solution has a 50-foot range with no line of sight required.

ScreenBeam has its own dedicated wireless connection and does not require a home network connection to work. Using the system you can shoot streaming video from your notebook from sources such as Netflix to the big-screen TV in the living room, even if you’re desktop computer isn’t in the same room. The system also supports photos as well. Pricing on the ScreenBeam system is unknown at this time.

Much of that is down to memory bandwidth, and the Wii U’s 2GB of DDR3-1600 RAM offers more than double the peak bandwidth of the Wii, at 12.8GB/s. There’s also a sizable GPU, considerably larger than the multicore PowerPC processor, which are both – along with a small slice of off-chip memory – hidden under an integrated heat spreader that took a razor blade to remove.

Other tidbits include not one but two wireless controllers, which operate independently. That leaves one for regular WiFi b/g/n duties, and a second, dedicated Miracast 802.11n controller for streaming content to the display on the GamePad tablet. Nintendo had always promised silky-smooth streaming – with around 1/60 of a second in lag – and providing a specific wireless chipset is its way of making sure it delivers.

AnandTech also took some power consumption measurements, with the Wii U sucking down 33W during Super Mario U play. However, if you were thinking of replacing your Roku box by using the Wii U as a Netflix streamer, you may want to reconsider; the console demands 28.5W during Netflix playback using the special app released yesterday, roughly ten times what a recent Roku STB requires.

As for the GamePad itself, it’s a meager 1,500 mAh battery inside, leading to disappointing runtimes experienced by early owners. 3-4 hours of use seems to be around the average; let us know if you grabbed a Wii U over the weekend and are seeing more.

This is essentially a PSA here – don’t trust everyone at the moment when it comes to the word Miracast being tossed around. Some devices have been released pre-compliant, that meaning they’re able to see one another to a degree, but wont be able to connect without a hitch. Instead what you should be checking is – SlashGear, of course – but also the Wi-Fi Alliance‘s listing of all devices they have certified Miracast compliant.

NOTE: We’ve gone through this information in a slightly different manner previously in a post entitled How does Android 4.2 Jelly Bean wireless display mirroring work?

This list is extremely short at the moment and is limited to an upcoming Echo-P Series Samsung TV, some components that go into TVs in the near future, and a few adapters from various companies. Keep your eyes open for an Actiontec ScreenBeam Wireless Display Adapter, LG Media Dongle, and a Sony Corporation USB Wireless Adapter Module. Each of these products will likely hit the market in 2013.

For now you are, again, in the wild west. This means that you can get products that say they’re “pre-certified Miracast” and have the technology, but are not guaranteed to work with future products. Or current products, in some cases. The two Nexus devices that were just revealed by Google work with Miracast for wireless media mirroring and both the LG Optimus G and the Samsung Galaxy S III are ready for action now as well – now we just need the other end!

With Miracast being an “industry standard”, you can expect many brands to pick it up soon if they don’t already have it integrated now. Miracast is a technology that’s built in to devices – it’s not a device in and of itself. Miracast certification has begun for devices of many kinds, so you can expect not just displays to have it integrated, but receivers that will plug in through your HDMI port instead – this working for legacy displays.

Manufacturer Adoption

One of the companies that has adopted Miracast as their wireless standard is NVIDIA – another is Texas Instruments. Have a peek at this hands-on video from Texas Instruments showing off Miracast working earlier this year.

Devices out Now

With devices like the Netgear Push2TV PTV3000 you’ll be able to plug directly into whatever giant monitor you’ve got right now just so long as it’s got an HDMI port – it connects to wi-fi on its own. A lovely Broadcom 5G Wi-fi chip was introduced all the way back in July of 2012 that set up for the wireless display future – that future being now, of course. The Nexus 10 (by Samsung) and the Nexus 4 (by LG) will both be released with Android 4.2 which will have Miracast capabilities built-in.

The Future

The future can actually be yours right this second if you have a way of getting ahold of a device with Android 4.2 on it – if it’s an official working build, of course – as well as a Miracast-capable display. They do exist on the market today and they’re in stores right this second. In the very near future – and throughout 2013 and forward, we must expect, Miracast will be adopted by many, many television sets as well as displays of all kinds. More wireless dongles will be created, and Android devices from all manner of manufacturers will be able to make use of this technology.

LG has dedicated themselves to Miracast for the future – that’s one brand guaranteed to have the technology in essentially all their sets throughout 2013. With the folks at the Wi-Fi Alliance backing this certification for the whole industry, we’ll see many more groups jump onboard soon. Doubly so now that Android is bringing support from the other end of the living room. Exciting times are ahead – no more getting up from the couch to plug your smartphone in to the HDMI cord for you!

The box itself is a mere 83mm in length and measures about the same as a small stack of credit cards. Netgear will be supplying it with a microUSB power supply, but the Push2TV sips power in such a sufficiently humble way that it could also be juiced up by a spare USB port on your TV itself, should you have one. That way, you could avoid trailing cables from the STB altogether, relying on both USB and HDMI links with your display.

If hiding it behind a screen isn’t to your taste, Netgear also expects the Push2TV to find favor with mobile workers who might want to repurpose a hotel room TV for their own streaming content, rather than pay for on-demand movies. 1080p Full HD is supported.

Altogether, it’s a whole lot smaller and more flexible than Netgear’s older Push2TV adapters (the PTV1000 and PTV2000), as well as being cheaper too. The Netgear Push2TV will go on sale this month, priced at $59.99.

Of course, it’s no use if only a handful of devices work with Miracast, and so happily there are more than just two phones on offer. Broadcom, Intel, LG, Marvell, MediaTek, NVIDIA, Realtek, Samsung, Sony, and Texas Instruments have all pledged their support, with several of those firms detailing their initial Miracast certified products:

• Samsung Echo-P Series TVs
• Broadcom Dualband 11n WiFi
• Intel WiDi
• Marvell Avastar USB-8782 802.11n 1×1 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 2×2 RTL8192DE HM92D01 PCIe Half Mini Card and RTD1185 RealShare Smart Display Adapter

Some of those, like the Samsung TVs and Realtek network cards, will find their way directly into consumers’ homes. Others, like the Marvell and MediaTek chipsets, will show up more discretely, as vendors begin to include Miracast in their phones, tablets, and STBs.

TI Miracast 1080p HD demo:

Intel’s involvement means WiDi will now include Miracast support, instantly broadening the standard’s appeal. More than 1.5 billion Miracast devices are expected to ship in 2016, according to independent predictions, sporting the “WiFi Certified” badge in retail environments.

With NVIDIA already being a part of the Wi-Fi Alliance, they’re more than ready to bring Tegra up to spec with a wide array of Miracast-certified devices. With Miracast, wireless streaming is as easy as pie and the quality with which its streamed is just as high definition as any other competing technology on the market today! You’ll not only be able to stream HD video and photos, you’ll be able to wirelessly play games like Riptide THD and Shadowgun as well!

Above you’ll see a video which outlines everything NVIDIA is doing with Miracast to bring you the next generation of wireless goodness. NVIDIA is working with their OEM partners right this minute to bring the technology you see before you to the market as soon as possible, and with programs such as the TegraZone and a collection of fabulous HD content ready to roll, you’ll be blasting forth in no time!

The BCM4335 chip is a complete WiFi system, with Bluetooth 4.0, FM radio, and software on a single chip. This includes the MAC, PHY, and RF. Broadcom claims it is the only chip to address “unique interference challenges in systems with both 4G LTE cellular radios and wireless connectivity.” Also, it is platform agnostic so it can be added to any smartphone or tablet.

Additional features of the new chip include: the most advanced idle power consumption performance to improve battery life, 10% faster throughputs than 802.11n speeds when communication with other 5G devices, built-in media processing to off-load host processor, PHY rates of 433 Mb/s, and integrated support for Wi-Fi Driect, WiFi Certified Miracast, and WiFi Certified Passpoint technologies. It will be available in devices in early 2013.

[via Broadcom]

What you’ll be seeing in our hands-on experience here in brief are several elements including multitasking while streaming, end-to-end streaming, protected content, and full display mirroring for fabulous HDTV gaming. The demo unit being used here is a OMAP4470 developer tablet working with WiLink 7.0. Texas Instruments demoed this solution this week at their developer event in the USA and plans on pushing it to OMAP5 with WiLink 8.0 by the end of the year.

You can either mirror your display or work in a way which allows you to push video to your HDTV and continue to use your tablet (or whatever device this environment ends up being pushed to) as you normally would. This is but one of several demonstrations we’ve seen this week courtesy of Texas Instruments – have a peek at the timeline below to see what else the processor makers had to offer!