The Wi-Fi Alliance has announced the first round of
products to be certified for Miracast, with all Intel WiDi
devices to be supported by the latest standard.
Miracast is a new standard for wireless video streamimg.
Miracast devices provide simplified discovery and setup, so
users can transmit video content from one device to
another. Industry analysts predict annual shipments of
Miracast-certified devices to exceed one billion units
within the next four years.
Miracast users can do things like view pictures from a
smartphone on a big screen television, share a laptop
screen with the conference room projector in real-time, and
watch live programs from a home cable box on a tablet.
Miracast connections are formed using Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi
Direct, so access to a Wi-Fi network is not needed - the
ability to connect is inside Miracast-certified devices.
Miracast supports protected content streaming, enabling
devices to stream feature films and other copy-protected
materials. To protect premium content, Miracast uses a
wireless adaptation of the trusted content protection
mechanisms widely used today for cabled interfaces like
HDMI and DisplayPort. In addition, the latest WPA2 security
protections are automatically enabled on every device.
"Miracast builds on Wi-Fi Direct with a compelling
application," said Brian O'Rourke from IHS iSuppli
Research. "This is a big step forward in a market migration
from single-vendor display solutions, into an offering from
a wide array of vendors. With more than 1.5 billion
Miracast devices expected to ship in 2016, the program is
poised to have broad adoption."
The technology underlying Miracast was developed in Wi-Fi
Alliance by a group of mobile and consumer electronics
manufacturers and silicon vendors to standardize methods
for simplified video sharing.
The first products to be designated Wi-Fi CERTIFIED
Miracast, and which form the test suite for the
certification program, are:
- Broadcom Dualband 11n WiFi
- Intel WiDi
- Marvell Avastar USB-8782 802.11n 1x1 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 2x2 RTL8192DE HM92D01 PCIe Half Mini
Card and RTD1185 RealShare Smart Display Adapter
The first consumer products certified since testing opened
to vendors include the Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone and
Samsung Echo-P Series TV.