Best Miracast Alternative for Wireless Screen Mirroring?

Some smart TV’s allow you to cast directly from your Wiindows notebook, either directly or using an app. Today are about a dozen apps on Amazon that want to help you stream content to your display for free. But look a little closer and many of them have pretty poor ratings, as you can see below.  In addition. It’s hard to tell what, if any, security features they have, running the risk that your sensitive content may be seen by others. While the price is the lowest of all three, most companies will look for a commercial grade system to enable presenters to share their screen.

After IT managers discovered that many network based wireless presentation systems require proprietary apps, many companies are now using Miracast as a “app free” way to connect to the screen. Because Miracast is built-in to Windows, it seems like an easy way to get around having to download, run, and maintain an app on your notebook just to use the screen.  The problem is that many times Miracast just doesn’t work, especially with guests.  Miracast doesn’t support MacBooks can’t use it (so they have to use Airplay instead), and guests with  locked computers may have old drivers or network settings so the magic Control-K wont work.  The list of  online fixes including updating your drivers, adjusting network settings (including Wi-Fi and adapter settings), and worst of all - updating Windows, and restarting your device.  But all these can eat up precious meeting time.

The other concern for IT managers is that Miracast has also been known to have some network vulnerabilities over time, which means that if one is discovered, you’ll need to work with your vendor to update the unit.  As of the writing of this article, there’s no major brand of Miracast receiver that has passed the Common Vulnerability Scoring System test of known hacks.  Also, the video performance and delays may vary depending on the network bandwidth available – and how the system is configured.

The two most popular wireless presentation systems for meeting rooms are the Barco ClickShare and the BenQ InstaShow.  With the InstaShow WDC15, there are no apps, drivers, or network connection needed, so it eliminates the risk of not working due to mismatched drivers or a locked notebook during a meeting.  The button acts like a wireless HDMI cable that enables you to securely connect to your screen in just about 10 seconds without any drama.  The system can stream 4K UHD content from nearly any device with smooth audio and video. Here are the advantages of InstaShow over Miracast

- Easily connects to any notebook, MacBook, Chromebook or other device in seconds
- Touchback control to allow you to advance your slides and annotate directly from an interactive display 
- Support for media players, cameras, and other non-PC devices that output HDMI
- CVSS 4.0 Certified for content and network security protection
- Smooth video and audio performance without delays

Here is a fair comparison of how different Miracast alternatives break down by feature and price. While there are over 40 different wireless presentation systems available today, these are solid meeting room screen mirroring solutions from the popular worldwide brands according to Futuresource.