Miracast wireless video streaming standard is born

One to note, which we’ll file under the Digital Life category, is the Wi-Fi Alliance announcing the new wireless video streaming standard called Miracast.

Basically, it’s a way to (re) transmit video content to secondary screens. Examples quoted include viewing pictures from a smartphone on a big screen television, sharing a laptop screen with a conference room projector in real-time, and watching live programs from a home cable box on a tablet….

The key twist is that for Miracast connections you don’t need access to a Wi-Fi network. Instead, Miracast connections are formed via Wi-Fi Direct – the ability to connect is embedded in Miracast-certified devices.”Wi-Fi users around the world want to experience multimedia on the device of their choice – no matter what brand – and Miracast is the breakthrough they have been waiting for,” said Edgar Figueroa, CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. “We have been delighted with the level of enthusiasm and support among our member companies for this new offering.”

From a copyright angle – remembering that video content often represents the crown jewels of a media organisation – there is support for protected content streaming. Apparently, Miracast uses “a wireless adaptation of the trusted content protection mechanisms widely used today for cabled interfaces like HDMI and DisplayPort”. Also, WPA2TM security protections are automatically enabled on every device, meaning the transmission of the multimedia content is private.

According to the Alliance, the first products to be designated “Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast” are:
• 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