Cut the Cords: Experience Seamless Wireless Sharing with Miracast …

Tired of fumbling with cables and adapters every time you want to share your screen in a meeting? Imagine walking into any meeting space and instantly projecting your content with just a few clicks, no wires attached. This is the power of Miracast, and it’s transforming collaboration on Cisco devices.

What is Miracast? Your Wireless HDMI

At its core, Miracast is a wireless display standard designed by the Wi-Fi Alliance. Think of it as “HDMI over Wi-Fi”. It allows you to wirelessly mirror or extend, the screen of your smartphone, tablet, or computer onto a larger display. Instead of physical cables, Miracast uses Wi-Fi Direct to create a secure, direct peer-to-peer connection between your source device and the display. This means you don’t even need to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network for it to work.

Why Miracast and Cisco Devices are a Perfect Match for Sharing

Integrating Miracast with Cisco RoomOS and Cisco MTR (Microsoft Teams Rooms) devices unlocks a new level of efficiency and convenience for your meetings and collaboration sessions. 

Cable-Free Convenience: Say goodbye to cluttered meeting tables and the endless search for the right cable. Miracast eliminates the need for physical connections, creating a cleaner, more streamlined environment. 

Effortless Simplicity: Miracast is built directly into Windows laptops and Android mobile phones, meaning you don’t need to download or install any additional apps or software to start sharing. Setting up a connection is straightforward, involving just a few simple steps.

Platform Agnostic: Whether you’re using Webex, Microsoft Teams, or another meeting platform on your Cisco RoomOS or MTR device, Miracast works seamlessly, providing a consistent sharing experience regardless of your chosen collaboration tool.

High-Quality Audio and Video: Miracast supports high-definition video transmission (up to 1920p) and stereo audio, ensuring your presentations, videos, and other media are displayed with exceptional clarity and low latency.

Flexible Content Control: With Miracast, you can choose to mirror your entire screen or use the “Extend Desktop to this Display” option on your PC. This allows you to use the Cisco device as a secondary monitor, letting you share specific applications while keeping your notes private on your laptop.

Enhanced Stability and Security: While Miracast primarily uses Wi-Fi Direct, Cisco devices also support Miracast over Infrastructure (MS-MICE). This allows sharing to occur over your existing Wi-Fi or Ethernet network, potentially offering a more stable stream and leveraging your enterprise network’s security. Wi-Fi Direct uses WPA2. For MS-MICE the Wi-Fi connection between the Windows laptop and the Wi-Fi access point could also be WPA3, which is recommended.

How to Discover if Miracast is Available to You

You will know if your device is enabled for Miracast sharing when the Miracast iconography is visible on the top right hand corner of your device screen.

For Cisco Devices:

Miracast is supported on Cisco Board, Desk, and Room Series devices running RoomOS 11.

It’s important to note that Cisco devices must be on a cabled network connection for Miracast to function, and some Android devices requiring HDCP might not be compatible. Your IT administrator can verify and enable Miracast functionality through the Cisco Control Hub.

How to Use Miracast with Your Cisco Device

Once Miracast is enabled on your Cisco Board, Desk, or Room Series device (your IT administrator can enable this via Control Hub), connecting is simple.

From a Windows Device (Windows 8.1+):

On your laptop, press the Windows logo key + K (or click the Action Centre icon next to the time and date on your taskbar and select “Connect”).

Windows will scan for available Miracast receivers. Select the name of your Cisco device from the list.

A PIN will appear on the Cisco device’s screen. Enter this PIN on your laptop and click “Connect”.

If desired, open “Display Settings” after connecting to adjust options like “Extend Desktop”.

From an Android Device (Android 4.2+):

Navigate to your device’s settings. This is often found under Settings > Display > Cast Screen or Wireless Display. On some devices, like Samsung, you might find it as “Smart View” or “Screen Mirroring” in your Quick Settings menu.

Select the name of your Cisco device from the list of available devices.

A PIN will appear on the Cisco device’s screen. Enter this PIN on your Android device and tap “Connect”.

Unlock Your Collaboration Potential

Miracast on Cisco devices offers a powerful, user-friendly solution for wireless screen sharing, making your meetings more dynamic and efficient. By embracing this cable-free approach, you can enhance collaboration, reduce setup time, and ensure that your content is always presented with clarity and ease. It’s time to experience the future of seamless sharing in your Cisco-powered meeting rooms.

Watch this space for new and exciting capabilities coming with Miracast – we will soon add support for touch forwarding.

Touch forwarding allows you to control your laptop directly from a Cisco Device’s touch screen.

When you share with Miracast from your Windows OS, you can move through your content easily using the devices touch screen mechanism.

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