Intel Wireless Display: getting rid of wires

Introduction

Over the past 10 years, wireless technologies have gained immense popularity. Almost every self-respecting institution has decorated itself with the proud sign of "Free Wi-Fi." Technology successfully penetrates into all areas of our life. Where you just can not find her - now even in refrigerators . There are fewer wires, and our life is easier.

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To many, such an idea of ​​a home appliance may seem costly and unjustified. But to get rid of extra wires in monitors, speakers, keyboards, and even TVs and home theaters, everyone dreamed exactly.



The more complex the equipment, the more difficult it is to solve the problem of connection and convenient operation. To solve such difficulties, Intel has developed a Wireless Display (WiDi) technology - a method of wirelessly transmitting video and audio from a laptop to a TV or monitor screen.

We started talking about wireless video transmission for a long time In 2006, the Wireless HD consortium was created, which currently includes more than 40 companies, such as Broadcom, Intel, LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Philips, Toshiba, and others. In early 2008, the WirelessHD 1.0 specification was approved, and in 2010, Wireless HD Next Gen was adopted.



Intel has gone its own way, and at the Consumer Electronics Show 2010 demonstrated in action the Wireless Display technology of its own design.

The second version of Wireless Display was released simultaneously with Sandy Bridge processors in January 2011, and the third is expected along with Ivy Bridge mobile processors, which should be released this spring. Currently, the technology supports Full HD video (1080p), Dolby 5.1 Surround sound and HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection, Media Content Protection) standard. According to PC Magazine, Intel WiDi was named “the most breakthrough technology” of 2010, and Popular Science employees announced Intel Wireless Display one of the best technological innovations of the year.



According to the results of CES 2012, home appliance manufacturers announced the following solutions, one way or another connected with WiDi:

• Samsung will include Intel WiDi on some of its SmartTVs and monitors; Estimated release time - early 2012
• LG will include WiDi in its CINEMA 3D Smart TV, projectors and monitors; Estimated release time - early 2012
• Netgear plans to include Intel WiDi support in its future NeoTV media players.
• AT & T will provide the ability to use Intel WiDi users AT & T U-verse.
• Software makers such as Rovi, ArcSoft, CyberLink, EdgeRunner, Corel and Greetech are planning to include Intel Wireless Display support in their applications.

Also, Intel WiDi will be supported by many devices that work with the DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) standard. Of course, WiDi over DLNA will not provide a full range of functionality, but it will be able to perform its main function — viewing content on your TV screen.

Let's look under the hood: how does WiDi work?

At the heart of the Wireless Display technology is the standard Wi-Fi 802.11n. The graphics chip creates a virtual monitor, the signal from which is transmitted via Wi-Fi using Intel My Wi-Fi technology. Thus, to use Intel Wireless Display, you must have the appropriate Intel Chipset Intel Centrino wireless chipset that supports Intel My Wi-Fi. A receiver is installed on the side of the TV or monitor, which receives the signal, processes it appropriately and transmits it to the TV, home theater or projector. Receivers are either in the form of a separate device or embedded, for example, directly into a TV.



Surely, many of you have remembered the DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) technology, which also allows compatible devices to transmit and receive various media content over a home network. The difference between DLNA and Intel WiDi is that DLNA technology allows you to transfer only media content (images, video or music); and Intel WiDi acts as a second monitor for the computer - you can also expand the desktop or duplicate the main screen.

What is necessary to use WiDi?

As you probably already guessed, you will need a laptop with a second-generation Intel Core processor. Intel Wireless Display also imposes strict requirements on a wireless chipset and slightly lighter requirements on graphics. If the graphics chip should belong to the Intel HD Graphics series, then with wireless cards it's not that simple. Your laptop should have one of the following Wi-Fi adapters:

• Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000
• Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200, 6205, 6230 or 1030
• Intel Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250 or 6150
• Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300

This limitation is due to the fact that only these Wi-Fi adapters support Intel My Wi-Fi technology, which is necessary for full-featured and correct operation of Intel WiDi.

However, regarding the video subsystem there is also a small note. Owners of laptops with hybrid graphics (discrete graphics card together with the processor built into the core) will have to switch to the integrated one; and if the manufacturer of your laptop has disabled the integrated video core from Intel, then such a laptop will not be able to work with WiDi.



WiDi currently runs only on Windows 7, starting with Home Basic, which is also Home Basic. As for the other, non-computer side of the issue, the following TV receivers supporting Intel WiDi are currently on the market :

• D-Link DHD-131 TV Adapter
  
  
  
  
• NETGEAR Push2TV HD Adapter
  
  
  
  
• Belkin ScreenCast TV Adapter
  
  
  
  

There is a laptop, a TV, a WiDi adapter. What's next?

Setting up the connection between the computer and the adapter is very simple, and is done in just a few steps.



Step one: turn on the TV, adapter - and select the TV signal source. If the signal source is selected correctly, then you should see something like this picture on the TV screen. This indicates that the adapter is loading.







But this picture says that the adapter is ready for use and is awaiting an incoming connection from the laptop.







Step Two: Run Intel Wireless Display on your laptop. If one of the above Wi-Fi adapters is installed in the laptop and all the necessary drivers are available, then you will see your adapter in the list of available to connect.







Accordingly, after clicking "Connect", the laptop will be connected to the WiDi adapter.



Step Three: Enjoy. With the screen connected via WiDi, you can do everything the same as with the usual one - expand the desktop onto it, change the resolution, and so on.

Conclusion

The technology turned out to be workable, and I would like to note that it can seriously facilitate the use of home TV as a universal media center. The fact of light tuning plays an important role in this. Intel has worked hard to make Wireless Display a consumer-friendly technology. After the initial connection of the laptop with the TV, the software from Intel assumes all subsequent interaction.



The main disadvantage is that for using WiDi there are strict hardware requirements - and this very hardware, unfortunately, is sometimes difficult to find. Notebook manufacturers rarely indicate a specific Wi-Fi adapter model, and this is one of the critical factors for using Wireless Display. But this is a disadvantage only if you do not have a laptop with the necessary hardware. And if there is a laptop, it remains only to purchase an adapter and download the appropriate software from the Intel website. Of course, a regular HDMI cable costs a bit cheaper than a WiDi adapter - but, as they say, you have to pay for convenience.



And finally - a demo video, which clearly shows the use of WiDi (in English, but not even knowing the language, you can understand the essence):