Amazon fireTV stick working with Surface Pro 2?

[onlysublime]

So I pick up the Amazon fireTV stick because it was cheap and supported Miracast.

I plug it in and the first screen is the setup for the WiFi. Ugh... The point of Miracast for me is you don't need to connect to a wireless network. Miracast is peer-to-peer. My laptop or tablet can connect directly to the TV for presentations without having to be connected to a network (great for offices where they won't let you on the network).

So I go ahead and set up on the network. I go to Enable Display Mirroring (buried in the settings). I go to Charms > Devices > Project and I choose the fireTV stick. I can't connect. Anyone get this working on the Surface Pro 2? My Microsoft wireless adapter works perfectly and that truly doesn't require any network. I also tried an HP Stream 7 and that failed as well.

I got the fireTV stick because it was cheap and I thought it'd be a great way to get multiple sticks on the cheap versus getting the expensive Microsoft one but so far, I can't use the stick for my purposes. I don't need it for Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. because I have other devices that can do the same thing.

 

[Jazmac]

I have one and it is set up for wifi and I use it for Plex.

 

[onlysublime]

does it work for Miracast? that's what I need it for

 

[Jazmac]

does it work for Miracast? that's what I need it for

I haven't used it for that yet but I found this:
Amazon Fire TV Stick does Miracast too for just $39

 

[RTGent]

I'm only a Roku and Xbox guy, but plenty of reviews (and question responses) at Amazon say that the Fire Stick miracast feature does not work, even in 5-star reviews such as this: Robot Check

 

[jhoff80]

does it work for Miracast? that's what I need it for

Not with Windows devices, unfortunately. And like you said in your first post, they bury mirroring so deep into a menu that it's an inconvenience to use.

It works great with my Roku HDMI Streaming Stick though. And I don't even have to do anything on the Roku before starting mirroring from the Surface.

 

[Jas00555]

My SP3 sees it as a cell phone and requires a WPS pin, which doesn't exist. I'm assuming this will be fixed with firmware updates. The stick works great with my Android though.

Also, if you bought the thing to be a pure Miracast receiver, you made a bad purchase. It's a streaming stick that also does Miracast.

 

[onlysublime]

Well, I was hoping to get a great deal on a combo device that could do everything and Miracast for really cheap. I love the Microsoft Wireless Adapter but it's pretty pricey for doing one thing. Unfortunately what it does is something the fireTV Stick can't do...

And my coworkers can't use the FireTV at all on the road if it requires a Wifi network connection. Most of the offices they go to will not let any foreign device onto the network.

My SP3 sees it as a cell phone and requires a WPS pin, which doesn't exist. I'm assuming this will be fixed with firmware updates. The stick works great with my Android though.

Also, if you bought the thing to be a pure Miracast receiver, you made a bad purchase. It's a streaming stick that also does Miracast.

 

[onlysublime]

Not with Windows devices, unfortunately. And like you said in your first post, they bury mirroring so deep into a menu that it's an inconvenience to use.

It works great with my Roku HDMI Streaming Stick though. And I don't even have to do anything on the Roku before starting mirroring from the Surface.

Can the Roku HDMI streaming stick be used without any network setup?

 

[jhoff80]

It needs to be set up initially for updates and such, but after that first setup (and having to do a one-time setting change to enable display mirroring), the Miracast feature has worked fine without an internet connection of its own. The Roku's Miracast feature is still technically in beta, but it's been great for me.

Though I should probably specify just so people don't see this later and get confused that it only is available for the Roku 3 and the Roku HDMI Streaming Stick (but not the MHL version of the Streaming Stick). Older devices don't support it.

 

[PiggyMiddle]

Well, I was hoping to get a great deal on a combo device that could do everything and Miracast for really cheap.

Be careful what you wish for. Miracast is not all that good in reality compared to the direct wifi ability of the Fire, Chromecast et al.

I have a Surface Pro 2, 128GB, 4300-CPU. Fire-stick, iPazzport Miracast, Chromecast and Push2TV Miracast.

On the two devices that do Miracast, the mouse-lag is abysmal. It takes about 5-tries to get the mouse to settle on a button. Once there it seems to work, but if you can live with that then Miracast might do what you want.

For Netflix etc...
The Chromecast no longer gets used as it needs my Android phone running for controls and that sucks as my daily-driver-phone is win-8.1.
The Firestick is used about 95% of the time as it has a handy remote. It will access most things the Chromecast and Miracast will with one exception, The Youtube app is a third party thing that sits between the stick and Youtube. It gives what seems like a censored view of available videos. I don't think it is a true YouTube app as the logo is blue instead of the familiar red and white thing. It is a crappy and difficult to use app at best so Miracast is the only real option for Youtube etc.

No magic bullet (single device) here.

 

[onlysublime]

No, I know about Miracast and have used it extensively.

For presentation purposes and for streaming video/audio, it works perfectly for me. I don't actually look at the big display that people see. I only look at the screen of my SP2 or any of my tablets so latency isn't an issue.

I'll check out the Roku HDMI stick and wait for the fireTV stick to be updated. I guess if I'm buying less than 10 of these things, paying more for the Microsoft Wireless Adapter is okay. It'd be like paying for corporate grade routers versus cheaper consumer routers. You do almost get what you pay for.

 

[Jazmac]

How is that Microsoft Wireless Adapter?

 

[onlysublime]

I love the Microsoft one. But it's a lot of money for just mirroring.

But it's rock solid for Miracast. Much better than my last experience which was the Netgear Push2TV PTV3000. That one kept disconnecting all the time. They released a zillion updates for that device and it was still unreliable.

For most people, these other devices (Roku, Amazon, etc.) are perfect. But for a scenario where you need to do presentations without connecting to a network, you need something like the Microsoft one.

 

[Jazmac]

I like the Amazon Fire TV stick ok but I seems to do a less than desirable job with Plex. Everything else it does a great job...especially Netflix and Amazon Prime stuff. Games are cool too but Plex gives it fits. I don't know if it is a AFTV thing or a Plex driver thing.