AirServer Universal can turn a Windows 8.1 machine into a Miracast receiver. I wrote about that in my article Your Windows 8.1 machine as a Miracast receiver. But within my earlier tests, I've had some issues. Today I gave AirServer Universal 3.0.26 a new test drive on two Windows 8.1 machines.
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AirServer Universal is available here as a 7 day trial and will be licensed for a small fee. The Miracast feature will be available only on full updated Windows 8.1 machines (especially August 2014 Update Rollup) and capable hardware.
My test machines
Within my previous test I run only one Windows 8.1 tablet pc as a Miracast receiver. This time I've used two distinct Windows 8.1 test machines available here.
- #1 Medion Akoya S6214T: A 14 " convertible from German vendor Medion, sold via Aldi discounter, with a Intel N3520 CPU (and Intel HD graphics on chipset)
- #2 Medion Akoya P2214T: A 10,1 " convertible from German vendor Medion, sold via Aldi discounter, with a Intel N2940 CPU (and Intel HD graphics on chipset)
In previous tests last year, I've configured only machine #1 as a Miracast receiver. Today I also decided to install AirServer Universal on machine #2. So I've hat the opportunity to use both machines either as a Miracast source or sink.
Miracast Test with Windows 8.1
During these tests, I was using one Windows 8.1 machine as sender, whilst the other Windows 8.1 machine acts as a sink, using AirPlay Univeral as Miracast receiver. During my tests I have had no problems to establish a Miracast connection. Both machines was able to connect to their counterpart within a few seconds.
Streaming from machine #1 to machine #2, I observed, that mouse pointer movements was delayed a bit on the receiver. And machine #1 has graphic issues (some kind of fragmentation) during Miracast transmission during streaming from machine #2. The upper screen in the image show below has this issues.
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During my new test drive, I also used machine #1 as source and machine #2 as Miracast sink. On machine #2 I haven't had this graphical issues. The transmitted screen was mirrored flawless to AirServer Universal und the corresponding Windows 8.1 machine.
Because both machines are using distinct Intel CPUs (#1: Intel N3520 CPU, #2: Intel N3520) also different Intel HD graphics GPUs might be involved. So my conclusion is, that either the GPU or the graphics driver on machine #1 might be the cause for this flaw (machine #2 has better graphics capabilities, afaik).
Miracast Test with Android as source
Using Android devices as a Miracast sender may be some kind of trouble maker for AirServer Univeral (and also for some HDMI-Miracast-Receiver). Here I'm using a Nexus 4 and a Nexus 7 (2013) with Android 5.x (Lollipop), a Samsung Galaxy S4 with Android 4.4.2 (see this German article) for Miracast test drivers. This time I've had also a Medion Lifetab E7332 Android 4.4.2 tablet pc, sold last December at Hofer Austria (Aldi), as a Miracast sender.
During my previous test drives, I've tried to connect Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Galaxy S4 with my Windows 8.1 Miracast receiving machine – but I wasn't successful. The connections has either been aborted or stalled.
Today I run again a test drive with Nexus 7 (2013), but without success. Then I made a 2nd attempt, to connect the (new) Medion Lifetab E7332, running Android 4.4.2, with my Windows 8.1 receiver. At least I was successful. It took a few seconds more (compared with a Windows 8.1 source). But at least, my Android screen was mirrored to my Windows 8.1 machine, running AirServer Universal.
As a conclusion, I can say AirServer Universal 3.0.26 is capable to act as a Miracast receiver. But not all sources will connect with this receiver. Within my German blog articles I some users commented, that a Surface Pro was able to be used as a Miracast receiver. Also a Lenovo Yoga Thinkpad was able to act as a Miracast receiver, using a Samsung Note 3 neo as a source. These comments and the results observed above makes me eager to get my fingers on new AirServer Universal builds.
Links:
How to turn a Windows 8.1 machine into a Miracast receiver
AirServer Universal (vendor site)
