Connecting Note 10.1 2014 to Sony Display

[Lindsay19]

I've recently purchased a Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 and I'm very impressed with it. One of the main reasons I bought it was for running presentations when I'm away on business, because carting my laptop around can be quite impractical. However I have run into a worrying problem. After quite a lot of research it seemed that I could connect my Note to any HDMI enabled TV providing I purchased the correct cable - an 11 pin MHL 2.0 cable to be precise, with an active power adapter attached to it.

My cable arrived today and I attached my Note to my Sony Bravia television. Although the TV recognised that an MHL device was attached, the screen was completely blank. I could not figure out why this was the case, because the cable and tablet work fine in my bedroom on my Panasonic television. I did a Google search and it seems that Samsung phones and tablets won't work on Sony displays. I am absolutely gutted because it means that if I go away on business with my tablet I might encounter a Sony television or projector, rendering my tablet useless as a business tool. I really wish I'd known this before I bought it. I see there are things like the Chromecast dongle which can overcome this problem, but many of the places I find myself in do not provide WiFi, so that won't be a reliable alternative.

If anyone has any advice or ideas on how to overcome the unfortunate Samsung/Sony incompatibility I would be grateful if you would add your thoughts. Given my experience with my Sony television I am presuming that the same problem will apply with a Sony projector - is this the case?

 

[Rukbat]

I see there are things like the Chromecast dongle which can overcome this problem, but many of the places I find myself in do not provide WiFi, so that won't be a reliable alternative.

You can always bring a little wifi access router with you (the D-Link G730AP (in its case, with the cables and power supply) is a little larger than a 5" cellphone.

 

[Lindsay19]

But if I can't get Wi-Fi in the locations I'm in then I guess I wouldn't be able to use a Wi-Fi access router? I'm afraid I don't know how they work but I'll look them up.

 

[Bosbouer]

The note would be connected to the mobile router as would be the chromecast dongle. So in effect you have your own wifi network were ever you choose to setup giving you access to the client's projector or tv.

 

[Dale_M]

As a alternative you may want to look into ROKU device.... Seems to act similar to Chromecast dongrel...

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...%2Fwww.roku.com%2Fhow-it-works&token=2S8Sfsud

Dont know anything about it but it was mentioned in a Chromecast review as a alternative...

Dale

 

[Lindsay19]

Thanks everyone for the replies - so the D Link device becomes a Wi-Fi hub (meaning I don't need to be in a location where they provide Wi-Fi) because it generates the Wi-Fi itself, much like a Bluetooth device would generate Bluetooth?

Sorry for my current lack of understanding that this is all very new and a bit complicated - I will research all of your suggestions!

 

[Bosbouer]

Yes correct. Your own wifi LAN

 

[Lindsay19]

I've been doing some research overnight and I'm still confused. I don't know why I would need the router? It seems that the dongle (which might be the Chromcast or the Belkin Miracast) would do the job on its own - it would communicate with my tablet and mirror whatever is on my screen, kind of like a wireless HDMI cable?

Are there any particular advantages in also attaching the router?

 

[Lindsay19]

I've now done a lot of research and I'd like to thank everyone for their suggestions. I've looked at the various Miracast dongles and they get pretty much the same reviews - useful, but not always reliable thanks to latency and streaming speeds. Not much we can do about that, at least until the technology improves. It seems that the Microsoft Display Adapter comes out quite well so I was thinking about that one - until I finally got around to researching Dale's suggestion of the Roku Streaming Stick which now has miracast (beta) enabled with the latest firmware. My research has shown that this seems to be getting quite good ratings and as user-friendly, and of course I can also use the stick for entertainment should I want to - the best of both worlds. I have checked compatibility and apparently it should work with my Note, but you never know until you actually try - the stick should be here in a few days and I will of course report back on progress.

 

[Lindsay19]

Well, the Roku Streaming Stick arrived. I have both good and bad news to report. On the good side, it's a lot better than I thought it was going to be for streaming movies and television programmes - even though my router is a floor and a room away the Roku is reporting a very strong signal and the picture and sound is flawless - at least so far.

On the less positive side, the remote control has frozen twice today already. When this happens you have to unplug the Roku, press okay on the remote control for 10 seconds, remove the batteries, wait 10 seconds, insert the batteries again, press the internal connection button for five seconds and when the remote control starts blinking you then plug in the Roku, and communication is resumed. I'm guessing I may have a flaky remote control unit.

On an even less positive note, the reason I got this thing was to see how its newly introduced mirrorcast function works. The Roku website includes a small list of 'compatible' devices but it does state that devices running Android 4.4.2 and above are well worth trying. Although my Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 isn't on the officially supported list I still wanted to give this a go. But unfortunately the results were very poor - once connected my television shows a perfect duplicate of my tablet's screen, but as soon as I switch to another screen on the tablet the picture is awful - a mass of blocks and pixels. Occasionally this clears and you can see the picture quite well, but move to another screen or picture and the blockiness returns. It also has a habit of disconnecting the casting feature after a few minutes. So all in all, a complete disaster. I can only conclude that my particular tablet isn't quite compatible with Roku's casting feature - I'm confused about this as I thought it was down to whether or not your device supported casting and had a relevant version of Android, but obviously not.

Therefore it looks like I'm going to have to revert to the Microsoft Video Adapter and see how that goes.

Groan.