What is WiDi and is it worth it?

[moheli]

I'm considering buying a 17.3" Octane III and am hesitant about the additional £29 for a WiDi adapter. One of the main reasons why I'm switching from desktop is because of the inconvenience its lack of portability brings.

I'm often having to disconnect, move and reconnect the PC "tower" to and from the monitor and TV every time friends and/or relatives come over so we can watch movies and play games on a bigger screen. With a laptop, I can just hook it up with an elongated HDMI cable but WiDi may prove to be a be more effective solution. My only fear is its effectiveness in gaming, I play with wireless controllers so it's not really worth it if WiDi will introduce noticeable input delays – especially in games that require quick reaction times and rapid button mashing.

 

[Wozza63]

I'm not too familiar with it but WiDi appears to be discontinued by Intel. Personally, my set up at the TV consists of a Fire TV Stick and a Steam Link. I've made my media accessible on my local network and on my Fire TV Stick using VLC Media Player I'm able to stream that video to the TV with no issues (other than having to leave the PC on). And gaming is where the Steam Link comes in, being able to stream games up to 1080p 60fps to your TV and it works quite well although I 100% recommend that you have an ethernet cable connected to both the laptop and the Steam Link otherwise it struggles.

Also this setup will currently set you back around £60 and that's with the Steam Link currently 30% off.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I used to use a Google chromecast (£30) plugged into the tv, then had Plex media server on my pc (free). All connected over wifi.

I now use an Apple TV to do the same thing.

Just for movies obviously.

 

[Wozza63]

I used to use a Google chromecast (£30) plugged into the tv, then had Plex media server on my pc (free). All connected over wifi.

I now use an Apple TV to do the same thing.

Just for movies obviously.

Yep, probably should have added that any similar device would do the trick these days for movies. Games is a bit more difficult.

Never felt the need to use media server software when Windows can open up the necessary files to the local network as read only.

 

[moheli]

How does the Steam Link work? The video shows an Ethernet cable connecting the PC and Steam Link, is there supposed to be another one from the internet box to the PC and/or Steam Link? If that's the case then a single HDMI cable would be better. Also, I use Dualshock 4 controllers so I'm afraid they may not be compatible with the Steam Link.

Fire TV seems to be focused only on TV and Netflix so won't I be able watch videos from YouTube or third-party websites (e.g. Anime)? Google Chromecast doesn't seem to be much different either. I was hoping for a single USB and no wires connection, otherwise I may as well just stick with a single HDMI.

 

[SpyderTracks]

How does the Steam Link work? The video shows an Ethernet cable connecting the PC and Steam Link, is there supposed to be another one from the internet box to the PC and/or Steam Link? If that's the case then a single HDMI cable would be better. Also, I use Dualshock 4 controllers so I'm afraid they may not be compatible with the Steam Link.

Fire TV seems to be focused only on TV and Netflix so won't I be able watch videos from YouTube or third-party websites (e.g. Anime)? Google Chromecast doesn't seem to be much different either. I was hoping for a single USB and no wires connection, otherwise I may as well just stick with a single HDMI.

Chromecast streams anything from chrome except for a couple of blocked things.

 

[Wozza63]

How does the Steam Link work? The video shows an Ethernet cable connecting the PC and Steam Link, is there supposed to be another one from the internet box to the PC and/or Steam Link? If that's the case then a single HDMI cable would be better. Also, I use Dualshock 4 controllers so I'm afraid they may not be compatible with the Steam Link.

Fire TV seems to be focused only on TV and Netflix so won't I be able watch videos from YouTube or third-party websites (e.g. Anime)? Google Chromecast doesn't seem to be much different either. I was hoping for a single USB and no wires connection, otherwise I may as well just stick with a single HDMI.

No you just need both the Steam Link and PC to be connected to the router, but Ethernet is definitely recommended for much reduced latency when playing.

As for the Fire TV or Chromecast, they both have a number of apps to watch from different services such as YouTube, although I'm not sure about websites that are maybe less popular. I thought it was about watching files stored on your PC. You'll probably need a browser to watch from any site that doesn't have an app, and the Fire TV Stick doesn't have one. I imagine the Chromecast should have Chrome browser installed and that should hopefully work. Chromecast/Fire TV Stick also require no wires, it just plugs into the HDMI and connects via wifi. Chromecast also works well with Android phones and I think anything can be streamed straight from your phone to the Chromecast.

Dualshock should be fine with the Steam Link, although it doesn't have bluetooth built in so would require an adaptor but I believe it uses the drivers from the PC.

 

[moheli]

Well given the positioning of my internet box, using an Ethernet cable would just cause greater inconvenience. Chromecast seems like the best solution but since it doesn't support gaming, I'll end up having to use a HDMI cable anyway. *sigh* Thank you all for your feedback, I wonder why PCS is shipping something that has been discontinued by its manufacturer though.

 

[Wozza63]

Yes sadly gaming would be very difficult with your current situation unless you are willing to play them on the TV at a low resolution or use another solution like powerline adaptors to run the internet through the power lines to make latency better than wireless. I'm not sure why PCS are selling it, but it would also be subject to the same latency and issues over wireless especially in gaming which is difficult to compress over a network.

 

[runix18]

From my knowlege you have no chance of making Widi work with dGpu on a Optimus enabled system, so even if you will have no lag on playing movies or browse internet while casting, on games you will be limited by your iGpu (Intel hd530 or whatever skylake has). Better off give PCS a call and ask them that, if you will have the adapter can you cast on the dGpu (the Nvidia gpu in your case) to play heavy duty games, otherwise is useless.