My Intel WiDi / Wireless Display experience with the M11x R3.

I wanted to update my last thread but it looks like it was closed for some reason. I probably forgot to mention that the M11x R3 supported it and I was looking for M11x R3 users who had used it.

Anyway, I finally got a Belkin Screencast receiver after it went on a deep discount at an online daily deal site. It's hardware version 2 and it does support 1080p with the M11x R3. I set it up first and launched the WiDi software to connect. It would not connect until I went to the Intel My WiFi utility and toggled Unshare/Share my Internet, which is something I routinely have to do when using the My WiFi function to share a wired Internet connection with other devices. Before this, I did not realize that this is how a WiDi receiver connects to a WiDi notebook.

OK, so after that, it worked fine. It defaulted to display mirroring, which Intel says is the most common and simple way to use it. Makes sense: managing multiple displays can confuse your average user. Anyway, it had options like "automatically connect" "prompt to update firmware on WiDi adapter." I didn't want it automatically connecting and running my battery dead at home, so I didn't try that option at first. "Prompt to update" was enabled by default but I was not prompted. I assumed that it was up to date.

I tried playing back a TV show and noted that the battery was burning away by running a screen I wasn't even watching, so I double-checked that "do nothing when I close the lid" was my selection for battery and AC power and closed my lid. At first, it worked fine. Soon, I needed to move my mouse pointer to manipulate some playback controls, so I opened the notebook and it instantaly disconnected from the ScreenCast. Damn. That's certainly not an example of doing "nothing." Intel's support pages for WiDi explicitly stated that the same "Do Nothing" option would allow you to use WiDi with the lid closed, so I looked elsewhere. Despite having "prompt for update" enabled for the adapter and the software, I found a "check for updates" option under Help>About which took my to an Intel page with automatic driver updaters and a specific installation order for all the components (WiDi-enabled WiFi driver, Intel HD Graphics driver, WiDi software, and WiDi Widget). Each one detected an update even though I recently updated the Intel My WiFi software to see if it would solve my issues with having an unreliable connection to an HP Touchpad. Believing that it may fix my issue with closing the screen, I followed it to the letter and updated everything, restarting between updates in order exactly as instructed.

This time, the WiDi software defaulted to a higher 900p resolution on the TV and supported 1080p. The resolution difference meant that it was not using Display Mirroring. Strangely, it defaulted to putting my primary desktop on the TV. This could have been a problem if I had disabled the mouse pointer before (an option). It's strange that they would acknowledge that most users want mirroring but then chose a default that may confuse them.

Anyway, I was now getting prompts to update the device's firmware. The only reason I could imagine that I only got the prompt after updating the software is if Intel includes the firmware updates for their hardware partners with the software packages instead of actually checking online. I checked the dates and confirmed that the new firmware wasn't simply released after I updated. I went ahead and updated, restarted everything, re-established the connection, and tried closing and opening the lid again. It not only disconnects, it now CRASHES the WiDi app! If you re-launch it after the crash, it can't see the ScreenCast without a bit of fidling (power off/on, restert PC, toggle WiFi, etc). Grrr. Must me a problem with Dell/Alienware's specific implementation on the M11x R3 or perhaps triggered by nVidia Optimus.

Not the biggest deal, I know, but there's more. I decided to try out the widget and it seemed to do nothing. The only clickable thing said that I had no adapters set to automatically connect to, so I figured that I'd enable that option in the WiDi app, then disconnect, close it, and try the widget again. All the widget does is launch the WiDi app but leave it minimized without even giving it focus. It does not automatically connect. Nothing I do can get it to auto-connect. I manually established the connection and found that the widget is just for managing apps and multi-display configurations with a single non-sensical button. "Just keep clicking it and wonder what screen configuration is next and which will have your application on it!" seems to be the idea. Lame.

After updating the drivers, I began to wonder if it could now connect to my HP TouchPad without disconnecting every few seconds. I looked for the My WiFi tray utility and it was gone! It's not on the Start Menu either. Hmm. I remember seeing it in the "Custom" install dialog on the updated drivers, so I was pretty sure it was installed. Even so, I wasn't sure if I had continued with the "Custom" install or gone back and picked "Automatic," so I decided to reinstall. I had deleted the executable installer, so I had to download it again. Intel's online update checker is poorly designed and stupidly does not let you download the driver you already have installed (just states that you have the current driver installed). I manually downloaded it and, when I run it, I get a symbol with some dots going around it for a few seconds before it disappears and seemingly does nothing. Huh. I never even see the first screen of the installer. I expected to be prompted to remove but I guess I have to do that manually.

Anyway, even though I downloaded the latest My WiFi dashboard sometime last month, I downloaded it again and got some completely different "Lite" version. It seems that the one that is supposed to be included with the driver I can't reinstall is the "full" version. Even so, the "Lite" version says that my system is capable but a supported version of the software is not installed. Intel's only support article on "My WiFi" being disabled is about a message you would get if you attempted to use WiDi with it disabled and not about the utility being missing or disabled. Because WiDi works, I assume that the My WiFi background components are working just fine and the problem is purely with the dashboard software. It's only a month old and I just updated everything so I doubt I have incompatible versions.

This is really annoying. I guarantee you that Apple AirPlay users don't have to deal with this crap even though I bet it's based on this just like Apple's Thunderbolt is based on Intel's Light Peak. This is half-baked.

I DID use it, so perhaps you might want to know how well it works when it works:
As expected, there is a huge delay in the video but only a slight delay in mouse input. This is because there is a hardware mouse pointer that is not part of the video stream and updates before the stream does. The audio on the system mutes automatically so that you do not notice the delay with the audio/video on the wireless display. The audio sent to the WiDi receiver is synced with the video as it is displayed on the TV. It is perfectly fine for web browsing and video watching but you will not be able to play any real-time games with WiDi, so don't throw away your HDMI cable.

I did not try any protected Blu-Rays or anything but several mentions of it on Intel's support site made it clear that it works but Toshiba systems need a Toshiba-supplied software component to enable it. Ours doesn't.

That's it for now. Sorry for the wall of text, but I didn't find anything like it when I had these questions (see my original dead thread with no responses).

 

im using widi on my r3 too with a netgear p2tv2000. i just use it as an extended display to watch movies and it works great with little lag. i found that if you have the latest intel drivers for the HD graphics and wireless, it reduces the lag and you can switch the audio back to the laptop speakers without crashing.

 

Did you also lose the My WiFi dashboard/tray utility when you updated your drivers?

I got the "My WiFi Lite" dashboard to work after rebooting again, but the Belkin ScreenCast said that it couldn't get an IP address and the utility gave an incorrect message about there being no adapters to connect to after connection failed. It seems to be the same problem I had before where I would simply toggle the "Share/Unshare my Internet" button I had in the My WiFi dahsboard before, but the new bloated one seemingly has no equivalent toggle. I had to restart my PC. This is supposed to be an easier and more convenient way to output to the TV. *grumble grumble grumble*

 

i dont the dashboard utility. where do you get it? i just open the intel WiDi application.

 

It was there when I got the notebook. Upgrading drivers per the WiDi setup got rid of it.

 

Ugh. I have a super high-end CRT HDTV (XBR910 with SuperFine Pitch) that was never intended to be connected to PCs with the DVI port (one of the earliest sets with one). I know that it is very particular about timings and refresh rates when it comes tpo getting PCs to work on it, but I've never had any problem with consumer electronics (Blu-Ray players, game consoles, etc). Even so, I had used it with an old HTPC running a GeForce 6600GT for years, so as long as the drivers have the right settings for standard 720p/1080i with correct timings that are the same as consoles and other consumer electronics, it should work.

Anyway, I could not get my M11x to work with an HDMI to DVI cable, which I chalked up to driver support being sub-par these days due to the wealth of TVs that easily accept PC resolutions and refresh rates now being in the market. Nothing I tried worked. Knowing that no dedicated home theater or TV equipment has ever had an issue, I broke out the good (BAD) ol' Belkin WiDi. I had to go through a lot of the same crap again including crashes and updates because I had rolled back to my old HDD (took out my SSD), but I eventually got everything straight and realized that I'm screwed. There is no way to use WiDi on this TV. It's a shame, really. It should be the solution to such PC connection issues. Instead, I get the WiDi screen and as soon, as I send my laptop's display through it, the TV goes blank and shows nothing. Somehow I doubt the Apple TV has such problems with AirPlay (works until you output the PC's display). I need to try my brother's AppleTV and report back.

WiDi: Every bit as horrific an experience as I could have imagined. Absolutely no more simple or streamlined than previous methods. Absolutely no easier to use or configure. Nothing like it was marketed.

 

did you update the widi software: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...oductProduct=Intel®+Wireless+Display&lang=eng

widi is not that bad its working quite well for me and getting better with every update.