Welcome to the beginning of our series, Demystified DLNA vs Miracast vs WiFi Direct, where we unravel the complexities surrounding these widely used but often misunderstood technologies. In this article, we will provide clear explanations and distinctions between DLNA, Miracast, and WiFi Direct, equipping you with a deeper understanding of their functionalities and how they can enhance your digital experiences.
Demystifying DLNA vs Miracast vs WiFi Direct: Understanding Three Technologies for Seamless Connectivity
Wifi Direct
Probably the best way to understand wifi direct is to think of it as a version of WiFi that allows your BlackBerry to connect directly to another device without having to go through a router.
Usually, when your BlackBerry wants to communicate to other another device like a smart TV, both the BlackBerry and the smart TV have to connect to a router in a WiFi network. With WiFi Direct, your BlackBerry creates a WiFi connection directly to the TV, basically creating a 2-device WiFi network, without talking to any router. You don’t even need to have a router in reach.
There are a few advantages to using WiFi Direct:
- The traffic on the WiFi Direct connection won’t be affected by the traffic on any WiFi network
- You don’t need to know the password for any WiFi network — you just need the WiFi Direct password for the device you want to connect to
- Nobody can snoop on the traffic between devices in a WiFi Direct connection (network) because no other devices are on that WiFi Direct network (Not surprisingly, the original name for WiFi Direct was WiFi Peer-to-Peer)
The main disadvantage with WiFi Direct on the devices I’ve tried is that you can’t be connected to a WiFi network and a WiFi Direct network at the same time. If you want to create a WiFi Direct network with your BlackBerry, you have to disconnect it from the WiFi network. I can confirm that Samsung smart TVs have the same disadvantage.
Miracast
Miracast is basically HDMI over WiFi. It was created to replace the HDMI cable with a wireless version that runs over WiFi. It’s best used for screen sharing, such as when you want to play a game on your BlackBerry and have the graphics displayed on a TV, or when you want to run a presentation on your BlackBerry and have it displayed on the projector or monitor in the meeting room.
With Miracast, your BlackBerry pushes the video and audio to the receiving device, but your BlackBerry cannot receive video and audio from another device.
Finally, Miracast uses WiFi Direct, so you don’t need access to a WiFi network to use Miracast. But that also means that the receiving device has to support WiFi Direct as well.
DLNA
DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) is a media-sharing technology that allows users to share media (video, audio, photos) over a network. It’s not tied to a particular type of networking technology, so it will work over WiFi and wired networks. I haven’t tried using it over a WiFi Direct connection.
DLNA can be used to push media to a receiving device like a smart TV or stereo or pull media from another device, such as a NAS (Network Attached Storage), PC, or BlackBerry.
To send music from your BlackBerry to another DLNA device, simply tap on play on in the overflow menu (three dots on the right) of the Music app, and select the device you want to play it on. To play video on another DLNA device, simply do the same thing in the Video app.
Lots of consumer devices, such as TVs and game consoles, support DLNA, but unfortunately, some manufacturers use their own name for it. For instance, Samsung calls the DLNA support in their smart TVs AllShare, which I admit is a better name for it. Hopefully, the DLNA folks will come up with a good marketable name for the technology, so we can put the confusion to rest.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we have successfully Demystified DLNA vs Miracast vs WiFi Direct. By understanding the unique capabilities of each technology, you can now confidently navigate their applications and leverage their benefits. WiFi Direct empowers direct device-to-device connections, bypassing the need for a router. Miracast revolutionizes screen sharing by wirelessly transmitting audio and video content. DLNA facilitates seamless media sharing across networks. Armed with this knowledge, you can now harness the full potential of DLNA, Miracast, and WiFi Direct to elevate your digital interactions. Stay tuned for more enlightening insights in our ongoing series, as we continue to shed light on the fascinating world of technology. Discover the realm of information through UTB Blogs, connecting with us opens new horizons. Unlock the treasure trove of insights with UTB Blogs, and connect with us to delve deeper.
