Sony Professional/Signage Display for meetings - Android TV WTF?

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KingKrayola

KingKrayola

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  • #1
    Hi there,

    I need a teleconferencing/business display for our meeting room. Bought a 43" Sony FW-43EZ20L as I've been warned off Samsung by all their ads (did not want in a meeting room) and I've never got on with their UIs.

    Turned it on, and even though it's a 'professional' display it's still pestering me for a Google sign-in. According to the help files, there is no longer Miracast on these displays, it's all Chromecast, and I've just got the team to accept us blocking Chrome because of all the surveillance (we have worked in Google-adjacent fields in the past, and just on principle we shouldn't be broadcasting our web activity to them).

    Chromecast doesn't seem to work without a Google login.

    But then there's no other way of mirroring to the screen over the network as far as I can see, unless I'm being dense?

    Can't find any alternatives that aren't Android, similar spec Dell monitors are twice the price.

    Doesn't seem to even want to do Airplay, as it doesn't think it's hooked up to the internet even though it's got the right network configs. I suspect our Meraki gear's ad blocking is causing the issue, and I don't see why I need to open up our settings for a bloody display.

    Any ideas? Pretty pissed off.
     
    B

    Baenwort

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  • #2
    Does Planar no longer do thier thing? Ours are a couple years old now but their stuff used to have Miracast still built in and showed up as a cast target to Windows automatically.

    I guess you could get a Roku or Fire device to use as a cast target?

    We've moved to these Optoma Wireless HDMI doggles that have built in battery packs for some of the conference rooms. So long as no one moves them between rooms they've worked well as all the user has to do is pick it off the dock and plug it into their laptop. But the are specifically paired to a room and people don't seem to get that.

    They just started switching some of the rooms to MS Teams Rooms that can be invited to meetings from Outlook. The room then joins the meeting and displays what ever is screen shared to the meeting. Not as good of latency but people seem to mess it up less than the other options. It also automatically uses the Polycon room audio and cameras better than laying USB cables on the table ever did to get people to use them.

    Get started with Microsoft Teams Rooms - Microsoft Support

    Microsoft Teams Rooms bring video, audio, content sharing, and rich collaborative Teams experiences to spaces of all sizes, from small huddle areas to large conference rooms, for a complete meeting experience.
    support.microsoft.com support.microsoft.com
     
    KingKrayola

    KingKrayola

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  • #3
    Have not noticed Planar in the UK but will check.

    Was fed up as my pre-Android bravia at home does have Miracast so I assumed…

    All good ideas thanks. Once I unwound I found the MS 4K Miracast dongle which may do the same job as the Optoma stuff.

    Will look at the Teams room stuff. I want to budget for the Logitech or Polycom meeting room stuff in a few months, this was just to get something ready in a rush.
     
    KingKrayola

    KingKrayola

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  • #4
    Red mist has now cleared. Optima was not super clear on what standard they were using, so I opted for one of these:

    5create 4K Miracast Dongle

    Planar look nice; for our scale and budget maybe a little bit toppy (and a more involved purchasing progress). Will have to save up for an LCD wall for design reviews.
     
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    Paladin

    Paladin

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  • #6
    I think it is not in TVs commonly anymore because Miracast is effectively dead. Google stopped developing it around 5 years ago, maybe a bit more now and focus on Googlecast/Chromecast instead. Miracast doesn't support some of the newer wifi features/security and there are probably other limitations. Obviously, it still exists (and works pretty well) but there is probably some kind of functional time limit on how long you can keep it working with modern devices. Could be 5 years plus though so it's probably fine for now and hopefully something else comes along to replace it by then. If you feel better about it, you can use Microsoft Edge instead of Chrome but I think you might still need some kind of account to get things going. That's easy enough though, just make a throw away account you use for nothing else. Costs google money to run the account and it collects no data since you never use it. ;)
     
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