PC World – December 2015

NEWS
Microsoft’s answer to the Chromecast
Microsoft originally dubbed this “media casting via Microsoft Edge,”
and mentioned how Windows 10 can now cast to any Miracast or
DLNA device connected on the same network. In reality, you probably
won’t know what devices on your network are compliant until you try
to click the ellipsis menu on the upper left and select Cast Media to
Device. In my house, they included the Xbox One as well as a Roku 3.
Media casting
is a neat idea in
the Windows
10 November
update, but it
may need a
little work to
buff out some
of the bugs.
The idea is that Windows 10’s Edge browser will allow you to stream
YouTube videos, Facebook photos, and Pandora songs from your Edge
browser to your other devices. Unfortunately, the preview software
just didn’t seem to work. I was able to push a YouTube video from a
Surface 3 to the Xbox One just once, where it stalled after a second or
two. And Edge asked for a PIN code from the Roku 3, which that box
failed to provide. But for the Xbox One and Roku 3, there are already
native YouTube apps that do a better job. (There may be other DLNA
Miracast devices that lack native apps.)
I’d like to see this idea come to fruition, if only to provide the
numerous Roku boxes out there with screencasting capabilities.
Unfortunately, Google and its $35 Chromecast already perform these
functions with ease—and the Chromecast handles protected content;
Microsoft says it doesn’t.
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