EZCast aka Miracast dongle vs Chromecast (discussion, similarities and differences)

Asphyx · Aug 7, 2016

matale0 said:
do I need widi enabled laptop to be able to mirror it to tv using ezcast 5G ?

Yes pretty much have to have a miracast compatible device for all of these things.
CCast excepted but then again it is far more limited in screen casting than Miracast.

aghatak · Sep 8, 2016

Why miracast and not DLNA?

I have ezcast m2 and I always use DLNA. Miracast eats up way too much battery because the screen has to be on for the whole time. I think while we discuss ezcast, DLNA and AirPlay are the two protocols that comes really handy.

Asphyx · Sep 10, 2016

aghatak said:
I have ezcast m2 and I always use DLNA. Miracast eats up way too much battery because the screen has to be on for the whole time. I think while we discuss ezcast, DLNA and AirPlay are the two protocols that comes really handy.

Different Purposes for each....
Miracast is meant for making a wireless display...
DLNA is meant as a system of sending media to a display and that display can be wired, or wireless.

While some Miracast devices also have DLNA Support their main purpose is to create a Wireless display that can be used on a computer. The DLNA is just a value added function for those times when you do not need to add a display from a computer.

Chris2810 · Dec 5, 2016

Does EZCast support enterprise WiFi (EAP-MSCHAPv2)? Is it app or device dependant? I was thinking of buying renkCast 2 but I need the support for MSCHAPv2.

Asphyx · Dec 7, 2016

Chris2810 said:
Does EZCast support enterprise WiFi (EAP-MSCHAPv2)? Is it app or device dependant? I was thinking of buying renkCast 2 but I need the support for MSCHAPv2.

It depends on the device what WiFi and security it supports. EZCast is just software used to connect to Miracast which doesn't really use your WiFi router anyway as it is a Direct connection from device to device.

Some Miracast devices also will support DLNA which does connect to a router so you might want to double check the hardware specs of the miracasr device you intend to buy and make sure it supports whatever security your router uses.

nakTT · Jan 12, 2017

mathorv said:
EZCast is a competing technology, in some cases it's packaging is just a clone

Dongle acts as ap/wireless router in order to use it.
Client app connects to EZCast wifi and EZCast dongle is connected to home/office wifi network.

Hi there,

Instead of connecting to the home/office WiFi network. Could I just stream from (say YouTube, Netflix etc) using my smartphone's internet connection and directly cast my smartphone's screen (with audio) to a TV.

In short, could this EZCast make it possible for my smartphone to connect directly (with audio) to a TV without the need to have home/office WiFi in the equation.

Oh btw, do I need to keep the smartphone screen on all the time?

Thank you in advance.

Fluffbutt · Jan 12, 2017

I'm having trouble finding a dongle that does the right job.

There seem to be two types of dingle:

#1 has its own SSID that you have to connect to
#2 connects to your router and allows a DirectWIFI connection to it.

#1 mean you have to disconnect from your internet to connect to the dongle SSID, then cast to it = you can't be downloading/streaming and casting at the same time, and no online games!

#2 means your tablet can be online AND screen cast to the dongle = streaming youtube or Kodi, online games on big TV.

But the big problem I have is that when I ask the sellers which their device is, they either give misleading answers or don't answer the question (just give generic answer).

Roku stick is useless - it has some 1800 channels that are 99% crap, junk... but it might work as a cast-to device... but no one will commit to a "yes it's a #2 type device".

Chromecast is utter rubbish - you need to run special apps to cast to it, it can't do something and can others, many games won't cast to it, video won't unless you sue a "specific" app.. It's like "Your car won't start if you don't have Michelin tyres on it. Oh, you want to go into the city? Sorry, not allowed unless you have Shell diesel in the tank!"

EZCast appears to only need the app to connect to the SSID to then connect it to your WIFI - but can you then cast to is DirectWIFI, totally ignoring the SSID? Or do you need to connect to the SSID to cast a screen from the tablet? The sellers won't say.

And the biggest "fun" of all?

Microsoft Wireless Adaptor - you can;t cast a Sammysung tablet to it until it;s had a firmware update... but you can't update the fW until you connect to it... but you can't connect to it without the FW update.. That went back for a refund as "unusable".

It's really just not worth the hassles any more.

Fluffbutt · Jan 16, 2017

I bought a S912 powered TV Box from Amazon UK.. it takes a cast connection smoothly according to a review YouTube video - and lower latency/delay than the dongles.

But it arrived scuffed and scratched, old thing, not new, so it went back without even being plugged in (going back, Ill post it tomorrow)

I really don't think I'll bother - there's FAR too many scammers in this field.

As an aside, some info:

I soke to the EZCast website people - they are quite pissed off at all the fakes and copies.. and they gave me a head's up.

The fakes have an SSID of "EZCast-xxxxxx" - SIX hex chars after the name.

The true EZCast dongles have "EZCast-xxxxxxxx" - EIGHT hex chars.

ronniekinsley · Feb 14, 2017

Modding EzCast firmware/ROM

I want to mod/get modded the EzCast firmware for commercial purposes. I need partners/helpers for this project. Anyone interested?

mik101 · Mar 6, 2017

Fluffbutt said:
I'm having trouble finding a dongle that does the right job.

There seem to be two types of dingle:

#1 has its own SSID that you have to connect to
#2 connects to your router and allows a DirectWIFI connection to it.

#1 mean you have to disconnect from your internet to connect to the dongle SSID, then cast to it = you can't be downloading/streaming and casting at the same time, and no online games!

#2 means your tablet can be online AND screen cast to the dongle = streaming youtube or Kodi, online games on big TV.

But the big problem I have is that when I ask the sellers which their device is, they either give misleading answers or don't answer the question (just give generic answer).

Roku stick is useless - it has some 1800 channels that are 99% crap, junk... but it might work as a cast-to device... but no one will commit to a "yes it's a #2 type device".

Chromecast is utter rubbish - you need to run special apps to cast to it, it can't do something and can others, many games won't cast to it, video won't unless you sue a "specific" app.. It's like "Your car won't start if you don't have Michelin tyres on it. Oh, you want to go into the city? Sorry, not allowed unless you have Shell diesel in the tank!"

EZCast appears to only need the app to connect to the SSID to then connect it to your WIFI - but can you then cast to is DirectWIFI, totally ignoring the SSID? Or do you need to connect to the SSID to cast a screen from the tablet? The sellers won't say.

And the biggest "fun" of all?

Microsoft Wireless Adaptor - you can;t cast a Sammysung tablet to it until it;s had a firmware update... but you can't update the fW until you connect to it... but you can't connect to it without the FW update.. That went back for a refund as "unusable".

It's really just not worth the hassles any more.

The real EzCasts work both ways, and yes you can still access the internet when connecting to the Ezs SSID.... That's the whole point of setting it up as a wireless bridge....
I see so many bad reviews for these devices and I'm convinced it's just incompetent or ignorant people using them. I've used mine for every combination of DLNA (with software on an Android tablet, multiple Android phones, my laptop running Kodi, from my DLNA server on the network, casting stuff from a brower using Allconnect/Airwire etc). I've Miracast from the phones/tablet/laptop and it has been great for a couple years now. Hell the Ezcast software itself offers it's own method of screen mirroring for devices that don't properly support Miracast!
With a strong enough router you don't even need to ever connect to the built in SSID if you don't want to, but boy has the built wireless been great to have in hotels that don't offer wifi (making a Chromecast useless there).

Chromecasts also aren't 'rubbish'. It's just a different use case, which is great for casting media from chrome, screen mirroring from my android devices/windows PC even though the format support is lacking a bit. That last issue is easily solved with transcoding software such as Videostream for Chrome on my Windows PC and Megacast on Android.

People shouldn't bash products just because they can't figure them out. The Ezcast is one of the best things I ever spent $20 on, especially compared to my other miracast box based on a realtek soc. Those developers were 'nice' enough to lock the Fing thing down on its final update so I can't switch it back to a MOS Services based fw without a serial adapter to tftp in. Not worth the effort, when I still having a working MK1 Xtreamer running MOS Services on the network.

Fluffbutt · Mar 6, 2017

mik101 said:
The real EzCasts work both ways, and yes you can still access the internet when connecting to the Ezs SSID.... That's the whole point of setting it up as a wireless bridge.... .

That's the whole issue - I don't want to connect to a "bridge" to my router - I want to have the wifi connect to the router and wifidirect to the "cast" device.

If you connect to the "cast" ssid then via that bridge to the router - you need it running everytime you have your tablet on OR manually keep switching from "cast" ssid to router ssid..

The otehr way you can auto-connect to the router and only faff with the "cast" device when you want to cast to it.

I see so many bad reviews for these devices and I'm convinced it's just incompetent or ignorant people using them.

Hmm... smells like "if you don't like it then you're incompetent (or don't understand)"

Chromecasts also aren't 'rubbish'. It's just a different use case, which is great for casting media from chrome, screen mirroring from my android devices/windows PC even though the format support is lacking a bit. That last issue is easily solved with transcoding software such as Videostream for Chrome on my Windows PC and Megacast on Android.

So - it's OK if you want to muck about transcoding (even on-the-fly), but if you just want to use, watch... more or less sheet-outtta-luck.
Useless as a TV connected device - you can't do much at all with it without pre-connecting to it with the tablet.

I'll concede that's it's a LOT more useful than roku stick (1800 channels of which 1850 are crap) (OK, joking aside - probably 1700 of them are rubbish with 100 useful ones).

People shouldn't bash products just because they can't figure them out..

I was interested in your views until you played the "if you don't like it then you don't understand it" card - that's when I walk away from a discussion.

The Ezcast is one of the best things I ever spent $20 on, especially compared to my other miracast box based on a realtek soc. Those developers were 'nice' enough to lock the Fing thing down on its final update so I can't switch it back to a MOS Services based fw without a serial adapter to tftp in. Not worth the effort, when I still having a working MK1 Xtreamer running MOS Services on the network

The genuine EZCast looks good, the EZCast 4k seems good too..

mik101 · Mar 6, 2017

Fluffbutt said:
That's the whole issue - I don't want to connect to a "bridge" to my router - I want to have the wifi connect to the router and wifidirect to the "cast" device.

If you connect to the "cast" ssid then via that bridge to the router - you need it running everytime you have your tablet on OR manually keep switching from "cast" ssid to router ssid..

The otehr way you can auto-connect to the router and only faff with the "cast" device when you want to cast to it.

Hmm... smells like "if you don't like it then you're incompetent (or don't understand)"

So - it's OK if you want to muck about transcoding (even on-the-fly), but if you just want to use, watch... more or less sheet-outtta-luck.
Useless as a TV connected device - you can't do much at all with it without pre-connecting to it with the tablet.

I'll concede that's it's a LOT more useful than roku stick (1800 channels of which 1850 are crap) (OK, joking aside - probably 1700 of them are rubbish with 100 useful ones).

I was interested in your views until you played the "if you don't like it then you don't understand it" card - that's when I walk away from a discussion.

The genuine EZCast looks good, the EZCast 4k seems good too..

The Ezcast lives on your network as a DLNA device as well as existing as it's own wifi network as a bridge. You don't have to connect to it first at all if you don't want to. I think you're missing that part. It can be used flexibly, rather just being bound to its own Ezcast app. It also works as a Miracast device if you ever do want to share your whole screen. If you run a DNLA server on the network besides like I do, you, can just point the ezcast at whatever you want to play with something like Allconnect (turning the ezcast into a DLNA endpoint renderer and the Ezcast will play it directly from the server without that media ever having travelled through your mobile device. The mobile device just acts as a remote control.

If you're saying you want to actually navigate for your media and do everything through the device rather than it being a renderer then you just need to get an Android box, Apple TV, etc with its own remote to actually find the content on.

If you're streaming from sites the Ezcast actually has their own Ezchannel app to do that too. There's not really that much mucking around if you know what you want to play, and how.

Read the reviews and honestly tell me people know how to use the Ezcast every way it can be used. Because it sure sounds like people don't know how to use half of the functionality and then rate it poorly. Perhaps a lot of them are using clones where half of the functions don't work correctly, but I can only speak of my experience with the original Ezcast over the past two years.

The main purpose of Google's Chromecast is to access YouTube and paid content like Netflix, cravetv, movies and shows from the play store and countless other apps that have casting built in. They specifically limited format support to limit it's usefulness to pirates and encourage consumption of their content. The transcoding on the fly is the way to work around that limitation. It is good at what it was intended to do. It wasn't meant to be a jack of all trades. Personally I use Allstream on my Rooted Android devices to cast any music and internet radio etc over my network to my Chromecast v1 plugged into my surround sound reciever. Now there exists a Chromecast audio for that, but it didn't exist when I started doing it this way (and a few of my favourite streaming audio apps still don't have proper Chromecast support) but Allstream gets me around that limitation too. It is impressive what third party developers have managed to get working on a device that really couldn't do all that much other than youtube and Netflix out of the box, when it was originally launched.

Fluffbutt · Mar 6, 2017

mik101 said:
The Ezcast lives on your network as a DLNA device as well as existing as it's own wifi network as a bridge. You don't have to connect to it first at all if you don't want to. I think you're missing that part. It can be used flexibly, rather just being bound to its own Ezcast app. It also works as a Miracast device if you ever do want to share your whole screen. If you run a DNLA server on the network besides like I do, you, can just point the ezcast at whatever you want to play with something like Allconnect (turning the ezcast into a DLNA endpoint renderer and the Ezcast will play it directly from the server without that media ever having travelled through your mobile device. The mobile device just acts as a remote control..

Yes - I know that... but there ARE some "??cast" devices" (MyCast, EzCast (clone), etc) that ONLY have a wifi SSID to connect to - you have to disconnect from your router and connect to them to cast to it.

That was my comment - trying to get accurate info from sellers which of which their device is... and sifting through the lies and blather to get the answer.

One seller on EBay earned a modicum of respect - he answered directly that it was an SSID only device, no other connection possible.. At least he was honest an up front about it.

If you're saying you want to actually navigate for your media and do everything through the device rather than it being a renderer then you just need to get an Android box, Apple TV, etc with its own remote to actually find the content on

If you're streaming from sites the Ezcast actually has their own Ezchannel app to do that too. There's not really that much mucking around if you know what you want to play, and how.

Yes - it's a bit like the roku channels but seems more useful - I'm on the EZCast forums.

Read the reviews and honestly tell me people know how to use the Ezcast every way it can be used. Because it sure sounds like people don't know how to use half of the functionality and then rate it poorly. Perhaps a lot of them are using clones where half of the functions don't work correctly, but I can only speak of my experience with the original Ezcast over the past two years.

Yes --to both parts.

There are plenty who just don't know what it can do and are afraid to experiment in case they bugger it somehow. But not liking something is not automatically "not understanding it".
DPReview camera forum is full of that sort of lunacy... if you dislike a particular chosen "god camera" then you "don't understand it and should go back to point n shoot".. LOL - you sort of started to remind be of that cesspit of a place...

Sorry for being a little offensive - but I REALLY dislike that "don't like = don't understand" attitude. BUT, I do agree that there are people who are like that.

The main purpose of Google's Chromecast is to access YouTube and paid content like Netflix, cravetv, movies and shows from the play store and countless other apps that have casting built in. They specifically limited format support to limit it's usefulness to pirates and encourage consumption of their content.
The transcoding on the fly is the way to work around that limitation. It is good at what it was intended to do. It wasn't meant to be a jack of all trades.

I'd rate it a lot higher if it had even just a bare-bones basic interface, minimalist GUI - this "access only from tablet (or phone, etc)" thing is silly.
OK - it;s mostly used to stream from a tablet, OK... but you still need the tablet to start its own "internal" access thing, YTube, etc.

Personally I use Allstream on my Rooted Android devices to cast any music and internet radio etc over my network to my Chromecast v1 plugged into my surround sound reciever. Now there exists a Chromecast audio for that, but it didn't exist when I started doing it this way (and a few of my favourite streaming audio apps still don't have proper Chromecast support) but Allstream gets me around that limitation too. It is impressive what third party developers have managed to get working on a device that really couldn't do all that much other than youtube and Netflix out of the box, when it was originally launched

I confess to preferring a little more flexibility - having to start up the tablet to tell the thing to watch "XYZ" seems somewhat limited.
I think, maybe, it;s ME - most people have their phone to tabs always on, standby...

I killed (BWAAA ha ha ha ha !!!) my Sony Xperia Z3 (yes, it felt THAT good to get that &^%^&&^% &*^& DEAD)... so that's out... and I think I only turn my Galaxy Tab S2 on about three times a week... and it goes off again, not standby.

For the "always on standby" people, a Chromecast IS a good idea. Me? I just want to turn something on, a few buttons, watch the film.. but be able to cast to it if I wanted to play a SNES emulated game... on 55 inch... (Chrono Trigger or Secret of Mana in huge screen... mmmmmm!)

Each to his own, of course - and my opinions commented above were only from my perspective.

mik101 · Mar 6, 2017

Fluffbutt said:
Yes - I know that... but there ARE some "??cast" devices" (MyCast, EzCast (clone), etc) that ONLY have a wifi SSID to connect to - you have to disconnect from your router and connect to them to cast to it.

That was my comment - trying to get accurate info from sellers which of which their device is... and sifting through the lies and blather to get the answer.

One seller on EBay earned a modicum of respect - he answered directly that it was an SSID only device, no other connection possible.. At least he was honest an up front about it.

Yes - it's a bit like the roku channels but seems more useful - I'm on the EZCast forums.

Yes --to both parts.

There are plenty who just don't know what it can do and are afraid to experiment in case they bugger it somehow. But not liking something is not automatically "not understanding it".
DPReview camera forum is full of that sort of lunacy... if you dislike a particular chosen "god camera" then you "don't understand it and should go back to point n shoot".. LOL - you sort of started to remind be of that cesspit of a place...

Sorry for being a little offensive - but I REALLY dislike that "don't like = don't understand" attitude. BUT, I do agree that there are people who are like that.

I'd rate it a lot higher if it had even just a bare-bones basic interface, minimalist GUI - this "access only from tablet (or phone, etc)" thing is silly.
OK - it;s mostly used to stream from a tablet, OK... but you still need the tablet to start its own "internal" access thing, YTube, etc.

I confess to preferring a little more flexibility - having to start up the tablet to tell the thing to watch "XYZ" seems somewhat limited.
I think, maybe, it;s ME - most people have their phone to tabs always on, standby...

I killed (BWAAA ha ha ha ha !!!) my Sony Xperia Z3 (yes, it felt THAT good to get that &^%^&&^% &*^& DEAD)... so that's out... and I think I only turn my Galaxy Tab S2 on about three times a week... and it goes off again, not standby.

For the "always on standby" people, a Chromecast IS a good idea. Me? I just want to turn something on, a few buttons, watch the film.. but be able to cast to it if I wanted to play a SNES emulated game... on 55 inch... (Chrono Trigger or Secret of Mana in huge screen... mmmmmm!)

Each to his own, of course - and my opinions commented above were only from my perspective.

It's all good. I too love me some NES/SNES cast to either the EZcast or the Chromecast via Android mirroring. The Z2 was great with built in support for Sixaxis controllers, but Sony removed that support in the MM update, so now I'm using the Sixaxis controller app off market to effectively do the same thing since I don't have a ps4 controller. Of course they left internal support for that one. It was just nice not to need any third party software to do it before except for the emulator itself. Cheers.

Fluffbutt · Mar 7, 2017

mik101 said:
It's all good. I too love me some NES/SNES cast to either the EZcast or the Chromecast via Android mirroring. The Z2 was great with built in support for Sixaxis controllers, but Sony removed that support in the MM update, so now I'm using the Sixaxis controller app off market to effectively do the same thing since I don't have a ps4 controller. Of course they left internal support for that one. It was just nice not to need any third party software to do it before except for the emulator itself. Cheers.

Why did they remove some function? Seems dumb.
Same with Sammsung and the Tab2 9.7 -- no MHL. But that might be a function of the different SoC (Exynos to SnappyDragon) support chips?

I use a BT controller - "El Cheapo", £12 "BeBonCool" (what a name!) - works well.
Two sticks with button, four normal, direction pad, and 2x2 front bumper trigger.

Works with all the emulators, even the N64 (with a little remapping to match the yellow N64 controller buttons and "Z")

joseleena · Nov 21, 2017

Amazing. I also love to do work with miracast dongle. I can easily connect my mobile phone to my TV or laptop. This is the best screen mirroring devices. And It has amazing features and easy to use. I using Belkin Miracast Wireless Video Adapter and I bought from here @BIT.ly/2z88BHl . And also it helps me in my professional work. Thanks.

julien3001 · Dec 11, 2017

Hi all,

I'm looking for a device to do mainly the following things :
- play music from my laptop (windows 7), stored on a NAS. Via midows media player, VLC ... It's very easy to manage playlist with specific software audio on PC (sorted by albums, artists, or files ...)
- play music and/or videos from my laptop (windows 7), from youtube, deezer ...
- play photos & videos from my laptop (windows 7), stored on my NAS. Via windows photo viewer, picasa ...
- and incidentally play photos and videos from my phone S7 Edge
- and if possible, have the same image than my laptop : mirror

I would like to do something simple, but wireless. Indeed, I work today with Jack and HDMI cables between my laptop and my Yamaha amplifier ... But not practical.

Do you have an idea of which type of device I need to buy : chromecast, miracast, EZcast, chinese clone like that :
https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/FORN...X-YouTube-Sans-Fil-WiFi-HDMI/32833140058.html

I will be good for a Chinese clone, the price is very interesting. But I dont know if it will meet my needs. But also be reliable

Thanks a lot for your help

optionalmgrr.la · Nov 30, 2018

Is ezcast firmware switchable?

Anton TNT · Jan 23, 2022

Hi to all, can anyone help me please with my EZ mira app and dongle device associated with it (miracast).
I have tried to upgrade software for my miracast device thru EZmira app, but suddenly Commercials pop up and my upgrade has been stuck at 10% and won't go further , worse after disconnect or reset there is no signal at all anymore it does not start /boot nor emmit wifi signal. What to do (because of stupid commercial)??
I tried to reset device several times but nothing, tried reseting thru PC but it does not load or Windows does not recognoze device to upgrade it thru web tools.
Please can anyone get that firmware back in my device and restore it .
Much appriciated and thanks in advance!

EZCast aka Miracast dongle vs Chromecast (discussion, similarities and differences)

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