The streaming function on Xiaomi: what it is and how to configure

Smartphone owners often face the challenge of displaying images from a small screen to a large TV or monitor, and in the MIUI and its successor HyperOS, this feature is implemented as deeply as possible and can be accessed in a couple of touches, and the screen broadcast allows you to duplicate everything that happens on your device, whether it’s watching a photo album, launching a game or demonstrating a presentation to colleagues.

The technology behind this process is based on the Miracast and Google Cast protocols, which provide wireless high-definition video streaming. You don't need additional cables or complex adapters if your TV supports Smart TV. However, to make the picture quality happy and the delays are not annoying, you need to adjust the connection settings correctly.

In this article, we will discuss how to activate the feature, what hidden settings exist for advanced users, and what to do if the device does not see the display. Understanding how a wireless display works will help you avoid typical connection errors.

The principle of wireless display on Android

The fundamental basis of broadcasting on Xiaomi devices is Wi-Fi Direct technology. Unlike a conventional router connection, here the smartphone and TV create a direct connection between each other. This allows you to transmit a video signal with minimal latency, which is critical for dynamic content. The Miracast protocol, used by default, encodes the video stream in real time.

⚠️ Note: When using wireless broadcasting, the smartphone battery discharges much faster than usual, since the Wi-Fi module operates in high power mode.

There is also an alternative method through Chromecast built-in, which is often found in Android TVs, in which case data is transmitted over a local network rather than directly, which can slightly increase ping, but provides better stability with a powerful router.

It is important to understand the difference between simple DLNA-In the first case, you just send a file (video or photo) to play, and the TV runs autonomously. In the second case, the TV screen becomes an exact copy of the phone's display, including notifications, desktop and running applications.

How to turn on the broadcast through the standard menu

The fastest way to start the function is to use the notification curtain. Swipe from the top edge of the screen down to open the control center. Find an icon called "Translation" or "Cast." If you can't see it in the front row, try swiping left or clicking on the menu edit button to add a shortcut.

Once clicked, the system will start looking for available devices within range. Make sure the TV is on Screen Mirroring mode or a similar feature (names may differ from brand to brand, such as Anyview Cast on Hisense or Smart View on Samsung). When your TV name appears on the list, just tap it.

• 📱 Open "Settings" and go to "Connection and Sharing".
• 📺 Select "Translation" and activate the switch at the top of the screen.
• 🔍 Wait for your TV name to appear on the list of available devices.
• ✅ Click on the TV name to establish connection and confirmation on the TV screen.

Once successfully paired, a floating window with a timer and control buttons can appear on the smartphone screen, allowing you to quickly turn off the phone's sound or interrupt the session. If the image appears but the sound is only coming from the phone, check the media settings in the menu that appears.

Advanced settings and hidden functions

For users who need more nuanced settings, MIUI offers access to the broadcast's engineering menu, and to get there, you have to quickly click five times on the gear icon or menu icon in the upper right corner of the device search box, and a panel with additional parameters that are not available in normal mode will open.

You can change the encoding codec here. H.264 is the default, which provides good compatibility. However, if your TV supports H.265 (HEVC), switching to this standard can improve picture quality with the same bitrate, although it will increase the load on the smartphone processor.

Also available in the extended menu is the option to protect HDCP content. If you try to stream video from paid services (Netflix, Film Search) and see a black screen instead of a picture, try changing the HDCP settings or, conversely, disable them if the TV does not support the current standard of protection.

Use of Mi Remote and Chromecast

Not all users know that the standard Mi Remote app also knows how to control the broadcast, especially if we are talking about Mi TV or Android TV. The remote interface often has a separate button "Cast", which starts the transfer of media files or the entire screen without having to climb into the system settings.

For devices that support Google Cast, the process is different: YouTube, Netflix or Chrome apps have a special icon of a rectangle with waves, and clicking on it allows you to send content directly to the TV, freeing the smartphone for other tasks.

⚠️ Note: When streaming via Chromecast, video quality depends on the speed of your Internet channel, not just the speed of the local network, as the stream goes through Google servers.

The advantage of the Google Cast method is that the phone is just a remote control, so you can fold the app, answer the phone, or even turn off the screen of your smartphone, and the TV playback is not interrupted, and it's the perfect solution for watching movies.

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If standard broadcasting is running with delays, try setting the router to allocate a separate 5 GHz guest network exclusively for media devices to avoid interference from neighbor networks.

Solution: Why there is no image or sound

One of the most common problems is when the phone sees the TV, but the connection does not set up or immediately breaks. Most often the reason lies in the incompatibility of the Wi-Fi frequency bands. Make sure that both devices are on the same subnet (for example, both at 2.4 GHz or both at 5 GHz).

The lack of sound when successfully transferring video is often solved by switching the codec in advanced settings or restarting the Google Play Services service. Sometimes the banal shutdown and turning on Bluetooth on a smartphone helps, since it is used for the initial handshake of devices.

• 🔄 Reboot your router, smartphone and TV – it solves 80% of connection problems.
• 🛡️ Check if the antivirus or firewall on the router blocks ports for Miracast.
• 📡 Close your smartphone to the router to prevent loss of data packets due to weak signal.
• 📱 Update the “Security” app and Xiaomi system services through GetApps.

If the image is twitching or low resolution, check the load on the processor. running in the background heavy games or download processes may not leave resources to encode the video stream in real time. Close the unnecessary applications before the session begins.

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The stability of the broadcast depends on the quality of the Wi-Fi signal and the absence of interference in the air, not on the power of the smartphone.

Alternative applications for broadcasting

Xiaomi's regular tools are good, but not always perfect. If the built-in feature is unstable, you should pay attention to third-party solutions. The market leader is the Web Video Caster app, which can stream video from almost any site directly to the TV, bypassing browser restrictions.

For gamers who want to play mobile games on a large screen, Steam Link or Link to Windows is a great fit. They use their own compression algorithms, which often run faster and smoother than the standard Miracast, especially on a local network.

Another powerful tool is AirScreen, which turns your phone into a receiver or transmitter, supporting AirPlay, Google Cast and Miracast protocols simultaneously, and is a versatile solution for complex cases where devices from different ecosystems refuse to be friends with each other.