Modern smartphones Xiaomi and Redmi series have turned into powerful multimedia centers that users often want to broadcast on the big screen. HDMI-Cables are not just a convenience, they are a standard of living in the digital age, and you can watch high-resolution movies, show photos to friends, or even play mobile games on full screen.
MIUI and the new HyperOS have several built-in mechanisms to accomplish this task that do not require third-party software installation. However, depending on your TV model and Android version, the methods may vary in stability and picture quality. In this article, we will discuss in detail all available synchronization methods, from standard Miracast to the use of Google technologies.
The main challenge is often not the lack of a feature, but the right protocol for data transfer. Some methods provide minimal latency, which is critical for games, while others focus on stable video streaming. Understanding the difference between screen broadcast and mediacast will help you avoid disappointment and choose the best use case.
Basic Miracast technology and built-in Translation feature
The most direct way to connect a Xiaomi smartphone to a TV is by using Miracast technology. It's a wireless media standard that allows you to stream images from your phone's screen to TV in real time. In the MIUI shell, this feature is often simply called Translation or Wireless Monitor. To work this method, your TV must support Miracast technology or have built-in Wi-Fi Direct.
The process of connecting is as simple as possible for the developers. You don't have to look for complex settings in the engineering menu. You just lower the notification curtain and find the corresponding icon. If it's not on the first screen, open the full list of widgets. Once activated, the phone will start scanning available devices within range of the Wi-Fi network.
⚠️ Note: Xiaomi’s Translation feature duplicates the entire screen of your smartphone, which means that if you receive a message or call, the image on your TV will also be interrupted or the contents of the notification will be shown.
When using Miracast, it is important to consider the battery load. Since the smartphone constantly encodes the video stream and transmits it over Wi-Fi, the energy consumption increases significantly, it is recommended to keep the device connected to charging or have a power bank on hand, especially if you plan to watch a long movie.
The quality of the image depends on the speed of your Wi-Fi router and interference in the air. If you notice artifacts or sound dissynchronization, try to get closer to the router. In some cases, switching the router to a frequency of 5 GHz, which is less busy than the standard 2.4 GHz.
Use of Google Chromecast and Google Home App
Unlike many other manufacturers, Xiaomi doesn’t have built-in support for Google Cast in all system applications by default, however, the Android ecosystem makes it easy to implement this feature. Chromecast built-in (or Google Cast) technology is the standard for Android TV-based smart TVs, as well as Samsung, LG and Sony models of recent years.
To implement this method, you will need the Google Home app, which you can download from the Play Market, which serves as the control center for all Google devices in your home. Once installed and logged in to your Google account, the app will automatically find a compatible TV if both devices are connected to the same network.
- 📲 Open the Google Home app on your Redmi.
- 📺 Find your TV in the list of devices and click on it.
- 🔗 Select the option “Cast my screen).
- ✅ Confirm the action, and the image from the smartphone will appear on the big screen.
Google Cast’s main advantage over Miracast is its stability and smart features: The TV itself downloads content from the Internet, so the phone can be used for other tasks or even turned off the screen without interrupting video playback, which is especially convenient for streaming services.
It’s important to note that Google Home requires Google Play (GMS) services to work properly, which are the defaults on Xiaomi smartphones, but if you’re using the Chinese firmware version without Google services, this method won’t work without first installing the frameworks.
💡
If the streaming through Google Home is running late, try turning on traffic priority (QoS) for your smartphone in your router settings.
Broadcasting through YouTube and Netflix apps
The most popular wireless scenario is video viewing, and YouTube, Netflix, IVi, and other video services have their own built-in casting mechanism that runs on top of the local network, a method often referred to as “smart broadcasting.”
Unlike system broadcasting, here the phone is just a remote control, so you pick up a video on your smartphone, you click the Chromecast icon, and you pick the target device, and the video starts buffering directly on the TV.
The benefits of this approach are obvious: maximum image quality (up to 4K HDR), no load on the phone’s processor, and the ability to control playback from any device on the network. You can start watching a movie on a tablet, continue on the TV, and finish on a PC.
To connect successfully, make sure that the accounts in the apps on your phone and TV match, although this is not always a requirement. The main thing is a single Wi-Fi network. If the TV is not visible, check if the router is on the Guest Network, as it isolates the devices from each other.
| Parameter | Miracast (Translation) | Google Cast / YouTube |
|---|---|---|
| Type of transmission | Full screen duplication | Streaming video stream |
| Dependence on the phone | High (screen should be on) | Low (you can use other apps) |
| Image quality | Depends on the Wi-Fi signal. | Maximum (up to 4K) |
| Battery consumption | High-pitched | Minimum |
Third-party applications for complex cases
Sometimes, Xiaomi’s built-in tools or Smart TV protocols can conflict, especially if the TV is not smart or has old firmware. In such situations, third-party aggregator apps such as Cast to TV, Web Video Caster or BubbleUPnP come to the rescue.
These programs can find devices using the DLNA and UPnP protocols, which are supported by almost any modern TV, even without the Smart features if a media player is connected to it. They also often allow you to stream local files (video, photos, music) directly from the phone’s memory.
How to broadcast video from the browser to TV?
When using third-party software, be prepared to advertise in free versions of applications, and on-the-fly video encoding can cause the device to heat up, and it is recommended to close the background processes before running heavy streaming through such programs.
Some apps offer unique features, like building a home server, where you can download a movie to your phone's memory, run a server in an app, and open it through your TV browser, and it's a universal method that works even when you don't have the Internet, only over a local network.
Configure Wi-Fi Direct and Local Area Network
The foundation of any wireless connection is the right network setup, and all of these methods require that the Xiaomi phone and the TV are on the same subnet, which seems obvious, but often users connect the phone to 4G/5G mobile and the TV to Wi-Fi, which means that devices can’t see each other.
In router settings, it is advisable to turn off client isolation if such an option is enabled.This security feature prevents devices within the network from communicating with each other, which blocks the possibility of casting, and it is also worth checking whether the guest mode on the smartphone is turned on when connecting.
- 🌐 Make sure that both devices are connected to one SSID (name).
- 🔒 Check the type of encryption: recommended WPA2-PSK or WPA3.
- 📶 For 4K Videos are preferably used in the 5 GHz band.
- 🔄 Restart your router if the list of devices is not updated.
If you have a dual-band router and it connects networks 2.4 and 5 GHz under one name, the problems usually do not arise, Home_2.4 and Home_5), Connect both devices to the network 5 GHz for better speed, or to 2.4 GHz for better compatibility with older TVs.
⚠️ Warning: Antivirus programs or firewalls installed on a smartphone or router can block ports needed to detect devices (usually ports 1900). UDP for DLNA).
Solving common problems and errors
Even when you set up correctly, you can have failures like "Device not found," "Plug-in error," or permanent communication breaks, and the first thing that helps is to simply reboot both devices, which clears the cache of network services and resets the hanging processes.
If the problem is with audio delay or desynchronization, try settings on the TV to turn on the Game mode or turn off all image enhancement effects (noise reduction, motion smoothing).
Xiaomi owners sometimes face aggressive battery optimization that kills the background streaming process, so to avoid this, you need to go to the battery settings, find the application you are using (for example, YouTube or Google Home), and set the “No restrictions” mode.
☑️ Diagnostics of connection
If nothing works, check the date and time on both devices. Time out-of-synchronization can cause security certificate errors, which prevents handshakes between the phone and TV. Set up automatic time synchronization over the network.
Alternative Ways: HDMI Adapters and Cloud Services
When wireless technology fails or requires a perfect image without compression, hardware solutions come to the rescue. Buying a MiraScreen adapter or similar whistle will turn any HDMI TV into a receiver for Xiaomi. The device plugs into a TV port and creates its own Wi-Fi network to connect the phone.
Another option is to use cloud services, where you can upload videos or photos to the cloud (Google Drive, Yandex.Disk, Mi Cloud), and then run the cloud application directly on the Smart TV. It doesn't require direct phone and TV communication, just having the Internet on both.
For gamers who want to play mobile games on a large screen, wireless methods can give input lag, in which case experts recommend using a wired connection via a USB-C to HDMI adapter if your Redmi model supports video output (usually flagship models with USB 3.0/3.1).
💡
To watch movies, it is better to use the built-in Chromecast in applications, and to show photos or presentations, the system function “Translation” (Miracast).