I have been one of the lucky ones getting his PicPix right before the outbreak of this damn Corona Virus.
Now I’m sitting in a hotel and struggling. Probelm is as follows:
You get a WLAN code at the counter for just one device. So iPhone is connected but its not possible to connect to PicPix and share a movie e.g. with PayerExtreme Pro.
What options do I have to get the movie to the wall?
Depending on how the WLAN access is implemented, you may not have any way to get it working via WiFi.
Your best option would be to get a Lightning Digital AV adapter and a HDMI cable to connect the iPhone to the PPM. Or try to get the from desk to give you another code for your PPM.
You also have the option to tether your PPM to your iPhone and use your mobile plan.
In 4G, it could be even better than in Wifi in hotel (some QoS may be applied and blocks video network stream…).
Thanks LLG but 4G is not an option. I would say in any hotel here in Germany the wlan is better than the 4G… Vodafone, Telekom and Telefonica are bastards…
I travel with a small “travel router” that makes dealing with some pesky hotel wifi systems much easier.
I get the travel router up and running, but not yet connected to wifi. I connect to hotel wifi with my phone or laptop. Once getting past the hotel authentication page, I disconnect from hotel wifi and connect to my router.
From the routers admin page, I can tell my router to clone the MAC address of the device that I am connecting with. With that clone done, I have the router (wan) connect via wifi to the hotel wifi. As that MAC address / IP address is already authorised, everthing that now bridges through my travel router has internet access, including my PPM.
Of course, if the PPM could recognize the prompt coming from the hotel wifi to open the hotels login page, that would be ideal, but my method works for now …
I don’t see why it wouldn’t, that’s a standard Android feature according to me.
But… then it would be the only client using the hotel WiFi, and you can’t use anything on your phone. Therefore your solution is a very good workaround in my opinion.
Having one of those adapters is always a good idea, not just for use with the PPM. I’ve been able to use hotel TV systems, digital whiteboards at clients or schools, or any display device with HDMI input for that matter to show content from my phone thanks to one of those Lightning Digital AV Adapters.
Really I don’t like this new adapters era!
Lightning, USB C… before that we had several port kinds on our pc, now prices are the same (or higher) but to use it you have to buy (50$!!!) adapter!
Your question had me thinking: would it be possible to connect the PPM to a network using a LAN cable connected to a USB-C Network adapter?
I tried this with a USB-C network adapter from Dell (D55GG) plugged into the “video” USB-C port of the PPM and while the connection LEDs did light up, the PPM did not recognize it or use it unfortunately.
Perhaps @Philips_Support_P could shed some light on this thought of mine? The system is possibly just missing the proper drivers?
Or perhaps the USB-C network adapter I tried isn’t compatible but others are?
Hotspot use (sharing of one device’s internet with others by creating a new wireless network and handing out op addresses and routing the data) on phones usually breaks the one WiFi connection the phone has to be able to build up the new WiFi network. If the phone had two WiFi radios it could possibly keep the WiFi it joined and start a new one on the side as well, but that’s not the case. There are mini routers though that will do exactly that, like the one linked to above by @tpetrilli
With most Telekom.de plans you can opt-in to StreamOn Video, which lets you stream videos for free without using data plan.
That port is only for video input, the USB-A port should work though.
Also, if it’s helpful, in the hidden (default) Android settings there are options to turn on Hotspot mode, so you can make a hotspot out of your PicoPix Max, connect it via a USB-Ethernet adaptor to your hotel network by a LAN cable, and enjoy wifi on all your devices plus the projector itself.
And lastly one more suggestion – you can use Miracast (the “Android” option under Mirroring). This also uses WiFi but it connects directly, doesn’t need access to a network. Theoretically you can play something on your phone/tablet/laptop and mirror it to the picopix max. Won’t work for iPhone though.
Actually some phones and tablets can do Miracast even if they have just one chip that’s already connected to WiFi. Many of our Pico projectors (like PicoPix Micro and Nano) can do so, for example. I’ve also tested with Google Nexus 5 (admittedly an old phone now) and Samsung S4.
@IvoGrijt
Hello Ivo,
Have you checked if this works on your ppm.
On mine I can’t seem to get to the login screen/prompt that is used by almost all hotels. Any idea on how to make this appear?