Actiontec SBWD100KIT01 ScreenBeam Kit Wireless Display Receiver & Transmitter for Non-WiDi Laptops/ Miracast Devices

I've had a bit of a roller-coaster on this. I started with a five-star review. Then we had problems and in the process of several weeks, I was unable to fix the issues (slow, poor res, glitchy pop-ups, unable to connect, etc.) And I had a mix of really good customer service and really bad customer service. Why am I giving it a five-star again? Because I wrote to ActionTec and told them my problem. They had one of their senior techs (Joe) call and the problem was fixed quickly and spectacularly. No glitches in over a week. High fidelity connection. Excellent display/image/resolution quality. None of the aforementioned issues. It's working like I imagined it before buying it. Part of the issue was how the device worked with Windows. Windows 10 has it's own wireless display transmission. Perhaps there was a conflict with using the wireless transmitter. However, Joe instructed me to disconnect from the display, unplug the transmitter from the computer, uninstall the ActionTec software from my computer completely, then - through the Win 10 - select "Connect to Wireless Device" under the "Project" charm (Hit [Windows] + [P] ). Also, the connection occurred much more quickly! If it wasn't for Joe (and Zonya), I would likely have kept this as a one-star review and gone through with my very tedious and expensive plan of hardwiring a physical connection to my computers and their paired displays -- and this would have been extraordinarily difficult and expensive. I'm glad we found a solution.

Hopefully this review will save you the six hours I experienced in getting my ScreenBeam kit to work and the 3 calls I made to ActionTec and the two calls I made to AVG help desk.The product itself is easy to connect. I plugged the receiver unit (the large box) into my NAD amplifier HDMI port, connected the power and we were away. The power supply is 110v-230v so I could plug it into a New Zealand power point no problem. I needed an adaptor on the end of the plug as the plugs used in the USA are different. These are available for about $10 so no drama.I followed the included instructions and loaded the software on my laptop via the CD. This is where the fun begins. When I went to connect to the TV it would come up with checking security settings and then tell me the units had paired. It would immediately disconnect. This is were the 6 hours worth of calls to AVG and ActionTec came in.The way I solved the problem is as follows. It is important that your ActionTec dongle is in your computer while you do this otherwise you will not see the WiFi location it sets up when we come to the next stage.ActionTec creates a directory called 'Actiontec' and a sub directory called Screenbeam. On my computer these resided with the 'programme' files directory. Within the Screenbeam subdirectory there are 9 .exe files. These all need to be loaded into AVG as 'allowed' software. To do this go to AVG and click on firewall. Select 'change' and then applications. Select the 'Add' button and add each one as being allowed. Stage 1 complete.Next go to the control panel on your computer and select 'network and internet' and then 'network and sharing center'. Select 'change adaptor settings' and right mouse click on the ActionTec WiFi icon. If you have an internet WiFi as I do this may show as WiFi 2. After right mouse clicking select properties. Under the 'Network' tab you will see a line in the list below 'AVG network filter driver'. This is the problem child. Unclick this little fella and then reboot your computer. After this you should be good to go. This should have condensed a six hour marathon into approximately 5 minutes for you. :) If it doesn't fix the problem the other thing could be your TCP protocol. If this is the case, it's best to talk to the AVG help desk.Now for the review ..... the system works well and I have no problem playing it through my NAD amplifier to the TV. I have just been testing different content so I'm unsure as to whether it will handle 5.1 or straight stereo (which definitely does work). The picture quality is very good, but is not blu ray quality. The picture quality is dependent upon the quality of what you are streaming. I have seen some mouth syncing issues with the video however they are minor and my amplifier can make some compensation for this.I have tried connecting my Google Nexus 4, no success as yet but I haven't given up. One tip from ActionTec is to download the ActionTec config app (not the other one you will see) and use that. I need a bit more time to see this through.I hope this review is of help. I'm looking forward to seeing how it handles a long movie. :)

I wanted to like this device, having had good luck with other Actiontec devices. I needed it to cut down on the number of cables running from a Windows 7 laptop to projectors used during public slide-show and video presentations. It was advertised as the only device out there for non-Wi-Di PC computers. After installing the software, a number displayed on the projector for 60 seconds and requiring me to enter it on the laptop. If you enter the wrong number you have to start over. Finally, after entering the right number, the software takes about 5 minutes of scanning and thinking, until finally the transmitter would would "pair" with the "receiver". However, time and time again it displayed a "connection failed" message, meaning the laptop display did not display on the projector. I contacted Actiontec by e-mail, and they promptly responded by suggesting I look at the firewall settings on my laptop, which is protected by McAfee. Reluctantly, I turned off the firewall for 15 minutes, and the the receiver finally "paired" and then "connected" and the laptop displayed on the projector!...but only for limited periods: every 4 or 5 minutes the picture would drop out and display the projector logo splash screen, then the laptop display would come back. Also during this process, the laptop would flicker on and off and go from it's normal semi-HD resolution to a square screen with big icons and lower resolution. Finally it "unconnected" altogether even with the Firewall off. (Warning: "don't try this while connected to the internet!") Anyway, I was reluctant to leave the Firewall off any longer, so I went deeper into the Firewall settings of McAfee, and set the "network settings" for the USB transmitter to "Home", making McAfee think the transmitter was a safe device thus allowing it to transmit the laptop display to the Actiontec receiver. This finally worked, and the picture returned, but then it dropped out again randomly and came back, always with reduced resolution. Finally, I tested a normal DVD movie on the laptop, and while the video showed up OK on the projector, the video stuttered and there was significantly noticeable sound lag between the voices on the laptop speakers and the video on the projector screen. So all that, especially the need to disable the firewall on my laptop and go deep into the settings to find the right settings, something a consumer really shouldn't have to do, the long set-up time and random drop-outs all combine to make this device unacceptable for my use. The whole process took almost a full day to install, troubleshoot, and finally conclude that it doesn't work. (By comparison, Apple's "AirPlay" technology paired my iPhone to an AppleTV box and displayed a clear, stutter-free image almost instantly with no need to fiddle with network or Firewall settings.) Thank you Amazon for the quick return authorization. To Actiontec, and to the wireless community at large: please continue to work on this technology. For the public at large that can't afford network-quality wireless real-time video, the consumer electronics industry needs to do better. For now, for my Windows devices, I am sticking to wires; they continue to be cheap, reliable, and secure.