BlueWave Studio forum
Wireless mirroring - honest answers please - Printable Version

+- BlueWave Studio forum (https://bluewavestudio.io/community)
+-- Forum: OpenAuto Pro (https://bluewavestudio.io/community/forum-86.html)
+--- Forum: General (https://bluewavestudio.io/community/forum-81.html)
+--- Thread: Wireless mirroring - honest answers please (/thread-1024.html)



Wireless mirroring - honest answers please - andyj - 08-13-2019

I've now given up mirroring wirelessly and run a cable from my USB hub to the phone.  The phone needs to charge anyway so it's not like there's an ugly cable showing that wasn't there already all of a sudden.  The hub is behind the screen and I've wired a 1.5m one round the back and up out of one of the panels so it probably looks neater now than it did before.

Ignition on, Pi comes up, OA comes up, phone switches to car mode and into mirroring without having to mess around starting the head unit server, click on the little arrows, click on Gateway, wait while it connects or doesn't, reboot the phone, rinse and repeat.  Give up and try A2DP but put up with the sound clipping every few seconds or drive in silence.

So, my question is has anyone got this working with wireless mirroring completely seamlessly and working 100% reliably?


RE: Honest answers please - stefi - 08-13-2019

nope not me, tried many times, followed the manual exact, hotspot between phone and OAP works, so does bluetooth but mirroring without a usb always says conecting or unavailable, i gave up months ago


RE: Wireless mirroring - honest answers please - Daniel_BlueWave - 08-13-2019

Officially we support only mirroring via USB cable.


RE: Wireless mirroring - honest answers please - andyj - 08-13-2019

(08-13-2019, 08:14 PM)Daniel_BlueWave Wrote: Officially we support only mirroring via USB cable.

I think you need to make it clearer that wireless mirroring is really an experiment, unless I've missed something.  It seems to be given equal weight in the stuff I've read.  If it was clearer, I'd have spent a much smaller amount of time trying to get it working and would have gone back to a cable.  If I'd known, I still would have bought the product, I just wouldn't have been quite so frustrated.


RE: Wireless mirroring - honest answers please - BlueWave - 08-13-2019

(08-13-2019, 09:15 PM)andyj Wrote:
(08-13-2019, 08:14 PM)Daniel_BlueWave Wrote: Officially we support only mirroring via USB cable.

I think you need to make it clearer that wireless mirroring is really an experiment, unless I've missed something.  It seems to be given equal weight in the stuff I've read.  If it was clearer, I'd have spent a much smaller amount of time trying to get it working and would have gone back to a cable.  If I'd known, I still would have bought the product, I just wouldn't have been quite so frustrated.

Have you read OpenAuto Pro user guide? It is clearly stated that mirroring feature requires USB connection. There is no wireless mirroring even as an experiment. Could you please elaborate the assumption about wireless mirroring?


RE: Wireless mirroring - honest answers please - andyj - 08-14-2019

I'm not trying to be confrontational here, I just wanted to give my feedback as someone who isn't an expert but has a bit of knowledge. I probably sit at the lower end in terms of experience and your target audience.

On the product page it says:

Android Auto™ head unit emulation
- USB connection
- Wireless connection

Screen mirroring of Android devices

At that point, there is nothing to indicate that mirroring is only supported via USB. To me, it looks like an option... one or the other as a choice, not that one is supported and one isn't.

In the user guide, the content page shows:

4. Android Auto........................................................................................15
4.1. USB connection..............................................................................15
4.2. Wireless connection.......................................................................16

It then says:

OpenAuto Pro supports emulation of Android Auto head unit protocol. It means that
you can connect your Android-based smartphone either via USB or wireless hotspot
and enjoy Android Auto functionality.

And in sections 4.1 and 4.2 it still doesn't mention that only USB mirroring is officially supported.

It's not until section 8 that it says:

OpenAuto Pro supports screen mirroring of an Android device connected via USB
interface.

But that's still not really clear. It doesn't say it *only* supports USB officially.

And if both *aren't* officially supported then one of them must be experimental, unsupported, beta, etc.

I might have missed something. Maybe it's there somewhere? But people don't read, they skim for information that suits their intent and then consume more deeply.

To me, the wireless mirroring doesn't belong in the user guide where it is. The officially supported path is that you build your unit and connecting a cable is a necessary part of the process. wireless mirroring should be an addendum... something that people *might* want to *try* on the basis that it's not supported.

Likewise on the features list. Wireless mirroring needs a clear caveat.

That's just my 2p worth. To give some context, I'm a UX consultant for an organisation with 5 million members and a website that gets about 3 million hits a month. Messaging and digital marketing is what I do for a living.

As I said, I still think this is a great product and would still recommend it to people, but on the basis that you need to connect your phone to the Pi with a cable.


RE: Wireless mirroring - honest answers please - BlueWave - 08-14-2019

(08-14-2019, 07:49 AM)andyj Wrote: I'm not trying to be confrontational here, I just wanted to give my feedback as someone who isn't an expert but has a bit of knowledge. I probably sit at the lower end in terms of experience and your target audience.

On the product page it says:

Android Auto™ head unit emulation
- USB connection
- Wireless connection

Screen mirroring of Android devices

At that point, there is nothing to indicate that mirroring is only supported via USB. To me, it looks like an option... one or the other as a choice, not that one is supported and one isn't.

In the user guide, the content page shows:

4. Android Auto........................................................................................15
4.1. USB connection..............................................................................15
4.2. Wireless connection.......................................................................16

It then says:

OpenAuto Pro supports emulation of Android Auto head unit protocol. It means that
you can connect your Android-based smartphone either via USB or wireless hotspot
and enjoy Android Auto functionality.

And in sections 4.1 and 4.2 it still doesn't mention that only USB mirroring is officially supported.

It's not until section 8 that it says:

OpenAuto Pro supports screen mirroring of an Android device connected via USB
interface.

But that's still not really clear. It doesn't say it *only* supports USB officially.

And if both *aren't* officially supported then one of them must be experimental, unsupported, beta, etc.

I might have missed something. Maybe it's there somewhere? But people don't read, they skim for information that suits their intent and then consume more deeply.

To me, the wireless mirroring doesn't belong in the user guide where it is. The officially supported path is that you build your unit and connecting a cable is a necessary part of the process. wireless mirroring should be an addendum... something that people *might* want to *try* on the basis that it's not supported.

Likewise on the features list. Wireless mirroring needs a clear caveat.

That's just my 2p worth. To give some context, I'm a UX consultant for an organisation with 5 million members and a website that gets about 3 million hits a month. Messaging and digital marketing is what I do for a living.

As I said, I still think this is a great product and would still recommend it to people, but on the basis that you need to connect your phone to the Pi with a cable.

It looks like you mixed two separated functionalities. Android Auto and screen mirroring are completely different and not related features. Both have their own chapter in user guide.

The only supported functionality via WiFi is Android Auto projection (via HeadUnit server). Also please note that HeadUnit server is unofficial feature of Android Auto.

Screen mirroring has nothing to do with Android Auto at all and is handled in totally different way.


RE: Wireless mirroring - honest answers please - andyj - 08-18-2019

Ok, my sincere apologies. I know I'm only a sample of one but I don't think I'm unintelligent and if it confuses me then I suspect it will confuse others. I won't delete the thread but I would understand if you wanted to remove it in case I'm misleading new users.

Anyway, been using it for a few days now - an hour's commute each way and totally happy with it using a cable. I just need to get the power sorted. I've added a shutdown button to the applications screen which makes things MUCH quicker. Shame that can't be there by default.

I'm going to pull the lot out again next weekend to have another go at the 3 relay trick but I've also got parts on order to do it using an op amp, a few resistors, diodes and a capacitor. It should all fit onto a small sheet of vero board.