Can't mirror Pixel 3a to firestick?

[mtiede]

I recently visited a relative of mine and he had a firestick connected to his LG TV. I want to cast my Galaxy S10 to it. So I connected with his wifi network. He went to the settings that turned on mirroring. I used my Galaxy S10 SmartView and his firestick device showed up in my choices list. I chose it and it was able to cast to the TV just fine.

Then he tried to do it on his Pixel 3a. His pixel could be seen looking for devices, but it never found the firestick or any other device. I tried it again and it immediately found it. He tried again and let it search for quite a while and it never found the device. I rebooted my phone to make sure it wasn't somehow holding onto the connection. He rebooted his phone. Still no device found to mirror to.

I searched the web and found people that seemed to get it to work with no issues. Has something changed such that it can't work anymore with pixel? Or is there some other trick remaining to make it work?

 

[Deleted User]

I think he needs to connect to his wifi network (only maybe, turn data off) on the Pixel. Once connected, open the Home app which serves as a control screen to "Cast" to the Firestick which should be found on the app.
You Tube, Chrome, some TV services and other apps have a direct Cast setting.

*Think Cast instead of Mirroring.
This works for my Chromecast dongle so should work the same.

**Correction : I can also Mirror my phone screen so ignore that, but I mostly Cast.

 

[svim]

If Google's Home app doesn't work out, try installing Amazon's Fire TV app and see it that pairs up better. The Fire app will probably sync up better with the remote too.https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.storm.lightning.client.aosp&hl=en_US&gl=US

 

[mtiede]

I think he needs to connect to his wifi network (only maybe, turn data off) on the Pixel. Once connected, open the Home app which serves as a control screen to "Cast" to the Firestick which should be found on the app.
You Tube, Chrome, some TV services and other apps have a direct Cast setting.

*Think Cast instead of Mirroring.
This works for my Chromecast dongle so should work the same.

**Correction : I can also Mirror my phone screen so ignore that, but I mostly Cast.

He was already connected to his wifi network. And he already opened up the control screen to cast to the firestick.

 

[mtiede]

If Google's Home app doesn't work out, try installing Amazon's Fire TV app and see it that pairs up better. The Fire app will probably sync up better with the remote too.https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.storm.lightning.client.aosp&hl=en_US&gl=US

I'll suggest that to him.

 

[codesplice]

Many devices support a screen mirroring protocol called Miracast, and I suspect that's what was being used to cast the Samsung phone's screen onto the Fire stick.

Google's Pixel phones don't support Miracast, and instead implement their own Google Cast protocol that works with Chromecasts and other such devices. That can be a bit limiting when you only are wanting to mirror your screen's display, but it's a lot more capable for casting media content.

I don't have any personal experience with Fire sticks, but I don't think that they support Google Cast. So I'm afraid that casting the Pixel 3a screen to the Fire stick may just not work.

 

[mtiede]

Many devices support a screen mirroring protocol called Miracast, and I suspect that's what was being used to cast the Samsung phone's screen onto the Fire stick.

Google's Pixel phones don't support Miracast, and instead implement their own Google Cast protocol that works with Chromecasts and other such devices. That can be a bit limiting when you only are wanting to mirror your screen's display, but it's a lot more capable for casting media content.

I don't have any personal experience with Fire sticks, but I don't think that they support Google Cast. So I'm afraid that casting the Pixel 3a screen to the Fire stick may just not work.

Ok, I think you are right. I watched parts of a video on YouTube that showed casting to a tv, but I must have missed the part where the guy said something like "only with chromecast". So stupid to do these proprietary protocols. You would think if they want fancier features of their own, then support both. Oh well.

 

[codesplice]

Ok, I think you are right. I watched parts of a video on YouTube that showed casting to a tv, but I must have missed the part where the guy said something like "only with chromecast". So stupid to do these proprietary protocols. You would think if they want fancier features of their own, then support both. Oh well.

Yeah. Amazon's got their little sandbox. Google's got theirs. It's stupid and petty, and the consumers always lose.

 

[Deleted User]

Any generation Firestick has most media content and browsing covered.

A cheap Chromecast (from the 1st generation I have) can do various slide shows of Google Photos on your account, or cast photos and video from your phone (which I guess is the appeal).
Mirroring a phone's screen in Landscape mode is a feature whose appeal wears off fast.

Look for a used Chromecast, there very cheap although new ones are very little more.