As restricted as my space is at home, what with a whopping great big treadmill in the spare bedroom that takes up a spot that could easily be filled by a desktop gaming setup, I’m probably overly obsessed with getting the picture living room gaming setup. Only, for all the leaps and bounds that PC gaming has come in recent years, getting it just right and with the minimum of fiddling is a tricky process.
I’ve tried it all. I’ve even got a Steam Controller for god’s sake, and a Razer Turret Lapboard, the delivery of which was pretty much the bane of my life during Summer 2016. Whatever I seem to pick though, there is always some serious compromises at play. In the case of the Steam Controller, while functionally it’s more capable than just about any controller out there, the final result is awful. I’ve tried, I really have. The build design is poor, the buttons are tricky to press with any degree of accuracy; it’s decidedly worse than a PS4 controller for action and racing games, and it’s worse than a mouse and keyboard for everything else.
The Razer Turret, meanwhile, makes me feel like a test subject in a university seminar on carpal tunnel syndrome. The mouse is tiny, the mouse pad feels even smaller, and there’s nowhere to rest your wrist. It’s a one-way ticket to surgery at a tragically young age.
Which got me thinking about just how you living room gaming fans have your own personal setups in the front room. Whether that’s streaming from your desktop with a Steam Link or media centre, or even going so far as lugging in a plank of wood on which to rest your mouse and keyboard.
Along with this, it’d be great to hear any tips you have on how to make living room gaming as seamless as possible. Steam Big Picture Mode is a decent first step, but when I’m using a Dualshock 4 I still run into scenarios where a game has its own launcher that needs clicking and I’ve got to move (shudder) and use my mouse to continue onwards in my gaming odyssey.
What tips and tricks do you have for living room gaming? Have you got a PC set up on your TV? Let us know!
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think of getting chromecast an' connect pc to tv. Does wireless display sucks for casual gaming?
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latency sucks, so depends on implementation,
also keep in mind uncompresed 1080p 60fps is steady 3.20Gbit/s stream which no wireless network can handle, so the compression introduces additional delay
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so.. to minimise latency, i gotta limit fps to 30fps?
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to minimise latency, proper video cable is the only solution
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With the internet existing now, what is the point of a TV?
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actually a very good question,
since I work fulltime in broadcast industry, I can explain what's the issue:
TV/radio as we are used to them, are based on "live cast", means, millions of people can watch same thing simultaneously without any quality loss happening with increased amount of viewers,
on the other hand, internet network based streaming nowadays still lacks a technology capable of serious multicast, therefore it's practically impossible to migrate TV/radio onto internet platform,
for ex. let's say 9 Megabits per second 1080p video streamed for 10 million people would require bandwidth of 90 Terabits per second and of that no network tech is yet capable nowadays, and various additional infrastructure and servers to "even out" the load across multiple hosts is very cost inefficient
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I wanted to get the Steam Link for that reason. Has anyone tried it on a TV?
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i use my laptop and nvidia shield console. if i had an nivida gpu in my desktop id be all set.
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I've been tempted by one but I'm kind of holding out for a second version (which I doubt they'll make) with up to 4K support.
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I've been PC gaming on a TV For 5 to 6+ years
How many years have u PC Gaming On a. TV?
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well my old LG 23 inch 16:10 1680x1050 monitor had a TV tuner along with tons of ports, scart, composite, component, DVI, s-video, so technically it's a TV, so 2007-2017 -> 10 years XD
In "monitor mode" the response time was marketed at 4ms, but I watched some tests and it was in fact 5.8ms, still more than prefectly good.
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nice man (nod)
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I've used a lift-up coffee table so that I could have my mouse and keyboard while on my couch. Not quite as comfortable as a desk, but it worked well.
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My living room has a 65" LG Oled C6. It is mounted on a wall that it shares with the office.All the HDMI cables and power cables go through the wall in my living room behind the TV into the office,and I have my HDMI connected to my PC and Cable. In the office I have my Desktop PC setup against the wall.X360 Controller.
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That sounds pretty peachy, not possible for me sadly :(
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My setup has a wall mounted 40inch 4k tv with an xbox controller and Logitech Z323 yet my bed is less than 10ft away. Its small but convenient :)
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I just bought a long hdmi cable, wireless keyboard, mouse and controller. The only problem is that my TV is only 32 inches, it is hard to read text.
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The ideal setup would be just unplugging ur Monitor and connecting the PC to a wire in the wall and VOILA..... Ur tv is now ur monitor. Sameway there can be a USB hub beneath the TV for peripherals...and since couch gaming is done mostly for Console style games, Controller will be preferred
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I used to, not permanently though. The HDMI was long enough that I could unplug the monitor and hook up the rig with the TV (they were in the same room). It's all a bit cumbersome, and if I really wanted to play on the TV I might've gone with a console.
Mostly use my gaming laptop these days, so there's not much need.
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Yes and no I have a second display which is a TV 40" 4k and its hooked up to my PC and my PS4; I see no need to hook up my PC to my other 4k 65" which is pretty much far from the couches I only play wii u on that television with friends and family. can't really see myself playing pc on the couch unless emulation comes in to mind
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The steam link-steam controller set's working well enough for me but, unless I'm playing a stealth or sword fighting game, I'd rather stick to keyboard and mouse...
I still do most of the gaming in my bedroom where my rig is - something about having a desk to hoard all my stuff and not need to clean the living room...
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why would I game in the living room, when I can game in my room XD
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Agree
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In my case my bedroom is too small :(
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Playing a long RPG like Witcher 3 on a couch is far more comfortable. Plus it is glorius when you connect it to 65" 4k LG Oled!
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https://designcompaniesranked.com/resources/is-this-retina/
And what stops you from having a couch in your room?
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Coz its my house, they are all my rooms
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well it's NOT your house, technically, nobody owns anything, we just pay to have the right to use it, it's all the country's property, especially true for land and buildings, even if we build them ourselves XD
I've checked for my USA and my country(after I found about the USA), IDK about others though, but assume it's true, otherwise you'd be able to make your own country on the land you are supposed to own and you can NOT do that... so... XD
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no i'm pretty sure it's my house
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probably not if you ask your country
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nope, no need!
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Lol yep, I'm pretty sure I own my house and the land it's on. Can't say I can set a PC up in the bedroom though, I don't think that would get the go-ahead.
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1.The ideal setup includes unplugging my system from my room.
2.Taking it to the living room and hooking it up with the TV.
3.Plug in the mouse, keyboard, and the wifi card.
4.Hope that my mom doesn't come to watch the stupid soap opera or that the sound wakes up my dad.
5.Enjoy!
6.Replace everything as it was supposed to be.
BONUS: Hope that there isn't any power-cut.
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Personally I haven't tried the Steam controller.... it looks neat, but I just couldn't see it working for me. I currently use an Xbox One S controller with bluetooth and "play and charge kit" as my PC gamepad(and sometimes Android gamepad).... and I've found it to work pretty well.... though some games can encounter some strange lag if you have vibration turned on.
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How's the battery on that thing? I've got the PS4 controller but its battery absolutely sucks, and switching it from being linked to PC/PS4 is a pain.
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Got steam link last year. Interestingly I still use it pretty regularly. Being able to play from the couch really helps when playing a long RPG or when having friends over.
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picked up the steam link on sale for $10 had a blast with it for a day and never touched it again lol
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Got some 40 " Samsung and from time to time hook him to watch DVDs on a lazy nights with friends,but very rarely to play.
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I've actually started thinking about doing this with all my spare parts. All I need is a MOBO, PSU and SSD. Just a simple media center. Not a big gaming rig but some casual games, emulators, movies, streaming, etc...
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The best is having both living room and desk gaming. And then there's lazy laptop gaming while lying on the bed :)
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great
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Agreed