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Difference between revisions of "PC gaming on a TV and couch"

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Revision as of 14:50, 22 February 2012

PC gaming on a couch using an Ikea DAVE

PC gaming is not restricted to a desk. In fact, PC gaming is versatile enough to be done in the living with the big screen TV. With the right kind of set up, it's possible to get the best imagineable PC gaming experience on a large display.


Considerations

Advantages

  • Couch or sofa is more comfortable than a desk chair
  • TV display is larger than a desk monitor
  • Limitless graphical power in comparison to consoles

Disadvantages

  • Can be expensive
  • Best with wireless peripherals
  • Hard to adapt an existing living room arrangement
  • Sharing the TV with others

Connect PC to TV

The first step is to physically locate the PC near the display and to make sure that it can be connected. This can be difficult if the PC or the TV were not made during the same time. Adapters can be used to convert signals, for example, it's possible to buy a cable which converts an HDMI port output to an S-video input.

Video

Digital cables carry the best image quality. These include:

  • HDMI
  • DVI
  • DisplayPort

Analogue cables are sometimes acceptable, but not ideal. These include:

  • VGA
  • component
  • S-video

Audio

Digital audio cable is optical audio also known as SPDIF. The analogue audio is known as the 3.5mm jack.

Guide

  • Hook PC to TV - Excellent beginner's guide with visuals, showing what cables are required for to hook your PC to TV.

As with any cable purchase, digital cables either work or they do not. Therefore items marketed as being gold-plated are no more effective than standard cables. Analogue cables have more variation. In most cases, the average consumer will not notice a difference between premium and standard analogue cables.

Recommended Hardware

Input Devices

Keyboard and Mouse

A wireless keyboard is recommended for gaming whilst sitting on a couch in front of a TV. This is to reduce cable management and to create a cleaner clutter-free look. Wireless keyboards come in a number of varieties, including Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless. 2.4GHz tends to be simpler to use, but has poorer signal range and requires the use of a USB dongle. Bluetooth is more reliable, has a higher range, and it's possible that many systems include Bluetooth in the case.

It is recommended to keep the Bluetooth or 2.4GHz dongle within line of sight of the wireless keyboard or mouse. This is to reduce potential input lag.

Keyboard Desk For Couch

While it's possible to use a keyboard on one's lap or on a coffee table, it's possible to get into a very comfortable position by using a specially designed desk. Usually adjustable laptop desks do a good job.

Ikea DAVE

The Ikea DAVE is available at any Ikea internationally. It is cheap and fairly sturdy.

Controller

There are a growing number of PC games that support controllers, and one would expect most games that are released on Xbox 360 an PlayStation 3 to also have controller support on PC. Please check the controller category on PCGamingWiki for more information.

TV

The reason that TVs work well in a PC gaming environment is that modern LCD TVs are built on the same technology as LCD monitors of the last 10 years. However what is different is that many TVs come by default with enhanced video processing, such a 100Hz motion and functions like autocontrast. This looks fantastic on the shopfloor, however it can add between 50-200ms of input lag. This level of input lag makes gaming on the TV sluggish and unacceptable.

Most TVs do not add video processing through their DVI and VGA inputs. If one is are using HDMI, most TVs allow a 'Game Mode' option which one will want to switch on which eliminates the processing. It is also very likely that one will want to find any 'sharpness' or 'fineness' settings and turn them to 0 so that high resolution text can be easily read. In the operating system settings, one will want to make sure that ClearType is switched on and web browsing is legible. Windows 7 also has excellent interface scaling options which one may want to turn on to 125% or 150%.

If considering a new TV purchase with gaming in mind, it is best to try to find a model with little input lag. Paradoxically, many of the best TVs for PC gaming are also the cheapest and best value for money. It seems that added features of TVs slow down the processing of images.