Anonymous edits have been disabled on the wiki. If you want to contribute please login or create an account.

PC gaming on a TV and couch

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Revision as of 22:49, 5 August 2013 by Rjc (talk | contribs)
File:Couchmaster.jpg
Fully equipped COUCHMASTER® by nertytec
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 imaginable 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

  • Hard to adapt an existing living room arrangement.
  • Sharing the TV with others.
  • Some text and font can be hard to read at high resolutions if sitting far from the TV.
  • Sitting in a couch bent over will cause damage to your spine, which in terms can have major consequences for your health (although this applies to office chairs too).

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 video converter which converts an HDMI port output to an S-video input.

  • 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.

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.

NOTE: If connected via HDMI, audio will work through the TV without additional cabling.

Scaling

Steam Font Size Scaling

Following this guide to scaling Steam to a larger DPI.

Adjust Scaling For AMD GPUs

Although you may have chosen the correct resolution for your TV display, you may notice that the screen either stretches past the bezels or the image is too small to fit the screen.

  1. Open AMD VISION Engine Control Center via Start Menu or right-clicking the desktop.
  2. Click "My Digital Flat-Panel" on the left side and click "Scaling Options" from the drop-down list of options to choose from.
  3. Use the slider under the "Scaling Options" section and move it toward "Underscan" to make the image bigger, or toward "Overscan" to make the image smaller.
  4. Adjust until the image fits your display correctly.

Visit the AMD VISION Engine Control Center page for more information.

Recommended Hardware

Front Panel USB

Adding a USB panel to an empty drive bay can be advantageous, even if your case already has USB ports on the front. It assures that you have convenient ports for plugging in controllers and other devices, which is important if the rear of your PC is inaccessible in an entertainment center. It also adds a degree of protection. It is not uncommon for someone to accidentally pull on a controller's cord, potentially damaging the USB port it is plugged into. Using an add-on panel for controllers protects your motherboard and case, limiting any damage or wear and tear to the inexpensive, easily replaced panel.

Note that your motherboard may not have enough USB headers to support both the add-in panel and your case's built-in front USB ports. In that case, you can add a PCI-Express controller card that has an internal header. Just make sure the card and the bay or case use the same kind of connection. Some use motherboard header connections, others a regular USB A to B cable. An example USB bay panel and controller card are linked to below.

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 many systems have it built in.

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.

Couchmaster by nerdytec.com

The COUCHMASTER is a system for input devices consisting of 3 parts and not a fixed table, thereby it allows you a fast stand up. Including USB 3.0 hub and 5m USB 3.0 active cable!

Controller

Many PC games have built-in controller support, especially recent releases. PC games can be played with a wide variety of controllers, even those from other systems (e.g. the PlayStation 3 DualShock Controller), but the Xbox 360 Controller is the most widely supported; many recent releases only support this controller by default. Some third-party controllers have an Xbox 360 compatibility mode (e.g. the Logitech Gamepad F310) that can be used for these games.

To use non-Xbox 360 controllers with games that only support Xbox 360-compatible controllers, see the x360ce page. To use a controller with games that do not support one at all (or do not support it fully) see Controller With Keyboard-Only Game.

For details on using specific controllers for PC gaming, see the Controllers category.

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 120Hz motion and functions like autocontrast. This looks fantastic on the shop floor, 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 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.

Chroma Subsampling over HDMI and HDTVs

Unfortunately, not all TVs using HDMI inputs accept full colour information. Saturated colour text (red on black background) will appear jagged and possibly unreadable at smaller font sizes. Since the vast majority of HDTV owners will only be watching TV or movies, this normally is of little concern to the manufacturer. This AVSForum thread goes into detail about chroma subsampling and has a small guide of TVs which exhibit this behaviour. Additionally, at HardOCP there is a forum post with a smaller subset of information about chroma subsampling and input lag.

Steam Big Picture Mode

Steam now includes a Big Picture Mode that provides a graphic user interface (GUI) specifically designed for HDTVs and allows Steam to be navigated using just a controller.