Anyone PC game on their TV from couch?

[TeknoBug]

What I use:

No longer in production, but surely something like that is out there.

My local hospital and PD CSI lab uses something like that, always wondered how it'd fit in my living room since I'm looking to getting a mini PC (Intel NUC perhaps) and that'd be rather convenient.

 

[tential]

Do I game on my PC on my bed ? ... what the hell kind of question is that LOL ... Uh weird question and no I don't. I game at my desktop in a computer chair cause I am not disabled.

Don't knock it til you try it.
Laying down with a few pillows to prop your head up while looking at a massive screen (80-120 inches) and playing AC Unity, Dragon Age Inquisition, Crysis 3 or any of the other visually impressive games out there is a treat.

I play a LOT of PC games while lying down in bed on my Projector and love it.

Again, it's mind boggling to me that the PC Gaming community is so extremely polar on issues.

Intel CPU
Nvidia GPU
IPS Monitor (and god forbid you use an HDTV or TN monitor!!!!)
Keyboard + Mouse (IT doesn't matter how bad of a solution this is. You could be playing a Flight Sim, Racing Sim, etc. Keyboard + mouse ONLY because PC Master Race!!!!!)
60 FPS ( 59 FPS? game is unplayable. 30 FPS? Devs should be tortured in an unnamed prison for life)
etc.

PC Gaming, despite being the epitome of having choices, has a crowd that can only play/do things 1 EXACT specific way.

 

[Sonikku]

PC Gaming on the couch was all kinds of bad before the 360 controller came around. Every controller I could find before then was just plain awful, cheap and misshapen.

 

[Pheran]

Gaming from the couch with a 360 controller was awesome with all kinds of games, including Tomb Raider (2013), AC Black Flag, Super Meat Boy, Rogue Legacy, Street Fighter IV Alpha, etc. The only things that would probably be tough would be FPS (I prefer KBM) and RPGs with tiny menus and bars (again where I prefer KBM).

Yup, I do this all the time. I have the Xbox 360 wireless receiver (one of the generic ones) hooked up to my Windows 7 PC and a 60" HDTV mounted on my den wall (upgraded from a 40" late last year).

My only complaint would be any non-gaming activities would not be as good. TVs tend to have large dot pitches (the distance between pixels), which are suitable for distanced viewing, but it can make things like smaller text rather unbearable.

Not a problem here, I have a regular 23" monitor also hooked up to the PC on my desk. I just configure the two displays to be duplicated and normally leave the HDTV off except when I'm gaming.

 

[Omar F1]

Nope. Play my computer on my 42" Sharp LED TV from my bed.

:thumbsup:
At least it's much cheaper that 1440P/IPS monitors, beside that it's much more fun than 27" monitors.


I remember doing it once back in 2004, had played Colin Mcrae Rally 2.0 over 25" CRT TV and it was a blast.

 

[Rhezuss]

I've tried to play on my old Sharp Aquos 37" 720p that I still have and it's the only TV we have and I remember playing games like WoW on this and it was ok. But my resolution is 1366x768...

Now thinking about it...would DSR work with this?
If yes, this could be awesome!

 

[nightspydk]

I have a TV hookup to this box to but technically its far inferior to my monitor, so it depends what you want. Crystal clear, fast or just big basically.

 

[Blitzvogel]

Been doing the HDTV thing since 2009. I sometimes use a monitor when I prefer the desktop setup (better for FPS), but as often I use my 32" LG. I've got a nice Ikea chair that I can pull up to the TV. I use a stool as my mouse base and keyboard in my lap, and yes I use wireless peripherals, with the exception of my joystick.

 

[tential]

I've tried to play on my old Sharp Aquos 37" 720p that I still have and it's the only TV we have and I remember playing games like WoW on this and it was ok. But my resolution is 1366x768...

Now thinking about it...would DSR work with this?
If yes, this could be awesome!

DSR/VSR is the only reason I'm excited about new GPU releases right now.
Especially for TVs where you can't get a 1440p/1600p TV so if you have a top end setup you just have a ton of frames go to waste at 1080p. VSR/DSR is a way to use that extra hosepower until 4K HDTVs and 4k projectors become cheap (I'm waiting for a 4K Projector).

 

[norseamd]

Are there any wireless joysticks plus maybe wireless pedal and throttle accessories?

 

[Elcs]

I've PC gamed on a TV for around 7 years now (around Jan 2007'ish), spent 2 years at 1080i/720p before stepping up to 1080p. Last month, I bought a new 1080p set as 4k and PC's aren't where I'd like them to be to make a step up.

I use a wired keyboard, wireless/wired mouse and tend not to use a controller, though I have an old PS2-style wireless controller when I do.

My chair is a racing seat style affair mounted on the standard office 5-point wheeled base and I'm about 2 metres away (measured from centre of my old TV to above where my head is when I'm seated.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

PC Gaming, despite being the epitome of having choices, has a crowd that can only play/do things 1 EXACT specific way.

Wait wait, the platform is good specifically because you have lots of choice, among that choice is the ability to pick components that are objectively better at certain things than others.

I don't think it's correct to say that the gaming community champions say IPS over TN but it is true to say that if you want decent colour repoduction and wide viewing angles you'd pick an IPS and if you wanted fast refresh times and less ghosting you'd pick a TN. The right tool for the job (which is why I personally own both)

There is still a lot of objectivity and the community is reasonably good at understanding that and selecting the right components and setup for the job, save for a few fanboys and uninformed people.

 

[nightspydk]

It seems to me that things like how fast the picture transmits to my brain does affect my mental health. How much nausea etc I get for gaming long hours. Also the brightness levels plays a big role with 3d gaming for some and the contrast is important for me playing in a dark surrounding ...stealth, atmosphere etc..

Its not that i diss the idea of using any kind of tool, its just what I have at my disposal.

I sit very comfortable with my mouse on a kind of small table beside my (again) very comfy chair, so thats not really an argument from a technical viewpoint. I would recommend that to anyone having been using a mouse for many years and knowing how easy you can fuck up your neck and arm by sitting in a wrong position. That would be my main priority to stay vigilant. Believe me if you strain your neck, then before long that will have a profound impact on your eyesight and whatnot.

..as a sidenote I remember when I was young I gamed on my amiga lying on a couch and I am positive I did some damage there to my neck. I still have this kind of blurred vision, when I look at a white wall, just like the lines from the old crt refresh, so be careful what you guys mess with mister hehe.. just saying.

 

[Face2Face]

I've been using the Zotax Zbox PI320 as a Steam In-home streaming client and it works great with a wired connection.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I really want to shift all my gaming to the livingroom but the difficulty of using a keyboard in that setting is holding me back. I think the logitech g13 is the answer.

 

[Schfifty Five]

I really want to shift all my gaming to the livingroom but the difficulty of using a keyboard in that setting is holding me back. I think the logitech g13 is the answer.

Yeah, the thought of trying to use a KB+M on the coffee table all hunched over does not seem appealing to me. Also, just the matter of having all these peripherals laying around in the living room doesn't seem appealing either.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Yeah, the thought of trying to use a KB+M on the coffee table all hunched over does not seem appealing to me. Also, just the matter of having all these peripherals laying around in the living room doesn't seem appealing either.

The 360 controllers aren't bad because they are wireless. And thanks to Steam's Big Picture mode combined with a FLIRC I can control and select any game with my normal remote so I don't need the keyboard and mouse all the time. A wireless mouse is easy to get. The issue is that big keyboard.

 

[Denithor]

Here's the answer to a "big keyboard" in the living room.

http://www.geek.com/hwswrev/hardware/game/theclaw/

Too bad it's out of production. I have one and it's great!!

 

[Aikouka]

The 360 controllers aren't bad because they are wireless. And thanks to Steam's Big Picture mode combined with a FLIRC I can control and select any game with my normal remote so I don't need the keyboard and mouse all the time. A wireless mouse is easy to get. The issue is that big keyboard.

Thinking about it... what games would you really want a keyboard for? The games that I've seen that mostly "need" them are FPS and RTS. I'm going to be rather blunt and say that an RTS on a TV sounds like a bad idea. You can do it, but the distance would probably not lead to great play. So, that leaves us with FPS, and the thing about FPS games is that they don't have that many buttons.

What we need is a keyboard with a reduced button set that's designed to rest on your leg. Most people tend to focus on the left side of the keyboard when gaming, which is what the reduced keyboard could contain. Now, it would obviously not be very effective for typing, but it might be possible to create a slightly less cutdown version. I think the most important part is having it rest comfortably on your leg.

EDIT:

I'm thinking of something like the Razer Tatarsauce, but designed to be used in a deskless environment and having more keys.

 

[poofyhairguy]

You are right, all you need is a chunk of keyboard. That is why I haven't just bought the G13, it is a monster.

I just bought this and a beanbag:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Hope it works.

 

[Aikouka]

You are right, all you need is a chunk of keyboard. That is why I haven't just bought the G13, it is a monster.

I just bought this and a beanbag:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Hope it works.

Hmm... I think my only complaint about that is that it tries to go for what I assume that they assume is a more ergonomic shape. However, if there's one problem that I have with ergonomics is that it just ends up confusing the end user. It's what happens if you sit someone in front of one of those Microsoft natural keyboards and then in front of a normal keyboard. It's going to take them time to adapt. That's why I'd really prefer a more basic style that's not much different from a section of a keyboard defined by ~/` (tilde/grave) to 6 and down.

Oh, and when mentally cutting my keyboard in half, I realized that it's missing one big (literally) key... the spacebar. At least for me, spacebar usually serves as jump in FPSs.

 

[ControlD]

Hmm... I think my only complaint about that is that it tries to go for what I assume that they assume is a more ergonomic shape. However, if there's one problem that I have with ergonomics is that it just ends up confusing the end user. It's what happens if you sit someone in front of one of those Microsoft natural keyboards and then in front of a normal keyboard. It's going to take them time to adapt. That's why I'd really prefer a more basic style that's not much different from a section of a keyboard defined by ~/` (tilde/grave) to 6 and down.

Oh, and when mentally cutting my keyboard in half, I realized that it's missing one big (literally) key... the spacebar. At least for me, spacebar usually serves as jump in FPSs.

LOL. I remember those "ergonomic" keyboards. They replaced my $10 Dell generic with one of those at work several years ago. I never learned how to type, but I am pretty proficient with my own four finger style, however it does NOT work with those new styled keyboards. I'm too old to change, but somehow IT felt like everyone needed to adopt ergo keyboards. I spent a couple of days with that stupid thing, broke it over my knee and took it back to IT. I gently told them they would have a stack of broken keyboards unless I got my generic keyboard back.

Off topic I know, but good memories.

 

[SMOGZINN]

You are right, all you need is a chunk of keyboard. That is why I haven't just bought the G13, it is a monster.

I just bought this and a beanbag:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Hope it works.

This is something I've been looking into as well. Please update us on how it works for you. I would be very interested in a mini review.

 

[tential]

The 360 controllers aren't bad because they are wireless. And thanks to Steam's Big Picture mode combined with a FLIRC I can control and select any game with my normal remote so I don't need the keyboard and mouse all the time. A wireless mouse is easy to get. The issue is that big keyboard.

Wireless Keyboard on my Lap is how I do it. It's how I play Dota 2 a lot.

My largest issue has been with signal drops and input lag combined with not always having a perfect surface though.

We browsing and anything else though doesn't bother me. Again, depends on how close you sit though. I sit really close to my projector screen and I never have an issue web browsing/posting and I do the majority of my posting like that.

I do plan on making a "serious" setup though for FPS and for Dota. Or getting a new laptop that can handle that.

 

[ControlD]

I have an entire i5-750 system laying around in pieces that I keep saying I am going to turn into a TV gaming machine. This thread has given me some things to look into, especially concerning keyboard input.

Now if I could just find the motivation to actually get everything put together. I was really hoping to put everything in a nice small enclosure, but trying to find a mATX or ITX socket 1156 motherboard these days is damned near impossible. Well, unless I feel like paying 3x the cost for some no name brand.