Some advice on playing in the living room on a PC in an adjacent bedroom.

simatron3000 · 10 Mar 2017 at 11:11

Hi guys just after some advice really.

I am buying a flat and will be using the second bedroom to house my PC where I intend do most of my gaming. On the other side of the wall will be the living with the TV being at the other side of the living room.

I want to connect my PC by HDMI to my TV so I can play games with friends on the big screen and was wondering what a relatively elegant solution would be, without making too much mess. I will some USB ports available in the living room connected to the PC since, whilst I'm sure my controllers will work wirelessly through the wall (they're less than a foot thick) I use an arcade stick which is wired.

Most obvious solution seems just a long HDMI cable, even along the skirting boards it would probably be about 15m or so but wondering if there are other options. It wants to be a permanent solution as don't want to be moving my PC from room to room every time I want to play on the big screen. You can see the floor plan below, sorry couldn't get the image to link properly.

Thanks in advance.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/new-homes-for-sale/property-62525375.html

swatsqad · 10 Mar 2017 at 11:41

Hey! I've recently set something up like this, and since not a lot of help is there to be found on google, here is my input:

I have my desktop downstairs, and my bedroom with a 49" x800d upstairs. I first tried running a long cat cable to the TV and used moonlight to stream to it, it was tolerable, but a very sub par experience regardless. So I switched to a 20 meter long quality hdmi cable, however it doesn't have a repeater so it can't handle 4k, but handles 1080p at 60hz with chroma 4:4:4 and hdr perfectly. I also got a logitech k400 plus, a g900 and a few xbox elite controllers with the wireless adapter - couldn't be happier.

tl/dr - get a long hdmi cable and route it around, preferably with a repeater or a signal booster, and for everything else use wireless. All the streaming options for anyone that is looking for quality - will just not do it. Also pressing Win key + P any time you'r pc is just turned on is quiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite a bit more convenient than launching streaming apps, or if your tv isn't android, powering on a separate steamlink/shield machine.

Ask away if I've missed anything

VincentHanna · 10 Mar 2017 at 11:43

Just drill through the wall...

mentaur · 10 Mar 2017 at 11:43

I drilled a 1inch diameter holes in two walls and run USB, Ethernet and HDMI about 18m from my PC in my study to my TV. It worked a dream on my plasma TV at 1080p, using a Logitec wireless keyboard (K400?) with the receiver plugged into a little powered USB hub at the end of the USB extension.

I recently upgraded to a 4K LG TV and I haven't been able to get the HDMI run to work reliably. At 1080p I get sprinkles in the picture, and at 4K it worked once, but never again since after an attempt to get it up to HDR. This could easily be the HDMI run not been perfect, the Display port to HDMI adapter at the PC end, or the use of 3 HDMI joiners to get the entire run. I used flat HDMI cable under the carpet but a usual round cable through the walls. The two rooms are on either side of the hall so I have to run the cables over the front door too. I need to experiment more so you may well have more luck.

My advice - don't be afraid to drill a hole directly through the wall. I got the drill bit from B&Q and it was pretty easy.

simatron3000 · 10 Mar 2017 at 11:50

mentaur said:
I recently upgraded to a 4K LG TV and I haven't been able to get the HDMI run to work reliably. At 1080p I get sprinkles in the picture, and at 4K it worked once, but never again since after an attempt to get it up to HDR.

Hmm a little concerning, I'm my case going through the wall the run would be very short, like 4 or 5m, so would assume that won't cause any issue. It does need to be full fat 4k/60 10 bit HDR capable though.

simatron3000 · 10 Mar 2017 at 11:56

swatsqad said:
Hey! I've recently set something up like this, and since not a lot of help is there to be found on google, here is my input:

I have my desktop downstairs, and my bedroom with a 49" x800d upstairs. I first tried running a long cat cable to the TV and used moonlight to stream to it, it was tolerable, but a very sub par experience regardless. So I switched to a 20 meter long quality hdmi cable, however it doesn't have a repeater so it can't handle 4k, but handles 1080p at 60hz with chroma 4:4:4 and hdr perfectly. I also got a logitech k400 plus, a g900 and a few xbox elite controllers with the wireless adapter - couldn't be happier.

tl/dr - get a long hdmi cable and route it around, preferably with a repeater or a signal booster, and for everything else use wireless. All the streaming options for anyone that is looking for quality - will just not do it. Also pressing Win key + P any time you'r pc is just turned on is quiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite a bit more convenient than launching streaming apps, or if your tv isn't android, powering on a separate steamlink/shield machine.

Ask away if I've missed anything

Yer that seems the path of least resistance, go through the wall and hide the cables under the carpet along the edge of the living room. New tv + 1080ti + Mass Effect in 4k HDR on a 50 inch tv should be a pretty potent combo

swatsqad · 10 Mar 2017 at 11:58

simatron3000 said:
Hmm a little concerning, I'm my case going through the wall the run would be very short, like 4 or 5m, so would assume that won't cause any issue. It does need to be full fat 4k/60 10 bit HDR capable though.

you'd have no issues with a quality cable at that distance

subbytna · 10 Mar 2017 at 12:15

VincentHanna said:
Just drill through the wall...

Exactly. Why faff about buying extension leads you don't need. Is it a lack of "man skills" that means you're not keen on trying to drill a hole? If so then just get someone who can drill hole, to do it. Then run your leads through it. Job done.

simatron3000 · 10 Mar 2017 at 12:51

subbytna said:
Exactly. Why faff about buying extension leads you don't need. Is it a lack of "man skills" that means you're not keen on trying to drill a hole? If so then just get someone who can drill hole, to do it. Then run your leads through it. Job done.

Truthfully yes, it's a new build and my first property so bit worried about doing damage! Is it easier enough to lift the carpet at the edges of the room and running the cable under the carpet along the skirting boards without making a hash of it?

simatron3000 · 10 Mar 2017 at 12:52

Thoug

swatsqad said:
you'd have no issues with a quality cable at that distance

Thought not. As you say steam link aint cutting it, this needs to be a no compromises gaming set up

swatsqad · 10 Mar 2017 at 13:02

simatron3000 said:
Thoug

Thought not. As you say steam link aint cutting it, this needs to be a no compromises gaming set up

Yeah, then take my advice seriously, and don't bother wasting time with streaming. the technology is just not there yet - If you also have high input lag on the tv, then it would probably be unusable, to add to the HORRIBLE compression artifacts.

simatron3000 · 10 Mar 2017 at 13:57

swatsqad said:
Yeah, then take my advice seriously, and don't bother wasting time with streaming. the technology is just not there yet - If you also have high input lag on the tv, then it would probably be unusable, to add to the HORRIBLE compression artifacts.

Yer I'm looking at the samsung ks7000, ~20ms in HDR game mode.

swatsqad · 10 Mar 2017 at 15:38

simatron3000 said:
Yer I'm looking at the samsung ks7000, ~20ms in HDR game mode.

Honestly I might not be the best samsung fan, but I'd recommend the x800d instead if you can still find it on a sale, for a lot cheaper and really I enjoyed it more than the ks7000 when I saw them both in person. they're not OLED so their capability of reproducing hdr content won't be as massive of a difference as it would when comparing to an oled. And once oleds get cheaper in a year or two, just get one of those then, less financial loss in the long term for very little loss in "quality".

simatron3000 · 10 Mar 2017 at 16:04

swatsqad said:
Honestly I might not be the best samsung fan, but I'd recommend the x800d instead if you can still find it on a sale, for a lot cheaper and really I enjoyed it more than the ks7000 when I saw them both in person. they're not OLED so their capability of reproducing hdr content won't be as massive of a difference as it would when comparing to an oled. And once oleds get cheaper in a year or two, just get one of those then, less financial loss in the long term for very little loss in "quality".

How do OLED's compare in terms of response times? I bought a cheap LG faux HDR tv and whilst the picture is fine the response times are disgraceful, selling it ASAP.

swatsqad · 11 Mar 2017 at 09:48

well, mediocre to good. but the picture maan.

smokingtommy · 21 Mar 2017 at 22:23

If you have a nvidia GPU have a look at the nvidia shield tablet it will do the job just fine and give ya a kicking tablet as well and its only £160ish