Real-Time wireless screen mirroring for Games

[hansaaahansaaa]

Hi all

I am looking for the best solution to stream games wirelessly from my pc to my tv.

Requirements and Specifications:

I have experimented with casting my entire desktop to my tv via chromecast and chrome's "Cast Desktop" option. However, there is display lag of somewhere between 0.5 and 1 second between the pc display and the TV, which obviously sucks for playing games that require real-time audio-visual coordination.

Questions that arise are:

-Are there any ways to stay with chromecast, and reduce the lag to a threshold which is acceptable for real-time games?

-If just preceding question is answered with a no: Are there any other wireless solutions to cast games from my pc to my tv in real-time, such that playing them actually works?

-As an additional question if anyone can provide some valuable input: What could you imagine as being the cause of the mentioned half a second to one second lag with my current "chromecast-solution"? I habe not looked into the details of my router yet, but as far as I am aware the router's WiFi bandwidth should be more than enough to cast a screen via WiFi with no significant lag, or not? Or more broadly put: Why does it seem to be an issue to do a real-time cast of my desktop to my tv, given that WiFi bandwidth should be good enough for this? Or is my assumption about current WiFi bandwidths being enough for real-time casting wrong? If this assumption is not wrong, Is it a software issue?

 

[getochkn]

Easiest way, just plug your TV into your PC. Chromecast isn't made for gaming. The only real game streaming to TV service that I know of involves needing a NVidia GPU and a Nvidia Shield Android box.

 

[hansaaahansaaa]

I understand that using a wired solution is possible, but unless I am living behind the moon I am unaware of why there is no simple wireless solution. That is what I was asking for after all: a wireless solution

 

[USAFRet]

I understand that using a wired solution is possible, but unless I am living behind the moon I am unaware of why there is no simple wireless solution. That is what I was asking for after all: a wireless solution

The simple answer is "physics".
Realtime game mirroring is a LOT of data.

WiFi lag, and then the processing of whatever device is getting that signal, and then the delay in the actual TV.

I use TeamViewer to control the PC connected to my TV, from my main PC.
Even wired directly through the LAN, with 2 reasonably good PC's...there is maybe 0.25 sec lag between what I see on my screen, and what happens on the TV.
Moving the mouse, for instance..it is visible.


In your case, both WiFi and the chromecast are the culprits. Games require too much coherence between mouse and what happens on the screen.

 

[hansaaahansaaa]

Yeah so that was my train of thought too... that it would be a signal processing and transmissions issue. Are there any recent developments which could deal with these physical limitations and lead to a consumer-available solution? Or can I not expect real time wireless screen mirroring any time soon with current/recent developments?

Thanks!

 

[USAFRet]

I've not heard of any new magic dust in the pipeline.

 

[faalin]

We use a couple of these for work, https/www.amazon.com/Actiontec-SBWD100KIT01-ScreenBeam-Wireless-Transmitter/dp/B009Z8T3K6/ref=pd_sim_23_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B009Z8T3K6&pd_rd_r=R056FJBSNHED318F1XWB&pd_rd_w=ooVCn&pd_rd_wg=cRJJI&psc=1&refRID=R056FJBSNHED318F1XWB one in the conference room to the projector mounted on the ceiling for laptops. And our CAD guys use one to throw their monitor to a tv for project kick off meetings. It seems to do better then any other solution they were using previously.

 

[getochkn]

I already listed one and the only viable solution. Using an Nvidia shield on the tv and a compatible GPU in your allows streaming with all rendering done on the GPU and compressed via some Nvidia code and sent to the tv

 

[hansaaahansaaa]

I still don't see why it is supposedly not possible with currently existing systems/ system components.

The only real issue I see is possible interference by other wireless signals in the wireless transmission process. I have done some further research and there seem to exist plenty of Wireless HDMI products which are claimed to have latencies of the order of ~50-100 ms. Unfortunately these solutions are a bit more costly than what I was aiming for, but I may give them a try.

Anyway, I don't see any real physical or computational issue that should prevent what I am asking for to already exist, so either I am missing something, or there are commercial reasons why this does not exist on a large scale, unless of course the Wireless HDMI solutions I have found advertised on the web do work. Then the question is: Why were they so hard to find for me on the internet.

Will update if I find a viable solution

 

[USAFRet]

HDMI with a latency of 100ms is fine for a movie, or a PowerPoint presentation, or Solitaire. You don't even notice.
100ms in a task extensive game is InstaDeath.

Typical latency for a reasonably good monitor is 1-5ms. If someone tried to sell you a "gaming monitor" with an advertised 50ms latency, you'd run away laughing.
I know I would.