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[Dorfdad]

I agree. However, with the move to tablets and stuff that MS is doing, I don't think that's a priority for them. They seem to care more about one screen, than power users at their desks, or with elaborate home theater setups.

The best method right now to deal with a multi monitor TV + desktop scenario in Windows is to use UltraMon.

I had a setup as follows:

Monitor 1 + Monitor 2 | PC | <---Several feet---> HDTV

All of them were hooked up to my PC at the same time (both monitors over DVI, and the HDTV over HDMI). I used UltraMon to create two profiles, one where Monitor 1 + Mointor 2 were used, and another where Mointor 2 and HDTV were used. I then had those profiles saved as shortcuts, which I pinned to the start menu. So to get the TV interface was simply a matter of pressing Start --> "TV Mode".

It worked really well.

The only issue I had was sound, but I found a real lightweight program called 'Win7AudioSwitcher', which had a cool function that remembered what your default audio device was in relation to your primary monitor. So I taught it to remember my PC speakers for Monitor 1 as primary, and HDMI audio when the HDTV was my primary. It worked perfectly.

Basically, what I'm getting at is that it's probably not too difficult to put basic monitor and audio switching as I explained above into Big Picture Mode. If it can be done with third party applications, I can't see why Valve can't have it built into Steam. With a bit of configuring in the options, you could tell it which monitor to go to and what audio device to switch to when you press that 'Big Picture' button, and then Steam knows to revert back to the old one when you go back to the desktop.

Does this method still work today?? I have the same issue with sound and need a fix

 

[SOLDIER]

Now that there's a prominent voice chat feature, has anyone managed to get the wireless 360 headset working properly?

If not, is there some equivalent wireless headset for PC chatting?

 

[Cannon Goose]

You make a shortcut to Steam, right-click it, edit its properties and add -tenfoot to the end of the target line

But what if I have Steam pinned to the taskbar?

 

[Skyfireblaze]

But what if I have Steam pinned to the taskbar?

Then you unpin it, make said shortcut and pin that one to the taskbar

 

[jediyoshi]

But what if I have Steam pinned to the taskbar?

Hold shift and right click on it -> Properties

 

[Haunted]

But what if I have Steam pinned to the taskbar?

right click on the taskbar icon, then right click on the little steam icon, then edit its properties etc

 

[Jintor]

Xcom trailers don't work here either, but Batman Arkham City trailers do. I think it's an X-Com specific problem.

The achievements tab is also broken for some games. Could see it in Stacking but not in TF2 or Poker Night, for example

 

[Psi]

We need to setup a respiratory of Game Launch Window Bypasses. Can we have them put into the OP?

So far I have

Skyrim

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/1068

This thing kills the framerate. Is there any other way to bypass the Skyrim launcher?

 

[Yoritomo]

Woohoo, netflix works from the steam browser.

 

[maniacripper]

Anyone found the audio file that plays in the background? I want to replace it with this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4R0a2OVH9w

 

[Cannon Goose]

Sweet, now it's starting up in big picture mode. Thanks for the help, everyone.

 

[Piano]

Framerate in the in-game overlay is atrocious. Is anyone else having that issue?

 

[Firebrand]

It's blurry because the program is scaling a 1080p resolution to fill your higher-resolution screen. This usually results in a blurry screen.

You can actually make it so that Big Picture Mode launches at your native resolution (see the launch parameters only a few posts ago) and it looks a lot better. ..but webpages (and maybe a few other things) will be too small this way.

Well, there shouldn't be any scaling in 1920x1080, no? I'll try the desktop res option though, thanks.

 

[Jburton]

Framerate in the in-game overlay is atrocious. Is anyone else having that issue?

Nope, really smooth.

Tis beta though, will be optimised as we go along.

 

[wrowa]

Framerate in the in-game overlay is atrocious. Is anyone else having that issue?

Yes, I've got the same problem. I only entered Big Picture once on my laptop out of curiousity and don't plan on actually using it though, so I sadly don't have an idea how to fix it.

Apart of that, it's a really slick and nice interface. Makes me kinda want to build an HTPC.

 

[iNvid02]

just tried it and its very slick, would totally use it if i had a small pc for the living room but i think a console will always be next to my tv

all they need to do now is get games to launch first time without additional windows, e.g. skyrim

 

[Haunted]

just tried it and its very slick, would totally use it if i had a small pc for the living room

all they need to do now is get games to launch first time without additional windows, e.g. skyrim

Also something to take care of the Steam pop-ups that sometimes appear, when there's a key to enter or something.

 

[TaroYamada]

just tried it and its very slick, would totally use it if i had a small pc for the living room but i think a console will always be next to my tv

all they need to do now is get games to launch first time without additional windows, e.g. skyrim

Agreed SR 3 has the same issue.

 

[chixdiggit]

I thought it worked great with the controller. Really needs work with mouse and keyboard though. I play most of my games on the TV with mouse and keyboard from couch.

 

[Felix Lighter]

The interface is super slick and smooth. The browser needs tons of work and I was disappointed to see that they didn't have a solution for games with launchers. I thought at the very least the more popular, controller friendly games like Skyrim would have had some kind of automatic work around, without adding command line parameters to the shortcut. Weird that replacement images work for the default game view but not the all games grid. I'm sure they'll iterate the hell out of this though.

One enormous oversight with the browser is that there is no option to increase the size without zooming in. Every modern browser has that functionality and it is much much more crucial when your sitting 10 feet from the screen. My dream would be Google creates a version of Chrome for this interface.

 

[jediyoshi]

We need to setup a respiratory of Game Launch Window Bypasses. Can we have them put into the OP?

So far I have

Skyrim

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/1068

Saints Row 3

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2237030

Oh wow, just renaming the launcher with the game exe, didn't think of that. Works with Trine 2 fine.

 

[Exuro]

I thought it worked great with the controller. Really needs work with mouse and keyboard though. I play most of my games on the TV with mouse and keyboard from couch.

What problems did you have with kbm? I find it works really well with both input methods.

 

[GhostRidah]

So I guess im a pc noob, connected my hdmi to my video card and tv and nothing happens, am I doing it wrong?

 

[Felix Lighter]

Also, Guide button to open the steam overlay is a little weird when playing a GFWL game, otherwise, I'm glad they were able to get it to work that way and a screenshot shortcut on the controller is pretty awesome.

So I guess im a pc noob, connected my hdmi to my video card and tv and nothing happens, am I doing it wrong?

Try win+p

 

[Felix Lighter]

Sorry, double post.

 

[Razek]

What problems did you have with kbm? I find it works really well with both input methods.

For me, the mouse feels slow and weighted down, like there is a large amount of smoothing going on.

 

[dorkimoe]

didnt know i got into beta, custom skin caused nothing to show up until i right clicked system tray icon

 

[bounchfx]

Are they letting everyone in? or is it a select few? seems like everyone in here is using the beta lol

 

[Nabs]

It's an open beta

 

[Exuro]

For me, the mouse feels slow and weighted down, like there is a large amount of smoothing going on.

That's weird. It feels exactly like the desktop for me.

Using guide/trigger is a pretty cool idea for taking pictures. Only issue is when the manager comes up for some reason I have to use the mouse to click it, and then bpm gets all screwy. They had it all integrated though which is cool. I hope they plan on making all of the Steam community integrated with bpm instead of launching the browser.

 

[EternalGamer]

Are they letting everyone in? or is it a select few? seems like everyone in here is using the beta lol

You just go into settings in Steam and select "participate in betas."

 

[bounchfx]

yeah, just had to reboot steam I guess, haven't restarted my pc in a bit. trying it now, yay

 

[JohngPR]

There seemed to be some kind of update, so I was hopeful that it would work but now it says that Big Picture Mode may not work because I'm running Steam in compatibility mode, which I'm not.

Weird.

 

[Eyothrie]

then what does adding -bigpicture do?

 

[JohngPR]

Hmmm...when in doubt, run as administrator. That seemed to work.

 

[GhostRidah]

Also, Guide button to open the steam overlay is a little weird when playing a GFWL game, otherwise, I'm glad they were able to get it to work that way and a screenshot shortcut on the controller is pretty awesome.



Try win+p

Thanks, got it to work messing around with that, any idea how to make the sound come out the tv speakers instead of my pc?

 

[Felix Lighter]

You probably want to right click the Speaker icon in your system tray, click playback devices and make sure you pick your HDMI connection. If that doesn't work there are probably audio settings in your graphics driver interface. You'll get to that by riqht clicking your desktop. Catalyst Control Center for AMD and Nvidia Control Panel for Nvidia I believe.

 

[soul creator]

Anybody think this could be another selling point for people who manufacture those TV-friendly PCs?

my Alienware X51 just got a lot more interesting

 

[bounchfx]

ok, that was bad ass. Is there any easy ways to connect your pc to your tv from more than 20 feet away without a long ass cable?

 

[Cannon Goose]

Any way to switch tabs while using K/BM?

EDIT: And where are Steam screenshots kept on the hard drive?

 

[LiK]

ok, that was bad ass. Is there any easy ways to connect your pc to your tv from more than 20 feet away without a long ass cable?

HDMI Wireless Bridge

 

[CosmicQueso]

my Alienware X51 just got a lot more interesting

I was looking at those today given the news. What do you think of it??

 

[InfiniteNine]

Tried it out for a bit with Binary Domain and it works well so far!

Otherwise the only problem I have is my custom game icons don't work.

 

[EternalGamer]

HDMI Wireless Bridge

Expensive but cool. Can also carry USB devices.

 

[jediyoshi]

Made a quick video run through of it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnjvZR9YgWk&hd=1

then what does adding -bigpicture do?

Same thing

 

[Alexios]

Nice interfaces, they should do the iPad version of Steam Mobile similar.

 

[bounchfx]

HDMI Wireless Bridge

Do you have one? Any word on how much lag is added? If I'm playing a multiplayer game that would be a big factor.

 

[LiK]

Do you have one? Any word on how much lag is added? If I'm playing a multiplayer game that would be a big factor.

not yet, but pretty much everyone i know who owns one loves it. lag is minimal unless you got really thick walls. i plan on getting them when i feel like playing PC games in the living room.

 

[Betta Lines]

Hmmm is this supposed to use a similar amount of resources as Steam in 'normal' mode? Because I just tried Mirror's Edge and my usual 60fps dropped down to 30fps... however it was 60fps briefly... so I'm wondering if it's a bug?

 

[TheBear]

not yet, but pretty much everyone i know who owns one loves it. lag is minimal unless you got really thick walls. i plan on getting them when i feel like playing PC games in the living room.

So it transfers sound also? What about the 360 controller is that a limitation?