Gaming is not a cheap hobby, and it only gets more expensive if you want to branch out and use multiple consoles. A gaming PC and console together can cost more than $1,200.
But what if you don't need to buy a console at all to enjoy console games? Here's a free way to turn your gaming PC into a console without dragging it to another room.
What do Xbox and Playstation offer?
Regular gaming on PC is great, but consoles offer a completely different experience. They usually don't play games using a keyboard and mouse. Typically you sit on a sofa or some other place more comfortable than an office chair. If you work on the computer all day, you can also play somewhere else rather than parked in front of the computer, which is a welcome change of scenery.
Console games also often emphasize co-op, where you play the game with the person sitting next to you.
You may play the same games on your Playstation and on your computer, but the entire experience will be different. So how can you recreate the console experience without spending several hundred dollars?
Using a computer instead of a console
If you already have a gaming PC and TV, you don't need to buy a separate console—you already have everything you need.
This entire setup is based on two programs: Moonlight and Sunshine. Sunshine is a streaming service that you install on your gaming PC. It sends everything that happens on your computer to the client.
The client, in this case your TV, has Moonlight client software. This pair of software works almost like a mini GeForce Experience setup, except instead of cloud gaming, you stream games from your computer to your TV.
Ideally, you should connect your computer and TV to your home network using Ethernet cables. Wi-Fi can be fast, but fluctuating latency when streaming a game wirelessly can be annoying, immersion-breaking, or otherwise frustrating. Ethernet takes a lot of these things out of the equation.
If you do need to use Wi-Fi, try to make sure there is nothing solid (like a brick chimney) between your computer and the router or the TV and the router, you may get a better connection. Also, if the devices are close enough and all use the 6GHz band, you should try that first – you may get better performance.
Once you have Sunshine running on your PC and Moonlight on your TV, all you have to do is sit down, launch Steam (or Galaxy of Gamers, or Epic), select your game, and start playing.
Setting Moonlight and Sunlight
Fortunately for everyone, receiving Moonlight And Sunlight very easy to work with.
First, download and install Sunshine on your computer.
Run the program once, set up your login and be sure to save your password – you won't be able to recover it later if you forget it.
Once this is done, go to your TV and search the app store Moonlight.
Moonlight is available on most major TV OSs. except for Roku and Samsung TV. If you have any of these, you will need an additional component. One popular option is the Fire TV Stick, as Moonlight has an official client for FireOS. I've also previously used a Raspberry Pi 4 connected to the TV using an HDMI cable, which I found worked very well too.
- Integrations
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Alexa
- Storage
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16 GB
- operating system
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Four OS
The Fire TV Stick 4K Max gives you all the 4K quality improvements, but with the addition of upgraded hardware and a faster, more reliable Wi-Fi 6 connection.
Launch the Moonlight app on your TV and wait until it detects your computer on the network. Once this happens, select your desktop.
It will display a four-digit code that you need to enter on your computer. On your computer, right-click the Sunshine icon in the taskbar and click Open, then go to the Pin tab and enter the code provided on your TV.
It really is that simple. Simply open your game library and select the game you want to play.
My TV allows me to connect controllers directly to it via Bluetooth and I haven't had any problems with that. However, not every TV has a great Bluetooth controller that can aggressively It's a shame how responsive your game is. If you are experiencing lag, I would suggest trying a wired connection instead.
Since I originally installed this system a few weeks ago, I've completed most of Cyberpunk 2077 and more of Baldur's Gate 3 than I'd like to admit. During this time, I only had one error, which was resolved by restarting Steam. Given the cost savings, I can definitely reboot from time to time to debug things.
