Streaming from 4k pc with 1080ti over to a 1080p TV

[ZedsDeadXX]

I have a 4k PC setup with a 1080ti. I noticed when I stream over to my 1080pTV using SteamLink, it keeps my in-game 4k resolution that is listed in game and seems to display it at 1080p on my TV. Is this basically downsampling my 4k or would I be better off changing the in game resolution to 1080p to match the native TV display resolution it's streaming to?

[PuppetMaster]

Depends on what you want out of it. If your TV does downsampling well, you could still get a nicer image this way on it. If performance is an issue, including network bandwidth, I would recommend to change it to the native resolution.

[Xjph]

Yes, if your game is set to 4k it will be scaled down to 1080p when output from the Link. The visual quality will likely be slightly better than native 1080p still, as this is essentially supersampling AA. If you set the game to 1080p you'll reduce lag to the link slightly, as 1080p is faster to capture. It's up to you whether you want the slightly better image or slightly less display latency.

[ZedsDeadXX]

Thanks!

[AndyCalling]

I don't think it quite works like that. The downsampling will occur at the PC end with the encoding routine, not when the link outputs the picture to the TV. So the PC downsamples the image to 1080p (if using hardware encoding this will be the vid card, if not the CPU), then the 1080p image is scaled back up by the TV to 4K to fill the screen (unless it shows in a black bordered box). Depending on the quality of those two processes, you may get a better picture. Test to see.

[Reaperspreacher]

Greetings all!

I study computer science and this concept has been a part of my purchasing strategy for a high quality home system. It has allowed me to game at great quality and affordably so. I'm glad that I put the thought into it the way I did because I have a custom setup that produces a high quality game that has a look and feel of it's own. Part of my strategy was monitors. I like Samsung products but there are many high quality deals. Every model is unique. Some are junk. Read the reviews. At the time, I ended up catching a 1080p60hz Samsung TV. I've had this thing for ages it seems. What I like about this particular model is the sharpening features and gaming mode. The gaming mode is nice because it almost makes the TV act like a computer monitor and it produces a console like feel. Great from the couch which that TV is paired to a media PC i5 core that I had accumulated extra parts for over the years just keeping my eyes peeled for incredible deals making upgrades. My gaming rig is in another room which runs a few monitors in QHD. All my games are set up for QHD with 60FPS being the standard. I have RTX 2070 black card by EVGA on this system.

When I stream Star Wars Fallen Order to my TV for play in the living from the gaming rig. The images are down sampled in a way so gorgeous. 60% of the game basically feels like a stunning movie. The storm troopers look like the new movies and the other worldly characters look CGI too. Almost worthy of being in a recent film release. Some times Cal bears a vague resemblance in between Luke and Obi-Wan plucked straight out of a the original films. If the game were designed to be a super realistic experience. It basically could be. Streaming many games to this TV has a gritty realism. Like a very high quality film camera that was state of the art in late 80's or 90's.

I can do the same thing to my laptop which is Asus Q524U (Very cool model to stream anything anywhere in the house) which is a very clear looking because of the backlit display. Also it is in 1080p60hz. When I stream the QHD signal to this laptop. Albeit the smaller display. There is a higher contrast range which does near into HDR territories and with the QHD signal I could fool someone to say it was pure 4K.

No matter where it is streamed to. Everything is on Ultra.

The down sampling automatically occurs sending the QHD signals to the FHD monitors. These two monitors produce drastically different pictures of high quality. This will keep me comfortably gaming at very high quality for the foreseeable future.

The PS5 just came out and I've been gaming like this for awhile. Hardware methods such as monitors are much more efficient at handling anti aliasing than using a graphics card. I wouldn't be surprised if consoles did have a hardware method of down sampling within the systems to boost the quality of the graphics but I don't know what they do. All I know is I did it on the cheap! I also know that I will be gaming at PS5 level quality for the foreseeable future. I'll upgrade to a much much superior quality 4k experience sooner than the PS6 will arrive.

At that point. I will eventually next get a new tv...etc....

All the while gradually upgrading my quality. For so cheap!

Half the time the games are on sale too. Many of those were on the cheap as well!

Also nothing beats a few useful PCs for different purposes. Half the time these things are expensive juke boxes...

Adios! Amigos!

[_I_]

you need to change the game settings to use 1080p

or in amd/nvidia/intel gpu control panel, tick the box to use gpu scaling
the game will be drawin at 4k, but scaled on the gpu to 1080p to be captured by the steam

[Reaperspreacher]

You do not need to change the game settings unless you are having problems with the game running smoothly.

Streaming 4k to 1080p results in a higher quality graphic on the 1080p display at no additional performance costs. You will be seeing 1080p but the 4k signal makes it that much crisper. It's like adding antialiiasing x4 at little overhead to your gpu, cpu. You need to run two machines but hey if you can it's great. You should always render at the highest quality possible at the highest possible framerate. If your hardware supports it, run it at that. Even if your monitor only refreshes at 60hz but your graphics card can support 120fps at a stable rate. Choose 120fps.

[Reaperspreacher]

引用自 AndyCalling：

I don't think it quite works like that. The downsampling will occur at the PC end with the encoding routine, not when the link outputs the picture to the TV. So the PC downsamples the image to 1080p (if using hardware encoding this will be the vid card, if not the CPU), then the 1080p image is scaled back up by the TV to 4K to fill the screen (unless it shows in a black bordered box). Depending on the quality of those two processes, you may get a better picture. Test to see.

Either way this is more of a good thing. Sending a 1080p signal to a 4k monitor even if it is scaled up will look like a visual improvement to say the least. Same way sampling down a 4k signal to a 1080p monitor. Backwards compatibility with these technologies is great.

I mentioned Fallen Order as a game that I like to play this way. On the other hand...RDR2. I prefer that native in UHD. Looks great streamed to a 1080p device but ultimate clarity is my monitor supports that supports UHD.

This all depends on how high resolution the game textures are. If the resolutions used in the game are not higher quality than 1080p than downsampling a 4k signal to 1080p I think looks the best. If the game is capable of producing it in good quality.

If the game has 4k textures. It'll always look best on a a higher resolution monitor than 1080p.