Advice on how to Stream to 4K TV with 1080p Monitor?

[Netto]

I'm hoping this is possible...

Now days I'm not in my office as much, and play more games on my TV in the living room. Steam Link works great (I have a Samsung TV) and I've had no issues in general. But when playing newer games, it's obvious that my TV is still using the 1080p resolution of my monitor.

So my question is, is there a way I can fix this? I have a Nvidia card, and was considering creating a custom 4k resolution, and switching over to that when I play... But wasn't sure if that would actually work.

Any advice guys?

Thanks

[_I_]

create the non native res in gpu control panel and enable gpu scaling
in games pick that res
but on host it may say out of sync and not display the image until you change it back in games and desktop if problems occur

but you will be limited by the tvs lan connection
4k takes more than 100mb/s
most smart tvs only have 'fast' 100mb/s lan port, not gigabit or faster

do the connection test, and see where it pukes out (higher spikes are lag, not bandwidth used)

its really stupid, pcs starting over 15 years ago had gigabit standard, and gigabit nic and switches/routers are dirt cheap and very common now, tv should have gigabit or faster ports on them

[Netto]

Darn it, I didn't think about the speeds. So even wired it might be an issue... But other wise the custom resolution would work... Hm. Not like it NEEDS to be 4K or anything, it would've just been nice. But thanks! You answered my question!

[_I_]

imho, use a laptop that supports 4k or maybe pi4 or other device, so its using the hdmi input not the tv app for 4k

[Netto]

Sadly I don't really have the extra money to buy a gaming laptop as well, when I could just get a 4k monitor instead (but even that's out of the question right now and doesn't solve playing in the living room).

Last night I did boot up Forza Horizon 5 (after getting it installed for the first time) and the 1080p display doesn't look too bad, but I'd still like to try to stream it in 4k if possible. I just didn't have time to go through settings to see what I could come up with as I only had 15 minutes to play in general.

Either way, I'd like to get the most use out of what I paid for. I mean, I upgraded my PC almost 3 years ago, and I dropped a LOT so that I could play both high end VR, and get a better standard gaming experience in general. Then life happened, and the thing has been sitting in the office hardly even used. I just don't want all of that to go to waste lol

[_I_]

you dont need a gaming laptop
just one that has the intel uhd or ryzen igpu
most of those can decode the stream and display 4k to the tv

[Neomerlinux]

Originally posted by Netto:

Sadly I don't really have the extra money to buy a gaming laptop as well, when I could just get a 4k monitor instead (but even that's out of the question right now and doesn't solve playing in the living room).

Last night I did boot up Forza Horizon 5 (after getting it installed for the first time) and the 1080p display doesn't look too bad, but I'd still like to try to stream it in 4k if possible. I just didn't have time to go through settings to see what I could come up with as I only had 15 minutes to play in general.

Either way, I'd like to get the most use out of what I paid for. I mean, I upgraded my PC almost 3 years ago, and I dropped a LOT so that I could play both high end VR, and get a better standard gaming experience in general. Then life happened, and the thing has been sitting in the office hardly even used. I just don't want all of that to go to waste lol

We're in a similar boat my friend. I spent money before the pandemic to be able to use VR and now i got me a 4K TV too recently, so i was hoping to see some eyecandy streaming from my PC, instead of Full-HD. Doesnt work. The app even refuses to stream Full-HD without popping a black screen or full freeze every now and then for good measure...

Sony XR55A80J OLED TV
RTX 2080 Super
Intel i7 8700K
Gigabit LAN

I would drop money for a hardware 4K Steam Link or an update to the Steam Link app that fixes this. Tried a LOT of settings on both the Steam Link app and Steam on my host PC. Nothing works. I am not even trying to get 4K anymore - just fluent Full-HD. Weirdly, some games show no problems at all.

[_I_]

on host
steam -> settings -> remote play -> [advanced host options]
untick, change res to match client

steam -> settings -> remote play -> [advanced client options]
limit res to 1080p

[Neomerlinux]

Originally posted by _I_:

on host
steam -> settings -> remote play -> [advanced host options]
untick, change res to match client

steam -> settings -> remote play -> [advanced client options]
limit res to 1080p

Thanks. The first setting was unchecked anyway, but I put in the second one (1080p limit) too now. It fixed the problem for "Temtem" but now I got problems in "Garfield Kart Furious Racing". Goes to black for 10 seconds in the middle of a race (which sucks hard in this genre) and then starts again with sound only before it gives me back the whole game. I didnt try other titles yet. Especially with race games, this renders Steam Link useless.

[Netto]

So I haven’t set it up yet, but I bought a fire stick 4k wifi 6 during the prime day sale. Got it because it was cheap and because I can use it for the tv in the kitchen, but I can easily connect it to my main tv as well and use steam link through it instead. Hopefully the wifi 6 support will work better

[Neomerlinux]

I got so frustrated with the Steam Link App, that I bought a 15 meter HDMI cable and a longrange bluetooth dongle (for my Dual Sense controller and a wireless keyboard/mouse) to connect my PC directly to the living room TV (through two walls and 3 rooms). It works. Problem not solved, but circumvented, by eliminating the App (unfortunately).