One of the reasons why I joined the Windows 10 Insider Preview program back in January was to get an early glimpse of the Xbox One to PC streaming in action. It’s been a while coming but finally the option is here and it’s arrived pretty much when I thought it would (during E3 2015).
What you need?
However in order to stream you need to be running Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 10130, the latest Xbox App version 5.6.11034.0000 and have an Xbox One controller connected to your PC.
Additionally you need to be in the Xbox One Preview program and from the console you need to head to the Settings > Preferences option to enable streaming.
Once the above is sorted you will then need to make sure your Xbox One and Windows 10 PC are on the same network.
After this is done you can use the Windows 10 Xbox App to connect to your console (a bit like you would when using the Smartglass App). If you meet all the above criteria a ‘Stream’ option will then appear which you can select to initiate the streaming.
Basically a green screen appears (though the colour may vary depending on your computer) showing that it is connecting and a notification will appear on the console to showcase that the link-up has been completed.
What's also cool is that the new Xbox App on Windows 10 will also allow you to turn off your console. Thus if you are streaming and don't want to head back to the lounge to turn the Xbox One off you can do this remotely.
How it works?
I’ve put a video together which you can view at the base of the article which hopefully will give you an idea of how the streaming works/performs.
However in writing the best way to describe the technology is that it works pretty much the same as Steam’s In-Home Streaming. For example when a game is streamed over the network it runs on the local machine at the same time as displaying the content on the remote PC. However the key part is that the remote side can control the in-game action as the inputs are captured.
Streaming Options
Once the streaming is enabled you will be at the Xbox One Home Screen. You can then use your attached controller to move around the interface as before. However you can also use your mouse and via the top of the screen access a menu. The latter allows you to adjust things like your streaming quality (this is also available in the Xbox App before you connect) and see how your bandwidth fairs.
Performance you see is dependent on how good your network connection is. This is vital to avoid input lag (i.e. when you press a button you want it to perform the corresponding on-screen action as quickly as possible) and video/audio issues.
Input lag is more of an issue with FPS multiplayer, but even in the early stages of testing the wired connection did prove reasonably responsive to controller inputs during an online session of Destiny and the 360 games I tested for my 360 emulation video all ran fine.
So there is hope that you will be able to play in friendly multiplayer games just like you would on the Xbox One itself.
Mind you similar to GameDVR recording the only downside with streaming is the games do appear darker than if they were running on the console itself and this is probably to do with compression.
Also the Medium and High quality settings don’t really seem that different and only the low setting gives the impression of poorer quality (it looks like somebody has smudged the picture).
Voice Chat Bug
Additionally with the controller in place I did find there is a bug at the moment which effects audio. For example if you use a mono headset connected to the base of the controller the gameplay audio also gets piped through to this rather than the Monitor/TV. So in other words it can’t split the audio at this stage – though of course this is a Beta version and I'm sure the problem will be solved before release.
Do what you want
However the Streaming is still pretty darn cool to experience and it just gives you an extra option for playing your games. Then again the streaming pretty much works for anything you want to watch. So in other words anything you can open on the Xbox One (including Apps) can also be viewed via the Stream.
Wired or Wireless
One things for sure in its beta format the streaming is better suited to a wired connection. I’ve experienced several issues so far running over Wireless technology (Wireless 5Ghz and Powerline technology were used) and these included WiFi drop-outs, PC crashes, video, audio and input lag.
However what I can say is the streaming is still awesome to behold and its going to be a great feature! When you other half wants to watch his/her favourite program you can simply stream your Xbox One games to another room!
Summary
In its early phases of testing the wired connection is shaping up to be the better way of streaming, but I’m sure by the time the service launches (later in the year) the wireless side will be taken care of.
For now though the streaming opens the door for more flexibility and to give you a better idea of how it will work, I’ve put together a short video below, so hopefully you will enjoy this!