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Is there a viable solution that can stream live input from PC games such as Left 4 Dead to the TV, possibly using DLNA?

I've found a lot of streaming hard- and software, but they're all about sharing movies and photos. This thread even concludes it's impossible, which i find incredible as live streaming is the same as streaming from a file given enough bandwidth, and HD video takes a lot of bandwidth.

Streaming a desktop over DLNA is possible via VLC.

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  • TBH, i'll mostly watch Flash movies, but L4D is a nice use-case to test for unacceptable lag. – Cees Timmerman Jul 11 '12 at 8:31
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It's possible using VLC, with an Ethernet cable if the WiFi signal is too weak.

If space and hardware allow, a physical monitor cable would be best to eliminate lag from wireless interference and encoding bottlenecks. As mentioned in Smetad Anarkist's answer, the TV itself might also buffer DLNA feeds, making fast responses impossible.

Here's a summary of the linked VLC method:

The basic idea is to use VLC to capture the screen and create a streaming source, which is then put in TVersity library.

However, the screen capture feature in VLC is not working well with audio output. So we need use some DirectShow filter, such as VH Screen Capture or UScreenCapture to do the capture job. The DirectShow filter installed can be called directly in VLC.

So the whole procedure is:

  1. install VLC
  2. VLC->steaming->Capture device->Choose video device (DirectShow filter you installed) and audio device.
  3. Choose streaming output, such as a file, HTTP, RTP, MMS etc. You could output to a file for testing. Later on, you could choose, say HTTP. I usually add a file name, such as path /test.flv
  4. Choose Transcoding.
  5. Stream
  6. Add streaming URL in TVersity, such as http://127.0.0.1/test.flv.
  7. Play on TV.

3 and 4 are critical. It depends on what file formats and encoding types are supported by your TV. Find some transcodings natively supported by your TV. If it is not supported by your TV, then later TVersity may perform another transcoding, which will slow down the video a lot, or make unplayable at all.

It is not easy to make it work. It takes a lot of testing. Try to stream to a file first, then add the file to TVersity, and play on TV.

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There are a few options for streaming video and such wirelessly. Streaming a video is pretty straight forward since it can be buffered.

However streaming something in real-time, like your game is a bit different. Since you can't buffer your game any dip in the network and a zombie will nom your face. Also since your computer might experience different loads on the cpu and gpu depending on what is happening in the game it might decide to prioritize the game over the streaming so the picture will again stop. And a zombie will nom your face..

Then there is the issue that I don't think there is any drivers to allow games to stream over dlna. But here is a description of intels wireless display. I might help you.

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  • Additional wireless HD hardware for 130$ would work, but a <35$ cable sounds more attractive for something i won't use very often. Then again, i might be able to use it for my decoder as well. This free software solution is also worth a try, but the TV might still buffer too much. – Cees Timmerman Jul 10 '12 at 10:55
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Use Intel WiDi over DLNA with the latest WiDi drivers. It may not be the best for games but you can display your laptop screen with 4 second delay on dlna capable television. I use it for streaming movies, youtube, picutures from laptop to tv.

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