I was one of the unlucky second wavers of the Windows 10 upgrade. While everyone else was chatting it up with Cortana and enjoying the sleek new look of the new OS, I was left staring at the little icon in the bottom right corner of my screen.
Last night I was finally chosen. Chosen to upgrade my Windows 8.1 to the shiny and new Windows 10, and of course one of the first features I was really pumped to try out was the Xbox One streaming capabilities. Needless to say, it's damn near flawless.
Setup is nearly non-existent. Assuming you have your Xbox One online on the same network. You simply click Connect and you'll have the option to stream immediately. There is a Test Stream button which I would very much recommend running first as it will tell you what quality setting you should have your stream set to.
It is important to note that I was testing this out using a wired connection to both the PC and the Xbox One, meaning I was completely cutting Wifi out of the equation. Had it not been at 2:30 in the morning, I would have tested it as well, but that will have to wait until tonight. With my wired connection, I was able to get a full quality stream no problem.
The interface is clean and easy to navigate
But this is where the "almost" comes in. I'm not sure whether this was a bug with the feature itself or whether this was a computer issue, but whenever I started the stream, I had to immediately set it to windowed full screen. For some reason, when the streaming starts off in standard full screen, it freezes the picture, and won't unfreeze until you make it windowed. Again, not sure whether this is something that pertains only to me, but im crossing my fingers that it's an issue that Microsoft can simply patch out.
When you do get that stream running though, it's pretty flawless. The picture (on High settings) looks incredible, though you don't get the full 60fps experience. What surprised me was the 1:1 gameplay when comparing my monitor to my TV. There was virtually no lag, and if there was, it had to be in the microseconds, completely indistinguishable. I ended up testing Forza Horizon 2 since lag in racing games definitely matters, and was able to play it no problem. Oh and you'll be using a controller connected to the Xbox One, not to your PC.
One thing that I also need to mention, at least if you're testing this out for yourself as well, is that the Xbox One and Windows 10 need about 30 seconds to adjust to one another. When you first press the Stream button, the Xbox One will be delayed by a solid second or two. Don't be alarmed when you see this, and just let the two systems sort it out.
One more awesome feature that will undoubtedly please fans who are interested in capturing footage is the ability to directly capture your gameplay with a press of a few buttons on your keyboard. What's neat is that it doesn't use a whole lot of your computer's processing power, since the game is running off your Xbox. Keep in mind that while it will record at 1080p, it unfortunately won't retain the 60fps. This is simply because it's recording the screen, which is already being streamed at 30fps. Not a big deal for me personally, but for those that want their game captures in the highest of quality might want to look into an actual capture card.
The video above was recorded using my computer. The quality ended up being pretty nice, and the locked 30fps made it look super smooth despite not running in full 60fps.
The question remains, "Is streaming my Xbox One to my PC relevant and useful to me." Much like PlayStation 4's Remote Play feature, it's certainly not for everyone. For bigger families that tend to use the TV a lot, it's nice to be able to take your game to another screen while keeping your TV free for others. I'm definitely excited to experiment a bit more with the feature. If we end up learning anything new, we'll be sure to let you guys know.
