Home office and entertainment station setup and suggestions

I looked into a lot of option to get my PC onto my TV and in the end I just went with a long HDMI cable which is the best way for the TV that's in the same room as my PC. For the TV that's downstairs I just use my Shield as it's great for all of the streaming sevices and connecting to my plex server. I can also use Steam Link on it to stream my games from my PC. Everything is wired as my house is a Victorian brick house and wifi does not like it, even with multiple APs.

For the KVM option I had a similar thing where I would want to move between my personal computer and my work computer and in the end I went for the very cheap option of a USB switch that was 1 in 2 out. So I just ran all my USB things into the multitap and then plugged that into the 'in' port on the switch. Then ran two cables from the 'out' to each of the computers. Then just pressed the button whenever I wanted to switch. It was the cheapest way to get what I needed as KVMs are insanely expensive for what they are. There is a cheap KVM option and that's using a raspberry pi - novaspirittech has a good video on it.

@sandy What were the issues you saw with PC to TV streaming options?

A USB hub feels like a partial solution as I would have to change the video input on the monitors as well

@epic aritfacting and connection stutters etc but I live in a late victorian UK terrrace house so the walls are thick brick and there are a lot of wifi signals from the other nearby houses bouncing around all over the place. So it might be that you won't have similar problems. Compression artifacting is probably always going to happen but you'll probably only notice it on blacks that aren't quite black. Like if smoke moved across a black background in something you're watching.

Additionally, I use a cable network called Virgin media for my internet and you have to use their router at least as a passthrough for the internet to work. As the inlet was already installed in the house I now run the Virgin Media cable into the house on the ground floor and straight into their box which just passes through. Then I made up long runs of eithernet cable and one runs back out of the house, up the side of the buillding and then into the loft where my actual router and server stuff lives. Then multiple ethernet cables come off of that to go to three different APs that are placed around the house. All the APs act as smart switches with 4 ports as well, so it's not too hard for me to run everything off of cables and keep everything relatively hidden. I was a painful amount of work to do it all without knocking down walls or running new traces up everywall which my girlfriend would have killed me for. 😊

If you've got the ability to go wireless without similar issues and it does everything you need it to then I don't see any reason not to. Laying cable in houses that weren't designed for it isn't great. If I ever build my own house there will pull through trunking in every room.

When using the USB hub I have my own computer running through Display Port and my work computer running through HDMI, then I could just switch on my monitor. Not as easy as an autoswitching KVM but it worked for what I needed it for.

Edit: just noticed you're from the UK so you know who Virgin are 🤣 

@sandy these are interesting considerations for sure. I am not expecting any Wifi issues in my new place but I'll keep an eye out for any issues.
What specific technologies have you tried in the past? I guess the most popular is Chromecast but there are a few options to choose from.

As for Compression artifacting do you know if this is noticeable even with a good connection? I would probably invest in a Chromecast Ultra which should in theory support 4k streaming, if there is a noticeable quality loss compared to a good old HDMI cable I might reconsider.

I tried both nvidia Gamestream (which allows you to Stream you desktop as well) and Steamlink. Both were much happier running on a wired connection. I use Chromecast around the house from my phone and it works fine.

You're going to get compression artifacting no matter what, it's just a by product of compression. I would say if you can watch youtube videos without noticing artifacting then you'll probably be fine.

I have thought of switching between multiple devices as well. So, you now have two laptops connected via one usb-C cable that goes to your monitor. And you wish to be able to pass the image to the TV as well, am I understanding you correctly?

Grab a HDMI matrix for the video link.(4 in 2 out would be nice for your case) Wired is way better than wireless. You have to give up one cable unless you buy one dock for each laptop, connect their output to the HDMI switch, your chromecast or whatever you prefer as well. If you don't need to take the laptops away quite often, use their HDMI OUT to save on a dock.

For KVM it is harder. Try finding a HDMI matrix with KVM. Or just use a mouse with multiple device support.

Really like the tip about mounting the monitor higher to free up desk space — combined with a small LED strip behind it, it makes both work and gaming sessions feel way more comfortable.