Hey guys, I thought I'd share my experience so far with using my stock .30 FW TF700 as a gaming console device. My setup is using a MicroHDMI cable to output to a 55" TV with a 5.1 surround sound receiver and speaker set, and using the dock, I am able to use the wired, PC version of the Xbox 360 controller. There are ways to use the wireless console version using a wireless receiver, but I won't get into that as I have no experience with it. There are, however, how-to's on YouTube and other sources. You can also use Wii and PS3 controllers over Bluetooth. I chose the Xbox controller because I am used to it and more comfortable with wired versus a wireless connection.
First I'll get movies out of the way. I'm using BS Player with the the BS Engine hardware acceleration (after some very basic and general testing I found this option to yield the most/best average frames per sec, which comes out to an average of 23.97 FPS). The video is a DVD rip, standard 700ish meg file. The movie is Snow White and the Huntsmen (I chose this because it has a LOT of dark scenes and dark scenes always yield the worst viewing distortions in my experience). The movie looks and plays perceptibly identical as when I play the file on my PC and output via HDMI to the same TV, so no complaints there. I'm happy with movie playback here. My one complaint, though, is that you are not able to either close the tablet docked or power off the tablet screen and keep playing the movie on the screen. If anyone knows a workaround to this I would really appreciate some feedback. My only workaround atm is to turn the tablet away from me so I don't see the screen glow that distracts me from the movie. This also drains the battery faster if you don't have the option to be plugged in.
For gaming, the first game I tried was Dead Trigger, available for free, using a pay to win type strategy I think. Prior to plugging in my Xbox controller, I did not have any game pad options. After plugging in the controller, I was given a game pad option to map keys, and after that setup, I was able to play the game with my Xbox controller with no problems. Controls are very smooth, but fine tuning options you get on console games are absent, like aim down sights toggle versus hold and release, but I can live with that. When playing through the MicroHDMI cable on the TV, it would be very easy to confuse this game with an Xbox arcade game, if not even a retail title, the graphics are really clean and crisp. This game doesn't have bloom effects and other types of high end graphics tricks, so I'm not sure what it's fully capable of. But I did not notice any difference in performance between playing on the tablet itself and the TV. One hiccup though that I found annoying was that despite using a game pad, I was still required to use the touchscreen to advance through the menu. Maybe there is some mapping options I can tweak to fix this, because it is very annoying with the tablet having to be in the dock to use the controller. If anyone has successfully used a USB to MicroUSB to use the controller without the dock I'd love to hear about it. All in all I was happy with it.
Next game up was N.O.V.A. 3. This game does not appear to natively support game pads. If it does please someone correct me and tell me what I'm doing wrong. In order to address this, I picked up a couple apps off the app store, Joystick Center 6 and Joy2Touch, both by the same author, Poke64738. I'm struggling to get these to work, but I am sure it is ID 10 T error on my part, as many people have had success using his apps to play android games using USB and Bluetooth controllers, as well as keyboard and mouse combos. These apps work by using controller input from USB and Bluetooth devices to emulate touch input on the capacitive touchscreen, and involve a mapping overly while in the game requiring you to touch the screen and map that screen tap to the appropriate button on your input device. Once I get it sorted out, I'm sure it will be right as rain, and if anyone has a source for a walk through or how-to I would greatly appreciate the link, or better yet, a source for Xbox controller profiles would be better. N.O.V.O. 3 loading times seem to take a very long time, which I think is caused by our tablets' I/O issues, and I don't see how JB/Project Butter could address that. But has for video and audio quality, just as Dead Trigger, it looked great and ran at good speed with no tears or artifacts or any noticeable defects. Once I figure out my Joystick Center 6 setup I'm sure this will be a fun game to play.
All in all I'm having fun using my tablet as a console like device, aside from the few minor issues i described. I hope this was helpful to anyone trying to decide if they want to invest in the stuff needed to do this. Also, any feedback for the issues I'm having, apps I'm using, or ways to improve the experience are very welcome, for the benefit of myself and the community.
TL;DR TF700 makes a pretty good gaming console IMO.
WeSiDe said:
Hey guys, I thought I'd share my experience so far with using my stock .30 FW TF700 as a gaming console device. My setup is using a MicroHDMI cable to output to a 55" TV with a 5.1 surround sound receiver and speaker set, and using the dock, I am able to use the wired, PC version of the Xbox 360 controller. There are ways to use the wireless console version using a wireless receiver, but I won't get into that as I have no experience with it. There are, however, how-to's on YouTube and other sources. You can also use Wii and PS3 controllers over Bluetooth. I chose the Xbox controller because I am used to it and more comfortable with wired versus a wireless connection.
First I'll get movies out of the way. I'm using BS Player with the the BS Engine hardware acceleration (after some very basic and general testing I found this option to yield the most/best average frames per sec, which comes out to an average of 23.97 FPS). The video is a DVD rip, standard 700ish meg file. The movie is Snow White and the Huntsmen (I chose this because it has a LOT of dark scenes and dark scenes always yield the worst viewing distortions in my experience). The movie looks and plays perceptibly identical as when I play the file on my PC and output via HDMI to the same TV, so no complaints there. I'm happy with movie playback here. My one complaint, though, is that you are not able to either close the tablet docked or power off the tablet screen and keep playing the movie on the screen. If anyone knows a workaround to this I would really appreciate some feedback. My only workaround atm is to turn the tablet away from me so I don't see the screen glow that distracts me from the movie. This also drains the battery faster if you don't have the option to be plugged in.
For gaming, the first game I tried was Dead Trigger, available for free, using a pay to win type strategy I think. Prior to plugging in my Xbox controller, I did not have any game pad options. After plugging in the controller, I was given a game pad option to map keys, and after that setup, I was able to play the game with my Xbox controller with no problems. Controls are very smooth, but fine tuning options you get on console games are absent, like aim down sights toggle versus hold and release, but I can live with that. When playing through the MicroHDMI cable on the TV, it would be very easy to confuse this game with an Xbox arcade game, if not even a retail title, the graphics are really clean and crisp. This game doesn't have bloom effects and other types of high end graphics tricks, so I'm not sure what it's fully capable of. But I did not notice any difference in performance between playing on the tablet itself and the TV. One hiccup though that I found annoying was that despite using a game pad, I was still required to use the touchscreen to advance through the menu. Maybe there is some mapping options I can tweak to fix this, because it is very annoying with the tablet having to be in the dock to use the controller. If anyone has successfully used a USB to MicroUSB to use the controller without the dock I'd love to hear about it. All in all I was happy with it.
Next game up was N.O.V.A. 3. This game does not appear to natively support game pads. If it does please someone correct me and tell me what I'm doing wrong. In order to address this, I picked up a couple apps off the app store, Joystick Center 6 and Joy2Touch, both by the same author, Poke64738. I'm struggling to get these to work, but I am sure it is ID 10 T error on my part, as many people have had success using his apps to play android games using USB and Bluetooth controllers, as well as keyboard and mouse combos. These apps work by using controller input from USB and Bluetooth devices to emulate touch input on the capacitive touchscreen, and involve a mapping overly while in the game requiring you to touch the screen and map that screen tap to the appropriate button on your input device. Once I get it sorted out, I'm sure it will be right as rain, and if anyone has a source for a walk through or how-to I would greatly appreciate the link, or better yet, a source for Xbox controller profiles would be better. N.O.V.O. 3 loading times seem to take a very long time, which I think is caused by our tablets' I/O issues, and I don't see how JB/Project Butter could address that. But has for video and audio quality, just as Dead Trigger, it looked great and ran at good speed with no tears or artifacts or any noticeable defects. Once I figure out my Joystick Center 6 setup I'm sure this will be a fun game to play.
All in all I'm having fun using my tablet as a console like device, aside from the few minor issues i described. I hope this was helpful to anyone trying to decide if they want to invest in the stuff needed to do this. Also, any feedback for the issues I'm having, apps I'm using, or ways to improve the experience are very welcome, for the benefit of myself and the community.
TL;DR TF700 makes a pretty good gaming console IMO.
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do you have any pics? i'd love to see some you should try asphalt 7
PantechBurstOwner said:
do you have any pics? i'd love to see some you should try asphalt 7
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Asphalt 7 won't install from the play store for our device, i had bought it on my phone but am unable to install it.
PantechBurstOwner said:
do you have any pics? i'd love to see some you should try asphalt 7
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user311 said:
Asphalt 7 won't install from the play store for our device, i had bought it on my phone but am unable to install it.
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I'll see what I can do....
Edit:
I've managed to dig up an old copy I had of the game and forgot I backed up from my Galaxy, if I can get it running I'll take some pics or maybe a video, but not sure where I could post the video, haven't done this sort of thing before. Youtube? Or this there an easier option?
No need for a video unless you want to, I just wanted to see how that was set up. does it look good on the TV?
Sent from my PantechP9070 using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2
Yeah, every thing looks great on the tv, same quality as what appears on the tablet. I had to fiddle with the ratio button on the TV remote to get it to fit right, set it to "Just Scan" and it all fit nicely.
I got asphalt 7 on my tf700, and it runs and plays nice, but it doesn't support game pad natively, so I gotta wait until I figure out the joystick center 6 app. It's starting to seem like none of the Gameloft games have support for game pads built in. I really hope developers get in the habit of including this.
I've tried a couple of games on my TV and I always have a very noticeable, yet small, delay from the tablet screen to the tv screen. I find it makes some games difficult to play. Have you noticed this at all?
Sent from my Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2
Does anyone happen to know if Shadowgun THD happens to support game pads natively?
newellj79 said:
I've tried a couple of games on my TV and I always have a very noticeable, yet small, delay from the tablet screen to the tv screen. I find it makes some games difficult to play. Have you noticed this at all?
Sent from my Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2
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No, fortunately I haven't noticed this issue, not that I was looking for it though. I was having to use the touch screen while playing so I think I would have noticed. But now that you have mentioned it I will keep an eye out for it. Just a shot in the dark, but does your TV operate at 120Hz? Not sure if that would cause the delay, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did. Also, it may be the cable. I know that it's a digital signal and a crappy cable is suppose to work just like a good one, but there might be an issue there in the cable. I would try a different cable, and / or a different TV, if you are able to. Then you could narrow it down. If it's still doing it after a different cable and on a different TV, then it's more then likely something to do with the tablet itself.
newellj79 said:
I've tried a couple of games on my TV and I always have a very noticeable, yet small, delay from the tablet screen to the tv screen. I find it makes some games difficult to play. Have you noticed this at all?
Sent from my Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2
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OK so I went and did some testing, with games, movies, and web browsing, scrolling up and down and stuff, and I didn't notice any lag between what was being displayed on my tablet and what was displaying on the TV. Hope this is helpful to you.
One workaround to the tablet screen issue is using an app like rootdim to decrease the backlight of your tablet to zero. This would turn the screen off on the tablet and not the tv. Getting the backlight back on wouldn't be too hard since you can use the mouse on the dock to control things on your tv instead of the touchscreen.
Oh and there are some ways to navigate the tablet easier. With the joystick app you bought, it's possible to use the joystick on your controller as a mouse. This could easily be activated with the touch of a button that isn't really used on the controller, making it possible to switch back and forth. A downside of this is that games that natively use the gamepad (such as dead trigger and shadowgun) won't work if you're using the joystick center app.
Another way to navigate is blueputdroid. Simply download this app on your phone and now you have a bluetooth mouse and keyboard. This could control virtually everything on your tablet. Games like dead trigger could be navigated from the couch and you could even easily browse the internet since you now have a keyboard.
hajalie24 said:
Another way to navigate is blueputdroid. Simply download this app on your phone and now you have a bluetooth mouse and keyboard. This could control virtually everything on your tablet. Games like dead trigger could be navigated from the couch and you could even easily browse the internet since you now have a keyboard.
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LOL I was just thinking earlier today "How can I use an android phone to control an android tablet?". Thank you so much for that info, and I am most definitely going to check it out! But wouldn't this require some kind of server app running on the android tablet? I've used my phone as a keyboard/nouse with my pc before, and they all required the pc side to have a server program running in the background.
WeSiDe said:
Does anyone happen to know if Shadowgun THD happens to support game pads natively?
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I believe it does.
If you're rooted and have a PS3 controller, you can always install Sixaxais Controller. It lets you maps virtual controls. I've done it with Dead Trigger. It works pretty good, but I can't quite get the movement setting just right.
I risked it and went ahead and spent the five bucks on Shadowgun THD. It does support game pads natively, so that's awesome. Plays like a Gears of War Lite.
My next endeavor will be to get the TF700 LTE model when it comes out, unless a better option comes along. I want to use a data plan with it along with something like splashtop to remote into my pc at home.
I can see it now, grinding out levels in guild wars 2 at the bus stop. I did this over my home wireless network and it worked great.
I'm curious about some things concerning the differences between the current TF700 and the LTE TF700 coming out, but I'm gonna make a separate post about that.
WeSiDe said:
LOL I was just thinking earlier today "How can I use an android phone to control an android tablet?". Thank you so much for that info, and I am most definitely going to check it out! But wouldn't this require some kind of server app running on the android tablet? I've used my phone as a keyboard/nouse with my pc before, and they all required the pc side to have a server program running in the background.
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It doesn't need an app installed on the tablet because it acts as a bluetooth mouse and keyboard, which the tablet natively supports.
Another alternative to blueputdroid is the app called tablet remote, the buttons are similar to that of a tv remote, so it's not as versatile as blueputdroid, but and you can connect via bluetooth or over wi-fi. You'll need the app installed on both the tablet and phone.
Hey guys, I have a quick question. The tablet is supposed to connect to up to four controllers. I bought two to play 2-players games from the GRID. I tried Street Fighter Tekken but the tablet sees both controllers as one. They both control player 1 only and there is no player 2 at all.
Does anyone know if there is a fix for that or perhaps something that I can do?
Also, are there any good games whether Android or GRID that I can play with two controllers?
Any answer would be much appreciated, thanks...
ahmadshawki said:
Hey guys, I have a quick question. The tablet is supposed to connect to up to four controllers. I bought two to play 2-players games from the GRID. I tried Street Fighter Tekken but the tablet sees both controllers as one. They both control player 1 only and there is no player 2 at all.
Does anyone know if there is a fix for that or perhaps something that I can do?
Also, are there any good games whether Android or GRID that I can play with two controllers?
Any answer would be much appreciated, thanks...
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anyone any suggestions for multiplayer games for 2 controllers? Even some emulators will do... Got a 2nd controller for Xmas and I am having hard time finding any games to play at all
SnowiiSnowii said:
anyone any suggestions for multiplayer games for 2 controllers? Even some emulators will do... Got a 2nd controller for Xmas and I am having hard time finding any games to play at all
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I'm sorry. I gave the tablet to someone and I don't have it under my hands any more. Wish I could help...
Have you tried BombSquad (Android)?
From what I've read in the nvidia forums, the multi-controller support only works with Android native games (i.e. no Gamestream or Grid support).
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using XDA Free mobile app
Trine 2 that comes with the tablet support multiple controls. Beach buggy racing works great for local multiplayer. Supports up to 4 players. You need an in-game purchase to enable that though but it is totally worth it.
There should be a few more native Android games that support local multiplayer such as Gun Slugs by Orange Pixel (have not tried it yet)...
Most emulators support multiple controls as well. Such as Mupen64 Plus AE (the only one I have tried so far).
Guerilla Bob THD should also work according to game description on Google Play.
ahmadshawki said:
Hey guys, I have a quick question. The tablet is supposed to connect to up to four controllers. I bought two to play 2-players games from the GRID. I tried Street Fighter Tekken but the tablet sees both controllers as one. They both control player 1 only and there is no player 2 at all.
Does anyone know if there is a fix for that or perhaps something that I can do?
Also, are there any good games whether Android or GRID that I can play with two controllers?
Any answer would be much appreciated, thanks...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont own the Nvidia Shield yet Coming soon Jan 6th but with my Sony Z2 tablet I bluetooth connected one PS4 controller and the second controller i used a otg cable with and worked on PSX emulator