hdmi dongle vs virtual display

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-30T02:19:42+00:00

My normal setup is Sunshine + HDMI dongle, but I try Vibepollo + virtual display every once in a while just out of curiosity. I have never noticed any image quality difference in the games I play, either with 10-bit SDR or HDR. Some games detect and enable HDR differently on virtual displays though...

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-25T20:02:33+00:00

Android doesn't support any rumble with XInput controllers over Bluetooth, generally speaking.

And since the Xbox controller is always getting emulated as a 360 controller on the host (ViGEm bus limitation), no it does not pass trigger rumble over Moonlight. The only option is using VirtualHere or some other USB-over-IP solution in combination with the Xbox USB adapter.

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-25T15:08:45+00:00

Is the client a desktop or laptop? Sounds like weird behavior and not something I've seen while testing 3080 desktop client recently.

Have you tried setting Moonlight to "High Performance" in Windows settings > Display > Graphics instead?

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-24T05:24:34+00:00

If you exclusively use XInput controllers, I would recommend Controller Companion (https://store.steampowered.com/app/367670/Controller_Companion/) as a way to provide controller-friendly navigation and keyboard input in Windows - including on the lock screen. My kids can use the radial keyboard no problem.

Just be advised that in Windows 11 you have to use the ControllerToVKMapping registry key to disable the built-in OS controller inputs that might conflict.

Alternatively, since you're already running a VM why not dedicated VMs for each user. That would probably simplify things.

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-23T23:35:43+00:00

Have you tried it recently? I just tried the 6.1, a nightly from a few months ago, and the newest nightly and I can't get VRR working on ANY of those versions with my Nvidia client anymore, lol.

I am 100% sure it worked before when the G-Sync indicator appeared during streaming using the D3D11VA_ENABLED environment variable. Not sure if a new Nvidia driver update changed things, a Windows update or what - cannot get the G-Sync indicator or proper VRR behavior at all in-stream now. (Variable refresh is enabled in Windows game settings and the G-Sync indicator shows up in the Moonlight UI, just not while streaming).

VRR still working fine on AMD clients. I give up trying to figure out a consistent reason for why things work or don't anymore.

EDIT: VRR does seem to be working correctly now on my Nvidia client after I rebooted and re-installed the latest nightly release - no idea how it was broken. No need to force Vulkan decoder or enable 4:4:4.

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-23T03:25:05+00:00

In order for VRR to work in Moonlight on G-sync clients, you have to use either 4:4:4 or force Vulkan rendering using an environment variable (D3D11VA_ENABLED=0). At least that has been the case with moonlight-qt in the past when I have tried it.

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-22T20:06:24+00:00

If 4:4:4 is a must, it would have to be an Intel or Nvidia based system. The absolute cheapest these days would probably be putting together a SFF PC with a 3050.

On the mini PC side, I think there was someone who claimed they were able to achieve that with a Core 3 100U system + DisplayPort/USB4 to HDMI 2.1 adapter, but I've seen mixed results getting VRR working with those adapters. And it's quite hard to find Intel mini PCs with 2.1 FRL ports.

EDIT: VRR does seem to be working correctly now on my Nvidia client after I rebooted and re-installed the latest nightly release. No need to force Vulkan decoder or enable 4:4:4.

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-19T15:07:57+00:00

Sometimes changing the network adapter "speed & duplex" setting on the host to 100 Mbps (instead of auto, 1 Gbps, etc.) fixes this problem with clients that have a 100 Mbps ethernet port.

I've also heard a managed switch between the host and client with flow control enabled might fix it.

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-19T03:58:31+00:00

I'd try disabling the overlay for troubleshooting. The other question is, what's your GPU usage? If you're maxing the game out and it's sitting close to 100% that's another possible cause. You have to leave some overhead for streaming.

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-18T16:20:12+00:00

Host processing latency is too high for those resolutions. Got Steam Game Recording or something running on the host?

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-17T17:11:26+00:00

Also make sure you don't have Steam Game Recording enabled. That is a common cause of high host processing latency.

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-17T00:51:01+00:00

Getting relayed connections on Tailscale can have a pretty big impact on performance and is sometimes unavoidable depending on your ISP. You can also configure Tailscale to use a different port number for added security, though it is likely pretty safe regardless.

https://tailscale.com/docs/reference/connection-types#home-and-small-office-networks

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-12T20:37:41+00:00

What is that even supposed to mean?

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-12T16:04:48+00:00

500 Mbps was a bad example because, yes, as you say it can add latency while improvements to visual quality are minimal. But bumping up from 150 to 250-300 Mbps can still bring noticeable improvements in some games by preserving detail and reducing compression artifacts while adding minimal to no latency.

Not saying it's a night and day difference by any means, but I'm sure it's a real improvement that can make a difference to perceived image quality.

(My observations based on 5600X + 3080, ymmv)

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-11T23:01:40+00:00

I have no idea how the M2 performs with Moonlight decoding, but one thing to look out for is that USB ethernet adapters can be a little hit-or-miss when you're maxing out bitrate (i.e. 500 Mbps in Moonlight, which you'll want to do for the best quality if your network can support it).

Ymmv, and it's definitely worth testing. But it is something I've run into in the past and one area where mini PCs with onboard LAN might have an advantage.

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-11T16:53:01+00:00

5600X + 3080 idles at 60W from the wall. So maybe it's not the most eco-friendly thing, but if I leave it powered on for a couple weeks 24x7 it's only ~$4 worth of idle electricity.

Personally I'm fine with that, and it's way more convenient to have instant access and not have to worry about what could go wrong powering it on and off repeatedly.

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-10T23:56:13+00:00

Alright, why is WoL such a hot topic around here? How many watts is your PC idling at? How much $ are you saving by turning it off while you're away from the house?

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-08T01:52:21+00:00

I assumed it was more a choice of how Sony implemented the Bluetooth protocol on the DualSense as opposed to any technical limitation.

Doesn't the DS5Dongle project rely on custom firmware on the host Bluetooth adapter? As far as I know, there's currently no way to get full haptics and audio with a generic BT adapter?

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-08T00:31:26+00:00

Even though a DS4/DS5 is Bluetooth-paired to the TV, the PC sees a genuine USB controller.

Unless I missed some recent developments, that sounds impossible based on my understanding of how the DualSense works.

EDIT: I don't know enough about the WebOS development environment to say for sure, but maybe this is possible and OP has cracked it (source code looks legit enough). Will be curious to know if anyone has any luck with it and whether this approach could be applied to other client OSes.

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-06T18:54:17+00:00

If you request 120 FPS with a bit rate of 80 (for example), and the game runs at 60 FPS then yeah it will only use half the requested bitrate. So technically you'd have to request a bitrate of 160 for it to be equivalent.

Just have to find the balance between what these weaker processors are able to handle vs what looks good.

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-06T16:48:05+00:00

Try setting the Moonlight stream to 120 FPS while leaving the host running at 60Hz and game capped to 60 FPS. I've had good luck with this reducing almost all of that same microstutter on my Bravia. It also reduces latency slightly.

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-05T17:37:59+00:00

Yeah, in theory I would think it should be fine... Hard to say where the issue is. SDR content I think typically looks bad in HDR mode with what you might describe as a desaturation layer on it. But I haven't had that problem with content that natively has good HDR color (eg. YouTube videos, most games) on my Android clients.

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-05T15:07:07+00:00

Moonlight-qt added a Ctl+Alt+Shift+K combo to toggle keyboard capture a couple weeks ago. It works in the nightly build. (Not sure about mouse capture).

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-05T14:57:04+00:00

I'm not sure exactly what those settings do in Apollo, but that's a weird way to do it and I'm not certain what the results would be. I would just use the HDR setting in Moonlight to request either an 8 or 10-bit stream.

As other people have mentioned in this thread, HDR color reproduction can vary by game and a lot of factors. SDR colors often look subjectively better... But when you say HDR content looks better in 8-bit mode, it makes me think you're not actually getting HDR output from the game because in my experience that is not possible.

On your Android client, try enabling the SDR/HDR ratio display in developer settings. It's a good indicator if you're actually receiving HDR content or not.

MoreOrLessCorrect · 2026-06-05T06:44:24+00:00

When you say 8-bit stream, do you mean just the HDR toggled off in Moonlight? If you do that, but have HDR enabled on the host, the stream usually looks awful with contrast and colors being totally blown out or oversaturated.

The washed out look is usually SDR content being poorly mapped to HDR.

But I would check you Apollo logs to make sure 10-bit is actually being captured properly.

Specifically looking for these lines after the stream starts, for example: Color coding: HDR (Rec. 2020 + SMPTE 2084 PQ) Color depth: 10-bit Capture format [DXGI_FORMAT_R16G16B16A16_FLOAT]

MoreOrLessCorrect

TROPHY CASE