Advice on USB-A dock for multiple gaming controllers, and
Hey everyone, just a re-post of a question posted earlier in the wrong section - Just wanted to share a setup I've been working on and ask for some advice.
It started off when our family moved to a new house, and I mounted our QLED and Apple TV to the wall in the living room. When we moved, I cable-tied a cheap second hand Dell Optiplex micro-form factor PC to the back of the TV (all of these devices are hard-wired into our home network), and set the Optiplex up with a wireless keyboard and trackpad combo, which worked out great for WFH without a desk, and home admin type stuff. (I have most of my higher end gaming stuff, like the PlayStation 5 and the gaming PC, in my own office - again all that is plugged into the network via CAT6 patch cables; I try not to use wi-fi for non-portable devices)
So I wanted to turn this into a gaming area for the kids where they could game without disappearing into Daddy's office..... we wanted them to be play able to be in the living room where we could keep an eye on them 😄 So when I got my iPhone upgrade, I had the idea of mounted the old iPhone 13 on the wall behind the living room TV, hoping to pair it with a PS5 Dualsense controller and mirror the screen to the TV. It was fine, but it was pretty laggy for some faster-paced games. So I installed the Steam Link app on the Apple TV, which let us stream Steam games really well, and pairing the PS5 Dualsense was pretty straightforward too. But obviously that's not going to work for actual PS5 games
So I thought... if I want them to be able to stream PS5 games to the living room using an actual PS5 controller and also stream PC games using an Xbox controller, I'm going to need to pick up an Xbox wireless controller and the official dongle. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00ZQW91DE?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
And I also added an 8BitDo wireless USB adapter to connect the PS5 controller to the Dell OptiPlex.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01NCLG45T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
So in theory the Dell OptiPlex should be able to stream anything they want using the appropriate controllers, at this point.
The first problem is that the Optiplex only has two USB-A ports, which isn't enough for the 8bitDo receiver, the xBox wireless adapter, and the USB-A dongle for the work keyboard/mouse. Was just wondering if anybody could recommend a powered USB-A dock that has low latency and broad compatibility with these types of controllers
The other problem is that when streaming PS5 gameplay to the Optiplex (using the PS5 remote play app from the Microsoft Store), there's a persistent buzzing noise on the audio.
I thought at first it might be because there was some electromagnetic intereference on the CAT6 patch cables here, but other streaming methods like Steam Link on the Apple TV didn't have that issue.
Interestingly, when I streamed from the PS5 to my own office gaming PC and Parsec'd from the gaming PC to the living room Optiplex, the lag was actually slightly better (compared to PS5>Optiplex direct connection), and the buzzing actually reduced somewhat. This makes me think it might be due to the PS5 remote play software, or maybe the Optiplex just hasn't got enough under the hood for that method
So to sum up a very long post 😄
I've tried:
1) Streaming PS5 to an iPhone and mirroring to the Apple TV (very laggy), and there is no PS5 remote play app for the Apple TV (yet)
2) Haven't tried the chromecast PS5 app yet, which would use wi-fi but would have a direct HDMI connection to the TV
3) Haven't tried tweaking the QOS settings on my network setup yet
4) Haven't tried other devices like replacing the Optiplex with a better NUC
I'm really curious if anyone has found a good way to stream PS5 gameplay to another room without a second console. Also, any recommendations for a power USB-A that would work with that setup, would be greatly appreciated
Microsoft Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows 10 (Xbox One)
With the Xbox Wireless Adapter, experience the advanced precision and comfort of your Xbox Wireless Controller on Windows 10 PCs, laptops, and tablets. Use it with PC games, and Xbox One games streamed to Windows 10, to elevate your game wherever you want to play.
8Bitdo Wireless USB Adapter 2 for Switch, Switch OLED, Windows PC, ...
8Bitdo Wireless USB Adapter 2 for Switch, Switch OLED, Windows PC, Mac and Raspberry Pi, for PS5, PS4, Switch Pro Controller and More (Nintendo Switch//)
42 Replies
How old of an optiplex are we talking here?
And is it a USFF size or SFF. You can try to add an additional gpu if its the sff size or maybe upgrade the CPU as well. Or just get a nuc size/mini pc i keep seeing everywhere
I imagine you don't have Bluetooth connection at all on the optiplex right?
@DiamondRyce it’s a Dell Optiplex 3050 with an i3-7100 series processor, released sometime in 2017 I think
GG @TheRealOC, you just advanced to level 4 !
Here’s a photo of the Microsoft Xbox wireless adapter and the keyboard/mouse dongle in the back
I think it’s an SFF so maybe I could get a GPU in there and upgrade the power supply but I think at that point, I would just replace it with a NUC. This was something I was able to get for free from work
It doesn’t have Bluetooth on board hence the 8bitdo adapter for dualsense necessitating the usb hub
i use this form factor at work. its the Micro (usff doesnt exist anymore name wise) model. at most you can upgrade the cpu, storage and wifi card. theres no way theres no bluetooth... if its an intel based cpu, theres a wifi/bluetooth combo card in it.
or at the very least, a m.2 slot for said combo card.
do me a favor, go into device manager and see what network card is in it
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-ca/optiplex-3050-micro/optiplex_3050-mff_om/removing-the-wlan-card?guid=guid-f713a329-aaa7-48a5-ab57-d3d9a74871fc&lang=en-us
so unless you dont have network card. $20 and you get wifi and bluetooth https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Dual-Band-Wireless-AX200NGW/dp/B07V9N9XVJ
Intel Dual Band Wireless AX200NGW - WiFi 6 AX200 WiFi Adapter - 2.4...
Intel Dual Band Wireless AX200NGW - WiFi 6 AX200 WiFi Adapter - 2.4GHz 574Mbps/5GHz 2.4Gbps - 802.11AX Network Card - Bluetooth5.0 Wireless Network Adapter for Windows 10 64Bit/Google Chrome OS/Linux
Little bit more context coming up…
Uploading…
Ok will do 👍
Part 2
Streaming ps5 to gaming pc and parsecing the gaming pc to the optiplex actually has less latency and less audio noise than the ps5 remote app direct to the optiplex 🤯
Realtek PCIe GBE family controller #2
Everything connected up with cat6a patch cables; nothings using WiFi
if you want bluetooth you will need add the combo wifi/bluetooth card then. hmm do you use any dolby digital sound output on the ps5
Yep definitely not onboard Bluetooth
I would in my office but not for this setup; this is really just so we can keep an eye on the kids when they’re gaming
Would the 8bitdo adapter not work?
well how many usb ports are you using? i see 6 in the manual. 2 in front 4 in the back. is that not enough
I’m using two already; was looking into getting a powered usb hub
That was the other issue - wasn’t sure if any decent usb a hub would do the job, or whether there were particular ones known for good controller compatibility/low latency
im not following here, why a usb hub when you have 4 usb ports in the back of the unit. is that not enough ports. what else are you putting in
4 controllers. 2 keyboard and mouse
I only have two ports in the optiplex
One used for the keyboard/trackpad
And the other is used by the xbox dongle at the moment
thats the front of the unit. you are telling me theres no usb ports in the back of that PC?
Oh I’m a fucking idiot
Can we pretend that didn’t happen? 😅
well you still got an audio issue. so maybe update the drivers on the dell side. if its still happening on the ps5 streaming, im thinking ps5 audio settings
Ok so the hubs not a problem
Maybe if I check that it’s set to standard stereo
Just checking now
if you got an ipad, android or something, you can check if the remote app is working without audio issues as well. which would mean something is buggy on the windows version of that application
The ps5 remote app works ok on the iPhone 13
It’s laggy af when mirrored to the Apple TV but there’s no buzz on the audio
Maybe the iPhone 13 can process Dolby audio better than a 2017 optiplex tho? Not sure
Just going into the ps5 audio settings now…
It was already set to Linear PCM; that should have been fine
Gonna try all the options just to see what happens on the optiplex side
yeah im not sure what else can help here then. i imagine the ps5 is hardwired connected as well?
Oh yes, it’s all hardwired to the nasa station…
Could be a qos issue in the unifi gear but it seems unlikely
yeah man im not sure at this point. dig around and search. im out of ideas. maybe someone else can help
Really appreciate your help dude, thanks so much
Got the usb dock issue sorted anyway 😂😂😂
yeah man unless it was thin client theres no way theres not usb ports in the back of that kind of pc lol
One of my many brain farts
Yeah so the audio buzzing persisted on all the standard audio output options
Gonna try messing with the qos, maybe try and setup a dedicated vlan for gaming
If that doesn’t work, might try picking up a relatively cheap device that has a version of the ps5 streaming app but can still connect directly to the tv (chromecast?) and see how that goes?
Other than that I’ve got no more ideas 😂😂
Have you tried using the optical output for the audio?
ps5 doesnt have optical out. it was trying to keep the setup and simple as possible here