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Valve has released Steam Big Picture Mode, which provides PC gamers with a new, elegant TV-tailored experience of Steam. The problem is Big Picture Mode is currently only in open beta testing, and finding out how to opt into the beta can be tricky. Detailed below are steps to help you get Steam's new Big Picture Mode running smoothly on your big-screen TV.
The first thing you'll want to do upon booting up Steam is to click on the "Steam" dropdown menu at the upper left and then select "Settings."
A menu will pop up. From here, under the "Beta Participation" section, click the "CHANGE…" button.
Another pop-up menu will appear and then in the Beta participation drop-down menu, select "Steam Beta Update." Steam will then ask you to restart the program. Do so. Steam will then take a couple of seconds to update.
Once Steam reloads, you'll notice a new "Big Picture" icon at the upper right-hand corner. Click it.
After a brief intro animation, you'll be in Steam's Big Picture Mode.
You'll find that Steam Big Picture mode comfortably allows you to navigate its interface from the confines of your relatively distant couch or bed with the assistance of your favorite game controller. While you can certainly use a keyboard and mouse, we can tell Valve spent a lot of time tailoring the experience for USB-powered Xbox 360 controllers.
Now that you've gotten into the Steam Big Screen beta, you might be wondering how you get this new interface onto your HDTV.
If your HDTV is connected to your PC via HDMI, doing this is really easy. On Windows 7, simply right-mouse click anywhere on an empty portion of desktop then click "Screen resolution." From here, select your TV and click on the "Make this my main display" checkbox. Select "OK." Now your nice, big screen TV will be your primary monitor (you can always switch back when you're done using Steam's Big Picture Mode).
Before you boot up Steam, you'll similarly want to enable your TV to play your PC's audio. To do this in Windows 7, right-mouse click on the speaker icon on the lower-right hand corner of your desktop > select "Playback devices" > choose your TV's speakers > press the "Set Default" button > Press "OK."
Voila! Now your TV is configured to take full advantage of Steam's new Big Picture Mode.
Comments are closed on this article
SANMANx
September 17, 2012 at 1:14pm
This is more for the whole GUI experience right? This doesn't change the actual visuals and res for the games on an HDTV right? I've hooked up my computer to my HDTV and it looks like a big'ol monitor (a sweet one at that) then I play my games and it looks awesome! So again the question, is big screen mode more for the steam client GUI and not for the looks of the games?
BryceBooth
September 15, 2012 at 5:30pm
Windows 8 is an OS, this is an application that runs on a desktop.
MarioJP
September 15, 2012 at 8:17pm
The irony of that statement is that big picture has tiles too Steam tiles lol.
acidic
September 14, 2012 at 8:43pm
with this beta you can also install games to seperate drives instead of everything in the steam directory. useful for putting certain games on ssd while keeping majority on large storage
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/11/finally-an-in-built-way-to-choose-steam-install-locations/
stradric
September 15, 2012 at 9:24am
I came here to post this. It's odd. It doesn't seem to work for every game. Borderlands 2 pre-load is live now and it didn't even give me the option to choose the download location. So it doesn't look like the need to symlink is completely gone yet.
Also, you still can't move games from within Steam. It's clearly an incomplete feature so it's no wonder Valve isn't publicizing it.
germanogre
September 14, 2012 at 8:34pm
It's great. One problem, though. Steam now downloads updates every time it starts. On my fairly slow connection it takes about 20 seconds. Minor, but still annoying. Hope to be able to ditch beta participation soon.
don2041
September 14, 2012 at 5:20pm
I don,t have a big screen tv. i have a big screen moniter do these insrtuction still apply. my puter does it all.
jimmthang
September 14, 2012 at 5:41pm
Hey Don,
The author of the article here. Yeah, this article still applies to you. You just won't need to do the last two steps (set up TV video and audio).
