Samsung's 2022 TVs have a gaming hub that supports Stadia and GeForce Now, as well as...

[Cal Jeffrey]

TL;DR: It was only a matter of time before TV makers started baking in cloud gaming support to their latest models. We've already seen a smattering of sets with various levels of game-streaming support. Samsung revealed select models of its 2022 lineup have easy access to a few different streaming services, passthrough controller support, and a centralized CEC hub.

Update (01/06/22): A stadia spokesperson reached out to clarify whether the sets could deliver 4K streaming and it appears they can.

"Stadia enables 4K streaming for Stadia Pro subscribers for devices that support 4K video, and that applies to Samsung's Gaming Hub," Stadia told us via email. "Of course, anyone interested in trying Stadia for the first time can claim a free month trial to Stadia Pro when they sign up on Stadia.com."

The original story follows below:

On Monday, Samsung gave CES 2022 a sneak peek at some of its upcoming television technology. In addition to three new smart monitors and a reimagined Eco Remote with RF harvesting, a "select" number of 2022 TVs will support Google Stadia, Nvidia GeForce Now, and Utomik game-streaming apps.

The support is part of a feature called "Samsung Gaming Hub" and will make it easy to sign into and play your cloud gaming accounts. The company first hinted at the hub in an October SDC21 keynote. The hub features quick access to any gaming systems connected to the TV. Leveraging HDMI-CEC (Consumer Electronics Control), you'll be able to power up your device and switch to the correct input automatically right from the hub.

Modern sets have had HDMI-CEC for a while now, but Samsung appears to be streamlining the experience. The firmware reportedly has passthrough controller inputs for PlayStation and Xbox gamepads, meaning players can play using a single controller on any supported console or cloud gaming platform.

Samsung could not confirm if the sets had 4K cloud-streaming support, just saying that it was working with other companies to offer the best experience possible.

"We are working with partners to bring their best levels of service to our platform," Samsung's Gaming Product Director Mike Lucero told The Verge. "We will be announcing details as we get closer to launch." Lucero also implied that the hub might come to older models, but Samsung is concentrating on its 2022 TVs for now.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/92838-samsung-2022-tvs-have-gaming-hub-supporting-limited.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Geforce Now sounds tempting.
Stadia not so much.

I do love the direction TV is going: every TV a broadband connected quasi gaming "console"

 

[rmcrys]

Geforce Now sounds tempting.
Stadia not so much.

I do love the direction TV is going: every TV a broadband connected quasi gaming "console"

That is a feature that could have been there for years: most TV's have Bluetooth and wifi (my TV set is around 8 years old and has them) and modern sets have fast connections, enough for cloud gaming. If I can play very well on my smartphone (Xbox Game pass ultimate) in a modern TV from 2018 onwards it should be smooth as butter. Nevertheless manufacturers release features as drops so that newer models have something to offer...

 

[BSim500]

So have they stopped selling voice recordings captured by the TV's microphone to "third parties" yet?...

 

[bviktor]

I don't like bundling so many features in the same product, because once part of them becomes obsolete, you have to replace the whole bundle.

... and they know that all too well. I'll just stick to the separate PC plus TV setup. Couldn't care less about any smart features of TVs.

 

[VaRmeNsI]

I wonder if they still have ads in the menus...

 

[rmcrys]

I don't like bundling so many features in the same product, because once part of them becomes obsolete, you have to replace the whole bundle.

... and they know that all too well. I'll just stick to the separate PC plus TV setup. Couldn't care less about any smart features of TVs.

I have an 8- year- old (smart) TV from Samsung, dual core chip and it still works as on day one, despite the apps (still functional, like Netflix, YouTube,...) are crap when I compare with the ones on my Nvidia Shield TV (Android TV). Also the video (4K reduced to 1080p) through the shield tv is much better than directly from the apps on the Samsung. But we are talking about a limited hardware back then; the newest TVs have high end chips and are even more future proof. So I think that they will still work flawlessly in 10 - 12 years. Then people will have "8K fire tv or shield tv" with h266 support.