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Steam Frame owners can try seeing their surroundings while streaming a PC desktop or game theater into the headset. Valve has added Room View support for PC streaming in its SteamOS 0.5.8 beta, a change that also opens the door to passthrough in compatible PC VR games.
Previously, turning on Room View hid remote content. The new Steam Frame beta notes say the headset can now show a remote desktop or game theater while its cameras display the room around the wearer.
There is an important setup requirement: both the Steam Frame system beta and the SteamVR beta on the PC must be enabled. The feature is still being tested, so it is not yet part of the stable release for every owner.
Image: Valve
Compatible PC VR games can blend with camera passthrough
Valve says streamed PC VR games that support OpenXR mixed reality can blend their virtual content with the headset’s camera view. It names X-Plane 12 as an example. That is a capability for compatible software, not a switch that turns every PC VR game into a mixed-reality experience.
For less immersive content, the change also applies to the remote desktop and remote game theater. A user can keep seeing that streamed content with passthrough active instead of having it disappear when Room View is enabled.
The beta does not make the PC unnecessary for a streamed game: the computer still runs the PC application, and the headset receives the stream. Actual image quality and responsiveness depend on the hardware and network connection.
Image: Valve
Both the headset and the PC need beta updates
On Steam Frame, Valve says to choose the beta system update channel under Settings, System, System Update Channel. On the host PC, right-click SteamVR in the Steam library, open Properties and choose the beta under Game Versions & Beta.
The headset update also improves eye-tracking self-calibration, fixes a WebXR permission problem in Chrome 157 and addresses dark-tone inconsistencies between eyes on some headsets. Valve has temporarily fixed overlay render quality to Low on Steam Frame and hidden the control to avoid problems with the Ultra setting.
SteamVR beta 2.19.2 separately fixes several Steam Link overlay and game-menu regressions introduced in the previous beta, as well as an occasional crash when streaming resolution changes. Players who prefer to avoid pre-release software can wait for a stable update.