TV Play or PC Play: choose your console picture path

One app behind two websites

We develop ConsoleMouse and publish the GTA-focused GTAMouse website. This guide describes our architecture, not a released-app tutorial. The app is planned for Windows 11 x64 with an owned console, legitimate game and same-home-LAN connection. PS5 and Xbox Series X|S need independent verification.

Two arrows, not two computers

Input always goes from your PC to your console. In PC Play the console stream comes back to that same machine; a second computer is not part of the design. A desk monitor connected directly to console HDMI is a TV Play display even if it normally shows Windows. A television connected to the PC can instead show PC Play. The signal path decides the mode, not the panel’s size.

TV Play: keep the console-connected picture

The planned input path is mouse + keyboard → Windows PC → local network → console. The picture path is console → HDMI → TV or monitor. The PC handles your inputs even though you are looking at another screen. Audio normally follows the console/TV route you already use.

This is the flagship because it preserves the familiar console screen arrangement while changing the input method. The design does not depend on a capture card or dedicated input converter. It still depends on a working PC, peripherals, console and network. TV Play is not a standalone dongle that can operate after the PC is switched off.

Consider the practical placement of your keyboard and mouse. A couch setup needs a stable surface and a comfortable distance to the PC's connected devices. A desk setup needs an easy way to see PC status before capture. Screen choice is only useful if you can reach the controls and release them deliberately.

PC Play: the stream returns to your input PC

The console runs your legitimate game and sends compressed picture and audio over the home network. The same Windows computer that translates mouse and keyboard input is intended to decode and present that stream in ConsoleMouse’s independent player. It can suit a desk where your input devices and PC screen are already together, or when the TV is occupied.

This is not a Windows port or a rented cloud console. Initial setup may still require a console-connected screen and physical controller. Sony’s own Remote Play app is a separate client with its own requirements; its controller instructions do not certify our player or our optional, separately gated Sony-app compatibility path.

Sony Windows PS5 Remote Play — checked 7 October 2026

Why the PC stays on in both modes

The PC is the input host, not just a display accessory. If it sleeps, loses its active session or shuts down, it cannot continue translating your inputs. A laptop needs suitable power settings and ventilation even when you are watching the television.

Before a session, check sleep timers and what closing the lid does. Do not assume a black PC screen means the computer is still awake. Use normal Windows power controls deliberately, and restore any changed settings when you no longer need them. Keeping a laptop on mains power can also help avoid an unexpected battery shutdown.

For TV Play, switching a monitor's physical input from PC to console is not the same action as switching app focus in Windows. Display changes and focus recovery require real testing. The final product should describe its supported behavior instead of expecting every arrangement to work invisibly.

Hidden video is not suppressed media

TV Play watches HDMI, so its visible picture does not pass through the PC player. The input session still needs a stable local network. Hiding a window or skipping decoding does not prove that the console stopped encoding or sending media. Receive-and-discard may be needed; no bandwidth, CPU or latency saving has been measured here. Wired Ethernet is recommended where practical, not a guarantee of suitability.

XIM documents its own network-input/HDMI method. PXPlay’s shared help says its smartphone Gamepad Mode can skip media processing while the console still sends it. Those are external precedents only: neither is proof of ConsoleMouse traffic behavior or a tested Windows HDMI-only mouse-aiming mode.

XIM MATRIX PlayStation 5 guide — checked 7 October 2026

PXPlay shared help — checked 7 October 2026

Plan the room, power and audio together

At a desk with one monitor, switching to the console HDMI input changes the viewed picture, not automatically the Windows focus or capture state. Know how you will see PC status and deliberately release input before returning to the desktop. At a sofa, a stable mouse surface, reachable keyboard and the actual peripheral connection to the PC matter as much as the screen. These are planning checks, not evidence of completed capture behavior.

Choose one audible route: your existing console/TV path for TV Play or the planned streamed audio on the PC for PC Play. Hearing both can produce an echo. Surround, microphone upload and complete controller-audio features are not promised here. Nor does an HDMI diagram certify HDR, refresh rate or every display setting during an active session.

Choose for your setup, then check status

Prefer TV Play if you want your normal console-connected picture and a comfortable PC-connected input surface. Consider PC Play if the desk screen is more convenient and you accept a stream. Both still translate to controller input with game turn limits. Minimum PC hardware requirements and complete PS5/Xbox game coverage have not yet been verified.

USD 39.99 one-time and a 60-minute active-use trial are future targets, not available offers. Equipment is additional. One planned direct licence includes both modes and does not require a second purchase when changing websites. Steam is a separate planned channel; no automatic Steam key is promised. Planned release is within hours of the official GTA VI launch, subject to verified compatibility and release readiness. ConsoleMouse is not yet available to download, try or buy.

ConsoleMouse is independent of Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Microsoft. Intentional single-player input is the focus, not gameplay automation. No account-safety, GTA Online approval or comparative-latency guarantee follows from a documented input method.

Requirements and status

General input-method comparison

PS5 without an adapter: native first

GTA VI on PS5

GTA VI on Xbox