Good news everyone! We’ve spent the past year working on The Cinema Update, our biggest release since we launched the Bigscreen Beta in March 2016.

The Cinema Update features a new cinema environment and significant improvements to performance and streaming. Watch the trailer and read the release notes below.

New Cinema environment

Huge 100-foot screen

Hyper-realistic dynamic lighting. The screen shines light onto the walls and seats, and the room becomes very dark — pitch black — if the screen is black

40 AI bots (NPCs) make the Cinema feel lively, as if you’re in a real theater with a bunch of people

Massive performance improvements

Thanks to our new C++ engine, you will see significantly reduced CPU, GPU and RAM usage in both Singleplayer and Multiplayer. We aren’t done yet, so expect even more performance improvements in the future

2 players using Bigscreen to play Grand Theft Auto V together, like a LAN party

Flawless 1080p 30fps desktop streaming

In Bigscreen Multiplayer, you can see each other’s desktop screens (screen sharing). Previously, it would use a ton of CPU and might only be a 2fps slideshow, making it nearly impossible to watch movies with friends in Bigscreen.

Our new streaming technology can easily stream flawless 1080p videos at 30fps. All streams are peer-to-peer, private, and encrypted. Your data/desktop does not stream through our servers; it only goes directly to the people in your Multiplayer room.

Native desktop audio streaming

Natively integrated into Bigscreen, no additional software required. Just plug in a pair of headphones or a speaker, and select it in Settings>Audio as your “Desktop Audio Mirroring device”. You’ll hear sound in both your headset and in this mirror device

The desktop audio stream is now streaming in stereo (previously mono) and at a higher quality (increased bitrate)

Experimental support for Windows 7 & “VR Ready” Nvidia Optimus laptops

Performance will not be as good as Windows 8/10 PCs. This is our first experimental release. Please test it and give us feedback. We plan to improve this even further in upcoming updates.