MSI Claw TV & Monitor Guide using Xbox Controller

Hi Guys,

I thought I would make a quick guide on how to hook up your MSI Claw to your TV or Computer Monitor and control it with an XBOX Controller. I am using an MSI Claw 8ai here.

I purchased this dock on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BQB6VG39/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Pickup a nice HDMI cable and you can plug the AC Adapter that comes with the Claw directly into the Dock.

After connecting power and hdmi then do the following steps:

  1. Connect your Claw.
  2. After it appears on your TV/Monitor I recommend setting the resolution to 1920x1080p for best performance. Click on start / then go to Display Settings to do that.
  3. While you are in your display settings, for some reason my refresh rate defaulted to 30hz and my games were running super slow.. I recommend 120hz or higher if your TV supports it.
  4. Setup your TV/Monitor as the primary screen and turn off the Claw screen, Click "Show on this monitor only". Don't worry when you unplug it, the Claw screen works normal.
  5. At this point you need to go to Settings / Bluetooth and connect your XBOX controller. Lots of guides on this. After you have connected it, this is where it starts to get tricky. You need to to open MSI Center M and Disable "Direct Input". This will disable the built in controller and allow you to use the Xbox controller. Once you do this, your buttons and Joysticks will stop working on the Claw, you will need to use the touch screen, or hook up a mouse and keyboard which is what I do.

A few tips:

  1. If you hold the Xbox button for a few seconds, it will bring up MSI Center M. Regular MSI center doesn't seem to work. This will allow you to switch between xbox, steam, etc.
  2. I recommend setting up Big Picture mode for Steam.
  3. XBOX Remote play works great on here, I used it to connect to my xbox and play in a different room.
  4. If you get stuck in MSI game center, or your controller isn't being responsive, this usually happens because MSI game center took over the controller, you can close it using the touch screen or the mouse and keyboard. There was once instance where I had to reboot the machine to get my controller to work when MSI Center took over.
  5. Sometimes when your machine goes to sleep, my TV has issues getting it back, usually unplugging it and plugging it back in resolves it, worst case, just rebooting it always works. It seems to remember my TV because even after rebooting, so that's great, you don't have to setup everything again.

I originally had a Steam deck and connecting it to my TV was very difficult and the games did NOT perform this well. Doom Eternal is really great looking and fast even on higher settings!

Let me know if you have any questions!