User guide

For FrameCinema 2.0 on the Steam Frame.

FrameCinema plays your own videos and photos on the Steam Frame itself. Nothing

runs on a PC and nothing streams from one: the headset reads the file, decodes it

and shows it. This guide starts with the part most people need first, getting

your videos onto the headset, and then walks through the rest.

1. Getting your videos in

There are three ways. Pick whichever suits you; they all end up in the same Library.

FrameCinema plays .mp4, .mkv, .webm, .mov and .m4v videos, and also AVI, MPEG-TS and AVCHD camcorder files (.mts, .m2ts), DVD .vob, MPEG, WMV, FLV, Ogg, 3GP and GIF. Photos can be .jpg, .jpeg, .mpo, .heic, .heif, .png, .webp, .avif, .jps and .pns. Older formats such as MPEG-2, WMV and ProRes decode on the headset's processor. Interlaced video (DVDs, TV recordings, camcorders) is cleaned up automatically. File names in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, Arabic, Thai and Hindi show in the headset's own fonts. When a file's length is only an estimate, the bar shows it with a ~.

Receive files: send from a phone or computer

The headset shows a small upload page on your home Wi-Fi. You open it in any web browser on a phone or computer and send files to it. The files are copied onto the headset.

1. Open the Library and choose Receive files in the column of places on the left.
2. The screen shows an address in large letters, usually http://cframe.local:8090, a QR code, and a six-digit code.
3. On your phone, scan the QR code. On a computer, type the address into the browser. (If cframe.local doesn't open, type the number address the QR code holds, such as http://192.168.1.20:8090.)
4. Type the six-digit code and choose Connect.
5. Choose Choose videos or photos (or drag files onto the page on a computer). Each file shows its progress on the page and on the headset.
6. When a file arrives it appears at once in the Library, and on the Receive files screen. Point at a finished row there to open it.

Good to know:

• Files go into a folder called Received: on your microSD card if one is in, otherwise in Videos. Change on the Receive screen picks another folder.
• A new code is made every time you start receiving. Five wrong codes lock the page for a minute.
• Receiving stops when you leave the Receive files screen, close the Library or open a film. Stop and Start on the screen do the same by hand.
• A big file that gets cut off (Wi-Fi drop, phone locked) carries on from where it stopped when you send it again.
• The headset stays awake while files are coming in.
• iPhone: if a spatial video or photo arrives as an ordinary flat one, send it again and pick Browse (the Files app) instead of the photo library. The photo library sometimes hands the browser a converted copy.
• The page only answers devices on your own home network. Nothing about it is reachable from the internet.

A microSD card

1. On your computer, copy your videos onto a microSD card. Folders are fine; the Library shows them as folders.
2. Put the card into the headset.
3. Open the Library: the card appears as a place of its own in the left column.

Anything in the headset's own Videos folder shows up too, under Videos.

A network share (PC or NAS)

FrameCinema can play straight from a folder shared on your home network by a Windows PC, a Mac or a NAS. Nothing is copied: the film streams while it plays. The share then appears in the Library as a place of its own.

First, share a folder.

On Windows 11. Windows won't let guests in, so make a separate local account just for sharing (not your own Microsoft account) and give it read-only access to your film folder. You need to be an administrator; it takes about ten minutes, once.

1. Make your home network Private: Settings > Network & internet > Wi-Fi (or Ethernet) > your network > Network profile type: Private.

2. Open Terminal as administrator (right-click Start > Terminal (Admin)) and make the account, with a password of your own:

   net user filmshare A-long-password-of-your-own /add

3. Share the folder, read-only for that account, with your folder's path:

   New-SmbShare -Name films -Path "D:\Films" -ReadAccess filmshare

   Or in File Explorer: right-click the folder > Properties > Sharing > Advanced Sharing > Share this folder, then Permissions: remove Everyone, add the account with Read only.

4. Keep the PC awake while you watch (Settings > System > Power > Screen and sleep). A PC that falls asleep mid-film stops the film.

On a NAS (Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS, Unraid and others): turn on SMB (sometimes called Windows file service) and make a user with read access to your video share. FrameCinema speaks SMB 2 and 3, not the old SMB1.

On a Mac: System Settings > General > Sharing > File Sharing: add the folder, then under Options turn on "Share files and folders using SMB" and tick the user that may sign in.

Then add it on the headset.

1. Open the Library and choose Add a share... at the bottom of the places.
2. Computers sharing files on your network appear within about 15 seconds. Choose yours. If it doesn't appear, choose Type an address... and type its name (DESKTOP-ABC123), its address (192.168.1.20) or a whole path (smb://filmshare@192.168.1.20/films).
3. Type the User and Password (the password shows as dots), or turn on Guest for a NAS share that allows it. Choose Sign in.
4. Choose the shared folder. To show only a folder inside it, choose Folder and type its path (for example Movies/4K).
5. Choose Add. The share opens as a new place in the Library.

To rename a share or forget it, open the place's own menu (... at the top, or hold the trigger on the place) and choose Rename this share... or Forget this share.... Forgetting removes the place and its saved sign-in; your positions, ratings and favourites for its films are kept and come back if you add it again. To change a password, add the share again with the new one.

If it can't connect, the screen says why in a few words:

Smooth playback from a share. 5 GHz Wi-Fi, or the PC on a cable to the router, gives the most headroom; 8K files need about 40 MB/s. While a film plays from a share, FrameCinema keeps the headset's Wi-Fi on the access point it is using, so it doesn't pause to look for others mid-film; it lets go when you go back to the Library. If the network slows down, the film pauses for a moment to refill rather than stuttering. Both can be changed under Settings > Network (section 10).

2. Controls

Everything works with one controller, either hand. Point the laser and pull the trigger to choose.

In the Library the thumbstick scrolls: flick up or down for a row, hold to scroll quickly, flick left or right for a page, and click to open the row under the laser.

More > Controls shows a table of what each controller button does. Each action gives a small buzz on the controller (you can turn that off under Settings > Controls).

Labels on the controller. While the Library is open, a small label beside each of the four buttons FrameCinema uses says what it does, until you have used that button once. Settings > Controls > Button labels can show them whenever the Library is open, or never; Show on my controller under More > Controls shows them for 20 seconds.

3. Look to select

The Steam Frame follows your eyes, and FrameCinema can use that to point at its menu. Look at a button and hold your eyes on it: a ring fills around it and it presses. You can open the Library, pick a film, play, pause, skip and even type a search with the controllers put down.

• How long: at the Normal speed about 0.6 seconds on a button, 0.9 seconds on a Library row and 0.45 seconds on a key. Look away before the ring closes and nothing happens. After a press, that button waits until you have looked away before it can fill again.
• Look and click: with a controller in your hand, look at a button and pull the trigger: it presses at once. The laser always wins: while it points at the menu, the menu follows the laser, not your eyes.
• Bringing the menu back: with the menu hidden, a faint handle waits where the bar was. Look at it for a second and the menu comes back.
• Scrolling: look at the top or bottom edge of a long list or tab, and it scrolls a row at a time.
• Never by eye: Delete, Rename, Move and Forget need the trigger, so a glance can't remove anything. They show a trigger sign.
• While your eyes point, the buttons and keys grow a little, so each one is easy to rest your eyes on.

Calibrating. The first time your eyes point at the menu, FrameCinema offers a short calibration: five dots on the screen, two seconds each; look at each one until the next lights up. It is kept only if it makes pointing better. If the ring fills beside the button you look at, calibrate again under **Settings

Controls > Gaze calibration > Calibrate...**, wearing the headset as you usually do (glasses count). Reset forgets it. It needs the flat screen in front of you, so not in passthrough or a 180 or 360 film.

Settings > Controls:

• Eye gaze: Off, Dwell (hold your eyes on it), Trigger (look and pull a trigger) or Both (the default).
• Dwell speed: Fast, Normal or Slow.
• Gaze source: Eyes, or Head, for when the eye tracker can't follow your eyes: a dot in the middle of your view points instead, and a press takes a little longer (0.8 seconds at Normal). If your eyes are never tracked, FrameCinema points with your head by itself after ten seconds.
• Show gaze dot: a small dot where you are looking.

Where you look is used only to point: it is never stored, never written to the log and never sent anywhere (section 11).

4. The Library

FrameCinema opens in the Library. While nothing plays, the cinema screen shows a title card: the films you are in the middle of as posters, or your places as tiles. Point at a poster and pull the trigger to carry on where you stopped (Settings > Display > Title card turns it off).

The column on the left holds your places:

• Continue watching: films you started and haven't finished.
• Favourites: everything you've given a heart.
• Videos: the headset's own Videos folder.
• Your microSD card, when one is in.
• Receive files: see section 1.
• Playlists, smart playlists among them.
• Tags: every tag you've given, with how many files have it.
• Your network shares, and Add a share... at the bottom.

Rows show a thumbnail, the name, the length, stars and a heart. Photos carry a Photo badge.

• Sort and filter from the menu at the top: by name, date, size, length or rating; videos and photos, videos only or photos only; only favourites, rated 3 or more, or tagged with one of the folder's tags.
• Search types on the in-headset keyboard.
• Play folder plays everything in the folder in turn, and Shuffle beside it plays them in random order. A playlist has the same two buttons.
• Continue watching lists the film that is playing now too.
• Photos in a folder play as a slideshow.
• The row menu: hold the trigger on a row, or choose its .... It has Play, Play from start, Add to playlist, New playlist..., Tags..., Apply preset, Mark watched / Mark unwatched, Forget settings, Rename..., Move to..., Delete..., Copy to... and Properties. Rename, move and delete always ask first, with Cancel under the laser. When you rename, the keyboard shows the name without its ending (.mp4, .mkv): that part stays as it is.
• Ratings and favourites: give a film 0 to 5 stars and a heart from the row menu, or from the Playback tab while it plays.
• Tags: Tags... in the row menu (or on the Playback tab) opens the keyboard. Type a tag and choose Add, or pick one of the tags offered above the keyboard; the file's own tags show there with an x to remove them. Rows show their tags on the right.
• Smart playlists: set the Library to the view you want (a folder, a filter, an order) and choose Save as smart playlist... from the Sort menu. It is listed under Playlists with a Smart badge and always holds what matches now. Its ... has Edit rules... (tags, stars, favourites, watched, videos or photos, a folder, the order) and Delete this smart playlist..., which leaves the files where they are.
• Copy to...: copies a file into a folder on the headset or the card, for example a film from a share to watch away from home. Choose the folder, then Copy here. The row shows a progress bar and Cancel. The copy needs room for the file and 64 MB to spare.

FrameCinema remembers each file. Stop a film after the first 10 seconds and it picks up where you left off next time. At 95 % it counts as watched. Each file also keeps its own mode, screen position, picture settings, audio track and delay, and subtitle choices. Forget settings in the row menu clears them.

5. Watching

When a film opens, the bar sits under the screen. From left to right: Library, Previous, 10 s back, Play / Pause, 10 s ahead, Next, then Volume, CC (subtitles), Mode and More. The timeline runs across the top of the bar: point at it to jump.

More opens the tabs above the bar: Playback, Audio, Subtitles, Screen, Picture, Comfort and Settings. Less folds them away again.

The Playback tab

• Speed: Slower, Normal, Faster. The pitch of the sound stays natural.
• Loop file.
• Queue: Shuffle and Repeat all for a folder or playlist.
• 25 fps: a 25 fps film plays at 24 (a touch slower, 0.96x, with the sound's pitch kept) because that moves more smoothly at 120 Hz. Turn it off in Settings > Playing.
• Deinterlace: shown for interlaced files.
• Frame: step a frame back or forward while paused.
• A-B loop: Set A, Set B, Clear, to repeat a part.
• Chapter: previous and next, when the file has chapters.
• Bookmarks: Add here, and jump back to any you've added.
• Rating: stars and a heart for this file.
• Tags: this file's tags; Tags... changes them.

6. 2D, 3D, VR180 and 360

Most files open in the right mode by themselves. FrameCinema reads the 3D and 360 information inside the file, and common words in the file name:

• 3D side-by-side: SBS, LR, HSBS, 3DH (full width: SBSF, LRF, FSBS)
• 3D over-under: TB, OU, HOU, 3DV, HTAB (full height: TBF, OUF, FOU, FTAB)
• VR180: 180; 360: 360; fisheye: FISHEYE, F180, MKX200, MKX220 and others

For example Holiday_180_LR.mp4 opens as VR180 side-by-side.

If a file opens wrong, choose Mode on the bar and pick the right one: Flat 2D, 3D side-by-side or over-under (half or full), VR180, Fisheye or 360. If the 3D looks inside out, tick Swap eyes in the same menu. FrameCinema remembers your choice for that file.

Spatial videos and photos from an iPhone or Vision Pro play in 3D, both eyes.

The Comfort tab

• Convergence moves the two eyes of a 3D picture: higher puts the picture farther away.
• Depth changes how far apart your eyes seem: lower makes everything look bigger and farther, higher smaller and nearer.
• Zoom makes a 180 or 360 picture larger or smaller around you, to look life-size. On a flat screen it is the screen's size.
• Reset comfort puts all three back.

7. The screen

Move the screen with the controller (section 2), or use the Screen tab:

• Distance and Size.
• Curvature: from flat to curved round you.
• Fisheye: the field of view, for fisheye videos.
• Position: Recenter brings the screen in front of you. With Lie-back on, recentering follows where you look up or down, so lying back puts the screen above you; with Horizon lock on, recentering ignores a tilted head and keeps the screen level. Both are on to start with.
• Reset menu position puts the menu back under the screen after you've moved it.
• Aspect: Auto, 16:9, 4:3, 1.85, 2.39, Stretch or Zoom, with Keep bars to leave black bars as they are. By default FrameCinema finds a letterboxed film's black bars and crops them (Crop black bars in Settings > Display).
• Brightness of the surroundings, from 0.2x to 2x, and Dim while playing, which fades them to half while a film plays.
• Screen light: Off, Low or Normal (the default). The film's light falls on the lake below the screen, or on the room's floor and walls.
• Backdrop: what surrounds the screen (section 9).
• Presets: Save as... keeps this file's mode, screen placement, picture and comfort settings under a name, to apply to other files from the row menu's Apply preset.

The Picture tab

Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Gamma and Sharpening, and Reset picture.

Sharpness

Settings > Display > Sharpness sets how many pixels the headset draws: Standard, High (the default) or Highest. Higher looks crisper, small text most of all. It takes effect from the next start. 8K films can drop frames at Highest, so keep High for those.

HDR10 videos are adjusted for the headset's display automatically. Dolby Vision profile 5 files, and profile 7 files with a minimal enhancement layer, play as HDR through open-source metadata mapping; other profile 7 files show their HDR10 base layer. FrameCinema is not certified by or affiliated with Dolby.

8. Sound and subtitles

The Audio tab

Volume and Mute, Delay (in 25 ms steps, if the sound is early or late), Track for files with more than one, and the Output in use. The Volume button on the bar does volume and mute too.

On the headset's own speakers SteamOS places the sound around you, and 5.1 and 7.1 tracks keep their channels. On headphones you get a stereo mix.

Subtitles

CC on the bar turns subtitles on and off and picks a track. The Subtitles tab has the rest:

• Track: one from the file, or File... to pick a subtitle file.
• Delay, in 250 ms steps, if the lines are early or late.
• Placement: Size, Height, and in 3D and 360 the Depth they float at.
• Plain text and ASS/SSA: font style for plain subtitles, and whether styled subtitles keep their own look.
• New files: Auto, On or Off, and Languages you prefer (for example eng, deu).

FrameCinema finds subtitle files beside the video by name: put Film.srt, Film.en.srt or Film.forced.en.srt next to Film.mkv, or in a Subs folder beside it. SRT, ASS/SSA, WebVTT, Blu-ray (PGS), DVD and DVB subtitles all work.

9. Backdrops

Screen > Backdrop picks what surrounds the screen:

• Aurora: northern lights over a lake, all round you (the default).
• Room: a dim cinema room.
• Off: plain black.
• Passthrough: your real room, through the headset's cameras.
• Photo: your own 360 or VR180 photo. Under Your photo, choose Choose... (or, in the Library, open a 360 or 180 photo's menu and choose Use as backdrop). Clear removes it. The Photo choice appears once one is set.

180 and 360 videos fill the view, so the backdrop only shows around flat and 3D screens.

10. Settings

More > Settings has six groups:

• Display: Deinterlace, Crop black bars, Title card (section 4), and a Playing line that reads out what is playing (for example "25 fps at 0.96x on 120 Hz"); Sharpness (section 7); GPU driver (leave on Bundled; System is a fallback, and 10-bit films above 4K stutter on it); Menu drawing: Layer (the default: flat and crispest) or In the eyes (a curved menu that fades in and out). Both of the last two take effect from the next start.
• Playing: When a film ends (Next, Library or Stop), 25 fps films (Off or On) and Guess 3D: a side-by-side film with nothing in its name or tags is recognised by its picture. The Mode button always has the last word.
• Controls: Controllers (the Frame's own, or the Remote), Laser steadiness (Off, Low, Medium, High: steadies the laser's dot while your hand is still), Haptics, Button labels (section 2), and Eye gaze, Dwell speed, Gaze source, Show gaze dot and Gaze calibration (section 3).
• Network: Network buffer (5 to 60 seconds read ahead for films on a share) and Wi-Fi lock (section 1).
• Accessibility: Menu size, High contrast, Reduce motion, and Auto-pause (pauses when you take the headset off or open Steam's menu).
• About: the version, the privacy statement and the open source software FrameCinema uses, with their licences.

11. Privacy

No account, no telemetry, no analytics, no crash upload, no update check: nothing goes to the internet. On your own network it does only what you ask of it: plays from shares you add, and takes files you send to it from a phone. Your settings, watch history and logs stay on the headset.

Eye tracking. FrameCinema can use the Steam Frame's eye tracking to point at its own menu (Settings > Controls > Eye gaze). While Eye gaze is on with the eyes as the source, it reads where you look from the headset's own runtime and uses it only to point: to fill the ring, click with the trigger and show the menu's handle. It is never stored, never written to the log as a direction or a position, and never sent anywhere. The calibration saves six numbers that describe how your eyes sit against the menu, not where you looked, in settings.conf; Reset clears them. With Eye gaze off, or the head as the source, your eyes are not read at all.

What it keeps, on the headset only:

Uninstalling through Steam leaves these, so your Library survives a reinstall. Delete a folder to remove that data. If you need help with a problem, you can send a log yourself; nothing is ever sent for you.

12. Troubleshooting

• A film opens in the wrong mode. Choose Mode on the bar and pick the right one; it's remembered for that file.
• 3D looks wrong or hurts. Try Swap eyes in the Mode menu, then Convergence on the Comfort tab.
• The screen is somewhere odd. Hold the bumper for a second to recenter.
• The menu is in the way. Grip with the laser on it and move it; Screen > Reset menu position puts it back.
• A film from a share stutters or pauses. Look at the network line on the menu: it shows the speed and how many seconds are buffered. Try 5 GHz Wi-Fi or a cable to the PC, or a bigger Network buffer.
• The phone can't open cframe.local. Scan the QR code, or type the number address it holds. Make sure the phone is on the same Wi-Fi, not mobile data.
• The share isn't found. Type its address with Type an address..., and check the PC is awake and its network is set to Private.
• The ring fills on things I'm only reading. Set Dwell speed to Slow, or Eye gaze to Trigger: then the trigger clicks what you look at and nothing fills by itself.
• The ring fills beside the button I look at. Calibrate again (Settings > Controls > Gaze calibration), wearing the headset as you usually do; glasses count.
• Nothing happens when I look. Set Gaze source to Head. If you'd like the eyes back, check that nothing else is using the headset's cameras.