What is the point of Steam Link?

[? Mark]

I got Steam link in order to be able to keep my laptop on top of my lap if I want to, while running games and streaming vids onto telly screen.
But if my laptop is not connected via wire to the router, like steam link is, then streaming is very laggy.

But you know what, even when as I have conned my laptop over the ethernet to the router (which already kinda killed all the point to me), it became noticeably better, but still noticeably laggy.

So I have just removed one end if HDMI from SteamLink and plugged it into my laptop.

And it works like magic.

So could you please tell me, what is the point of Steam Link, if the best way to do what you want to do with it is to do it without it?!!

For reference: I have high bandwidth apple router and relatively new laptop with 12 Gig ram and SSD drive.

[Xjph]

The point of the Steam Link is to stream games from a computer to a TV when conventional means of connecting it aren't feasible. For example, I have a gaming desktop on a different floor of my house than my TV, so the Link lets me play games in my living room, which would otherwise be... difficult. If my PC were close enough to my TV to use an HDMI cable then I would have no use for the Link.

[retro_Ed]

Originally posted by Vithigar:

The point of the Steam Link is to stream games from a computer to a TV when conventional means of connecting it aren't feasible. For example, I have a gaming desktop on a different floor of my house than my TV, so the Link lets me play games in my living room, which would otherwise be... difficult. If my PC were close enough to my TV to use an HDMI cable then I would have no use for the Link.

^
This is the point of Steam Link !
.... and a little extra...
"stream anything, not just games" on desktop mode.

Also it is easy to build one "masterPC" system with multiple Links for each room.
All you need is display and input device (controller or kb&m) for every Link.
Bedrooms, livingroom, guestroom etc...

[? Mark]

Originally posted by Vithigar:

The point of the Steam Link is to stream games from a computer to a TV when conventional means of connecting it aren't feasible. For example, I have a gaming desktop on a different floor of my house than my TV, so the Link lets me play games in my living room, which would otherwise be... difficult. If my PC were close enough to my TV to use an HDMI cable then I would have no use for the Link.

I'd like to do the same.
Don't you have problems with wifi lagging HARD?

I turned Steam link to 5 GHz only, switched streaming quality to "fast" (that is "low"), laptop is very near (for testing purposes I put it on the same spot, where I can hook it with ethernet). Steam Link is connected to the router over ethernet itself... and nothing.

Some people may say, that connecting PC to the router is a must, while Steam Link, on its receiving side, may do fine on wifi... well, my router is right with my telly, so no need for that, on the other side I'd like to have my laptop with me near the couch, not fixed to the whole system.

P.S.: WLAN Optimizer 0.21 Alpha thing didn't make any thing better to me, although many people here claim it did: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/homestream/discussions/0/540738050814056472/

[? Mark]

Would it increase streaming experience over wifi, if I reduce resolution?
Logically, if there is less to stream, it should get smoother.

[retro_Ed]

Lowering resolution should help streaming smoothness. Of course with the price of quality.

Have you tested hosts advanced encoding settings ?

[Xjph]

Honestly I don't understand why you're even using the Link in the first place if the laptop is close enough to just plug in an HDMI cable.

As for wireless, I use 802.11ac on the Link with a wired PC and it works great. Flipping that around to a wired Link and wireless PC is fine too. Both devices being wireless is probably not going to work well unless you have an exceptionally good 802.11ac network or multiple access points.

802.11ac should work fine, 802.11n should work fine in n-only modes, and 802.11g will almost certainly require lowered streaming settings, if you can get a usable result at all.

[? Mark]

Originally posted by Vithigar:

Honestly I don't understand why you're even using the Link in the first place if the laptop is close enough to just plug in an HDMI cable.

As for wireless, I use 802.11ac on the Link with a wired PC and it works great. Flipping that around to a wired Link and wireless PC is fine too. Both devices being wireless is probably not going to work well unless you have an exceptionally good 802.11ac network or multiple access points.

802.11ac should work fine, 802.11n should work fine in n-only modes, and 802.11g will almost certainly require lowered streaming settings, if you can get a usable result at all.

Hey, thanks, you are actually bringing in new information.

I have Apple Airport Extreme 802.11n (2nd generation, released in 2007... old one, I agree. but its still good)

I'm right now changing from mode "802.11n (802.11b/g compatible)" to the mode 802.11n only (5GHz), and will tell you the difference.

Once againt, thanks pal. At least, its a hope.

[? Mark]

Originally posted by Dr. Do Little:

Originally posted by Vithigar:

Honestly I don't understand why you're even using the Link in the first place if the laptop is close enough to just plug in an HDMI cable.

As for wireless, I use 802.11ac on the Link with a wired PC and it works great. Flipping that around to a wired Link and wireless PC is fine too. Both devices being wireless is probably not going to work well unless you have an exceptionally good 802.11ac network or multiple access points.

802.11ac should work fine, 802.11n should work fine in n-only modes, and 802.11g will almost certainly require lowered streaming settings, if you can get a usable result at all.

Hey, thanks, you are actually bringing in new information.

I have Apple Airport Extreme 802.11n (2nd generation, released in 2007... old one, I agree. but its still good)

I'm right now changing from mode "802.11n (802.11b/g compatible)" to the mode 802.11n only (5GHz), and will tell you the difference.

Once againt, thanks pal. At least, its a hope.

Sadly, the situation has not improved much...

And thats with reduced resolution and reduced bandwith to 3 MB/s.

And the latency is nit like constantly bad, its good (<10ms) for 5-10 seconds and then becomes terrible (>50ms) for 3-5 seconds. (Charts show series of spikes every 10-20 seconds.)

[Lordschitt]

I don’t understand what the point of Steam link is. It’s great that you can pick up most other devices and play, but in order to do so your pc has to be on. How am I going to turn my computer on when I’m not home? If it’s only meant to be able to play in a different room while at home, while my laptop is running, why the hell not just play on my laptop lol? Maybe it sounds like a far fetched concept, but Xbox doesn’t require being turned on manually. Is there a way to do this with Steam as well? If not, then why use steam link?

[_I_]

wake on lan to turn the pc on
the steam link or apps can send magic packet to turn on the host pc

why?
for laptops not designed for gaming, or cheap laptops, or android/apple or smart tvs
you can pair controllers to the client, and play from host near 0 delay on lan, or small delays across the internet as long as host location has a fast upload speed

on lan im less than 1 frame behind the host pc, <20ms
at a friends house 40min drive away, <40ms, 2-3 frames behind host

[tailspower2023]

I always wounder if it can do more then just games. For exepull runing any app form my computer on my smart tv over the network. Like my cub cound be playing Doom in one room and I'm wtaching Ready Player One in 4K in a otter room at the off same computer at the same time.

[_I_]

movies are iffy
steam cannot grab hdcp protected media
you can get around browser or player hdcp by turning off hardware acceleration

multitasking not easily
steam want to grab the display or window with focus

[Jabberwock]

I find it invaluable! I have a master PC with a good GFX card in my studio, which is really an annex to the house. In my bedroom upstairs I have a training bike which is connected to a PC driving wheel instead of pedals. In front of the bike I have a monitor connected to Steam Link. Whenever I want to exercise, I run a racing or car game on my main PC and control it from fifteen meters away with my bike/wheel setup (and view it on the monitor, of course). I have the whole house wired with CAT6, so latency is not a problem...