Steam link works perfect when gaming, but stutters in desktop mode

[NeoJ]

This is driving me crazy, so, any help would be very much appreciated.

No problem with games. I can play any game on my TV usin Steam Link. No stuttering, nothing. The problem comes when I minimize to desktop. It is gradually, as if there were some memory leak or something. After 30 minutes the stutter is horrible. For example, I can't watch a movie using VLC since the stutter begins pretty soon. No problem with my PC, the desktop is running perfectly and only the stream is having problems.

I don't use wifi, it's all wired, and I repeat, I can play any game for hours with a single frame missed. No stuttering or anything at all. If I add VLC (I'm using VLC as an example but happens with other programs too) to Steam and run it directly from big picture the problem is still there, so, I'm not sure what it can be.

Thanks for the help!

[slouken]

Can you post the streaming log (Steam logs\streaming_log.txt) after your stuttery session?

[MechaTails]

I have a stuttery/low FPS desktop stream too. In my case Steam Support said Windows 7 (64bit) simply can't stream the desktop over 30FPS.

[slouken]

Originally posted by MechaTails:

I have a stuttery/low FPS desktop stream too. In my case Steam Support said Windows 7 (64bit) simply can't stream the desktop over 30FPS.

Yes, that's correct. Hardware accelerated desktop capture APIs are only available in Windows 8 or newer.

[NeoJ]

Thank you so much Slouken :).

Once I have another stuttery session I will post the log here.
I'm using Windows 10, by the way, so, I think it is not the same problem as MechaTails had.

[NeoJ]

Originally posted by slouken:

Can you post the streaming log (Steam logs\streaming_log.txt) after your stuttery session?

Hello. I've played a game this afternoon and everything went perfect like always. Then at night I minimized to desktop and executed Acestream, one of the programs that stutters the most. Even though I could watch what I was watching with no big stuttering, it wasn't as smooth as the original monitor was.

When I went for the steam log you asked me, all I see is "Dropping queued from before encoding" which I don't think was in the streaming session when I play videogames. Here is the whole log for you to check.
If it is not helping, I could try with a new log when the steraming really stutters. As said, the stuttering for this time wasn't so bad.

I wasn't sure how to send the log, so, I uploaded it here:
https://textuploader.com/d2tue

[slouken]

Originally posted by NeoJ:

Originally posted by slouken:

Can you post the streaming log (Steam logs\streaming_log.txt) after your stuttery session?

Hello. I've played a game this afternoon and everything went perfect like always. Then at night I minimized to desktop and executed Acestream, one of the programs that stutters the most. Even though I could watch what I was watching with no big stuttering, it wasn't as smooth as the original monitor was.

When I went for the steam log you asked me, all I see is "Dropping queued from before encoding" which I don't think was in the streaming session when I play videogames. Here is the whole log for you to check.
If it is not helping, I could try with a new log when the steraming really stutters. As said, the stuttering for this time wasn't so bad.

I wasn't sure how to send the log, so, I uploaded it here:
https://textuploader.com/d2tue

That's usually a network problem. If restarting your router and/or powerline adapters doesn't fix it, maybe try disabling hardware encoding in the advanced host streaming settings on the computer? Please let us know which one worked (or if neither helped)

Thanks!

[NeoJ]

Originally posted by slouken:

Originally posted by NeoJ:

Hello. I've played a game this afternoon and everything went perfect like always. Then at night I minimized to desktop and executed Acestream, one of the programs that stutters the most. Even though I could watch what I was watching with no big stuttering, it wasn't as smooth as the original monitor was.

When I went for the steam log you asked me, all I see is "Dropping queued from before encoding" which I don't think was in the streaming session when I play videogames. Here is the whole log for you to check.
If it is not helping, I could try with a new log when the steraming really stutters. As said, the stuttering for this time wasn't so bad.

I wasn't sure how to send the log, so, I uploaded it here:
https://textuploader.com/d2tue

That's usually a network problem. If restarting your router and/or powerline adapters doesn't fix it, maybe try disabling hardware encoding in the advanced host streaming settings on the computer? Please let us know which one worked (or if neither helped)

Thanks!

I'm no expert but I think it is not router related since, if that would be the case, there would be issues with any game I play or any kind of streaming I start, right? Yesterday I played the whole day with Steam Link and got no issues, and I've checked the log and there is no "dropped queued from before encoding", everything looks normal to me. Also, I can minimize to desktop with no problems and watch youtube for hours for example, but there seems to be a problem with some programs like AceStream. Also, I know people who uses AceStream via Steam Link and have no problems, that's why I think there is something wrong in my config.

However, I will try disabling the hardware encoding. I'm using the one from AMD since I have a GPU from AMD. I've read that solved some issues regarding stuttering, so, I have big hopes :D.

Thank you so much! I will let you know the results once I've tested it.

[NeoJ]

Nothing worked. Today it was so frustrating. I couldn't even reconect to the stream. I hear the sound and nothing else and can't move in big picture menu or anything.

Please, help me. Hardware encoding disabled and everything I tried didn't work. I really need help. As soon as I open AceStream the whole streaming fails.

[_I_]

black screen happend to me a few times, just stop/start streaming or launch a game or something to use 3d, then it will work agin

as for not appearing to run at 60fps, it is, just not displaying/showing the mouse move at that rate
winkey+d to show desktop, and click and hold to show selct box, it will show that at the correct fps, but not the mouse cursor
or move a non full screen window around

it how steam is capturing the desktop and not overlaying the mouse update in every frame

[NeoJ]

Originally posted by _I_:

black screen happend to me a few times, just stop/start streaming or launch a game or something to use 3d, then it will work agin

as for not appearing to run at 60fps, it is, just not displaying/showing the mouse move at that rate
winkey+d to show desktop, and click and hold to show selct box, it will show that at the correct fps, but not the mouse cursor
or move a non full screen window around

it how steam is capturing the desktop and not overlaying the mouse update in every frame

Thanks for trying to help!

The black screen thing was something totally new for me. Until now it just couldn't stream the program at the same "fps" than the original monitor. I tried restoring to factory default settings and it was still there even after doing that. So annoying. Only re-starting the whole PC solved the issue for me. No big picture menu, nthing, only sound. All the problems come when I use AceStream, but I know a lot of people that does exactly the same thing without any issues :(.