Steam Link app for LG WebOS TVs

[sl0wpoke]

As an owner of a glorious 55" OLED B7 TV by LG (with WebOS) I would highly appreciate an official response about the possible future release of a Steam Link application for LG Content Store / LG WebOS Smart TVs.
Sony/Samsung owners are currently able to stream games from PC directly, but there's no such option for LG owners, we can only purchase a physical device.
I'd like to know if we should just stay calm and wait for a while or abandon all hope and buy a Steam Link device as an only option.
Thanks in advance!

[V3ntilator]

I have both LG 4K TV with WebOS and Samsung 4K TV, but only my Samsung TV have Steam Link app which works nice.
WebOS from LG is fast and should work as good as on Samsung TV's.

Anyways. I also have Steam Link on Shield TV, and Steam Link Hardware box. ;)
Gotta have it everywhere. lol

Anyways. Google Stadia is less supported than Steam Link, but it will change 23th this month.

I read that Microsoft XCloud will be added to LG WebOS TV's first this year.

[JeDi]

It is now possible to use NVIDIA shield feature in Geforce Experience in order to stream to LG TV with WebOS !!!!! Have a look at Moonlight TV on Github.

[ilw]

This is grand news

[RtD>MasterShrive]

Oh wow! Any further details? Is a specific version of WebOS needed?

[JROCBABY]

Originally posted by JROCBABY:

Originally posted by Proxy:

Petition is useless if both companies are at stalemate position. WebOS developers thinks valve should do it for them and valve thinks that since they shared Open-Source Steam Link App and by them it's up to WebOS developers to implement it.

I've contacted both Valve and LG to see if they can provide me with some pointers for implementing this. I have zero experience developing tv apps, but the apps for LG are web based so I think it will be doable.

I'll keep everyone here updated if I got any news to share.

I've been in contact with Valve as well as LG. They refused to let me build the application myself, but they've said they both forwarded it to the relevant teams and will try to implement it.

I tried to confirm if they are actually going to do something, and if not, I was still available to do it for them, they assured me they would.

Let's hope for the best.

[JROCBABY]

Any update to this @slouken?

[JROCBABY]

What a strange company, you want to do work for them for free and they refuse yet apparently don't take action themselves.

[Packetdancer]

Originally posted by JROCBABY:

What a strange company, you want to do work for them for free and they refuse yet apparently don't take action themselves.

I mean, I suspect "give me the code to your product so I can make a version for some other platform" is a hard sell without a lot of NDAs and legal discussion. Especially because I suspect Steam Link has some deeper hooks into the Steam ecosystem (what with the on-screen virtual controllers in the Android and iOS builds, etc.); handing people the keys to access Steam internal data structures is proooobably not something I would be keen on doing were I part of Valve's legal (or security) team.

So far as I've heard, the Samsung version is because Samsung went to Valve and said "Hey, we'd like to integrate this" and Valve presumably went "Cool, let's do some contracts!" and then after the lawyers were done doing lawyer-things, I expect they went "Awesome, that's done, here's the source code for you to work from, and some devs you can email for support" or whatever.

I sort of suspect the Steam Link product range doesn't have a large team at Valve -- I wouldn't be surprised if it's like, slouken and maybe one or two other people who maintain it, and so they might not have the time to write a version for an entire new platform.

(And even then, it was probably less work for Samsung than it would be on WebOS, as I imagine more of the codebase could be used. Steam Link is presumably written in C or C++ for the core of it; on the hardware box it would be just a compiled application, on iOS/tvOS, it would be calling the C/C++ code from Swift, and on Android it would be calling it via a JNI bridge.)

Still, I suspect if LG went to Valve and said "Hey, can we make a Steam Link app for our TVs", something similar to Samsung (and involving lawyers, like presumably happened with Samsung) would occur, and then LG would have source code and Steam Link for WebOS might happen.

But, based on what LG has said to folks (as quoted elsewhere in this thread) their response has been "Yes, get the developer of the thing you want to port it to our platform, and then perhaps we'll see about whether or not we want to distribute it." So they don't seem interested in making the app.

[reallyjoel]

Originally posted by _I_:

Originally posted by Cs. Zoli:

Dear Mr. Valve, develop a WebOS SteamLink app!

its the lg tv that does not have enough processing power to stream
it has just enough for its menus and features

lg smart is just beyond preschool, very dumb compared to real smart tvs with streaming apps

nah, my lg can stream my entire windows desktop just fine in 4K

[_I_]

the processing power on the tv depends on each tv model
the lower end ones cant even run youtube and netflix apps without stuttering

[Delta]

Originally posted by _I_:

the processing power on the tv depends on each tv model
the lower end ones cant even run youtube and netflix apps without stuttering

Isn't that the case for pretty much every brand of TV?

[_I_]

yep

[TiA [HUN]]

I bought an LG NanoCell 4K TV with WebOS and I'm crying because it has GeForce NOW and Stadia, but no Steam...

[Delta]

Originally posted by TiA HUN:

I bought an LG NanoCell 4K TV with WebOS and I'm crying because it has GeForce NOW and Stadia, but no Steam... :whine:

It really sucks, man. But if we cry loud enough perhaps they will develop a version for WebOS.

[_I_]

if its android based, try manually installing steam apk

You can download the Steam Link app from Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.valvesoftware.steamlink

... or directly from Valve:
http://media.steampowered.com/steamlink/android/latest/steamlink-android.apk