Link is lagging enough to be unusable

[Enuncia]

When I first purchased my Steam Link around release it mostly worked fine. I've let it sit for a while, and now when I try to use it the device is practically unusable.

When I try to link to my PC (nvidia GTX 970, Windows 10, 16gig RAM), sometimes it works, somethimes I just get a black screen for several minutes, followed by the Link homescreen again, and it being unable to connect to my computer. When I go back to my computer, it's in big picture mode and thinks it is streaming to the Link.

If I do manage to connect, as soon as I try to open my games library the whole thing starts lagging HARD. I press a direction on the controller, and I hear the sound effect, but have to wait at least 5-10 seconds for the video to catch up, and the picture will have distorted to an unusuably low resolution that's blurred and distorted.

I have tried toggling all the different in-home streaming options; so far my best settings have been hardware encoding enabled, hardware decoding DISabled, enable hardware encoding on nvidia device, and the stream quality set to "fast." However, even then this problem persists.

The Link is using it's ethernet port, which is then connected to my router using a powerline adapter; the host computer uses the same setup. I know that this isn't the ideal set up, but again, this worked before in the past. I have also tried disconnecting the hard-line connections and using a wireless adapter on the host and the built-in wifi on the Link, but only got worse results.

Can anyone spot/think of anything I've missed?

[messyjesse80]

In the Steam client in home streaming options on your PC:
1) Advanced host pptions - prioritize network traffic on or off? Try it both ways.
2) Advanced client options - I think you want HW decoding turned on.
3) Display performance information - turn it on.

On the Link - streaming settings - advanced there is also a performance overlay setting, turn it on.

When you start streaming to the Link you should see some overlay on the screen and I think press start-Y to show more info.

Does it tell you anything? Do you see a "slow decode" message or anything else that would tell you what the problem might be?

What model powerline adapters are you using? I have heard sometimes the router will limit bandwidth on those devices to an unusable level - you could check your router settings for any limit specific to the Link or to the powerline adapters. You could try to unplug them all, wait a few minutes, and plug them all back in. You could also power cycle the router.

Also if your router has any settings for NAT boost, NAT acceleration, QOS etc (they use different names), you might want to try disabling those options.

[Enuncia]

Sorry for taking so long to reply to this. Thank you for your suggestions. Here's what I found.

1. I have tried "prioritize network traffic" both ways, and there's seemingly no difference.

2. Have tried HW decoding both ways, also with no appreciable difference.

3. With display performance turned on, I found the following:

Capture: 1920x1080 @ 60 FPS (give or take roughly 3 fps over the course of time)
Encoder: Steam D3D10 NV12 + NVENC H264
Decoder: Marvell hardware decoding
Streaming Latency: <1ms input, 87.25ms display
ping time: 65.55ms
Incoming bitrate: 5976 kbits/s video: 0kbit/s
Outgoing bitrate: 361 kbits/s
Estimated bandwidth: 100Mbps
Packet loss: 32.91% (97.85% frame loss)


I have also tried changing which hardware encoding options are on/off (enable on Nvidia, enable the special encoding as a subtype of nvidia, on AMD, and on Intel). Have had mixed results with each variation, but still lags very hard once I open my library, and almost completely freezes when I try to play a game.

I occasionally got a "Slow Network" error, but not constantly, and sometimes the lag/distortion/freezing was occuring without the Slow Network warning.

[Yellig]

Originally posted by Enuncia:

I have also tried disconnecting the hard-line connections and using a wireless adapter on the host and the built-in wifi on the Link, but only got worse results.

Have you tried using the Wi-Fi on the Link, but leaving your PC connected through Ethernet?

[Enuncia]

I have. At full wireless signal strength, the results were the same, if not worse.

[messyjesse80]

What model powerline adapters are you using?

What model WiFi router are you using when you don't use the powerline adapters? You need minimum 802.11n router but 802.11AC is the recommendation.

It looks like your problem is related to networking more than anything else. Those are really terrible ping time and packet/frame loss numbers!

Are you on beta both on the Steam Link and also on the PC?

Try the built in network test on the Link:
Don't connect to PC, but do navigate to the PC with the Link and highlight the PC you want to use.
You should see an option to perform network test. If not, get on the beta versions at the Link and PC until you do see this option.
Run the test. It's very basic but at least it's easy to do.
Get the ping time reduced drastically... 10ms or less is your target. Hopefully less.


Did you power cycle your powerline adapters and check the router settings for them?

[Enuncia]

It's a set of old Netgear Powerline Adapters, model XET1001. Main router is the one that came with Verizon Fios internet (don't know the exact model #, but it's the more expensive one and almost brand new). WiFi is being handled by an Apple Airport Extreme. I have power-cycled all of these devices while troubleshooting.
Gonna try the network test some time this week.

[messyjesse80]

I have no experience with that exact powerline adapter but it is pretty old. If you must use a powerline adapter kit, you should consider getting a new one that is Homeplug 2.0 compliant (XET1001 is homeplug 1.0).

What generation airport extreme do you have? Is it the 6th gen that supports 802.11AC? You might have some success with 802.11n (5th gen) but YMMV.

I have heard the airport extreme uses the same name (SSID) for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks, so if you are unlucky the Link will use 2.4GHz. Can you check if you are on the 5GHz network when connected with the Link (in the airport extreme settings)?

Have you turned off the WiFi on the router you got from Verizon? You might as well turn it off to avoid interference if you aren't using it.

Good luck with your network test when you get the chance.

[Legend_of_Sammit]

I'm having the same issue.... worked fine for one day.... now there's so much lag on any screen that I can just stare at the library screen

[Xjph]

Originally posted by Legend_of_Sammit:

I'm having the same issue.... worked fine for one day.... now there's so much lag on any screen that I can just stare at the library screen

If you're having the exact same issue then does it work fine when you wire it directly instead of using a powerline adapter? If so, then the powerline adapter is the problem.

[Kiwi]

What is the set amount of bandwidth you are using for the Steamlink?

[_I_]

firrst figure out if its low fps or lag

common lag issues
1. set the tv to game mode and/or disable all video processing on the tv
2. do not use powerline adapters, they can add more network lag

low fps fixes
1. lower game res or settings and/or change steam capture and compression settings
2. if the game uses dx12 change it to dx10 or earlier

[Maritas]

After searching for quite a while and trying all tips, this is what helped me.

1: Open Steam

2: Open Library and click the All games

3: Find a game that you want

4: Right Click on it and you will see
Properties

5: You will see the SET LAUNCH OPTION...

6: Click on that and copy this thing
-dxlevel 80 +mat_antialias 0 window

7: After that, play the game and you will see
that your game is not lagging anymore

Disclaimer: Found this fix on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWwGvlVWnNc

[Megarushing]

I had the same problem figured it out to be radio interference (since I can only use WiFi)

Solved it by going in steamlink settings > streaming and selecting 5ghz only