What is the advatage of Steam Link vs Steam-Client running on Linux HTPC?

[ancorp]

Hi,
Currently I have a Intel NUC (dual core) running Kodibunti and it's also running the Steam-Client software as a Kodi add-on. Took some time to get it all working but the in-house streaming works pretty well.

What is the advantage of getting the Steam Link vs other light-weight machines running the steam client?

Many thanks for your awnser.

ps. I already pre-ordered the controller ^^

[8BitCerberus]

No advantage, it's just a dedicated in-home streaming box. If you already have that up and running with a NUC then there's no need to get a Steam Link. This would be for people that don't already have an HTPC, or laptop or whatever hooked up to their TV.

[Zyro]

I've got a Linux HTPC as well, running VDR at the moment. Would you share some pointers about how to setup what you've built and what the main obstacles were?

[ancorp]

Ursprungligen skrivet av 8-Bit Cerberus:

No advantage, it's just a dedicated in-home streaming box. If you already have that up and running with a NUC then there's no need to get a Steam Link. This would be for people that don't already have an HTPC, or laptop or whatever hooked up to their TV.

Thanks 8-Bit Cerberus! I'll keep to money in the pocket

Ursprungligen skrivet av Zyro:

I've got a Linux HTPC as well, running VDR at the moment. Would you share some pointers about how to setup what you've built and what the main obstacles were?

In a nutshell?

Install Kodibuntu
from kodi Configure addon to launch applications/scripts
Install Openbox
Install Pulse
Install SteamClient
Install Sixpair for PS3 controllers to work over bluetooth

Biggest problems I had was that sometimes sound in Steam was not working. Fixed this by running script before launching the SteamClient. Had something to do that pulse can only be in one session? (so only kodi or only steamclient)

Other issue was getting the PS3 controllers to work over bluetooth. Default bluetooth drivers require some sort of security. PS3 controllers dont have that ^^

I'm no unix expert at all so it took some time to get used to it and search for the correct stuff

[Zyro]

Thanks for sharing, I guess I'll be taking a look at this!

[porkloin]

Ursprungligen skrivet av 8-Bit Cerberus:

No advantage, it's just a dedicated in-home streaming box. If you already have that up and running with a NUC then there's no need to get a Steam Link. This would be for people that don't already have an HTPC, or laptop or whatever hooked up to their TV.

Are you sure of this? Not to be a ♥♥♥♥, but I would think it depends a little bit on what generation of NUC op has, any differences between his hardware and the Link's hardware, etc.

That said, I found a little bit more about the hardware specs of the Link with a cursory search, and it seems to yield some information that lthough the Steam Link and the NUC are accomplishing the same task, their hardware is substantially different and could be quite different in performance.

As you can see in this reddit reply from a Steam employee the Link is actually using an ARMv7 processor with "dedicated h.264 video decoding circuitry, running a custom Linux kernel and a Valve-developed software stack."

While I'm not necessarily trying to say that this means the Link will have better performance (for all I know it could be worse!), this is by no means an apples to apples comparison. The NUC and the Link have completely different hardware and likely different software. An intel NUC is most likely useing the VAAPI hardware decoder, which in my experience with my Gigabyte Brix (similar to the NUC) has been pretty great, but could certainly be better, whereas the Link has this "dedicated decoding circuitry", which piques my interest here. Personally, I'm going to wait until some of the preorders ship to get a good idea of what the Link's performance is like. If it can offer a sizeable performance boost I'll sell my Brix and replace it with a Link.

Anyway, op you might want to keep an eye on this forum over the next week as pre-order units start to arrive - at that point we'll have a better idea of exactly how the unit performs compared to a NUC.

[8BitCerberus]

Ursprungligen skrivet av porkloin:

Are you sure of this? Not to be a ♥♥♥♥, but I would think it depends a little bit on what generation of NUC op has, any differences between his hardware and the Link's hardware, etc.

Well, sure there may be slight advantages with the newest generations. But the main performance bottleneck for streaming is the encoding on the host and the decoding on the client. I'm pretty sure all NUCs have hardware decoding built in due to the CPU. The first generation NUC was Sandy Bridge based, which was the first generation of Intel CPUs with Quick Sync hardware decoding.

The only real advantage the Link has over a NUC is the massively lower price. But if you already have a NUC anyway it's unlikely you'll notice any significant difference in streaming performance between it and a Link.

[Supersolenoid]

I would imagine it will have the most streamlined- stable - made for purpose experience that it's possible to get for steam in home streaming. If your system is working great, maybe no huge advantage, but the link is surely going to be the best option for anyone else.

[ralph]

More of an aside, than a reply. My laptop will run Skyrim on my 70 inch tv just fine, but witcher 3 just drags, and is unplayable. will running through the link improve the performance of my games?

[Zyro]

Ursprungligen skrivet av ralph:

More of an aside, than a reply. My laptop will run Skyrim on my 70 inch tv just fine, but witcher 3 just drags, and is unplayable. will running through the link improve the performance of my games?

It will never be better than the device you are streaming from can do. It doesn't add any graphics or computing power.

[Greg]

The only real advantages I see here being that it's 1/5th the price and you won't have to setup the software, install drivers, etc.

You would also be free to use your NUC for something a bit more useful. If I had a NUC I would probably repurpose it into something more than a dedicated streaming device. You have a decent amount of hardware in there.

[Zyro]

Ursprungligen skrivet av < Greg:

You would also be free to use your NUC for something a bit more useful. If I had a NUC I would probably repurpose it into something more than a dedicated streaming device.

He did: HTPC...

[Greg]

I'm assuming thats what Kodibuntu is?

[Zyro]

Yes. I'm running my HTPC with VDR on Ubuntu, though.

[ancorp]

Hey guys, good to see activity on this post :)
I use my Kodibunti setup for
Kodi (I use a harmony remote over IR for it)
Steam In-House Streaming with PS3 Bluetooth controllers
Emulation Station (front-end for RetroArch) for NES SNES and Sage emulation with PS3 controllers)

The dual core NUC i use does have hardware decoding of the video stream that my desktop sends. I do think performance can be better. And every time the PS3 controller has to 'rumble' over Bluetooth I get major delays.

I'll wait for the reviews too and see if the performance is better :)