Don't forget! Use your TV's Game Mode to reduce input lag!

[Bossman207]

Yes, there is going to be lag when playing a game on a steam stream. There is the encoding, network, decoding, wireless controller, and TV that all have to be taken into consideration.

However, what many people overlook is that if a TV has a Game Mode, you will have input lag if it's not being used. This is because generally newer TVs do their own processing to the image/sound before displaying it to the TV, resulting in a delay between the source output and displayed results.

Setting your TV in Game Mode will eliminate this processing and give you a 1:1 source to display throughput. (This helps for any gaming system)

So even though you are running a wired network and have a wired remote to your streamer/link, you will still have lag if your TV is not in game mode.

Even so, 2d action side scrollers like Broforce or Super Meat Boy still have more lag than I'd like due to the nature of streaming. I really hope that this gets better over time with streaming games over local networks in general.

[Thegreen16]

This should be more publicized. I was having a lot of input delay (~.5sec) on a wired connection. This fixed it immediately

[Bossman207]

Originally posted by Thegreen16:

This should be more publicized. I was having a lot of input delay (~.5sec) on a wired connection. This fixed it immediately

Agreed!

[mjhcsta]

+1

[Helixium]

100% this. I made a post about this few days ago but it got lost in these forums. Hopefully more people see this!

[Steb]

Holy ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, I was blown away that this actually worked, who would have thought the cause of all this enraging input delay was a result of game mode on the TV. It was a bit difficult to find, but it was indeed there. And jesus raptor christ, did it make a difference. I cannot tell you how amazing it is to play now. The input lag is completely gone, I'm insanely particular about latency and input lag, and when I just got my steam link yesterday and tried it, I was beyond disappointed, this changes everything. +10 points my man, your doing gods work. This ♥♥♥♥ needs a sticky, I'm beyond shocked that this isn't part of the input lag FAQ and troubleshooting.

[Quad]

On LG and Samsung TV's renaming the HDMI input to "PC" is preferred over Game Mode because:

1.) It cuts down the input lag even more
2.) It enables 4:4:4 chroma
3.) It disables all post processing
4.) It defaults to 0% overscan
5.) It completely disables sharpness enhancement that other modes still have (even when set to 0%)

[Gnome]

This definately needs to be a sticky, solved my lag problem :-)

[Trekari]

Originally posted by Quad:

On LG and Samsung TV's renaming the HDMI input to "PC" is preferred over Game Mode because:

1.) It cuts down the input lag even more
2.) It enables 4:4:4 chroma
3.) It disables all post processing
4.) It defaults to 0% overscan
5.) It completely disables sharpness enhancement that other modes still have (even when set to 0%)

This is disturbingly false information.

For example, chroma subsampling capabilities depend entirely on the electronics inside the TV. Not every television supports 4:4:4 chroma, regardless of manufacturer.

[Joe2400]

Find using Game Mode, the image quality isn't as good compared to Vivid or other settings on my TV. I'm going to give Game Mode another chance though to see if really does reduce input lag.

[Thegreen16]

Originally posted by Joe2400:

Find using Game Mode, the image quality isn't as good compared to Vivid or other settings on my TV. I'm going to give Game Mode another chance though to see if really does reduce input lag.

Yeah, the image quality, as least on Samsung TVs, is significanly worse on Game Mode.

[Trekari]

Originally posted by Joe2400:

Find using Game Mode, the image quality isn't as good compared to Vivid or other settings on my TV. I'm going to give Game Mode another chance though to see if really does reduce input lag.

I'd encourage you to calibrate your television's basic controls accurately. You'd be surprised how poor of a representation the "Vivid" mode typically is.

Game mode will always improve input lag, but it does so by sacrificing some (sometimes all) image processing which is generally perceived to make the image "better." So Game Mode looking a little worse would be normal.

However if you calibrate the TV properly (proper black levels, white levels, decent color/tint), I think you'd appreciate the image more.

[JimmyJames26]

Been using game mode for a while, don't notice much image degradation.

[daaw_gees]

Originally posted by Deathnutz:

Yes, there is going to be lag when playing a game on a steam stream. There is the encoding, network, decoding, wireless controller, and TV that all have to be taken into consideration.

However, what many people overlook is that if a TV has a Game Mode, you will have input lag if it's not being used. This is because generally newer TVs do their own processing to the image/sound before displaying it to the TV, resulting in a delay between the source output and displayed results.

Setting your TV in Game Mode will eliminate this processing and give you a 1:1 source to display throughput. (This helps for any gaming system)

So even though you are running a wired network and have a wired remote to your streamer/link, you will still have lag if your TV is not in game mode.

Even so, 2d action side scrollers like Broforce or Super Meat Boy still have more lag than I'd like due to the nature of streaming. I really hope that this gets better over time with streaming games over local networks in general.

Moderators, please, for the sake of the patience of all fans of the Steam Link, sticky this.

[JohnnyDarko]

Completely off-topic but guess you guys would know as you have the Link allready. Can anyone please tell me what the unit weighs boxed and shipped? In South Africa and want to calculate shipping costs. Not available here as yet so have to ship from US. I have now been waiting a year for release here but does not seem to want to come to South Africa.

Thanks for the recommendations above. I will certainly be adhering to them as soon as I have my Steam Link in hand.

[flood_ping]

Originally posted by JohnnyDarko:

Completely off-topic but guess you guys would know as you have the Link allready. Can anyone please tell me what the unit weighs boxed and shipped? In South Africa and want to calculate shipping costs. Not available here as yet so have to ship from US. I have now been waiting a year for release here but does not seem to want to come to South Africa.

Thanks for the recommendations above. I will certainly be adhering to them as soon as I have my Steam Link in hand.

Mine was shipped in a plastic postal bag measured 16,00″ x 11,80″ x 3,80″ and weights 2.2 lb.