Only streams games, or my entire PC?

[himmatsj]

Will this only stream Steam games, or can I stream my entire PC as well, example my powerpoint, web browser, movies.

[LoudCore]

you kinda can already. if you use a program like notepad, etc. you can view your desktop with it

[Marcio Neves]

I think only games THROUGH steam. It could also stream non-steam games, as long as they are launched through the steam client at your main PC (haven't tried that with Steam Streaming)

[abarnes4]

This is what I want to know too. If it can stream DVDs, Blurays, MP4s, catchup TV, Windows Media Center, non-Steam games, whatever, then I'm interested. But if you can only stream Steam games, then it's just too limited to be of interest.

[Budlyte]

I can confirm that you can launch any game through Steam In Home Streaming, by first adding the game to your Steam Library through the "Add a non-Steam game" option. Actually you can stream any program this way. I have Skype added in mine just because I wanted to test it.

As for streaming video, I don't think I would stream video from another computer that's playing the video... This device needs a native player or it really is limited. Then again I guess the consoles have that covered? GabeN, don't let the peasants win!

[ViG]

Even origin games should work if you follow these steps

Download and install Steam on both the client and host computers.
Open Steam on the host computer.
Select the “Games” menu, then choose “Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library…“.
Choose the Origin game from the list, then select “Add Selected Programs“.
From the computer where the Origin game is installed, open Origin.
Go to the “Origin” menu, and select “Application Settings“.
Select “Origin In Game” in the left pane.
Uncheck the “Enable Origin in Game” check box.
Select “Advanced” in the left pane.
Check the “Automatically exit Origin after closing a game” option, then close Origin.
From the client computer, launch Steam.
Select your game, then choose the “Stream” button.

[himmatsj]

Ok, thanks for the replies guys.

I think "add non-Steam game" is not a viable option for what I meant. What I actually meant was that, can the Steam Link stream my entire PC. The desktop, control panel, start menu, web browser...basically, imagine I am working as per normal on my PC. If I turn on Steam Link, will the entire image of what I'm doing on my PC be streamed to my TV? This is what I want to know.

If Steam Link cannot do this, what can?

[Marcio Neves]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von himmatsj:

Ok, thanks for the replies guys.

I think "add non-Steam game" is not a viable option for what I meant. What I actually meant was that, can the Steam Link stream my entire PC. The desktop, control panel, start menu, web browser...basically, imagine I am working as per normal on my PC. If I turn on Steam Link, will the entire image of what I'm doing on my PC be streamed to my TV? This is what I want to know.

If Steam Link cannot do this, what can?

In that way, no, it cannot. But you can hope it could add some Remote Desktop client and with that you could connect to your desktop and use it remotely (only not for watching videos nor playing games: the protocol is quite awfull for streaming, even in a local wired network)

[FL33TWOOD]

Well back in the day(like last week ;-) we used "el cheapo" laptop and used Teamviewer to control any PC I wanted. There are already other programs to help acheive this.

[Marcio Neves]

The problem with TeamViewer is the latency and bandwith: the screen is streamed all the way up to TV servers and them down back to the client connected to it

[Smoses]

I'm curious about the same thing as OP. If this could stream my entire PC, then this is a no-brainer insta-buy for me. However, if what others here are saying is true and it can only stream Steam and applications launched through Steam, then the Link sits firmly in the "maybe" zone. Still worth some serious consideration, though, since it would be very close to what I'm looking for.

[Budlyte]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Marcio Neves:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von himmatsj:

Ok, thanks for the replies guys.

I think "add non-Steam game" is not a viable option for what I meant. What I actually meant was that, can the Steam Link stream my entire PC. The desktop, control panel, start menu, web browser...basically, imagine I am working as per normal on my PC. If I turn on Steam Link, will the entire image of what I'm doing on my PC be streamed to my TV? This is what I want to know.

If Steam Link cannot do this, what can?

In that way, no, it cannot. But you can hope it could add some Remote Desktop client and with that you could connect to your desktop and use it remotely (only not for watching videos nor playing games: the protocol is quite awfull for streaming, even in a local wired network)

What? Have you actually tested it? Because yes, you can do this. Currently by hitting Alt+Tab while in a game it returns to the desktop of the gaming computer. If you were to add notepad or some similar windowed program into the Steam client then it should directly stream the desktop when you run it.

When you stream a game over Steam In Home Streaming, all it is doing is launching the game on the remote computer and then streaming everything that you can see from that computer's monitor.

[himmatsj]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Budlyte:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Marcio Neves:

In that way, no, it cannot. But you can hope it could add some Remote Desktop client and with that you could connect to your desktop and use it remotely (only not for watching videos nor playing games: the protocol is quite awfull for streaming, even in a local wired network)

What? Have you actually tested it? Because yes, you can do this. Currently by hitting Alt+Tab while in a game it returns to the desktop of the gaming computer. If you were to add notepad or some similar windowed program into the Steam client then it should directly stream the desktop when you run it.

When you stream a game over Steam In Home Streaming, all it is doing is launching the game on the remote computer and then streaming everything that you can see from that computer's monitor.

Now please somebody clear this confusion up. Would infinitely appreciate it. Thanks!

[Budlyte]

A quick Google search

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/homestream/discussions/0/540731690675937539/

I didn't know about Alt+Esc before this. That works way better than trying to Alt+Tab

[shady.brady]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von himmatsj:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Budlyte:

What? Have you actually tested it? Because yes, you can do this. Currently by hitting Alt+Tab while in a game it returns to the desktop of the gaming computer. If you were to add notepad or some similar windowed program into the Steam client then it should directly stream the desktop when you run it.

When you stream a game over Steam In Home Streaming, all it is doing is launching the game on the remote computer and then streaming everything that you can see from that computer's monitor.

Now please somebody clear this confusion up. Would infinitely appreciate it. Thanks!

He is correct - you can go over to your computer and do anything you want and it is going to be streamed to your TV. Alt-tabbing will go to your desktop where you can run anything.

My problem is that the audio doesn't work for me as soon as I alt-tab. Haven't found a solution for that one yet.

[RendCycle]

Is it possible to watch a Blu-ray Movie Disc playing on my Desktop PC's Blu-ray Drive through my Smart TV using the STEAM LINK? If that is possible, I wonder what the audio quality will be... Also, if it is important to know, I use either VLC or PowerDVD software to play Blu-ray movie discs on my Desktop PC.