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But given the new steam link app, there is very little need for the link box anymore.
I'm playing gtav on my Samsung s10e as we speak. My gaming pc is 50 miles away at a relatives house
That said, as already mentioned they have reached EOL.
If you want a true 1:1 remote desktop experiance over LAN via thin client with latency to game the SL (optionally with "virtually here")is still the best though.
There are a number of things that make it the best all around for in home use.
Example, say you have a gaming PC in the main room and a TV in the secondary room...
You could setup an old laptop as the streaming thin client using steam, and you would think it would work just as well.
For starters though, you will only be able to stream an app or game, not the whole desktop, that is one of the limits of using the Steam Client level In Home Streaming.
And thats before even speaking about lattency, network performance, etc. All of which are higher/worse on a windows or linux machine using the client. Only exception here is if you are using high end hardware, which defeats the purpose of a cheap thin client in the first place.
Now you can use the mobile app to steam the whole desktop which is nice, but then you have to stream that to your TV, or get it connected hardwire. Then you have to deal with dongles and the likes.
OR
You plug in a small purpose built device that has the exact hardware needed and nothing more, and use Virtual Here for 100% USB pass through. You now have a litterally 100% functional low latency remote desktop connection to any steam machine in the house.
The other options are both more convienient, and are hardware agnostic, thus why Steam is heading that way. And steam links dont do over the internet. But for what they were built for, they still do it the best.
Wait, but Steam Link IS a linux machine using the client. Afaik it's not all that different from Raspberry Pi, although they say older Raspberry Pi models might not be able to handle the streaming via wi-fi due to inferior wi-fi standart, so it takes at least 3A+ model. Other than that - I actually see Raspberry Pi as a better choice here as it's also better performance-wise, so unlike SL can be used for lots of other things. Tho I personally did not test SL vs RP with SL app, so I can be wrong a thousand times.
I personally never had a big luck of using VirtualHere, tho it was a long time ago and I suppose it works far better now if it's still developing, including the app for SL.
Now, I absolutely agree with SL being a simple solution as is made just for that. But in this case it's like comparing pliers to a multi-tool - sure pliers are simple, handy and can do some exact job remarkably well, yet it doesn't make pliers superior to multi-tool. My main question was about the superiority for streaming via thin client, and from what I understand SL will work pretty much the same as Raspberry Pi for streaming, and the newest Raspberry Pi 4B can handle 4K@60FPS encoding SL is not capable of. So I'd say SL can be more handy, cheaper, easier to setup etc., just not superior to other options in 2019.
am at work now, so will have to be brief. It would seem like you are coming from the understanding of on paper, or at best half real world, missing on the SL side. I on the other hand am offering observations and conclusions from controlled side by side testing less than a year ago. One is speaking from paper and book knowledge, the other is application and practice,
In real world practice, sapecifically to on site LAN streaming of a whole desktop system, SL wins, hands down.
There are work arounds as mentioned, but they are problematic at best or outright fail more often than not.
You are right in your multi-tool to plier analogy. Most would see the SL as the pliers, and yes, in many cases a mutli tool leatherman is better. But for straight up nuts and bolts and nothing more, you want a good pair of pliers. Same is true for in home remote desktop.
If you want a thin client that plays netflix, has apps, and is self sufiicenient, get one. If you want *nothing* but a stable, responsive desktop experiance, minus the computer in the room, get a steam link. Simple as that.
After I bought steam links I did a decent chunk of testing to see if it had been worth it.
Devices used (aside from steam link) consisted of:
Gateway NV-55c laptop, core i3-370m, Intel HD, 4GB Ram, windows 10, tested using wired and wiresless (2.4Ghz/N)
Lenovo W520, Core i7 (2nd gen, 2760am i think), 8GB Ram, Intel HD 3000 *and* Quadro 1000m (tested using both as the GPU in use), Windows 10, also tested with a temp intall of LInux (ubuntu), tested over gigabit wired, Wireless 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz with a decent Intel wireless NiC.
Also tested using a couple older (but still better haardware internally than a SL) mobile devices, including a Galaxy S5, LG K-10, Note II, and an Alcatell Tablet.
In all cases, using the built in monitoring tools Steam provides, in the same room on same network conditions the SL provided less latency for both input and screen times, and better consistancy without jitter. This was seen regardless of over wired, 2.4 or 5.0, with 5.0/wired being the best options. 5
.0Ghz over steam liink @ 40ft line of sight was the *only* one of the tried *wireelss* options that gave usable performance for non-competitive FPS use (GTA, Battlefield casual, etc).
I will say that *if* you have a wireless AC card, and a decent PC, you can get the streaming wirelessly thats about the same as the SL, but now you have a more or less higher end system, and no longer a $10 thin client, which is what a SL costs (I bought 4 from steam direct at that price when they still had em).
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And again, this is all without touching on things like using the whole PC (without work arounds) or being able to play non-steam games (you can).
As you mentioned there are work arounds. I used them pretty consistantly for about 5 years before getting a SL and relising how much time I has wasted.
Notepad/Explorer work arounds *do* work, some times. They also dont work often, or the stream will break when you jump from one thing to another (such as from note pad to a game or run cmd). This often requires access to the Host to correct :/ The list of ways this can break or not work is much longer than the list of sucess you will have.
Then there is non-steam DRM... Take the free Subnautica copy I have from Epic. Try getting that to work over steam streaming without using a steam link. Its nearly imposible to get working *with* a steam link lol, no way without.
Its just one of these things, where the unit built for the job is still the best. But compared to the multi-tool app option it is dead now. But if all you want is on site remote use, its still the best.
If I find the time to do it this weekend I will put the SL in ym bedroom side by side with one of my 520's and run a GTA bench for you to watch.
One last note - along with testing different units I also tested all three encoding types, Intel, NVEC, and AMD. Of all three Intel has the lowest lattency for screen responce. The NVEC encoder was a dedicated GTX-960 4GB card I ran for a short while as a PhysX card, the AMD encder tested was my Vega 64, and lastly, the Intel HD-4000 on my 4790K.
I am glad the Intel HD encoder was the fastest, as it is also the best for gaming as it allows the main GPU and whole CPU to work for the game, and puts the otherwise idle iGP into use.
Total difference from the two GPU encoders vs the iGP was abotu -3ms to the iGP for the win.
And before anyone tries to say my opinion is "on paper", I have a Steam Link and have compared it to the app (both mobile and desktop). Shocking, I know.
It would be nice to have a hardware Steam Link that had proper full functionality, like the app, but we'll never get it. Steam clearly is going the app route.
Nice to hear you had sucess, but what devices?
And people (there was another before you) are making a big deal about 1080p being a limiting factor...
Unless you are running *wired* LAN or a 60Ghz line of sight short range wireless networking there is no way you are running a high quality 4k gaming stream...
And if you are using it over WAN just forget about it, even with a gigabit upload source..., again, unless you client is also on wired gigabit class internet.
in which case, in either situation, you have the money for a proper secondary rig on site that offers better performance.
Lets get real here folks...
I run 4K on my main rig and 1440p on my secondary rig... Not a single device that I would want to remote stream to has greater than 1080p, and even if it *did* would not have the network capacity to support such a rez.
Most normal people are still on 1080p, period. Statistics dont lie on that fact. Most normal people are on Wireless AC or N still, depending on the revision of the hardware their ISP sends them, or how recently the upgraded their own unit.
So when *most* play at 1080p to begin with, and those that do have a single or two nice screens will be streaming to lesser ones than their mains, and when most networks cant support 4k low compression over wifi and barely over wired, I see no point in even bringing up 4k streaming capacity.
If you have the money for multiple 4K screens in mutliple rooms *and* a high end network, you have the money for another decent gaming PC instead of sacrificing that little bit to the network gods to stream.
For the target market, and again, limited to its original and intended use, SL still wins.
As said, I will do my best likely on sunday to put a couple vids together showing the difference. Unless something has *substantially* changed in the performance of the app or the client in windows in the past 8 months or so, it will show what I have described above.
The App is good, and it has its place, and will be the sucessor, but for the specific use of in home streaming the SL still works best in my testing at lest.
I use the Steam Link on my old 1080p TV, but I would rather stream 4K to my 4K TV. I'm not the only one. Enough said.
If they'd make a hardware Steam Link that could do 4K, then cool, I'd buy it. However, I'm not holding my breath.
in the end, with a simple free app, I can do 4K streaming now.