Steam Link and Steam Controller now available to Pre Order

[Bluecube]

Steam streaming doesn't support 5.1 so it's unlikely to be a hardware limitation. A software upgrade may solve that but we've been waiting for 5.1 sound for a long time now.

 

[craptakular]

I suspect this would work well with my 300mb FTTP connection?

 

[Skeeter]

I suspect this would work well with my 300mb FTTP connection?

It uses LAN not the internet. The host PC and the Steam Link must be on the same internal network.

To me the main point about the Link is the price. I was expecting it to be a lot more expensive. I don't think you could build something yourself for that little. Its cheap enough that I'm tempted to pre order one just to try it out.

 

[Twirlywoos]

Hmm no gigabit lan, no usb 3, no 5.1 tslink output, these features I need if gaming from my living room. Regardlesss of price that's me out and will wait for a v2. However, how much bandwith does streaming a game inc pcm sound take?

The controller does look good though.

 

[Robert]

For 40 quid you can't expect the world. If it gives 1080p at 60fps that's good enough for me!

 

[Kiyoshi]

For 40 quid you can't expect the world. If it gives 1080p at 60fps that's good enough for me!

Exactly this for me too.

 

[uncle_rufus]

I just want to know how they will overcome the problems that Steam's streaming currently has when you try to do it say between a PC and laptop... Like I said above it works fine except for certain games (I guess depending on how they launch?) and for example in my case if I get any kind of popup (say from my antivirus) while in-game it can sometimes sort of break the whole system.

The exact same thing happens when using Nvidia's streaming - the client device ends up losing whatever was on-screen, and yet the host PC still believes it to be connected - meaning you can't then get the connection going again without restarting (at least) the PC...

 

[agnes]

I go through pads like crazy, I use the 360 wireless pad for all my main gaming as I game on my 50" plasma.

I've been waiting for the xbox one wireless adapter which seems to be coming out soon now MS have confirmed it's being developed. But! If the steam controller is just as good in terms of compatibility and the 'mouse' feature works so I can play Civ 5, or Kerbal or stuff like that. Then it will win me over.

 

[Twirlywoos]

It's 2015 not 2005, gigabit nic's will cost pennies more and I'm surprised since the device has wireless AC which is very much up to date. Unless you don't have a home cinema setup then I can see why it's not a problem having 5.1. USB 3.0 helps for those using rgb keyboards as it will free up a usb 2.0 slot. Will it support voip for ts use also? Even though it's 1080p I can expect the compression to degrade the quality of the graphics also.

Edit taken from steam discussions

I think this is not a typo, 100 mbits/s is enough bandwidth for in-home streaming.

I assume this works very similarly with steam in-home streaming where the video, audio data are compressed then the steam link hardware is the one responsible to decode it. 1080p 60fps at full quality actually sends around ~30000kbits/s when using in-home streaming.

~30000kbit/s is equal to ~29.2mbits/s

Question now is will this add any latency?

 

[delta0]

I've pre-ordered the Steam Link. I have a 360 controller so I will be using that.

I've been looking at building a mini streaming box using a raspberry pi for sometime and every time I build one and go to the checkout it is getting towards £60. This one looks better and is ready to go out of the box for £40. Steam can't be selling these for a profit. Very happy I got this. I can chill out on the sofa and stream some games.

You can stream 1080p from Netflix with less than 20 mbps. I think a local network will be fine.

Hmmm seems steam link does not do 5.1 sound and your host PC monitor has to be able to do 1080p....that's me out....

My monitor can't do 1080p but it doesn't mean I can't force it on the graphics card. The image on the monitor looks a bit strange, will have to see what it looks like on the TV.

Edit: I've read other people are just adding the resolution as a custom resolution and it enables the streaming at 1080p.

 

[Skeeter]

Why does it need USB3? All you will be using is a keyboard, mouse or pad in the USB ports?

Pre ordered a Link to try. Ouch at £8 shipping!

 

[maxilive]

I've preordered my controller from game to save on the shipping and I'm sure I'll be spending £20 on Steam at somepoint.

I've been looking forward to this controller, it seems unique and some fancy features that should make gaming on the couch a better experience. It will be interesting to see how this play the typical fps. If it feels closer to a mouse or controller.

 

[FrenchTart]

When I saw the 100mbit spec I knew tons of uninformed people would be kicking up a fuss about it.

I'm kind of tempted by the pads though perhaps I'll wait until I hear about people's experiences in using them for games where a dpad is useful.

 

[Mercutio]

When I saw the 100mbit spec I knew tons of uninformed people would be kicking up a fuss about it.

I'm kind of tempted by the pads though perhaps I'll wait until I hear about people's experiences in using them for games where a dpad is useful.

But it's only 100Mb?! I have a gigabit network thankyouverymuch I think this should use it.

 

[delta0]

But it's only 100Mb?! I have a gigabit network thankyouverymuch I think this should use it.

I'm using wifi. Not sure it will even run 480@5fps

 

[Haggisman]

When I saw the 100mbit spec I knew tons of uninformed people would be kicking up a fuss about it.

You do have to wonder why they've gone for 100mb though, when Gigabit has been pretty much standard for at least a couple of years...

 

[FrenchTart]

You do have to wonder why they've gone for 100mb though, when Gigabit has been pretty much standard for at least a couple of years...

I imagine the chipset for the system comes with 100mbit by default and there's not really much point in increasing the cost of the system (given it's already pretty cheap for what it is). At the price it is at I also would guess that they're seeing it as something that people will be happy to pay money to upgrade from for the jump to 4k when/if that happens.

 

[katinacooker]

I take it the steam link does the same as in-home streaming, where the main computer still runs the game as normal and streams the results to the link? i.e. My computer is in the living room as the main TV. If i get the link and put it in the spare room, the main TV will be unusable?

 

[Winky_The_Winking_Turtle]

I'm guessing there will be different iterations of this device just like any other technology, e.g.:

Steam Link 2 - Now supports gigabit networks and higher resolution streams, USB 3.0, etc.

 

[FrenchTart]

I'm guessing there will be different iterations of this device just like any other technology, e.g.:

Steam Link 2 - Now supports gigabit networks and higher resolution streams, USB 3.0, etc.

Yup. Exactly that.