Steam In Home Streaming, is it actually just a pile of cack?

russ21282 · 30 Oct 2015 at 13:35

String said:
Steam games have been working perfectly for me, mate.

I don't know what the problem was, it seemed like it was just an issue with Steam but in fairness I didn't spend too long on it after it crashed a few times so it could have been anything.

I'm tempted to give the streaming box a go when it's released though.

Narj · 30 Oct 2015 at 14:38

How does this work if you have special gaming hardware such as keyboard or mouse? Do you just install drivers and activate profiles on the client PC?

Dirk Diggler · 30 Oct 2015 at 18:44

Narj said:
How does this work if you have special gaming hardware such as keyboard or mouse? Do you just install drivers and activate profiles on the client PC?

Not sure what you mean. The client PC is like a remote screen and all the work is done on the host PC.

Narj · 1 Nov 2015 at 10:35

String said:
Not sure what you mean. The client PC is like a remote screen and all the work is done on the host PC.

I want to use my RAT mouse as I use profiles on nearly all my games... I'm guessing I can just set that up on the client PC and it should work fine? I'll give it a try anyhow.

Dirk Diggler · 1 Nov 2015 at 10:38

Narj said:
I want to use my RAT mouse as I use profiles on nearly all my games... I'm guessing I can just set that up on the client PC and it should work fine? I'll give it a try anyhow.

Yes, that should work without issue. I use a wireless controller, and can have it plugged in to any of the 2 PC's.

Guest2 · 17 Dec 2015 at 22:04

I am trying to use Steam streaming to stream from my desktop pc to Linx tablet which is connectted via hdmi to my tv. Its laggy as hell and un-usable. I have Hyperoptic 100Mb internet with the standard router. Fair enough, the router isnt great but I can play 1080p content perfectly over wifi from my desktop to tablet and tv so why will steam not stream 1080p content the same?

Deathjester · 18 Dec 2015 at 08:42

Guest2 said:
I am trying to use Steam streaming to stream from my desktop pc to Linx tablet which is connectted via hdmi to my tv. Its laggy as hell and un-usable. I have Hyperoptic 100Mb internet with the standard router. Fair enough, the router isnt great but I can play 1080p content perfectly over wifi from my desktop to tablet and tv so why will steam not stream 1080p content the same?

Your internet speed is irrelevant...

What's your wireless speed?

kayomani · 18 Dec 2015 at 08:54

I've seen a couple of games glitch with hardware encoding on the host such as geometry wars 3, never had an issue with it off.

jamief · 18 Dec 2015 at 08:55

Guest2 said:
I am trying to use Steam streaming to stream from my desktop pc to Linx tablet which is connectted via hdmi to my tv. Its laggy as hell and un-usable. I have Hyperoptic 100Mb internet with the standard router. Fair enough, the router isnt great but I can play 1080p content perfectly over wifi from my desktop to tablet and tv so why will steam not stream 1080p content the same?

"the standard router" is the issue. Your 100Mb internet is irrelevant - it is the speed and latency within your LAN that is of relevance. Typically the best results are over a wired connection.

Clav · 18 Dec 2015 at 09:48

For me it was pretty pants over the powerline adapter / Wireless-N connection I had, even sat 6 feet away from the router. Since going with Wireless-AC it is a lot better.

Seanspeed · 18 Dec 2015 at 09:53

Guest2 said:
I am trying to use Steam streaming to stream from my desktop pc to Linx tablet which is connectted via hdmi to my tv. Its laggy as hell and un-usable. I have Hyperoptic 100Mb internet with the standard router. Fair enough, the router isnt great but I can play 1080p content perfectly over wifi from my desktop to tablet and tv so why will steam not stream 1080p content the same?

That 1080p content you're talking about is probably only like 24fps. It is also probably not low latency. If you could interact within the content, I'm betting it would not feel very responsive.

Game streaming requires very low latency(ping) to make your inputs responsive and I'm guessing you're probably trying to stream 1080p/60fps, which requires over double the bandwidth of 1080p/24fps.

Wouldn't be surprised to hear your tablet isn't exactly the most ideal 'receiver' for the stream, either.

Columbo · 18 Dec 2015 at 09:56

Guest2 said:
I am trying to use Steam streaming to stream from my desktop pc to Linx tablet which is connectted via hdmi to my tv. Its laggy as hell and un-usable. I have Hyperoptic 100Mb internet with the standard router. Fair enough, the router isnt great but I can play 1080p content perfectly over wifi from my desktop to tablet and tv so why will steam not stream 1080p content the same?

Go into client settings on your tablet and force streaming resolution to 720p, helped me out loads.

leaskovski · 18 Dec 2015 at 12:57

Over the holidays I might and get this working over my VPN connection back to my house to see how this works. Might be in for some giggles!

Guest2 · 19 Dec 2015 at 15:35

Thanks for replies. Wireless speed on iPhone is 40Mb down / 40Mb up.

Running speedtest on Linx 7 tablet though its only ~16Mbps. Adapter is Realtek RTL8723BS Wireless LAN 802.11n SDIO network adapter.

Having said that I think the speed of wireless is irrelevant, I can stream 1080p from my desktop to the tablet perfectly so why can't Steam stream 1080p content from my desktop to tablet?

FrenchTart · 19 Dec 2015 at 16:08

Guest2 said:
Thanks for replies. Wireless speed on iPhone is 40Mb down / 40Mb up.

Running speedtest on Linx 7 tablet though its only ~16Mbps. Adapter is Realtek RTL8723BS Wireless LAN 802.11n SDIO network adapter.

Having said that I think the speed of wireless is irrelevant, I can stream 1080p from my desktop to the tablet perfectly so why can't Steam stream 1080p content from my desktop to tablet?

Latency and quality of the connection matter far more for gaming than for streaming video.

Guest2 · 19 Dec 2015 at 16:32

Isnt it just streaming a video of the game being played on the host machine though?

spulse · 19 Dec 2015 at 17:15

It's not using the Internet, it's your wifi connection.

5ghz is the minimum you should be considering to stream over a home network.

I get 60fps at 1080p using steam streaming or using apps like moonlight on iOS.

Guest2 · 19 Dec 2015 at 17:37

spulse said:
It's not using the Internet, it's your wifi connection.

5ghz is the minimum you should be considering to stream over a home network.

If I CAN stream 1080p from desktop to tablet (opening a movie file on my desktop pc remotely on tablet) and it plays fine then to me that says there is nothing wrong with the Wifi connection and something that is slowing down the streaming when using steam

Spud21 · 19 Dec 2015 at 19:21

Guest2 said:
If I CAN stream 1080p from desktop to tablet (opening a movie file on my desktop pc remotely on tablet) and it plays fine then to me that says there is nothing wrong with the Wifi connection and something that is slowing down the streaming when using steam

as others have said that is pretty irrelevent, the movie file will be at much lower fps, and will not care if you have a high latency as you simply arent interacting with it. Also most streamers use some sort of buffering, (not much, but it doesnt need to be) whereas the game will be running in real time and will be responding to your every input, which means that you will get latency issues.

Narj · 19 Dec 2015 at 19:24

Just to update, this thing is amazing. 5GHz Wifi for me is 60FPS@1080p with zero frame or packet loss since I moved all other devices in the house to 2.4GHz. As previously mentioned, the Steam Link itself is hard wired to my VM SuperHub router. I fixed the occasional stutters in the stream by changing my WiFi channel on the VM hub.

Had a party last night and it was amazing playing Mortal Kombat X, Streets of Fury, DiRT split screen and MAME games like 4 Player Turtles on the big TV!

Everyone loved it! This is the future!