Steam link or HDMI Cable...?

Bobmunkhouse

Bobmunkhouse

Bobmunkhouse

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5 Nov 2005
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2,188
Hi all,

My PC is in the living room with my TV so usually when I want to play on the TV I connect a HDMI to TV... this works fine but is a little hassle as I have to set main monitor and change sound output...also usual have to move apps over to screen with mouse ect...so general admin that gets in the way if a quick game....so I was thinking would steam link be better and quicker?

So questions -

Does steam link just work, as in once all setup would I just turn link in and be playing in seconds?

My main monitor is 1440p, would this cause issues?

I would have link connected via Ethernet so would picture, sound and lag be pretty much the same as HDMI?

Does it work with non steam games?

Anything else I should know like a new version coming out ect?

Thanks all
 
I used to have a long HDMI cable, and set a keyboard hot key to swap my primary monitor and audio output to the TV using a script, and then launch Steam in big picture.

It worked fine but was a pain with the long cable snaking through the house.

I've moved to a Steam Link and when it works, it does 'just work'. Its not perfect, there are a few games where the lag can be just about noticeable, an while it will launch non Steam games that you have in your Steam library, it won't pass the controller input through to it. You can get round that if you use a controller connected to your PC directly.

So its not perfect, but its really good when it works. I'd recomend one, especially if you have Ethernet cables to your TV.
 
I went from having an HDMI, USB with a multi socket and an Ethernet cable between my office and the TV and have recently replaced it with a steam link.

The quality isn't any different but I am using it via the ethernet cable for a wired connection, I have heard wireless can have a slight delay but cannot comment on this personally.

It is so much easier to use however, no more changing cables at the back of the PC or changing outputs etc - that and I actually like the steam controler over the 360.
You can also still use mice/keyboards from it which is nice.
 
You can use a 360 controller with the Steam Link by plugging the PC USB dongle into it.

I assume it will also support the new Bluetooth enabled Xbox One Controller S without any need for dongles.
 
Steam link took 5 mins to install and works like a dream ,I couldn't recommend it more ,it's a excellent piece of kit for the money.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Steam Link is limited to 1080p.

I'm currently using a HDMI cable to play PC games on my TV. It works great, but does require some initial setup. If you want to output resolutions higher than 1080p you'll also need to make sure both inputs and the cable are HDMI 2.0 or you'll be limited to 30fps.


My R9 390 only has HDMI 1.4 so I'm currently limited to 30fps @ 1440p until I can buy an adapter. To avoid screen tearing I had to limit the framerate on my PC to 30 and enable v-sync. Still works well though and looks amazing on the big screen.
 
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I have a HTPC connected to my living room TV via internal 1gig networking to a 1gig switch, desktop PC is in the office /PC room and when I installed steam to the HTPC and tried steam in home streaming I thought it was pretty terrible TBH.

i read loads of guides, but the input lag from a wireless or wired 360 controller was so bad, it just wrecked it.

TBH - you could tell it was streamed, and I don't know if the steam link as some extra voodoo in it, but my HTPC was pretty bad with it..

Streams Plex just fine though, even 30 mbit MKV files, I dunno.
 
iv-tecman said:
I have a HTPC connected to my living room TV via internal 1gig networking to a 1gig switch, desktop PC is in the office /PC room and when I installed steam to the HTPC and tried steam in home streaming I thought it was pretty terrible TBH.

i read loads of guides, but the input lag from a wireless or wired 360 controller was so bad, it just wrecked it.

TBH - you could tell it was streamed, and I don't know if the steam link as some extra voodoo in it, but my HTPC was pretty bad with it..

Streams Plex just fine though, even 30 mbit MKV files, I dunno.
Click to expand...
I've never got In Home Streaming working properly across 2 Host PCs and 3 different Client machines (2 laptops and a HTPC) over the course of a couple of years. I even made a thread on here about how crap it is.

But the Steam Link is in a different league. It just works (most of the time). Make sure your TV is in Game mode though, that caused me all sorts of issues for a while.
 
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