Valve kills the Steam Link device?

Lucky Day

Lucky Day

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A number of sites are reporting that Steam's announcement
 that the Steam Link device is virtually sold out worldwide implies that they are killing it. The "moving forward" statement implies that at least this version is gone methinks.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/valve-seemingly-kills-off-steam-link-almost-sold-
o/1100-6463364/

I had to double check and this wasn't the Steam Console - its a device that basically does wireless video to your TV much like Intel's WiDi and other formats. I see that Apple killed the app on iOS.
 
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They’re awesome. I have 2 so I can play PC games in my livingroom and bedroom.
 
When I worked at Intel I tested the WiDi - a lot! It never worked 100% in that environment and the devs in Portland insisted we test it in a Faraday Cage which we didn't bother. It was inconsistent due to all the EMI around there.

NVidia was working on one too and a few other companies but its still yet to catch on. Probably because wired connections are still way outpacing wireless video.

Saki, I'm glad its working good for you. I imagine its somehow optimized - but do you think your connectivity in your house plays a factor?
 
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Probably, I’ve never tried it wirelessly. I have cat7 run to every room in my house.
 
Ah ok. I have 75' of cat5 but no ability to run it.

Valve is having a fire sale for $2.50 so I just ordered it. Even with the $8 shipping its worth the gamble. There are certain games like XCom that I think run better on TV with a controller so its worth a look.

I hope it actually gets here, lol.
 
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I've used the app and it works fine wirelessly. Surprisingly, Nvidia Geforce Now or whatever they're calling it now, aka stream games from their server to your tablet (which can also be hooked up and used as a console) was flawless too. I tested Alpha Protocol in 1080p and it worked well.
 
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TheRealFluent said:
I've used the app and it works fine wirelessly. Surprisingly, Nvidia Geforce Now or whatever they're calling it now, aka stream games from their server to your tablet (which can also be hooked up and used as a console) was flawless too. I tested Alpha Protocol in 1080p and it worked well.
Click to expand...
You probably used it with the Nvidia shield? I tried it with a mi box and it was really subpar to my steam link. Slow, crashed easily.

I prefer to keep my number of devices down so I was excited when they released the app, but as long as it doesn't work brilliantly like my steam link it is useless. Steam link wakes up in a snap when taking the controller, then wakes up my PC in 5s and I can play. Afterwards it will suspend my PC automatically and itself. It is really a streamlined experience. I just forget there is a PC behind it and often want to take the link on holidays (which would be useless).
 
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What is a "Steam Link" ?
 
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A linux-based device you connect to your tv. It provides a slick interface to remote desktop to your gaming pc and stream your favorite games.
 
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Ah, thanks, didn't know about that.
I knew one could play some games within Linux, though.
 
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Alrik Fassbauer said:
Ah, thanks, didn't know about that.
I knew one could play some games within Linux, though.
Click to expand...


You misunderstood him. The Steam Link is only sort of a media player with a Linux interface. It connects your PC to your TV in the other room and offers USB ports for controllers and keyboard. You still run the games under Steam on your PC. Then the Steam Link passes it through the PC and returns the controller feedback to the PC. This is supposed to run very fine on 1080p with a LAN cable. WLAN is a different story.
 
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Alrik Fassbauer said:
Ah, thanks, didn't know about that.
I knew one could play some games within Linux, though.
Click to expand...

Everything still runs on your PC hardware.

Easiest way to explain:

It's like your TV is connected to your gaming PC as another monitor.

But instead of using a really really really long monitor/USB cable, you're using your home network instead.
 
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ilm said:
You probably used it with the Nvidia shield? I tried it with a mi box and it was really subpar to my steam link. Slow, crashed easily.
Click to expand...

I have the Steam Link app on both my Nvidia Shield and sideloaded on my Amazon Fire HD 10. It worked great on both, but I only tested in mostly close range. The Nvidia Geforce Now service is only available on Shield but it was miraculous as you can play games even at 4K resolution and they all stream remotely from Nvidia's servers. Steam Link obviously uses your own PC and wi-fi which will vary your experience (better PC + stronger wi-fi = better overall experience). They are neat tricks but I mostly play on PC anyway.
 
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Just had a U.S. friend order 2 Steam Links. The shipping to Canada, costs much more than both devices combined. However with the liquidation deal, it's still a quarter of the price of what it would be to just buy one in Canada. Looking forward to testing them out!
 
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TheRealFluent said:
I have the Steam Link app on both my Nvidia Shield and sideloaded on my Amazon Fire HD 10. It worked great on both, but I only tested in mostly close range. The Nvidia Geforce Now service is only available on Shield but it was miraculous as you can play games even at 4K resolution and they all stream remotely from Nvidia's servers. Steam Link obviously uses your own PC and wi-fi which will vary your experience (better PC + stronger wi-fi = better overall experience). They are neat tricks but I mostly play on PC anyway.
Click to expand...

Why would you use the steam link app on nvidia shield? The shield will stream from your pc and it does an even better job than the steam link because it supports 4K and you can stream games that aren’t in your steam library.
 
Does the shield integrates nicely with steam, origin, epic, etc. Or do you have to manually select executables?

Apparently amd also has a streaming app now
https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/radeon-software-amdlink

Anyone tried it? Only supports smartphones and tablets for now. Don't know why someone would ever want to stream games to his/her phone, but I wouldn't mind hdr (do games support this?) and h265 for better image quality.
 
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