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on August 8, 2016
It has been 8 months since my purchase and I think I can give some objective feedback without the excitement of a new purchase.
I bought steam link with modest expectations, the idea of playing your relatively cheap steam games from the comfort of your coach was something that I was looking for, and the device promised an experience that can compete with next gen consoles. Everything looked great in theory.
But in practice, the performance was never good enough to play current gen games. First, I thought the problem was my wireless network and I installed a network cable from my router to my PC (steamlink was already wired), but the performance improved very little to make a difference.
I had to compromise HD resolution to get the game flowing and even than there was a big input lag for the game controls.
I end up using steam link for only casting my desktop to my TV and watching movies.
And at the end of the 8th month, steamlink died without any apparent reason. Yesterday it was working as it should be, next day it wont boot up and stuck with steam link icon. It is sitting as a brick in my living room and hopefully I try to get a refund for it.
Valve has a really long way to go in the hardware business, and I don't recommend anybody to waste their money on a half-baked product like this.
I bought steam link with modest expectations, the idea of playing your relatively cheap steam games from the comfort of your coach was something that I was looking for, and the device promised an experience that can compete with next gen consoles. Everything looked great in theory.
But in practice, the performance was never good enough to play current gen games. First, I thought the problem was my wireless network and I installed a network cable from my router to my PC (steamlink was already wired), but the performance improved very little to make a difference.
I had to compromise HD resolution to get the game flowing and even than there was a big input lag for the game controls.
I end up using steam link for only casting my desktop to my TV and watching movies.
And at the end of the 8th month, steamlink died without any apparent reason. Yesterday it was working as it should be, next day it wont boot up and stuck with steam link icon. It is sitting as a brick in my living room and hopefully I try to get a refund for it.
Valve has a really long way to go in the hardware business, and I don't recommend anybody to waste their money on a half-baked product like this.
on June 10, 2017
I love the Steam Link, it's the perfect device to bring party games from your steam account to a TV. Some recommendations:
1) If you want to get your freinds/family something awesome to do, get Jackbox TV, it's amazing with the LInk
2) Put the Link and the PC close to your internet source, ideally hard wire it all together or put the router and the Link in the same room.
3) Definitely look into getting a Steam Controller. It's not for everyone but I love how it interacts with the Steam ecosystem. Additionally, you should probably get 2-3 other controllers since the Steam Link is crazy fun to use if you've been building a steam library for a number of years like many PC gamers.
4) This is not the best streaming solution if you want to use the in device browser, I would definitely suggest using something else for that.
5) Do not try to use your computer at the same time as running the Link. IMO this is the biggest shortfall for this device because you cannot use your computer while using the Link on a TV even though they could be in completely different rooms in your house.
1) If you want to get your freinds/family something awesome to do, get Jackbox TV, it's amazing with the LInk
2) Put the Link and the PC close to your internet source, ideally hard wire it all together or put the router and the Link in the same room.
3) Definitely look into getting a Steam Controller. It's not for everyone but I love how it interacts with the Steam ecosystem. Additionally, you should probably get 2-3 other controllers since the Steam Link is crazy fun to use if you've been building a steam library for a number of years like many PC gamers.
4) This is not the best streaming solution if you want to use the in device browser, I would definitely suggest using something else for that.
5) Do not try to use your computer at the same time as running the Link. IMO this is the biggest shortfall for this device because you cannot use your computer while using the Link on a TV even though they could be in completely different rooms in your house.
on July 15, 2017
Great price and worked wirelessly better than I expected. I streamed from my wired computer through a wired router (1900AC) to this device wirelessly about 30-40 feet away through at least one wall to a 4K TV. It just worked and I was able to play without issue. I used an XBox 360 wireless controller attached to the Link through a $18 wireless PC adapter. Again, surprised it just plugged in and worked! I may have checked that at least to see if it worked (was supported) prior to trying it. Got this on a sale for under $20, so for the price it worked beyond expectations. Your mileage may vary based on wireless signal and throughput. I think this only works with Steam games. Most of my games are Steam, but not all. That is major limitation.
on July 2, 2016
The Steam Link is an interesting product to say the least. The problem is, for me at least, it doesn't live up to it's performance expectations. I purchased this thinking there was going to be a ~5ms lag time, however, it's more like a half second. This is using a hardwired setup from a band-new gigabit switch too; I can only imaging the performance via WiFi. I tried dropping the streaming resolution to 720p, as well as limiting the bandwidth to 3Mbps, and it still lagged the same. I understand that the complexity of the game and graphics may have a large part to do with this, but it doesn't work well with the games I play, therefor I am returning it. I just seems like it can't handle high bandwidth video at low latency. The audio was even worse. Audio lagged about a half-second behind the video, making it roughly 1 second behind the controller input.
Side note: extra steps will need to be taken to use the Xbox One controller's wireless dongle with this.
Here's to hoping a Link 2 is in the works.
Side note: extra steps will need to be taken to use the Xbox One controller's wireless dongle with this.
Here's to hoping a Link 2 is in the works.
on June 27, 2017
My husband likes this a lot. We have a gaming build upstairs with a 46 inch panel. But he's prone to hole up in the room playing games, and my son and I almost never see him :-) So we bought this to set up downstairs so occasionally he could at least be in the same room with us. It was super easy to set up out of the box. We've gone the wireless route with it, our PC upstairs is on wifi, and so is the Steamlink downstairs. We haven't experienced any connectivity issues. The only complaint so far is frame rate, it's a little stuttery. And the fact that he has to go physically to the computer to access some menu options, reset the game, etc.
We've only tested wired Xbox controllers so far, but we are going to test wired PS4 controllers soon.
We've only tested wired Xbox controllers so far, but we are going to test wired PS4 controllers soon.
on February 6, 2017
For some reason I got it into my head that I could only use Steam with these things, kind of like how you can only use Chrome with Chromecast. Turns out I was wrong and the Steam Controller doubles as a damned decent desktop mouse in case you want to do, well, anything you can do with a desktop and a mouse.
As for the "Steamsperience" it's the same as it is on your computer only now it's on your TV; that's it. Bear in mind that the distance from the computer to the WiFi router to the steam link is as big a factor as the number of walls involved and the speed of your WiFi router is far more important than the speed of your internet connection. Walls and distance can affect performance and the (easiest) way around that is a beefier WiFi router NOT a faster modem or more internet.
Big Important Note: You can search Steam for something called "local multiplayer" which is basically old school Nintendo style multiplayer. I.e., multiple people in the same room with (Steam) Controllers. You don't actually need a Steam Link for this, you just need "local multiplayer" steam games, multiple USB ports and of course USB controllers. They don't even have to be Steam Controllers, although I highly recommend them.
Local multiplayer is a really big deal for mom and dad and the kids because otherwise the kids are going to constantly be at each other's throats over whose turn it is "play the computer." Traditional multiplayer games don't help at all with this because you still need one computer per child. The key here is old-school-Nintendo-style local multiplayer games and that's where Steam Links really shine. As you might imagine, this requires multiple controllers.
As for the "Steamsperience" it's the same as it is on your computer only now it's on your TV; that's it. Bear in mind that the distance from the computer to the WiFi router to the steam link is as big a factor as the number of walls involved and the speed of your WiFi router is far more important than the speed of your internet connection. Walls and distance can affect performance and the (easiest) way around that is a beefier WiFi router NOT a faster modem or more internet.
Big Important Note: You can search Steam for something called "local multiplayer" which is basically old school Nintendo style multiplayer. I.e., multiple people in the same room with (Steam) Controllers. You don't actually need a Steam Link for this, you just need "local multiplayer" steam games, multiple USB ports and of course USB controllers. They don't even have to be Steam Controllers, although I highly recommend them.
Local multiplayer is a really big deal for mom and dad and the kids because otherwise the kids are going to constantly be at each other's throats over whose turn it is "play the computer." Traditional multiplayer games don't help at all with this because you still need one computer per child. The key here is old-school-Nintendo-style local multiplayer games and that's where Steam Links really shine. As you might imagine, this requires multiple controllers.
on February 16, 2016
I'm writing this review so I can attach a photo. Yes it comes with an Australian plug. See attached picture for the other plug types.
on December 30, 2016
Bought it on sale for $20 with the steam controller and it works really well with zero lag playing games as far as I can tell. Link is connected to the Asus RT-AC68U router over AC wifi connection and streaming in beautiful mode. PC is hardwired directly to the router in the same room. Router is about 50ft from the Link and separated by a wall and signal level is 1 bar shy of perfect. Connection status is mostly low latency which stays at less than 1ms ping times and brief spikes below 2ms which is pretty close to a wired connection.
That said, there is one issue which almost killed the deal for me. I have bunch of non-steam games and some of these games would not recognize the xbox 360 wired controller. However, same controller would work fine in Steam games as well as some more recent non-steam games. Also same controller would work fine when plugged directly into the PC. I also tried a Steam controller thinking this was an issue with the xbox controller but still same non-steam games would not recognize the controller. What finally worked is starting Steam as administrator. Once that was done, non-steam games (ones that were not working before) fully recognized both controllers and are now working fine.
Needless to say I will be keeping the Link and heck may even keep the steam controller for the wireless connection even though it is a bit frustrating getting used to coming from an xbox controller.
That said, there is one issue which almost killed the deal for me. I have bunch of non-steam games and some of these games would not recognize the xbox 360 wired controller. However, same controller would work fine in Steam games as well as some more recent non-steam games. Also same controller would work fine when plugged directly into the PC. I also tried a Steam controller thinking this was an issue with the xbox controller but still same non-steam games would not recognize the controller. What finally worked is starting Steam as administrator. Once that was done, non-steam games (ones that were not working before) fully recognized both controllers and are now working fine.
Needless to say I will be keeping the Link and heck may even keep the steam controller for the wireless connection even though it is a bit frustrating getting used to coming from an xbox controller.
on January 17, 2017
Works brilliantly and easy to set up. I set this up last night. I was trying to teach my eight-year-old and 10-year-old some basics about computing. It was very easy to set up and install. We were playing battlefield 4 on it within about five minutes. And the Xbox 360 controller was automatically detected and configured. Amazing bit of technology for very little money. It has enabled me to use a spare monitor to run very powerful games streaming from my HTC Vive GTX 1070 machine in my living room to my gaming room. I don't have to move computers now when I want to play my vive and can easily switch back to regular network games by using the steam link.
The only negative I can think of is that it does not have a basic 3.5 mm audio output. Fortunately, my monitor detected the audio from HDMI and had a 3.5mm plug (Dell monitor) so I was able to plug a headset into that. But if you have a monitor without that feature then you'll have a problem with the audio which would be significant as you would not be able to hear anything. I think Valve should revisit this decision not to include a basic audio output.
Overall a great bit of technology if you have a powerful machine which you need access from another room for gaming or other purposes. Much cheaper than a second gaming PC. Well done Valve.
The only negative I can think of is that it does not have a basic 3.5 mm audio output. Fortunately, my monitor detected the audio from HDMI and had a 3.5mm plug (Dell monitor) so I was able to plug a headset into that. But if you have a monitor without that feature then you'll have a problem with the audio which would be significant as you would not be able to hear anything. I think Valve should revisit this decision not to include a basic audio output.
Overall a great bit of technology if you have a powerful machine which you need access from another room for gaming or other purposes. Much cheaper than a second gaming PC. Well done Valve.
