To people comparing the Remote Play performance unfavorably to Moonlight, have you tried enabling "NVFBC capture on Nvidia GPU" in Steam's remote play options? Should theoretically work just as well, for the outgoing signal at least.
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How well does Steam Link & In-Home streaming actually work?
- Thread starter maximumzero
- Start date
It runs like butter when running an etewrnet cable from your router to the Steam Link, and still pretty good wirelessly. It's not only turned my PC into a console, it's turned it into a little mini-Switch since I can play some games on my iPad (the trackpad controls that emulate a mouse are pretty good, great for indie RPGs and strategy games and VNs). You can even alt-tab into your normal desktop environment, so it's a home mini-server that you can use to watch whatever video you've got on your PC.
I get to skip the Switch tax and the Switch waiting time for indies by just buying them on PC and streaming them to my TV and iPad. I spend so much less money on games than I used to, because console games are cheaper on PC. I can play gamepass games on a beefy PC instead of relying on my aging Xbox One. I can use my fancy PS4 SCUF controller with any games I would previously have to use an Xbox controller for because the PC is such a wide open platform. And I tend to sit in front of my home computer for work, and after that I want to be literally anywhere but my 'office,' and being able to play stuff on my iPad or TV when I can't stand another second in that chair is a godsend.
You're going to be fiddling around with settings quite a bit, and sometimes things just inexplicably don't work or require arcane workarounds (Destiny, for example, bafflingly will not take controller inputs unltil you run it through a third party program), so it's not for everyone. But for me, it completely changed the way I play games, and for the better.
I get to skip the Switch tax and the Switch waiting time for indies by just buying them on PC and streaming them to my TV and iPad. I spend so much less money on games than I used to, because console games are cheaper on PC. I can play gamepass games on a beefy PC instead of relying on my aging Xbox One. I can use my fancy PS4 SCUF controller with any games I would previously have to use an Xbox controller for because the PC is such a wide open platform. And I tend to sit in front of my home computer for work, and after that I want to be literally anywhere but my 'office,' and being able to play stuff on my iPad or TV when I can't stand another second in that chair is a godsend.
You're going to be fiddling around with settings quite a bit, and sometimes things just inexplicably don't work or require arcane workarounds (Destiny, for example, bafflingly will not take controller inputs unltil you run it through a third party program), so it's not for everyone. But for me, it completely changed the way I play games, and for the better.
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Had a thought—has anyone ever tried direct computer-to-computer Ethernet connections?
For instance, I'd plug the PC into my MacBook Pro via Ethernet, and Switch on internet sharing so the computer can get online via my MacBook's Wi-Fi connection.
That way the Steam Link is wired as directly as possible, via gigabit.
For instance, I'd plug the PC into my MacBook Pro via Ethernet, and Switch on internet sharing so the computer can get online via my MacBook's Wi-Fi connection.
That way the Steam Link is wired as directly as possible, via gigabit.
That should theoretically work, as long as both the PC & laptop can handle the crossover connection and create a local network. That said, adding a router/switch into the mix with a wired network won't do anything to hurt latency.
The last time I used my physical Steam Link device, using NVFBC gets me artifacts like this when anything moves onscreen
While not using it gives me worse performance (eg. some DX12 games being capped at 30 fps). This was 2 months ago so I don't know if there has been any updates to Steam Home streaming or if there was something else in my configuration that was causing the issue. I just use moonlight installed on my Steam Link now.
Maybe using a crossover cable will work, but I think it won't be any better than just using a router.
Tried moonlight today on apple TV. set it to 4k, 60fps, HDR on, HVENC, 100Mbit. Picture quality was good but I don't know if I was getting 60fps - felt a little less smooth. Need to try a few more games.
More annoyingly, I can't seem to get full screen 4k to work. My PC monitor is 3440x1440 which is probably the issue. Any way around that?
I need a way to get keyboard/mouse signals back to the computer. whats the best option for that?
More annoyingly, I can't seem to get full screen 4k to work. My PC monitor is 3440x1440 which is probably the issue. Any way around that?
I need a way to get keyboard/mouse signals back to the computer. whats the best option for that?
Some folks on the Moonlight discord have noted that tvOS 14 seems to have introduced some stutters that weren't present in tvOS 13, so it may be that. FWIW, I feel like this is the case, but I haven't tried logging with the app or setting up equipment to capture the video stream.
If your video card has an unused HDMI port, you can get a loopback dongle that supports 4K (something like this). You'll want to mirror displays at your monitor's native resolution when it's turned on, and you'll want to make sure the monitor is off and that Windows is running the loopback "display" at 4K when it's time to use Moonlight.
You can't do that with the Apple TV -- tvOS doesn't support bluetooth keyboards/mice, but it will work great with a gamepad. If you're within bluetooth range, you're best off doing that. If you need KB+M and are out of BT range, the cheapest new hardware I can think of that can output 4K is a Raspberry Pi 3 or 4 (for HEVC/H.264 decode).
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I've used steam streaming a lot over wired and it has worked well. I want playing games like dark souls or fps but I was pretty happy with it.
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So I got my PC built and settings tweaked, so it looks like we're good to go.
Of course now the wrench thrown into my plans is the existence of AMD"s own "AMD Link" software. This will stream out to my Apple TV or iPhone but unfortunately not my Macbook, so I'll still need to use Steam Streaming for that.
Picking up an Xbox One controller on the way home tonight so I can start fine-tuning things. Through initial testing I did notice that AMD Link allowed me to play Xbox Gamepass games via streaming, wheras Steam is stuck within its own walled garden, so I'll probably start doing my testing with AMD Link first.
Of course now the wrench thrown into my plans is the existence of AMD"s own "AMD Link" software. This will stream out to my Apple TV or iPhone but unfortunately not my Macbook, so I'll still need to use Steam Streaming for that.
Picking up an Xbox One controller on the way home tonight so I can start fine-tuning things. Through initial testing I did notice that AMD Link allowed me to play Xbox Gamepass games via streaming, wheras Steam is stuck within its own walled garden, so I'll probably start doing my testing with AMD Link first.
I've been using the SteamLink app built into my Samsung TV. It'll work great for weeks at a time, and then occasionally just won't 'handshake' no matter how many times I try - it'll show me the big picture mode on the tv but with everything shifted mostly off the screen for a few seconds, then just crap out. Then later it'll work fine again. I'd like to figure out a better solution, especially one that didn't require any additional hardware and take up an HDMI port.
I was wondering the same thing. I can't seem to have a latence-free experience with Steam Link but somehow people manage to stream Half Life Alyx on their Quest 2 without issue.
If you're playing hardwired on both ends, it might as well be native as far as I'm concerned. It was flawless for me when I used to have a high end gaming PC. Way, way better than the solutions on Xbox and Playstation (hopefully that changes w/ the next gen systems).
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Sorry for the thread bump folks, but it looks like the pieces are finally starting to fall into place on this plan.
Since mid-September 2020 when I posted this thread, many things have happened.
I started buying parts for my PC in late September and finally was able to assemble it in mid-October.
The wife and I bought our first house together, so I'm out of the apartment I was living in prior.
tvOS 14.5 and iOS 14.5 are on the horizon, bringing Series X controller (the controller I bought for my PC) compatibility to my Apple TV and iPhone finally. macOS support is a bit up in the area due to Big Sur/Steam fuckery right now.
Public Beta for 14.5 should be out soon, potentially today, so after almost four months of waiting I'll finally be able to dip my toe into the Steam Link waters.
I'm currently using AT&T's provided BGW320-500 gateway for Wi-Fi in the house. The PC will be wired directly to it but the Apple TV will be using Wi-Fi. The Apple TV only uses 802.11ac, so despite the BGW320-500 being apparently a Wi-Fi 6/802.11ax product, I'll be limited to the "ac" speeds.
I'm hoping things go well. The house is only roughly 1500 square feet so it ain't huge and it's in a fairly rural area so there's minimal wireless interference from neighbors, so hopefully I can get away with Wi-Fi for the client portion of the Steam Link experience.
I keep bouncing back and fourth the idea of just running ethernet either through the attic or along the baseboards of the house to get the Apple TV on a wired network instead, but I honestly don't know if I want to go through that much effort since it's literally the only product I own that I'd want wireless, as everything else functions just fine via Wi-Fi.
Interestingly a singular room in the house has an ethernet port attached to the wall, but when I went up the attic I didn't see any obvious wiring coming from where it would be situated, nor is there any other ethernet ports in the house, so I have no idea what it could be feasibly connected to now or previously.
Maybe one day I'll get ballsy and start ripping up insulation in the attic...maybe one day.
Since mid-September 2020 when I posted this thread, many things have happened.
I started buying parts for my PC in late September and finally was able to assemble it in mid-October.
The wife and I bought our first house together, so I'm out of the apartment I was living in prior.
tvOS 14.5 and iOS 14.5 are on the horizon, bringing Series X controller (the controller I bought for my PC) compatibility to my Apple TV and iPhone finally. macOS support is a bit up in the area due to Big Sur/Steam fuckery right now.
Public Beta for 14.5 should be out soon, potentially today, so after almost four months of waiting I'll finally be able to dip my toe into the Steam Link waters.
I'm currently using AT&T's provided BGW320-500 gateway for Wi-Fi in the house. The PC will be wired directly to it but the Apple TV will be using Wi-Fi. The Apple TV only uses 802.11ac, so despite the BGW320-500 being apparently a Wi-Fi 6/802.11ax product, I'll be limited to the "ac" speeds.
I'm hoping things go well. The house is only roughly 1500 square feet so it ain't huge and it's in a fairly rural area so there's minimal wireless interference from neighbors, so hopefully I can get away with Wi-Fi for the client portion of the Steam Link experience.
I keep bouncing back and fourth the idea of just running ethernet either through the attic or along the baseboards of the house to get the Apple TV on a wired network instead, but I honestly don't know if I want to go through that much effort since it's literally the only product I own that I'd want wireless, as everything else functions just fine via Wi-Fi.
Interestingly a singular room in the house has an ethernet port attached to the wall, but when I went up the attic I didn't see any obvious wiring coming from where it would be situated, nor is there any other ethernet ports in the house, so I have no idea what it could be feasibly connected to now or previously.
Maybe one day I'll get ballsy and start ripping up insulation in the attic...maybe one day.
assuming you're going 5GHz for speed - distance and almost any solid object are your enemies. I'm literally 25ft from my nighthawk router but still get interruptions because of the two brickwalls and staircase in the way.
So good luck and keep us updated how you get on. You plannign to use the standard steamlink app on apple TV or you also going to try moonlight?
So good luck and keep us updated how you get on. You plannign to use the standard steamlink app on apple TV or you also going to try moonlight?
Steam link for me has worked a little bit less well than Nvidia Gamestream in-home, but yes, for the most part it's playable for games that aren't super twitch or action heavy.
I played a lot of JRPGs and visual novels through it just fine. Now I use an Nvidia Shield Pro and a Razer Kishi + A spare Note 9 I had laying around as my portable in-home streaming solution and it is perfect.
Wired makes a huge difference.
I played a lot of JRPGs and visual novels through it just fine. Now I use an Nvidia Shield Pro and a Razer Kishi + A spare Note 9 I had laying around as my portable in-home streaming solution and it is perfect.
Wired makes a huge difference.
The exact instant that Parsec 1) Has a really good STB for it and 2) Lets me use my Steam Controller with the Steam input config for each game I play, I'm fukken in
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I'm using a RX 5600 XT so Moonlight is out of the picture, but I did notice that AMD has their own "AMD Link" app I may give a whirl if I find issues with Steam Link.
The house is only 1500 square feet, so we're looking at a little less than forty feet between the Wi-Fi access point and the Apple TV. Only thing in between should be sheetrock and the occasional bit of 2x4 stud in the wall.
If things don't work out I'm gonna weigh my options between going through the effort (and potential headaches) of running a wired connection through the attic and walls or just buying a more home theater-friendly PC case instead.
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It works astonishingly well if you've got a wired connection both ways. It's not perfect, there's a bit of lag and some compression artifacting, but it's hard to notice for the majority of games.
If you load Moonlight onto it, you can get better latency and video quality alongside support for non-steam games, though it's been a bit of a pain recently after the latest update broke support for newer controllers.
If you load Moonlight onto it, you can get better latency and video quality alongside support for non-steam games, though it's been a bit of a pain recently after the latest update broke support for newer controllers.
There's also Rainway. I need to give that another try; last time I checked it out, the host app would crash after every stream.
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So the tvOS 14.5 public beta update dropped yesterday and I nabbed it.
Controller support seems to work great across the interface and the handful of native Apple TV games I have on there.
As for Steam Link, results are mixed. The few games I could get working worked great. You could tell that there was a tiny bit of lag due to it not being natively displayed on the television, but it was very playable, and if I was a less savvy consumer I probably wouldn't have known the difference. There was a short period of time where I got bad lad spikes for no apparent reason, but it was only a singular instance.
I went up into the attic a few days ago to attempt to install the hardware on my air conditioning unit to the allow the use of a Ecobee smart thermostat, and while I was up there I did take a quick glance around. An ethernet cable drop is probably doable, but more work than I'm probably willing to tackle, so I'm tempted to scrap the idea of the Apple TV ever being wired directly to the router.
The bigger issue is how many games don't seem to function without a monitor attached to the computer. On the Steam Link app Doom, Sonic Generations, Bionic Commando, and practically all valve-published games I owned wouldn't start at all. On AMD Link I could get Doom running, but that was it.
This is seeming more and more like folly and I should probably redirect my attention into moving my hardware into a case that will fit well underneath my television.
Controller support seems to work great across the interface and the handful of native Apple TV games I have on there.
As for Steam Link, results are mixed. The few games I could get working worked great. You could tell that there was a tiny bit of lag due to it not being natively displayed on the television, but it was very playable, and if I was a less savvy consumer I probably wouldn't have known the difference. There was a short period of time where I got bad lad spikes for no apparent reason, but it was only a singular instance.
I went up into the attic a few days ago to attempt to install the hardware on my air conditioning unit to the allow the use of a Ecobee smart thermostat, and while I was up there I did take a quick glance around. An ethernet cable drop is probably doable, but more work than I'm probably willing to tackle, so I'm tempted to scrap the idea of the Apple TV ever being wired directly to the router.
The bigger issue is how many games don't seem to function without a monitor attached to the computer. On the Steam Link app Doom, Sonic Generations, Bionic Commando, and practically all valve-published games I owned wouldn't start at all. On AMD Link I could get Doom running, but that was it.
This is seeming more and more like folly and I should probably redirect my attention into moving my hardware into a case that will fit well underneath my television.
You can get a loopback HDMI adapter if you have a free port on your video card. It tricks the system into believing there's a display attached to resolve issues like this when running headless. I only use a single monitor, so I have my real and fake monitors mirror each other in Windows so things don't get mixed up when I play on the PC. Make sure you get one that supports the native resolution and refresh rate of your monitor to minimize headaches.
My monitor runs at 4K/60Hz, so I use something like this model ($8 USD): https://www.amazon.com/Headless-Display-Emulator-Generation-Single/dp/B07FB8GJ1Z
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So with the new iMacs being announced today I'm rather tempted to replace my Macbook Pro with one. I'd love to be able to use Steam Link with it, but I'm in a definite conundrum now
I tried Steam Link on my Apple TV via my wireless network, (with the PC wired directly to the network) but results were mixed, so I ended up bailing on that idea and just have the PC connected directly connected to the TV via HDMI as it had been connected prior. This is fine because it's pretty much the only place I play it.
But now with the iMac I'd love to be able to play it there, and there isn't any perfect solution. I can have the iMac wired to my network, as it'll be in the same room as the router & modem, and the computer can be wired in the same, said room, so the experience on the iMac would be perfect, but the TV experience will suffer since it'll be on the wireless network instead.
I can put the PC into the room with the TV and have it wired via HDMI, but the experience on the iMac would then suffer as the PC would be communicating over the network wirelessly instead.
The ideal solution would be setting up a wired network in my home, but I'm not comfortable doing that, unfortunately. I've consumed a dozen videos or more of folks dropping lines into walls via the attic but I don't think I'd ever feel safe doing it, at least without mucking something up massively.
The other option I could try is a new router. I'm currently using the AT&T-provided Router/Modem combo which does Wi-Fi 6, which works perfectly fine for our needs. I can replace it with a "proper" router and hope for the best, but the Apple TV is still stuck using Wi-Fi 5.
Shit sucks. Bleh.
I tried Steam Link on my Apple TV via my wireless network, (with the PC wired directly to the network) but results were mixed, so I ended up bailing on that idea and just have the PC connected directly connected to the TV via HDMI as it had been connected prior. This is fine because it's pretty much the only place I play it.
But now with the iMac I'd love to be able to play it there, and there isn't any perfect solution. I can have the iMac wired to my network, as it'll be in the same room as the router & modem, and the computer can be wired in the same, said room, so the experience on the iMac would be perfect, but the TV experience will suffer since it'll be on the wireless network instead.
I can put the PC into the room with the TV and have it wired via HDMI, but the experience on the iMac would then suffer as the PC would be communicating over the network wirelessly instead.
The ideal solution would be setting up a wired network in my home, but I'm not comfortable doing that, unfortunately. I've consumed a dozen videos or more of folks dropping lines into walls via the attic but I don't think I'd ever feel safe doing it, at least without mucking something up massively.
The other option I could try is a new router. I'm currently using the AT&T-provided Router/Modem combo which does Wi-Fi 6, which works perfectly fine for our needs. I can replace it with a "proper" router and hope for the best, but the Apple TV is still stuck using Wi-Fi 5.
Shit sucks. Bleh.
You can also alt-tab out of the Steam Link interface and just interact with your desktop normally.
Running cable is pretty easy, especially if you've got an attic/basement/crawlspace. You really only need to run a single cable between floors, everything else can be hung off a switch and drop down from the attic/up from the basement or crawl space (since the vast majority of home use won't come close to saturating a gigabit ethernet connection). If you're worried about running between floors, you can run it outside pretty easily as well.
If you're only worried about getting the video feed to your TV, you can also look at MOCA adapters (if your house is wired with coax already, which is pretty common in the US if your house ever had cable TV) or powerline adapters as a patch.
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Single floor home, no basement or crawlspace, only an attic.
No coaxial cable drops in the home.
I can try a powerline ethernet adapter to connect the Apple TV to the router I suppose, but everything I've read about those is that those are basically a last resort if wireless doesn't work outright and speed can vary depending on the wiring and potential interference on said wiring.
I see you picked a micro ATX case. Have you considered simply placing your PC close to the TV (and even going for a mini ITX build)? That experience can be quite smooth if you use a media keyboard and an Xbox controller. I put the W10 scaling quite high to compensate; I don't even use big picture mode :)
I personally run a mini ITX build with a Fractal Design Nano S case this way, on my LG C7. Airflow is relatively okay if you pick RAM that isn't too tall and a good CPU cooler. Such a setup can be quite low profile in a living room, depending on what kind of tv cabinet you got. To me the PC is just another box down there... It's my main gaming platform.
You're in luck if it's a ranch home and you've got an attic. Here's how I'd do it:
- Run one cable up into your attic from where your router/AP/etc. currently is.
- Install a switch in your attic. Depending on your latitude and whether or not your attic gets hot, you may need to spend more to get a switch that'll survive low/high temperatures.
- Run a line down from the switch to your living room.
And as an added bonus, having ethernet drops makes your house look much more attractive to future buyers. Ethernet runs (especially CAT-6 cable, since it can support up to 10Gig) have tended to be more beneficial than stuff like intercoms were back in the day.
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You make it sound easy but I'm totally not up for something that complex.
If I had a basement and was drilling up through a floor I'd probably be able to handle it, but moving in the opposite direction through a wall frankly scares me a bit, especially since I gotta deal with insulation and the like.
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I was in your boat last summer when I did it. It seems scary and daunting, but it's really not. And if you're not comfortable running a cable up, you can also run the cables down (but that may be tricky trying to measure stuff off with insulation blocking you.
If you're not sure, you can start small, like running a coax line for a TV antenna (HDHomeRuns are great, and you can get client software for every streaming box that's out there).
Also, ethernet and coax are very low-voltage -- you're not going to be starting any fires with a standard, sheathed cable running through your wall. Even with insulation.