Some Noticeable Latency - If you're playing a game that moves quick, you're definitely going to notice a little bit of input latency. When I first started playing, things were hitching up quite a bit, but resetting my router got rid of those issues. I'm playing over wifi and using the "balanced" quality setting, and I've really only noticed a significant amount of MPEG compression artifacts when playing Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, a game that can move pretty quick. Looks Nice But Not Perfect - Make no mistake, this thing isn't going to look as good as a monitor connected directly to your PC, but it generally works well. There are a few advanced options you can mess with if necessary, many of which line up with the options that have already been present in Steam In-House Streaming such as setting the streaming quality (fastest/balanced/beautiful) to account for your network and PC performance. Select the one you want to connect to and you're off to the races. You get your standard network configuration options (if you're using wifi), and then you're presented with a list of other PC's on your network that are running Steam. If you have a solid modern gaming PC or are using a wired network, it's possible you could see it working even better.Įasy Setup - The setup is about as easy as any other set top box. My PC is a bit dated and I'm using wifi (802.11n), but I've still gotten pretty good performance. Note that this is just my experience and the performance will vary based on your host PC and network setup. It's worth pointing out that while Valve "highly recommends" using a wired network connection, the Steam Link does work over wifi (802.11n or 802.11ac), and I imagine it's probably the way most people will want to use this. It comes packaged with everything you'll need - HDMI, Ethernet, and power cables along with a trio of adapters for the benefit of those with weird power outlets outside of the North America. Aside from some additional setup screens, this is the Steam Link interface.įor those unaware, the Steam Link is a $50 box that's about the size of a phone that will stream gameplay from your PC to your TV. Steam Link The latest flavor of Steam Big Picture mode. I've spent a few hours messing around with both of them, so I thought I'd go ahead and share some quick initial impressions. This soft launch is a few weeks ahead of the official launch that'll be in November, and Valve seems pretty interested in getting feedback during this time so that they can make tweaks ahead of that date.Īs a member of this "elite" group of people that irresponsibly throw money at things of questionable utility, I received a shipment earlier today of both a Steam Link and a Steam Controller. This week, people that pre-ordered a Steam Link and/or Steam Controller early have started receiving their shipments.