So, my Steam Link originally shipped to me about 4 months ago. I didn't open it
because I already have a gaming capable media center PC, which can run Steam in
home streaming in big picture mode without any help from standalone hardware. And frankly, I just haven't
had much time to play games lately anyway. But better late than never,
right?
The Fenix Oour is a full-size, minimalistically designed keyboard
complete with gold-plated Cherry MX brown switches. Check it out at the link
in the video description to learn more. So, in terms of IO, the Steam Link is
equipped with three USB 2.0 ports, HDMI
1.4 for video out, 100 megabit per
second Ethernet, and a connection for the 5V 2 and 1/2 amp power port. That's
only 12 1/2 watts, by the way. And it's otherwise completely devoid of
adornments, save for the Steam logo on
the top cover. But come on, who's interested in the top cover when we can
get under the hood? And uh okay, well, we should have known that based on the
2005 class, with the exception of HDMI connectivity, that we weren't going to
find much in here. The details are actually fairly sparse online with Valve
not even bothering to put actual hardware under the hardware
specifications on the product page. But with a little more digging, we found a
Reddit post and the Steam Link SDK post on GitHub that shed a little more light
on the situation. The Steam Link features a single core ARMV7 processor
running at about 1 ghahz. So, similar to the Raspberry Pi 2 model B with a
dedicated hardware H.264 264 decoder, 256 megs of RAM, and 500 megs of flash
storage. Though, it should be noted that is not for user storage or games or
anything. It is intended to be used for the custom Linux- based operating system
that it runs and presumably any applicable Steam Link app releases that
are developed thanks to the availability of the aforementioned SDK. Now, as yet,
I can't find any information other than the original Valve announcement on
ongoing Steam Link app projects, but let
me know in the comments if you've heard something that I haven't. While this
hardware isn't anywhere near capable of chilling and watching Netflix, as the
kids say, in Ultra HD, 1080, Twitch,
Netflix, or YouTube should be possible, if not the greatest experiences. And
surely there could be other interesting uses for it. But enough speculation.
What does the Steam Link do today? Well, as Valve helpfully points out in their
short and very adorable animated promotional video, it takes the power of
your gaming PC, uses that to render
games, encode the frames as a video stream, and transmit them over your home
network. By the way, do yourself a favor and use the wired connection. I know
it's only 100 megabit, but trust me, inh home streaming does not use more than 50
to 60 megabit per second and better latency and reliability is worth
it to the Steam Link. So, all the Steam
Link does is take inputs from the user via USB from the couch and transmit
those back to the PC somewhere else in the house to control the game. And
controller flexibility is a very strong point. Your options include mouse,
keyboard, uh gamepad, or multiples of
those using a USB hub, or even thanks to ongoing hard work from developers, more
exotic stuff like racing wheels, thanks to a third party tool called Virtual
Here allows Windows, Mac, and Linux users to share peripherals over the
network. Sounds a lot like NVIDIA's Gamestream, doesn't it? Well, yeah,
actually. But unlike game stream devices
like NVIDIA's Shield lineup, it does not
work with GeForce. Now, you can check out my full review of NVIDIA's on demand
internet game streaming service here. And there are no handheld gaming devices
that run Steam yet, but it is much
cheaper than a Shield console and it works with both NVIDIA and AMD graphics
cards in the source gaming rig. But
then, how well does it work? Pretty darn well. Well, I mean, setup was a breeze
mostly, assuming that the Steam Link and
your PC are on the same subnet. You basically power on your computer and
make sure it's running Steam, select the stream PC in the list of connections,
note down that four-digit PIN, and enter it on the streaming PC. Boom, you're
done. Although, there are some tips that I have to make your life as simple as
ours was. Number one, use a wire. Number
two, if you must use wireless, use 5
gigahertz to avoid common 2.4 GHz interferes like microwaves and baby
monitors. Your router should have an option to create separate SSIDs for the
different bands. Just note though that your 5 GHz range is likely inferior to
your 2.4 GHz range. So, make sure that you're close enough to consistently get
your full bandwidth in spite of the usual network
congestion. So, while the Steam Link wasn't perfect at release, that's one of
the nice things about reviewing a product months down the line. It tells
you if the manufacturer really cares or
if they've given up support to start working on the next thing. And I really
have to hand it to Valve here. Each change log seems to be a direct response
to the issues and requests that are brought up in the community forums,
bringing since release considerable improvements to stream reliability,
enabling seemingly essential features like being able to forget a wireless
network and putting your Xbox controller to sleep when powering down the link.
And thanks to another recent update, 32-bit CRC checking to detect and take
action to correct corrupt network packets for a more pain-free, reliable
experience. I mean, honestly, as far as I can tell, the majority of the negative
comments surrounding the Steam Link these days are due to issues that are
100% preventable, which is pretty cool. So, what about that lag then? Gaming
over the network. Ah, it sounds great,
but is it actually usable? Well, yeah.
After a couple of matchmaker games in Rocket League and blitzing through the
first couple levels in Metro Last Light, our new writer, did I mention that this
video is the very first work of a new team member? You can let him know in the
comments if you hated it, was thoroughly impressed by the lack of any noticeable
input lag. However, upon switching to
CS:GO, it did become apparent that there was some amount of lag. So, it was time
then to break out the Makey Makey and the 240fps iPhone camera to uncover the
extent of it. Not actually bad, but it
ties in pretty well to the conclusion that most of you were probably expecting
here. It's perfectly fine for single player and casual multiplayer games.
However, I couldn't recommend it for anyone wanting to play competitively in
games like CS:GO, Street Fighter, or the like. That is to say, unless you're
playing against your little cousin who's in town for a visit. Which leaves us
only some closing thoughts. Game support
used to be a major issue with Steam and home streaming where you'd frequently
have to run upstairs, click a stupid pop-up box, run downstairs, see if it's
working, rinse and repeat until tired. But thanks to the Steam Link's ability
to tab out and use your Steam Link keyboard and mouse as though you are
sitting in front of that computer, it is no longer an issue. And this also
addresses really most of the need for apps like Netflix since you can also use
it for that. Pretty cool. The Steam Link does not replace a console or a
dedicated gaming PC connected to the TV. Remember that the remote computer cannot
be used for little Sally's book report while you defeat dragons downstairs. But
as it stands, the Steam Link is inexpensive enough and once configured,
easy enough to use that in a house with multiple screens and at least one
serious gamer, I can't think of a good reason not to pick one up. Crunchyroll
is the site created by anime fans for anime fans. They offer the most current
episodes of new shows, plus a large collection of the most popular anime
series. In their spring lineup, they've got Ace Attorney, Twin Star Exorcists,
and Rezero: Startling Life in Another World. And coming in summer 2016,
Berserk is coming to Crunchyroll. And all the content on the site is
professionally subtitled. Just head over to
crunchyroll.com/lininus which is linked in the video description and you can
sign up for a 30-day free trial. None of
this 10day free trial or 15-day free
trial. No, no, 30-day free trial of Crunchyroll Premium, which gives you a
whole month of free anime completely without ads. And if you enjoy the many
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anywhere, anytime from a variety of devices like your phone, tablet, or game
console, you can continue your premium membership to Crunchyroll for only $6.95
a month. So, head to crunchyroll.com/Linus and check it out.
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