Steam Link for PTE slideshows?

[tom95521]

This hardware device was originally designed to play video games on your living room HDTV from a PC in another room.  I was wondering if anybody has tried using the device to stream slideshows (or PTE editor). It's supposed to do 1080p 60 over wired ethernet (for best results) with support for USB and Bluetooth devices like a mouse, keyboard, and game controllers. The remote PC does near real time encoding (up to 30 Mbps) so the quality should be as good or better than most mp4 video slideshows.

I have one on order after watching a few YouTube reviews. Apparently it goes on sale quite often and I purchased it at a lower price than listed.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/353380/Steam_Link/

Thanks,

Tom

[tom95521]

I have tested the Steam Link device and it is very impressive. The connection between my PC and Link is wired ethernet 100 Mbit (did not test the wifi option). The PC running the steam software can hardware encode the stream using Nvidia, AMD, or Intel GPU options. I have a Nvidia GTX 1050 ti graphics card. The steam PC server can be configured for Nvidia NVFBC (frame buffer capture). The client stream speed is up to 50 Mbits/second.

The PTE slideshows are very smooth with very good audio quality. Latency should not be an issue with slideshows but with other games and apps I did not notice a delay. The link device is small, very well constructed with 4 types of AC power connectors included. You can use a keyboard/mouse and game controller either using bluetooth or direct usb connection. In the steam software you can create a category just for slideshows.

I recommend this device if you have a powerful PC in one room and want to watch slideshows (or run any other windows app) on your living room PC. You do have to install the steam software on your PC to enable streaming.

https://www.amazon.com/Steam-Link-pc/dp/B016XBGWAQ

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(software)

Tom

 

[tom95521]

If anyone is interested the Link is on currently on sale at Steam this week. I purchased a spare for $4.99 US dollars. It is a very interesting device and can play both exe and video slideshows streamed from the remote PC.

http://store.steampowered.com/sale/controllergames/

Tom

[Lin Evans]

Hi Tom,

Just so I'm clear - do you have a physical ethernet connect running from your PC in one room to you TV in another?  Like through the wall, etc? Or, is the ethernet connect between the Link device and the TV?

Best regards,

Lin

[tom95521]

Hi Lin,

The Steam Link box sits close to the TV and is connected to an ethernet cable.  The bedroom PC is also connected to an ethernet cable. There is an ethernet switch connecting both Link and PC together. The link is 100 Mbit. The Link is connected to the TV using a standard hdmi cable.

The Link also supports wifi (2.4 and 5 Ghz) but I have not tested because ethernet was easily available. From what I have read newer versions of the Link firmware has greatly improved wifi. 

There is a detailed stats overlay that shows dropped frames and average about 27 Mbs stream. The latency runs at about 20 mSec. I never have dropped frames and it runs at 1080p 60. I think it helps if you have a newer graphics card because the Steam streaming server running on your PC supports real time hardware encoding using the graphics card.

The only downside is that you can not use the PC for other purposes when the Link is active. The PC display mirrors exactly what the Link sees. When you stop streaming you can use the PC.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9772-WHJM-4676

Thanks,
Tom

Update: I tried to capture the Link hdmi output with my Avermedia 30 fps max hdmi to usb encoder but it actually looks much nicer than this. No noise between fades or hesitation with your snow style. The Link does 60 fps decoding if your gpu is relatively new.