Steam Link - Short Initial Review

[ThatCarlosGuy]

I have just recieved my Steam Link from the first wave they sent out. Here's my little review on it.

Packaging
The packaging was pretty good. Opening up the brown postage box there was the steam link's box. No bubble-wrap, but I believe this was enough protection for the weight and durability of the product.

Some Images in the spoiler below:

Outer Box
 

Size comparison to an iPhone 4S
 

The box that's inside.
 

 
Build Quality and Brief Decription
The device seems very robust with a smooth matt finish on the top, a gloss black plastic around the edge and rubber padding on the underside to protect whatever surface your device is put on. It has an ethernet port, 3x Usb 2.0 ports, a HDMI port and the DC power input. Nothing much more to say here.

Ease of Use
Set up was simple. Connect it to your network via ethernet or Wifi, connect to visual device using HDMI and connect a controller. It automatically turns on and asks for a network to join. Once done, it will ask you to pick a compatable host pc and type a one-time code on steam that should permanently connect the host and the steam link together. From then on, it is just basically Steam's Big Picture Mode, streamed straight from your PC.

My Experience
My first problem initally, was that the WiFi was TERRIBLE. I have no Wifi connection problems anywhere in my house with any PC, Smart-Phone and Tablet etc. When connecting the Steam Link to my Wifi, the thing would not load up big picture properly. Unusable at best. I connected it directly into my bedroom router and it worked like a treat. No problems there.

 

My Rig is in my Sig so you can see that my PC is no slouch, so there should be no performance issues whatsoever from the PC side. I tested it using two games. Dirt 3 and Mortal Kombat X. The graphics were spot on. There were no buffering and no connection lag. There was a bit of latency however, as you would come to expect with these types of streaming devices. I can see it being forgetable after a while, but don't expect to be playing twitch-fps games like CS:GO on it. I am hoping after a while, the software will become more optimised and the latency will decrease to a more tolerable amount.

Conclusion

Overall 8/10

I think it is worth the money, especially if this type of device is needed in your household. Playing party games in the living room with family, or even intesive story based games in your living room. If you like playing competitive online shooters that require fast reactions and twitch decisions then stay clear of all streaming devices right now. The latency is still noticable. That being said, the stream quality is great with no breakups in sound and visuals that I had seen. However, make sure you have an ethernet access-point nearby because the WiFi capabilities on this thing, from my experience, is just bad.

 

Bare in mind though! This thing is still not officially released yet. The people that pre-ordered early are essentially the Beta testers. So take this initial review with a pinch of salt. Anything that I have noticed wrong with it and potentially many more problems to come across should be ironed out over time.

 

[d3sl91]

I have just recieved my Steam Link from the first wave they sent out. Here's my little review on it.

Packaging

The packaging was pretty good. Opening up the brown postage box there was the steam link's box. No bubble-wrap, but I believe this was enough protection for the weight and durability of the product.

Some Images in the spoiler below:

Outer Box

 

Size comparison to an iPhone 4S

 

The box that's inside.

 

 

Build Quality and Brief Decription

The device seems very robust with a smooth matt finish on the top, a gloss black plastic around the edge and rubber padding on the underside to protect whatever surface your device is put on. It has an ethernet port, 3x Usb 2.0 ports, a HDMI port and the DC power input. Nothing much more to say here.

Ease of Use

Set up was simple. Connect it to your network via ethernet or Wifi, connect to visual device using HDMI and connect a controller. It automatically turns on and asks for a network to join. Once done, it will ask you to pick a compatable host pc and type a one-time code on steam that should permanently connect the host and the steam link together. From then on, it is just basically Steam's Big Picture Mode, streamed straight from your PC.

My Experience

My first problem initally, was that the WiFi was TERRIBLE. I have no Wifi connection problems anywhere in my house with any PC, Smart-Phone and Tablet etc. When connecting the Steam Link to my Wifi, the thing would not load up big picture properly. Unusable at best. I connected it directly into my bedroom router and it worked like a treat. No problems there.

 

My Rig is in my Sig so you can see that my PC is no slouch, so there should be no performance issues whatsoever from the PC side. I tested it using two games. Dirt 3 and Mortal Kombat X. The graphics were spot on. There were no buffering and no connection lag. There was a bit of latency however, as you would come to expect with these types of streaming devices. I can see it being forgetable after a while, but don't expect to be playing twitch-fps games like CS:GO on it. I am hoping after a while, the software will become more optimised and the latency will decrease to a more tolerable amount.

Conclusion

Overall 8/10

I think it is worth the money, especially if this type of device is needed in your household. Playing party games in the living room with family, or even intesive story based games in your living room. If you like playing competitive online shooters that require fast reactions and twitch decisions then stay clear of all streaming devices right now. The latency is still noticable. That being said, the stream quality is great with no breakups in sound and visuals that I had seen. However, make sure you have an ethernet access-point nearby because the WiFi capabilities on this thing, from my experience, is just bad.

 

Bare in mind though! This thing is still not officially released yet. The people that pre-ordered early are essentially the Beta testers. So take this initial review with a pinch of salt. Anything that I have noticed wrong with it and potentially many more problems to come across should be ironed out over time.

 

Thank you for your review.

 

Throw in the ability to play netflix, plex, etc and I would have pre-ordered this. Heck, will likely still get it... I just didn't want "yet another" box for the TV. 

 

 

Do you know if we can use USB controllers with it, specifically, the wireless USB dongle for the Xbox 360 controller? 

[ThatCarlosGuy]

 

Thank you for your review.

 

Throw in the ability to play netflix, plex, etc and I would have pre-ordered this. Heck, will likely still get it... I just didn't want "yet another" box for the TV. 

 

 

Do you know if we can use USB controllers with it, specifically, the wireless USB dongle for the Xbox 360 controller? 

 

As far as I know, it has native support for Xbox 360 wireless controllers. I haven't tried it though but I just remember that being one of the reasons I bought it. I was using my xbox One controller plugged in via USB. So USB definitely works!

[d3sl91]

As far as I know, it has native support for Xbox 360 wireless controllers. I haven't tried it though but I just remember that being one of the reasons I bought it. I was using my xbox One controller plugged in via USB. So USB definitely works!

 

Thanks, yep, I just needed to read the store page a little better:

 

[d3sl91]

As far as I know, it has native support for Xbox 360 wireless controllers. I haven't tried it though but I just remember that being one of the reasons I bought it. I was using my xbox One controller plugged in via USB. So USB definitely works!

 

Actually, next question... Do you have a 5.1/7.1 reciever that you can see if it works with surround? I hear it does not. And this is a bummer. 

[ThatCarlosGuy]

Hmmm. I'm not sure. Never had surround, I'm more of a headphones kinda guy myself haha

[TheCaptain53]

Does the Steam Link only play Steam titles or can it play on platforms like Origin or Uplay?

[Commander Llama]

Thanks for the early review. Looking forward to see if future firmware updates tighten up the performance. I was hoping to use WiFi if I got a Steam Link though... darn.

[projectmayhem]

Thank you for this.

I want to get this so badly. I need a streaming box because streaming through my crappy HP laptop just doesn't cut it.

 

I think I will get this, but with an xbox controller because I hate the look of the steam controller. I would have to try the controller before making a decision though.

[ThatCarlosGuy]

Does the Steam Link only play Steam titles or can it play on platforms like Origin or Uplay?

Only steam titles I'm afraid. Not really downside for me because steam is all I use.

 

Thanks for the early review. Looking forward to see if future firmware updates tighten up the performance. I was hoping to use WiFi if I got a Steam Link though... darn.

I'm sure they'll tighten up the wifi capability in the coming weeks/months. Shouldnt be a hard thing to counteract. This is only MY experience with it by the way. I'd read some more reviews from other people and see if they have the same problem. Maybe it was a problem on my network and not the Steam Link. Only time will tell I guess!

[wolfgang]

Sounds neat. Do like the size of it.

[ThatCarlosGuy]

A little update for you guys. Tried the Steam Link in a different room. The Wifi seemed a lot more stable! Although there were obvious stuttering every now and again.

My main gripe about this is the latency. The steam link has a built in debugging overlay that shows lots of different variables. It shows the current input and video latency. When there's nothing much happening on the screen you can get about 20ms video latency and about 6-8ms input latency. When more things are happening, the video latency can increase to 30-40ms latency. Very noticable! Makes almost all games feel sluggish and unresponsive.

I'll keep playing with it every now and again in the hope that updates will tighten this thing up.

[projectmayhem]

@ThatCarlosGuy

Do you do steam family sharing?

If so are you still able to access those shared games while playing through steam link?

[ThatCarlosGuy]

Do you do steam family sharing?

If so are you still able to access those shared games while playing through steam link?

 

I'm afraid I haven't had any experience with family sharing so I couldn't comment. If you can access the games through big picture mode on the host PC, youll be able to access it on steam link. It's nothing more than streaming whatever is on your host PC's screen to the Steam Link

[projectmayhem]

I'm afraid I haven't had any experience with family sharing so I couldn't comment. If you can access the games through big picture mode on the host PC, youll be able to access it on steam link. It's nothing more than streaming whatever is on your host PC's screen to the Steam Link

Awesome.

Thanks for answering.

[ShadowCaptain]

OOOOOH I almost forgot about this thing! going to order one and the controller on pay day

[Mugsley]

My only issue with the Link is that I use an Xbox 360 controller, and have tried with both wireless and wired, everything works perfectly except the D-Pad, that doesn't work at all. Granted I didn't get a lot of time to play around with the Link the other day, but I hear that this is a common issue, sadly. Oh well, they will probably update it seeing as anyone who has one is pretty much beta testing as it hasn't really been fully released yet.

[bobhays]

OOOOOH I almost forgot about this thing! going to order one and the controller on pay day

The link is amazing. You might want to try out the controller somewhere first since there are mixed reviews. You may enjoy it or you may not. (unless you have money to blow then go for it haha)

[ShadowCaptain]

The link is amazing. You might want to try out the controller somewhere first since there are mixed reviews. You may enjoy it or you may not. (unless you have money to blow then go for it haha)

 

yeah I intend to buy it regardless

[bobhays]

yeah I intend to buy it regardless

Well I'd love to know what you think once you get it.

[ShadowCaptain]

Well I'd love to know what you think once you get it.

 

100% intend to review it

[Guest]

On steam it says it strongly suggests a wired connection, I wonder if that'd get rid of the latency

[ThatCarlosGuy]

On steam it says it strongly suggests a wired connection, I wonder if that'd get rid of the latency

It definately does help! Wired connection is better, but the latency is still really noticable in my opinion!