Valve Index Steam Link

Have mine connected to WiFi 5G with Asus RT-N66U router and it works great! No lags in frames or anything. Using the screen overlay it shows that it's running the game @60fps, this fluctuates 30-60fps depending on what's going on in the game. Ran the connection test the result was 9% potential latency loss which I thought was too minimal to worry about. It might be an issue for FPS games which I'd never play haha Went with wireless since I'm a techy, *cough* nerd, and like to be with the latest tech... wired is soooooo yesteryear :P Pairing with DS3 controller was a bit more complex than it says on their wiki... it is not plug n play wireless even after the update to the latest firmware. It did work wired but this is not the function I wanted since my TV is far from where I'd be sitting to play. In my case I had to go with the beta build and wait for install/reboot. After that the DS3 controller was plug n play wireless, connect the DS3 controller with USB to Steam Link and disconnect once detected and done wireless DS3 controller as if connected to the PC. FINALLY AFTER 30min of searching the web and reading different guides and checking YouTube that were outdated (all said wired only!)... good thing I'm an IT guy SMH The one star less is due to this... Played Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning, old game I know but it's the one I'm playing at the moment, and it looked great. Mostly play retro or older games... also catching up with my queue as I work full-time and have responsibilities. Sometimes being an adult sucks! lol Going to try the remastered edition of Darksiders aks Warmastered Edition and see how it handles it as it was re-rendered to be in ~4K. Might also reply The Evil Within and see how it handles as well. However, was disappointed that it picks up the resolution of your monitor and that is what's used in the stream on the TV. My monitor is pretty old relic with 1680x1050 LCD (AOC 2019Sw1) whereas my TV is a 4K smart (LG 43UH6100). So I'm playing 16:10 on a 16:9 screen >_> I'd have to see if increasing the resolution on Win10 would affect the stream resolution output by Steam link or if this is strictly dependent on the monitor. I've checked their FAQs and this is a limitation that I wasn't aware of... guess it's finally time to upgrade the monitor XD Nope.... couldn't put off checking while wrapping this up and changing the Win10 resolutio to 1920x1080 affects Steam Link as well while streaming PC and in game resolution change to 1920x1080 gets Steam Link running the game with this resolution at 60fps. Was going to upload a screen shot from in game with the screen overlay FPS and resolution but Steam doesn't capture that info... Did not drop 1 star since there is a work around... it is a streaming device and doesn't handle the resolution native. Got this on the Cyber Week sales for $19 and think it was a steal... might of paid the full price knowing it was going to be this good.

So, we all know we love PC gaming. However, maybe sometimes we want to sit on the couch, or retire to our gaming rooms to couch-it-up. This is an awesome tool to stream Steam via "Big Picture" and utilizing what tool you use to control your inputs/audio. CONS: Initial setup can be a bit tedious (I received a unit, and the default language was German. Though this was a quick fix. Despite what you may read, this doesn't work well on a wireless connection (unless you're maybe right next to your router, which why wouldn't you hard-wire anyway?). It lags significantly. PROS: When wired, it has worked FLAWLESSLY. It was tedious to wire and drill through to the basement, but it was well worth it. Bluetooth capabilities allows you to connect wireless headphones, which, trust me, is a nice thing. I already own a couple XBOX 360 controllers (Wired and wireless). With the purchase of a wireless receiver, I was able to connect my controller and it works perfectly. This is another scenario where the wireless headphones are a nice plus (because who wants to buy an xbox 360 controller headphone jack adapter?). Depending on your Tv's refresh rate (usual 1080p TVs have 60HZ) you should get the same FPS as you would on your pc monitor. It is possible to connect a keyboard and mouse. Now, I'm never going to utilize this feature, as I feel it defeats the purpose of using the Steam Link in the first place, but it is there and available. It has a small form factor. It does not take up a lot of room, therefore, you can fit it next to other devices/consoles/etc. I personally have mine sitting next to my Wii U console on the same platform in my TV stand. Conclusion: IF you can have a wired connection (via ethernet cable) to your router, Steam Link is a great Steam streaming device. Also, when coupled with a Steam sale, it can be cheaper than $50 ($35 was last price on Steam Sale, which Amazon also honors), which is a great value considering all that you get with your purchase.

Device is fairly easy to set up. I use it on 1Gig wired home network. I have no feedback or inclination to try it on wireless. Video Quality: I have a decent gaming PC and streaming it to my living room to play on my TV is great. The default setting is for a mid point between quality of the stream and performance. Since I am running wired, running on its 'Beautiful' setting runs great. Presumably this would be the highest quality setting. Here and there, if you really look, you can see some degradation of the image, but you really have to look for it. Settings: Some of the settings are a little odly placed, but otherwise fine. For example, if using a Bluetooth controller, you have to stop streaming to get to that setting. It is at the 'root' of the device's settings menus and you cannot get there from when actually streaming content. The reason this is annoying is that my Bluetooth controller will often not pair well to the device and force me to go back out and re-connect. Controllers: So this brings me to the controller. XBOX 360 wireless controller, using the Windows USB wireless adapter, works flawlessly. The XBOX One wireless controller will work when directly wired to it, but not wireless, even with the Windows USB adapter. The new XBOX One S controller WILL work in Bluetooth mode, but you have to make sure the S controller is using latest firmware (can update via PC), and the Stream Link will require use of the Beta firmware. It works great, but when shutting down, sometimes it looses it's connection and must be re-paired, which can be annoying. Since you need a different controller connected via USB to pair a Bluetooth device, I leave my old XBOX 360 controller and Wireless adapter connected. Pushing the Xbox jewel will power up the Steam Link and if needed, I can re-pair the XBOX One S Bluetooth controller. It is flaky to be sure, but once up and running, runs flawlessly. I prefer the feel of the XBOX One S controller. For input lag, it is there for sure. I don't think I would play a shooter with this setup, but playing less 'twitch' based games I feel it works great. I have not tried it with any other controllers because I like the XBOX One controller. I paid $20 for this on sale and am extremely happy with it for the price. Hopefully some of the Bluetooth controller issues I have had with XBOX One S Controller are worked out and it becomes much easier to use. I would highly recommend this for anyone who wants to play their PC games on a TV in another room. I would research wireless if you intend to use it that way though and I would probably not recommend it for any games that rely heavily on fast controller inputs (shooters, driving, etc).

Excellent product!

OK, I've had this for around a month and used it more or less every day, or at least every other day. Obvious stuff that may not be obvious to potential buyers: You have to have a PC running steam, and that PC must have the requirements to run that game with good performance on the PC. Use ethernet, not wifi for this device if you want good performance. Use ethernet, not wifi for the PC running steam if you want good performance. Use USB controllers, Xbox wireless controllers with PC USB adapter or a lot of other controller options. I used Logitech F310 and F510. Your Steam PC must be logged in(not at a lock screen) and Steam must be actively running. In my experience, I really liked the device. Since installing it, I have not played steam games from the PC, only through the Steam Link on the big TV. This is a great experience and it is hard to go back to playing on the PC. In addition, I have really enjoyed using split screen so that 2 people can play at the same time with 2 controllers connected to the Steam Link. We played a lot of Rocket League and also some Call of Duty Black Ops 3. You can do this on PC as well, but with a big screen the experience is much better. Rocket League works perfect in normal or split screen. COD Bops3 works perfect in normal or split screen. However, we used the controllers, not keyboard and mouse for COD and I really would have preferred keyboard and mouse. I could theoretically connect a keyboard and mouse to the Steam Link and that should work just fine. I experienced no lag at all with either game. The speed and flow were identical to playing on the PC. There are some definite quirks that could drive you crazy, but I was able to work around them: In some cases, the Link would not be full screen. I could go to the PC(which shows the exact same thing as the TV) and click on the window to get it to full screen on the TV. Annoying, but I can live with that. A reboot of Link and I did not have that problem again, but maybe it will come back sometime. If the Steam Link goes to sleep or hibernates due to inactivity, it doesn't wake gracefully. Sometimes there would be no input on the TV and I would have to reboot the Link. Other times my controller would not work until I reboot the Link. I addressed this by configuring the Link to be always on and never sleep/hibernate. Problem solved, but I am drawing more power for the Link since it is always on. I couldn't imagine this device uses much juice so I am OK with that and my problem is solved. I do have a mini keyboard/mouse combo(hand held) connected to the Link. After getting used to the device and turning off sleep mode, I have not touched the keyboard/mouse or even powered them on. The controller gets me through all of the menus just fine. Overall, it takes some getting used to, but once you have it configured properly it is a really great little device with a few annoyances. I do like it and I will continue to use it. I think at this price it is a great deal and I love playing my steam games on the big screen TV.

Before anyone considers this product, I think it is more important to know what is ISN'T before you talk about what it is. There are tons of reviews online that go over exactly what the Steam Link is and what it can and cannot do. I'll try not to repeat too much of what is already widely described out there, but the single most important thing that you must know about the Steam Link is: The Steam Link is not a gaming console! The Steam Link is also not an all-in-one solution to gaming on Windows. Many people do not like playing games on a Windows PC because the experience is not as streamlined as a console. You need to install apps, load updates, sometimes hardware doesn't always work correctly, sometimes Windows gets in the way and pops you out of your game. All of these scenarios can still happen with the Steam Link which can be annoying if the gaming PC is in another room to where you are using the Steam Link. You may need to get up, walk over to the PC and press ENTER for something to go away. The Steam Link is an accessory to a gaming PC which allows you to stream your screen to a display device like a HDTV somewhere else on your network. There are a couple of prerequisites that you must already have before this device will be useful for you. They are: A Gaming PC - You must already have a gaming PC that can play games at an acceptable frame rate. If your PC has an under powered CPU or GPU, the Steam Link will not improve upon it. An Ethernet Network - Although some reviews say that this device will work with a wireless adapter, this is a very bad idea IMO. Anytime you stream anything, whether its a game, movie, or anything, you should never do it over wireless. The speeds simply can't support it properly. Yes, it will work, and it might even work "acceptably", but for the serious gamer who wants high frame rates and instant response, this is a no-go. If you cannot get wired ethernet to both where your gaming PC is and where you plan on using the Steam Link, I would not buy this product. Console Gaming Pads - The Steam Link is often pictured with the Steam controller because Valve makes both products and of course they want to sell them to you. While the Steam controller has it's merits, I personally do not like it. There is a large list of controllers that the Steam Link is fully compatible with including the Xbox 360 wired and wireless controllers, Xbox One controller, and PS4 controllers. There are more, but if you want to see the whole list, you can find it online. For me, I used my 6 year old Xbox 360 controllers with a Microsoft USB wireless adapter and they work FLAWLESSLY. Steam Games - It should probably go without staying that a product called the Steam Link, requires Steam. You must have Steam loaded and running on your Gaming PC before you can use this device as it needs to connect to your Steam library on the gaming PC. If you hate Steam and their DRM, then stay away from this product. If you have non-Steam games installed on the same PC, you must first manually add them to your Steam library first. Not every non-Steam game works smoothly when added into Steam, so be sure the game works properly on the PC itself before trying it with the Steam Link. So, assuming you have an adequately powerful gaming PC, a wired ethernet network, one or more compatible gaming controllers, a Steam library, and a need to play your PC games on a television or display device that is far away from your PC, then this is the product for you! What the Steam link does is actually quite simple. When launched, it puts your PC in "Big Picture" mode, which in essence changes the display on the PC so that things are larger and easier to use on a television in a living room. Everything the Steam Link shows is actually happening on the PC itself. The Steam Link basically "mirrors" whats on your PC screen onto your HDTV. It is important to understand that everything you "see" is actually happening on the PC which means that someone else cannot be working on the PC browsing the web while you are playing a game. When the Steam Link is working, the PC cannot be used for other tasks (background apps still work fine though). Windows has come along way in terms of being game friendly, but the occasional Windows system update, or a random application notification can pull you out of the game which means you have to walk back to the PC to acknowledge whatever came up and go back to the game. Depending on your level of PC knowledge, you may want to disable Windows Updates or certain apps while playing. The Steam Link does an EXCELLENT job of mimicking a console in on a HDTV, but it still is not a console. The device itself is very small. Its about the size of a USB external hard drive. It has absolutely no lights on it whatsoever. Valve was clearly going for a minimalist design, but I would have appreciated at least a tiny LED to let you know it's on. There are 3 USB ports on the device for various controllers. I believe you can even connect a mouse and keyboard to the Steam Link, but I haven't actually tried it. Other than the USB ports, there is a HDMI port, an Ethernet port, and the power cord port and that's all. The device tucks in nicely behind your TV, so it can be completely out of sight. The UI is pretty simple and straightforward. When powered on, it immediately searches your network for a PC running Steam. On mine, it found my gaming PC immediately. The first time it connected, it automatically updated it's firmware on it's own. It also detected the proper resolution of my Sony HDTV and my Xbox 360 controllers. There was literally no setup other than turning the device on and waiting for it to update. Once everything was updated, I connected to my Steam library and was able to browse my library. The UI is designed to be readable from "couch distance". Everything is large and bright and easy to see. Valve did a great job with the UI as everything was intuitive and unobtrusive. In terms of performance, I did not do any actual benchmarks, but I played a variety of racing and FPS shooters and I noticed no perceptible screen lag. My gaming experience was just as good as if I was sitting in front of the PC itself. Some reviews note a 10% loss in framerate, which may be true, but my PC is powerful enough that I couldn't see it. I did notice some occasional artifacting in fast motion sequences, but it was no worse than the type of artifacting you see in some low bitrate fast motion video. It was barely noticeable and by no means compromised the gaming experience for me. Simply, the experience was good enough that if you were to invite your friends over and just start playing a game and not told them what kind of device you were using, they would have no idea that you didn't have an actual console somewhere behind the TV. Overall, I am extremely happy with the Steam Link. The fact that this thing costs only $50 is amazing to me. It would cost that much to get a very long HDMI cable and run it from a PC in another room to your TV. The fact that its a nicely designed piece of hardware with a great UI and it integrates seamlessly into your Steam library and is compatible with almost any modern gaming controller is one heck of a value! As I said earlier in this review, it is very important to know what this device is not before you buy it. Assuming you meet all of the prerequisites to make it work, this is hands down, one of the best piece of consumer electronics I have ever used.

I couldn't count the number of times my wife would be laying on the couch fiddling with the tablet and complain that I spent my time in the other room where my gaming computer was. She wanted to "spend time together" even if we weren't actually doing the same thing. Since there wasn't really a comfortable chair in the computer room, she wasn't going to come over to where I was. The Steam Link has made this an obsolete issue. I can stream my computer screen right to the TV with pretty much zero issues. For 50 dollars, this is an amazing deal since a long enough HDMI cable alone would be ~$20 and then I'd still have to route USB cables through my walls to use controllers or mouse and keyboard. With the Steam Link, I can just plug a wireless USB adaptor in and I'm ready to go. I also got a Steam Controller to go along with it, and it performs well (separate review on that page). I'm giving it 5 stars, but it's still not perfect. One issue is that there are only 3 USB ports for adaptors. Now, I've heard that the USB dongle for xbox controllers actually supports 3 controllers, so this may be a non-issue, but frankly just throwing in one more to get to 4 (the magic number for couch video games, IMO) should have been done. The other thing, as many people have mentioned, is that the wireless is kind of suboptimal. Valve themselves suggest using it wired, and if you're able to do so, I highly recommend it. THAT SAID, I have the Steam Link wired to my router, and then the connection between my computer and router is wireless (Wireless N) over about 30 linear feet and through a wall. I've noticed a little bit of stuttering here and there, but overall it's just like playing on the computer. However, there was one time my wife started streaming HD video on the tablet while I was playing and it froze my game on the link while it was still running on my computer. It only happened that one time and I couldn't repeat it, but I wouldn't play a championship where money was on the line using this unless it was wired on both sides. A lot of people suggest using the network-over-powerlines, so that is probably your best bet for most houses where the router is a few rooms away from the computer and you may not want to run new networking cables if you don't have smurf tubes in your house (tubes built into the wals for easy wire routing). EDIT1: I still use this constantly and haven't had any issues. Lots of updates from Valve. The only thing I'll add is that I have since set up a "powerline" wired network and the "pretty good" performance went to "basically flawless". I do recommend you get wired on both sides if you can manage it, or buy powerline adaptors. It isn't unusable if you don't, but it helps a lot if you do.

In short, unless you ONLY want to play adequately supported platformers, indie games, other graphically non-demanding games or simply web-browsing, this is not for you. I troubleshooted this thing for ~15 hours with different setups, comparisons to other similar technologies (e.g. Nvidia GameStream [via Moonlight], Chrome remote desktop connection, and PC-to-PC Steam In-home streaming) with the following games: FTL, Borderlands 2, Talos Principle, Star Citizen (non-Steam game), Anno 2070. And, I did this all over a wired network via one router. I explain more below. PROs: Very small, almost forgettable Simple to set up Good connectivity - Three USB ports plus native support for Steam Controller (i.e. w/o USB dongle) - Albeit, there is no audio output, so you can't plug in a speaker system or headphones directly unless you use an audio out from your TV, if it has one, which forwards the audio signal coming from the HDMI CONs: No audio out, as mentioned above **Not enough hardware power (CPU/GPU) to handle medium-quality game streaming** Very unreliable function with games that are not mainstream When you buy a simple piece of hardware like this, especially one that comes with no native support for extensive software modification and troubleshooting, you expect things to run smoothly out of the box. And the operation does run smoothly, but it seems only for mainstream, specifically supported games. Any game that requires an extra menu to open into may or may not work. Anno 2070 could not receive input signals from either mouse, keyboard or gamepad connected to the Link. I could not get Star Citizen to work at all, likely due to the intervening launcher, even if I manually started the game through the computer. Part of the additional support required by Steam to make these games work properly is to adequately port the remotely located peripheral inputs (mouse/keyboard/etc.) to the game, but they obviously and reasonably have not spent the time and money to make it such for all games. As for Talos Principle and Borderlands 2, these are well supported, popular games, and while they load and play well with the remote peripheral inputs, 1080p streaming runs at 20-30 fps with highly compressed video resulting in grainy, jittery, cut-rate gameplay. Since Steam also wonderfully offers streaming ability from one PC to another, I decided to test out the same games streaming to my laptop from my gaming computer. And guess what, it worked so darn well...it was beautiful, only with the slight graininess you get with any 1080p stream and latencies in the 30-60ms range -- more than good enough for the average FPS gamer. What does this mean to me? The i7 processor in my old Lenovo y470 is likely able to decode the stream more quickly than the $50 worth of shoddy hardware you get in a Steam Link, resulting in better visuals and lower latency. Too bad Steam doesn't advertise this! As for Anno and Star Citizen through my laptop, they suffered the same peripheral input issues as the Steam Link, so they were still unplayable. FTL, on the other hand, being a non-visually demanding game that requires no extra menus to launch and has a simple input interface, worked as well as advertised. Comparing these results to Moonlight (open-source version of Nvidia GameStream), it was basically the same: working as advertised only if the game was adequately supported and the client device was powerful enough to stream the game. Google remote desktop was able to display every game except Borderlands, but the controls were disturbed for most (e.g. for Talos and Star Citizen, my camera was perpetually stuck to facing the ground). Oddly enough, Anno worked well on Google remote desktop; the controls, latency and visual quality were all pretty amazing. This all being said, if you just want a tiny box to play some simple Steam games and browse the internet, then by all means grab yourself this thing for only $50. It's priced well for what it does do well. For me, I have an old laptop lying around that can stream the same AND MORE at higher quality, and if I want something small and simple to browse or watch YouTube/Netflix/etc. on my TV, I can just ChromeCast it from my android phone/tablet, or if it's a smart TV I don't even need that.

Having played with this for an entire week, I think I can form some opinions on this product now. Package contents. Fantastic. I can't believe how weighty the package was. It comes with the Steam Link, AC Adapter with several international plug adaptors, HDMI cable, and a flat ethernet cable for a tangle free experience. Everything feels premium, and it comes with everything to get you started. Performance. Great but varies depending on the game. Some background on my setup. I used ethernet for my Steam Link. Bumped the client setting to "beautiful". My gaming rig is powered by a GTX 1070 and steam host setting is set to hardware encoding with NVFBC capture method. So far, for less graphically demanding games like Dragonball Xenoverse, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm, Final Fantasy XIII, and Metal Gear Rising: Revengence, the experience is fluid and perfect. The bitrate maxes at 30,000kbps and the graphic quality is flawless even while moving. For racing games, I have found games like F1 2013 (a bit old but still pretty) to be completely buttery smooth without any hint of graphic issues even at max speeds down the straights of Spa. For another old game like GRID autosport, the experience was a complete 180. While the game runs fairly smooth but when driving at high speeds, there are periods of reduced video quality and great amounts of macro blocking/smearing. In comparision to NVIDIA's shield, the same game (GRID Autosport) deliver a flawless experience without any issues with regards to graphic quality. I think it has to do with how optimized Steam is using NVIDIA's encoder for each particular game. For more graphically intensive games like GTA V, stuttering would occur while driving and there would be periods of macro blocking/smearing as if the video stream's quality is greatly reduced. However, on games like Crysis 3 (shortcut via Steam) on completely maxed settings. No issues. Game plays fantastic. Likewise, Tomb Raider on maxed graphics also looks wonderful and runs completely fluid. I would say for the most part the Steam Link experience has been great and only a few games do not behave well. Value. Can't be beat. For the low price, you get something that does the same thing as NVIDIA's gamestream without needing to buy $$$ of kit. It works with so many controllers. I'm using both Xbox One and Xbox 360 controllers and it has been a complete joy. Yes there are small issues here and there but I'm sure with future updates the experience will be even better.

Primero que nada hay que mencionar que tanto el steam link como la PC deben estar conectadas via ethernet, de lo contrario no funcionará adecuadamente. El funcionamiento es perfecto, al calidad de imagen es excelente, como todo streaming se reduce la calidad del video pero este solo es realmente perceptible en pantallas muy grandes. El audio igualmente tiene una excelente transmisión, y este puede ser tanto estéreo como surround. Lo ams iempresionante, es que el lag es mínimo, casi imperceptible, pasé juegos muy dependientes de reacciones rápidas como Cuphead usando el steam link, en algunos shooters si se siente un poco el lag, por lo que o es recomendable para modos de juego competitivos, para todo lo demas, es perfecto. Para jugabilidad hay que mencionar que es compatible con todos los controles bluetooth, el de Xbox One, PS4, Switch, Wii U, PS3 y la gran mayoria de controles por medio de cable 360, PS4, One, etc lo cual incrementa muchísimo la versatilidad del mismo, que no requiere adaptadores que una PC si necesitaría. No esta limitado al stream de steam, se puede hacer lo mismo con el escritorio de la PC, navegando internet o explorando archivos, aunque claro para eso necesitaremos un teclado y mouse conectados al steam link. En resumen es un aparato fantástico, incrementa mucho la calidad y comodidad de jugar con una PC, y su pequeño tamaño es ideal para todo aquel que juegue en PC.

con 3000 de baja y 30 de subida es imposible tener una secion de juego en el steam link a pesar de solo usar 10 megas de internet que sua 10 de carga en si de 30 se llega a poner la pantalla negro en momentos random que estas jugando es un aparato muy malo aparte tienes que apagr el HDR por que si no los colores se ven horribles ... ahora usandolo con steam deck mas de mo mismo random desconecciones pantalla negra o simplemente se frizea no gasten dinero en esta cosa mejor solo jueguen directamente desde su pc

I was always dubious about this product and I bought it only because it was on sale at a ridiculous discount. The first thing that surprised me was the quality. The main unit and the accessories are all top quality and aesthetically pleasing. The setup was trivially simple and Steam Link automatically detected my TV as 1080i, which even Apple TV fails to do. I set it up with wired keyboard and mouse and they work flawlessly (with one exception I'll mention later). I also tried it with a Logitech rumble controller and that also worked flawlessly, though the rumble feature is ignored. But the big surprise came when I tried a game. I figured a reasonably challenging test for it would be Deus Ex:HR. I expected some lag, but the game play felt as smooth as on the computer itself and the graphics were just as nice... with two exceptions. The first is the odd mouse quirk I hinted at earlier. The mouse is surprisingly responsive, but for some odd reason, if I don't hold the mouse completely still while exiting a container (like a drawer), the camera just flies off in a random direction. It's unclear if this is a bug with the game or with Steam Link buffering mouse input when it should be disabled. The other odd bug is that some cut scenes are jittery. There is no jitter whatsoever while playing, even in heavy action sequences, which is normally much harder on computing resources than pre-recorded cut scenes. Since I hate cut scenes and skip them whenever possible, this isn't an issue for me. This is less surprising, but still worth mentioning: the sound is also top notch. Of course, it's digitally encoded, so there would be little excuse for the quality to be any less than it is on the computer, unless you have specialized audio hardware. A nice feature is that it isn't locked to one computer or one account. For a family, this means that there can be multiple computers with multiple Steam accounts and you can pick any one and switch at will from your couch. One thing to remember is that this isn't magic. If a game isn't designed to use a controller, but you use a controller, Steam Link will try to emulate a mouse as best it can, but the results are less than stellar. You can't fault it for that. My recommendation is that if you play a game that's designed to be played with a mouse and keyboard, use a mouse and keyboard. For the price I paid, the minor issues would be negligible and it would absolutely earn 5 stars, but at full price, the glitches are worth the loss of a star. I can still highly recommend it. It hands down beats installing a second PC just to connect it to your TV.

Bought on sale, but well worth the price at full retail. Used on a wired connection, it works seamlessly with my PC. The controller/input passthrough works fantastically even with my wireless mouse receiver & lag is extremely minimal. I would not expect someone to play an fps game using this; but anyone playing something a little less dependent on reaction time will enjoy this product. The in-home streaming is smooth with a little pixelation on balanced setting, but enable the beautiful setting and it looks just like you're sat at the monitor. I did not try this on wireless, however, I would still recommend a wired connection at least from the router to the Steam Link; but ideally to both the Link & the PC (as I do) as it's a more stable and consistent experience. Definitely something to pick up if your PC is either far from your tv or in another room and want to casually game on the couch or in bed or you don't want to run long cables everywhere that'all cost you just as much as picking one of these up. If you have a laptop or lower-end PC like a HTPC you can still use in-home streaming on Steam but I would still recommend the Steam Link whether you do or don't as it is a dedicated device for this and isn't taking over your other devices to run games - I put Netflix on my laptop as background noise while playing through the Link on my 50" TV. TL;DR - it's a great device that works seamlessly with minimal input lag or loss in image fidelity. You can also set it to show your desktop with Steam minimized and control your PC from the couch for either web browsing or watching video content. Solid product, highly recommended.