Steam In-Home Streaming beta first impressions (PCGAMER)

working very well on my surface 2 pro

 

Steam in-home streaming is now open beta! Was streaming Dark Souls II from upstairs to the den with some lag, but I was running on 2.4GHz wifi. When my new WIFI card gets here I'll try it again on the 5GHz band to hopefully remove the latency spikes. Seemed to run well though at 1080p.

 

I hate to necro a thread, but I came up with some information that some gurus might like.

After my 5 year old laptop wasn't up to the task I invested in an Acer C720 Chromebook. It took some time but slouken got hardware decode working on intel under Linux.

I managed to get hardware decode working in crouton on Chrome OS and wrote it up over at the steam forums.

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/homestream/discussions/0/34096318851720632/

Happy streaming!

 

Stupid question guys, what´s the point of streaming games from a powerfull PC with a big monitor in a separate division of your house to a weaker machine in another divison in your house???

Isn´t better to simply play in the main machine? Maybe i´m missing something but i really don´t see the point...

 

Sometimes there isn't a point. In which case don't use it.

Sometimes a person might want to lie on the couch (instead of sitting at a desk) using a controller playing a platformer on their TV (just an example)

another comment is it's a start, in future, this might be extended to playing remotely, i.e. playing on a tablet/laptop while you are no where near your main pc. (you could probrably do it now to an extentent using VPN, not sure the performace)

 

I'm sure there is also the possibility of a Steam app for SmartTVs, which im sure could appeal to some people aiming for a living room experience that is gf friendly.

Still not for me, I had the PC in the living room and hooked up to a TV before I even met my wife, so she is used to it.

 

I think this is way more interesting then the Steambox or whatever it's called.

A steam app for Smart TV would be awesome, we own one in the living room.

 

Last weekend a friend of mine came over to visit, and because he asked me about it I showed him Europa Universalis IV. He was sitting at the couch while I streamed to my HTPC, and besides the horrible scaling of the interface and writings on the TV, I was sitting with him and using my HTPC's wireless controls to show him the game.
Besides, I also have Mortal Kombat on Steam, and a wireless controller, and I much prefer to sit on my couch and play it on the TV rather than sitting at my desk whatsoever.

 

Agreed, there are some games that are better played on a PC monitor. But games like platformers, fighting, racing, sports can easliy be played on TV. (or games that are controller friendly like dark souls)

I would prefer to have a dedicated PC in my living room for this. But for now, in-home streaming provides an alternative. (there are also minor benifits such as one PC to maintain )

Steam have also done a good job with big picture as an interface.

And because in-home streaming allows this flexibility, it extends the functionalty of a Gaming PC to be a more social gaming platform. E.g. invite friends over and have a PES game in the living room.
(as mentioned before, allows your PC to more "console" like)

 

Ok. I say this because i like to play pc games on my monitor and play console games on a tv. And normally the games that are best suited for a pc (FPS, RTS, etc) i buy them and play them on PC and the other type of games i usually buy for consoles.

I think this can be cool in the future if you can stream games and use the PC at the same time, this way you could work at the PC and somone else could be using the same PC for gaming.

I guess in the end this simply isn´t interesting to me.

 

I see your point and it's totaly valid. If you already have a console then inhouse streaming is not really useful.
However don't discard it yet- when it's time to replace your console, at least you'll have a option to skip the next gen console and opt for the PC/streaming option
What I've done in the past is build up my gaming library (from steam specials ) my library now consists of many games that are playable on TV/controller. (also keep in mind with consoles, your previous games are not compatible. )

Again it totally depends on the individual... ...maybe there are console exclusives that you are interested in?

 

Your point is also totaly valid, of course. I´m just asking this because i have Steam, like everyone, and i´m trying to find out if this is interesting to me.

As for consoles, the main reason i buy them is because of the exclusives like Halo, Gran Turismo, Bloodborne, Mario and so on. So i have at least one of them although this time i´m thinking on buying the PS4 and a Wii U because Nintendo has some freat exclusives!

Have fun with your streaming!

 

I pinched my sciatic nerve, so it is excruciatingly painful to sit at my desk where my pc is. Playing from my chromebook allows me to lay in bed where I can be more comfortable.

 

I've been looking online but I can't find the info I'm looking for. Does anyone know if I can use a crossover cable, connect the two PCs directly together and use Steam Streaming that way instead of going through the router? I would like to know if it's possible before I buy a crossover cable.

 

Do you need a powerful rig to use that Steam in-home streaming?

We got a old C2D laptop here i could use.

 

The client pc doesn't have to be that powerful so your laptop should be fine. You get a better experience if you use wired connections instead of wireless due to latency spikes. But if you have to use wireless make sure it's 5GHz since 2.4GHz has too much interference and will result in stuttering gameplay.

My main gaming rig is connected via cat5 ethernet 100Mbit connection and my laptop's connected through 5ghz wifi. I was streaming AC4 and Metro Redux at 1080p at the "beautiful" setting no problem. Didn't notice any lag either, although I was the only one on the network at the time. My transfer speed didn't go over 90Mbit/s, so 100MBit seems ample. I also notice that I have lower ping if I set the "Limit Bandwidth to" "Automatic" on the client PC instead of the unlimited setting.

 

If you set up a LAN connection that way (also a LAN connection for windows) it should technically work. What we used to do with laptops in school to play BF1942 with bots.

 

According to this thread, http://steamcommunity.com/groups/homestream/discussions/0/540732888946903860/
it seems to be possible.

 

another good link for in-home streaming
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3629-RIAV-1617