Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

My Steam Machine is a 50ft HDMI cable

blog.matthewbrunelle.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 220 posts

Re: My Steam Machine is a 50ft HDMI cable

#191

Post by bbrks »

kulahan wrote: post #127
bbrks wrote: post #39

If you already have Ethernet at both ends I cannot recommend enough game streaming. With the right setup it is almost identical to having my computer plugged in physically, and I am very sensitive to input latency. I can get 4K HDR 120Hz running over gigabit Ethernet without visually sacrificing too much on bitrate, but you can squeeze more bitrate at lower fps or 1440p (obviously) if that is your preference. You can…

Out of curiosity, why not use a $10 steam link to achieve a similar effect to using a $700 gaming tablet?

Steam Link is very oudated hardware which does not support modern codecs.

I have tried both Smart TV and Android Streaming Box hardware to run various setups - both of which are theoretically capable - but in practice fall short compared to the Steam Deck experience (which I already had lying around almost gathering dust)

Re: My Steam Machine is a 50ft HDMI cable

#193

Post by weird-eye-issue »

Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #188
weird-eye-issue wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel bad for the people who are going to buy it and then have to run Cyberpunk at 1080p on the lowest setting to be able to maybe squeeze out 60 FPS

Maybe those people are fine playing a 30fps?

Maybe but the thing is with averages it means that sometimes you'll be getting even less than that which is pretty unbearable

Re: My Steam Machine is a 50ft HDMI cable

#195

Post by distances »

awakeasleep wrote: post #93
shepherdjerred wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a gaming PC and a steam deck. My goal was to use my steam deck as a steam link (their old streaming hardware) w/ a Xbox controller Both are connected via Ethernet and actually the video quality was very very good, and input lag was completely fine. Unfortunately there were so many issues. I want a console like experience where I can just decide that i want to pick up a controller and play. With this setup I ha…

Along with the complexity you mention, a real dealbreaker for me is controller support for couch co-op/multiplayer. It's the biggest difference and flaw between steam devices and traditional consoles. Even hugely popular multiplayer titles like Overcooked either don't work, or require hours of research and configuration.

What do you mean? I have 4 DualSense controllers connected to my Steam Deck for couch co-op, and Overcooked works just fine with them?

Re: My Steam Machine is a 50ft HDMI cable

#196

Post by jrm4 »

tomwojcik wrote: post #137
ozten wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 And we don't know yet, but I am hoping for reliability. My gaming PC is a nightmare. Sometimes it works great. Other times, I have to sacrifice a goat to get the thing to work.

Today I had to disable dual band WiFi on my windows gaming machine because PoE2 has this bug when a group of mobs surround you, network latency suddenly spikes, but only if the network card works on dual band... Sigh. I assume many issues like that will still exist on Steam Machine, as it's kind of unrelated to what's running the buggy software.

Given my experience with Steam Deck, I strongly doubt this?

My guess is that the extra $200 (over a custom built pc) will precisely be "everything mostly just working."

Re: My Steam Machine is a 50ft HDMI cable

#197

Post by jrm4 »

mistyvales wrote: post #150

I used a Raspberry Pi 4 as a Steam Link for many years. It was only 1080p60 and had a touch of input delay, but it wasn't terrible. It actually got better with bug fixes over the years.

Any reason for stopping? I have a physical steam link and a Raspberry Pi 4, and house rearranging is making me look into all of this.

Re: My Steam Machine is a 50ft HDMI cable

#198

Post by jrm4 »

BrokenCogs wrote: post #172

Why not just dual boot into windows for your gaming needs? It works out of the box more than Linux (if you ignore all the ads, windows updates, and so on). Alternatively stream over local wired connection using apollo

Does it really, though? I haven't used Windows as a daily driver in forever, but I'd have trouble believing that my Linux Mint desktop isn't less hassle than Windows (e.g. the ads, windows updates etc you mention)

Re: My Steam Machine is a 50ft HDMI cable

#199

Post by gh02t »

andai wrote: post #194

> The Steam Machine costs about as much as a comparable self-built PC. That's amazing, is VALVE selling these at a loss?

Linus Tech Tips did a video a few days ago where they built a DIY Steam box for the same price. What they came up with was a decent improvement on the GPU but not a massive upgrade. Kinda suggests Valve isn't necessarily selling them at a loss but the margins are probably near zero.

Re: My Steam Machine is a 50ft HDMI cable

#200

Post by hnarn »

> It turns out that a _very_ long HDMI cable, a Steam Controller 2 and Bazzite on a second drive was all I needed to get a comfortable couch gaming experience.

Yes, it does turn out that if you already _have_ a capable gaming PC, you can use that instead of buying a Steam Machine. Who would have thunk it.

It feels like people don’t understand what the value prop of the Steam Machine is, maybe because they’re mixing it up with existing functionality and previous hardware attempts for ”streaming” games. That’s obviously not what this hardware is about.

Post reply on HN