Valve Steam Link
Steam Machine, PC
Out of the gaming cave and into the cosy living room!
2.12.2016
Translation: machine translated
Who hasn't dreamt of how great it would be to be able to enjoy the contents of the PC in the living room? Games and films simply look so much better on the big screen. What's more, it's definitely better to sit and lie on the sofa. Let me explain how the dream can become reality.
Since I recently bought a new TV and assembled a new PC, the time is ripe to bring the whole thing into the living room. Well, in my case, the "gaming cave" isn't quite as uncomfortable as in the picture. But series, films and lots of games are simply more fun in the living room. But how do you get your PC into your cosy living room without having to call the train service? The magic word is streaming.
Quality of choice
In this case, I opted for the Steam Link because, according to test reports, the device is extremely easy to install and operate. In addition, the price is significantly lower than the nVidia Shield, which also offers a lot more. For my application (streaming the PC to the TV), however, this is perfectly adequate. To be fair, I should also mention that nVidia Shield supports 4k, which the Steam Link does not yet support (1080p at 60fps).
Installation
As the reports mentioned above have rightly claimed, the installation is very simple. The Steam Link is connected to the TV via HDMI and supplied with power via a compact power supply unit. The small device does recognise WLAN, but for a delay-free connection I highly recommend the tried and tested LAN cable. If you already have the Steam software installed on your PC (at least the gamers among us should already know and love the software [some may not]), Steam will automatically recognise the link.
Gaming in the living room
To play "Life is Strange" or "Mafia 3" comfortably on the sofa, I also got myself the Steam Controller. This fits perfectly with the Link, has profiles for practically all popular games and also serves as a mouse replacement for PC content with its trackpad. Speaking of the trackpad - a trackpad replaces the right analogue stick. This may seem unusual at first glance, but as long as you don't play any real first-person shooters, the operation is surprisingly intuitive! For all other cases, I still have my PC.
The delay via LAN cable is not noticeable for me and the content looks really great. Sure, 4k is unfortunately not yet possible, but thanks to the upscaling of the TV, the games still look pretty sexy on the big screen.
Home cinema from PC to TV
If, like me, you save all your films on your PC, you'll be pleased to have the simplest possible way of getting them onto your TV. The Steam Link streams all content from the PC to the screen without any problems (yes, even the desktop), so it's not a big challenge. The picture quality here is also impeccable, I don't miss 4k as I don't own any UHD films at the moment.
Conclusion
The Steam Link is a reliable and uncomplicated device that lets you get your games and films from your PC to your living room TV and your bum on the sofa in no time at all. It's not quite good enough for 4K and the most frantic first-person shooters might not be your favourite discipline, but all in all it's a really tempting offer. <p
Roy Sonderegger
Category Sourcing Manager
roy.sonderegger@digitecgalaxus.chI came into contact with the gaming world early on. Growing up with Gameboy, SNES and Star Wars tapes, Luke, Link and Ark (I still lose my senses from them... #insiderjoke) were my heroes. Later I was influenced by more "western" titles like Baldur's Gate or Gothic, until I finally discovered Halo and Call of Duty. The Duron 700 MHz CPU was given to me as a birthday present, until I wasted it due to lack of knowledge and overclock craze. Meanwhile I have also played on some small to very big stages in Switzerland, because I discovered a second big passion with music.