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Comment by ctack | Hacker News Reader

How do they work?

I know what Steam is, but I can't fathom what this gadget actually does and what value it adds.

It's almost like a Chromecast for your games. It connects to your main computer on your network and can manage Steam remotely. Starting a game streams the audio and video from the game from your gaming computer to your TV, and returns input back to it, effectively letting any TV in your house become a gaming console if you already have a games-capable machine. Their Steam Link app does similar, except to your phone rather than to a TV.

Sounds like connecting TV to PC, which is good if your PC is far from TV, but in my case I use usual HDMI cable with 0 network lag. Plus it can be used for anything that PC does (I don't have any Steam/Valve product on PC)

Then you add kodi to steam and it's a complete media platform you also play games from

Chromecast and all the other IPV4/6 based wireless HDMI are really intensive and saturate your LAN. I have a wireless HDMI that uses directional infrared and it's quite performant with no resource contention issues.

That sounds like a really neat device. In lieu of that, I segregate traffic with VLANs by SSID at home, which helps prevent mDNS spikes and other inconveniences from disrupting the rest of the network.

It's pretty common for people to buy into IoT without preparing their networks, and there's no networking hardware that I know of that's a seamless experience for managing what having an IoT integrated home brings.

I guess Ubiquiti's Unifi line is pretty close, but it's not what I'd imagine a plugnplay "Google Hub" automated router/switch with SDN manageable from Assistant.

Although, I haven't used Google WiFi, so I don't know if it already works like that.

My gaming PC is in the attic, but sometimes it can be nice to play something on the TV in the living room, or maybe even the one in the bedroom. Instead of having to move the PC in some manner, the Steam Link instead streams the game over my LAN. It's a gaming-focused thin client. The only limitation is that it's limited to 1080p.

I will just add to what others have said by saying it also has built in bluetooth so you can connect controllers (works with Steam, Xbox, and PS4 controllers). It also has USB ports on it so I think you could plug keyboard and mouse into it, but never tried.

We use it to play co-op and party games together.

I am a huge PC gamer, always have been. So it's really nice to be able to use the machine I spent multiple thousands of dollars on and enjoy it in more places. Also since I play games with the wife it helps justify the cost of the rig and upgrades. :D

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