Valve Index Steam Link

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.

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 hahaWent with wireless since I'm a techy, *cough* nerd, and like to be with the latest tech... wired is soooooo yesteryear :PPairing 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.

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).

The steam link is a niche device that serves one purpose, and does extremely well. If you're a PC gamer who likes to stream games to the living room, then this is the device for you. The Steam Link is a sleek, minimalist device comparable physically to other streaming media players like Roku and Apple TV. Connectivity-wise, it has three USB 2.0 ports, one HDMI output, Bluetooth 4.0, official controller support for the Steam Controller, wired or wireless Xbox 360 or One controllers, Logitech Wireless Gamepad F710, or any USB keyboard and mouse. It also allows for the use of unofficial peripherals through the installation of Steam Beta, which uses the VirtualHere USB client to turn the USB ports in the device into extensions of your own PC. I've set up my joystick for Elite Dangerous this way. It's a simple and hassle-free process.I have mine hooked up to the wired LAN, and it works wonders. I see complaints about the wireless not being ideal, but that's how life works so far; wired is better. With a wired connection, games stream flawlessly, with the occasional minor hiccup, giving PC gamers the living room console experience they've always wanted. And it's not really a big deal to wire up your house these days, not with the prolific availability of affordable powerline adapters like this one: TP-LINK AV500 Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit, up to 500Mbps (TL-PA4010KIT)An awesome secondary feature of the Steam Link is the ability to minimize Steam while streaming from your tower. That may sound odd, since Steam is the reason you've bought this, but minimizing Steam gives you full access to your desktop, and let's you use your TV as a monitor while your tower is still in another room. This is a great option for anyone who wants to do work or watch movies saved on the tower on a big screen in the living room. Sometimes I'll sit on the couch to get some writing done on the big screen, just for kicks. I'll work on whatever I'm doing for the day in glorious 50" theater mode.Perhaps most impressively of all, at least to me, is the fact that Valve ships all the cables you'll need right in the box. I haven't seen an electronic device do this for yeeeeeaaaaaarrrrrrrssss. I don't know if it's some kind of pandering attempt to make you buy the Link, but you'd think that sort of generosity would be more advertised. But seriously, they should win an award for this alone.This is not something that everyone needs. But if you've been looking to play PC games in your living room or elsewhere in your house and not have to lug your tower around to do it, then this is your best bet. And with the ability to take your whole desktop with you, the convenience of setting up any peripheral you want, and, of course, the cables, the Steam Link definitely makes the grade.

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.

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.

I bought this for $15, and I was so happy with it that I bought a second one some time later (one for the living room, one for the bedroom). First, understand what you are buying: This device allows you to stream the screen of a home PC/Laptop with Steam installed in it, that is it. This device doesn't do anything by its own.Now, what can you do with it? Officially, you can play any Steam game installed on a home PC through your network, so you can have your PC on one room, and play your Steam games on your TV in the living room. I own all consoles and I have tested all their controllers, so far the ones working are: PS3/PS4 controllers both wired and wireless, XboxOne/Xbox360 controllers both wired and wireless (for wireless you need the corresponding wireless adapter, X360 wireless adapter is NOT compatible with XboxOne controllers and viceversa), WiiU Pro controller wireless only (but be aware XYBA layout are reversed and you need to fix it). Steam Controllers (duh) both wired and wireless. Wiimotes won't work property, even with a classic controller attached to them.Most of Steam games support gamepads, meaning that you can pick your favorite controller and play the game with no set-up needed, you can even use multiple controllers at the same time for local multiplayer. However, be aware that these games usually display the in-game gamepad with Xbox icons and layout, so if you don't want to be confused what button you has to press just use a Xbox controller. Some other games doesn't support gamepads, and they are supposed to be played with a keyboard and mouse only (like strategy games). Steam link allows you to map the buttons of your controller to key and mouse events; however, that will probably not be enough to map every input the game needs, even with a Steam controller. My advice is just to use a keyboard and mouse, they are supported by Steam Link too. Although I'm aware this beats the purpose of the Steam Link, which is to make the PC experience similar to the console experience.Now, HERE IS WHEN IT BECOMES INTERESTING: Whenever you start using Steam Link, Steam (on your PC) works on Big Picture Mode. HOWEVER, Steam Link actually has an option to minimize Big Picture Mode and watch directly to the PC desktop. This opens wide amount of options; because you have a direct access to your PC, now you can do whatever you want. Do you want to use emulators and play old school games without being on front of the PC? You got it. You don't have a smart TV, but you want to watch Youtube/Vimeo/Netflix/etc on your TV in the bedroom? You got it. You have videos on your PC HDD and you want to watch them on your bed? You got it. Do you want to do ANYTHING on your PC without actually being actually on front of your PC, well you got it.Now Steam Link support network connection both wired and wireless; however, I highly recommend using a wired connection if possible, you don't want to be lagging while playing a multiplayer game. Another thing to keep in mind is that you need a Steam account for the Steam Link to work, and both Steam Link and your PC should be on the same home network (LAN). Remote access from an external LAN to your PC is not supported officially by Steam Link. Nevertheless, if you want unlimited access, you can set-up a VPN on both your PC and your Steam Link. That way no matter where your Steam Link is you can always access your PC wherever you are.Of course, nothing is perfect, and if there is one downside of the Steam Link this has to be it: If you play games with dark environments, the colors will look washed out. This is because of the compression algorithm the Steam Link uses. You can "mod" your Steam Link to increase the quality of the image beyond the Steam Link limits, but by doing so, the Steam Link will overheat. Some PC enthusiasts will find this image quality for dark environments unacceptable, but I personally don't think it is as bad as some people make it to be. Overall, this is a great device to have if you use your PC a lot, but you would like to not be on front of your PC the whole time.

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 forgettableSimple to set upGood 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 HDMICONs: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 mainstreamWhen 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.