2014-02-07, 22:29
Any other linux XBMC users here trying out the Steam Streaming beta?
For those of you who may not know, Steam has been working on a video game streaming service that allows you to stream video games from a host PC in your home to any other PC (linux, Windows, Mac) with much cheaper hardware. You just install Steam on both computers and allow them to connect. You can then play any game in the host's Steam library on the client PC. (Note that is not entirely true at the moment, many games are still problematic). So, for example, you can play Skyrim on your very basic HTPC by streaming it from your gaming rig in the man cave.
Some people in the forums are streaming graphically demanding games to Chromebooks and other netbooks.
How it works: basically the host PC sends streaming video/audio of the game play to the client PC, and the client PC sends the keyboard/mouse/gamepad signals back to the host. The game will actually be running on the host PC.
How well does it work: Pretty good, considering it's still a beta. Some games don't work at all, others work great. Generally a game has to support the Steam Overlay to be streamable. Wireless networks can introduce some latency issues, but wired networks seem to be fine for most people.
I'm just getting started so my personal experience is very limited. I did a fresh Ubuntu 13.10 install and got XBMC and everything back up and running. I installed the Steam beta last night and streamed Just Cause 2 for a few minutes. Looked beautiful, FPS was very good (not quite as good as on the gaming PC, but not noticeable laggy or anything. Just not dizzyingly, nauseatingly smooth...) Worked fine with my Logitech F710 wireless controller. Only problem I had was sound: there wasn't any. Haven't had a chance to troubleshoot that yet but it is probably related to removing pulseaudio for XBMC. Hopefully I can fix this, if not, Gotham might with the pulseaudio sink.
If anyone else has tried this, I'd love to hear your feedback, successes, and failures with it.
For those of you who may not know, Steam has been working on a video game streaming service that allows you to stream video games from a host PC in your home to any other PC (linux, Windows, Mac) with much cheaper hardware. You just install Steam on both computers and allow them to connect. You can then play any game in the host's Steam library on the client PC. (Note that is not entirely true at the moment, many games are still problematic). So, for example, you can play Skyrim on your very basic HTPC by streaming it from your gaming rig in the man cave.
Some people in the forums are streaming graphically demanding games to Chromebooks and other netbooks.How it works: basically the host PC sends streaming video/audio of the game play to the client PC, and the client PC sends the keyboard/mouse/gamepad signals back to the host. The game will actually be running on the host PC.
How well does it work: Pretty good, considering it's still a beta. Some games don't work at all, others work great. Generally a game has to support the Steam Overlay to be streamable. Wireless networks can introduce some latency issues, but wired networks seem to be fine for most people.
I'm just getting started so my personal experience is very limited. I did a fresh Ubuntu 13.10 install and got XBMC and everything back up and running. I installed the Steam beta last night and streamed Just Cause 2 for a few minutes. Looked beautiful, FPS was very good (not quite as good as on the gaming PC, but not noticeable laggy or anything. Just not dizzyingly, nauseatingly smooth...) Worked fine with my Logitech F710 wireless controller. Only problem I had was sound: there wasn't any. Haven't had a chance to troubleshoot that yet but it is probably related to removing pulseaudio for XBMC. Hopefully I can fix this, if not, Gotham might with the pulseaudio sink.
If anyone else has tried this, I'd love to hear your feedback, successes, and failures with it.
