Okay, so I wanted to get Steam Link working on a bigger screen. My monitor is fine, but, you know, sometimes you just want to sprawl on the couch and play on the TV. So I started messing around with different TVs to see which one worked best. It wasn’t as straightforward as I thought!
My Setup and Initial Tests
First, I grabbed my Steam Link box – the little black one, not the app. I’ve got a pretty decent gaming PC, so I wasn’t worried about that end of things. My internet is wired, and pretty fast, so the network shouldn’t have been a bottleneck. I mostly used a wired Xbox controller.
My first test subject was an older Samsung TV. It’s a 1080p model, nothing fancy. Plugged everything in, fired it up, and… it worked, kinda. The picture was okay, but I immediately noticed some input lag. Not terrible, but enough to make twitchy games like “Doom” feel a little off. I tried messing with the TV’s “Game Mode” setting, which is supposed to reduce lag, and it helped a bit, but it still wasn’t perfect.
Trying a Newer TV
Next, I moved on to a newer LG TV. This one is 4K, with all the bells and whistles – HDR, the works. I was hoping the newer tech would make a difference. Set it up, turned on “Game Mode” (it’s always the first thing I try now!), and… better! The lag was definitely less noticeable. The picture was obviously crisper, too, being 4K and all.
But, and this is a big but, I started getting some weird artifacting. Like, little blocks of color flashing on the screen, especially during fast motion. I poked around in the Steam Link settings, tried different streaming resolutions and bandwidth limits, but nothing seemed to completely fix it. It wasn’t constant, but it was annoying enough to be distracting.
The Old Plasma to the Rescue?
Then I remembered I had an old Panasonic plasma TV stashed away. Plasma TVs used to be all the rage for their great picture quality, especially with motion. Figured it was worth a shot. Dug it out, hooked it up, and… surprisingly good! The input lag was practically non-existent. The picture was smooth, no artifacting. The colors looked fantastic, which is something plasmas were always good at.
The downside? It’s only 720p. And it’s, you know, old. It doesn’t have any of the smart TV features of the newer sets. It’s also a bit of a power hog, which is something to keep in mind.
The Takeaway
- Input Lag is Key: This is the biggest thing. Even a slight delay between your controller and the game makes a huge difference. Always, always, always turn on “Game Mode” on your TV.
- Newer Isn’t Always Better: My newer 4K TV had better resolution, but the older plasma actually performed better for Steam Link because of the lower lag.
- Experiment! Try different TVs if you have them. Mess with the settings on both your TV and Steam Link. You might be surprised at what works best.
For now, I’m sticking with the old plasma for my Steam Link gaming. Yeah, it’s not 4K, but the smooth gameplay is more important to me. I might try experimenting with some other TVs in the future, but for now, this is working pretty darn well.