You can just install Steam Link on your media center PC. It's in the Mint repo.
this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2023
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Steam has streaming built right in. You literally just turn both machines on, start Steam on the PC connected to your TV, and you should see your library right there in the Steam client. You can just hit the 'Play' button and it'll stream it directly. This is the easiest option. There is also Steam Link which is an even more paired down streaming client that runs in Big Picture mode and makes everything super easy.
Some people may say Moonlight or Parsec for a better experience, but that's subjective. Steam Streaming directly is the simplest way to do it.
Perfect, I'll try it out. Sounds like no reason to get a steam link, and that what I have should work well enough
Steam Link as a name is confusing as well. There is a Steam Link device, and then Steam Link the app. Both do the same thing.
Yeah, you don't need a Steam Link (device), you just need the Steam Link app installed on your HTPC. Or, you could fully install Steam, which has the Steam Link functionality built in. If you're on the same network, you get the option to "stream" games from another PC. That would let you locally run games that your HTPC is capable of running, and stream the ones that are too demanding.
Minimum requirements for running Steam Link are quite low, so I bet your HTPC is capable.
Take a look at moonlight game streaming. I use it since years and it offers very low latency and great quality. It uses the same protocol as steam link, but far better. It's natively for Nvidia cards but for amd there is a sunshine (?) called client for the host. You can use moonlight on windows, Linux, Android, I personally run it on a raspi. I'm a huge fan and haven't had the need to look for different solutions since.
Moonlight/Sunlight are both really great options. The only problem I've encountered with either is that the mouse cursor is encoded into the video stream itself. It adds a little bit of lag when moving the mouse and makes it feel not quite right. Steam doesn't encode to the stream, so it feels much more responsive. Parsec doesn't either, but it does not support hardware decoding in Linux so you're going to be stuck with an added ~10ms decode time.
Awesome, I'm going to look into this, thanks
Ive used sunshine and moonlight as well as steam and steam link.
Both work good. I have an Nvidia card. Fwiw.
Oh BTW I use it as mstsc remote desktop
I actually just answered this question on another post in this forum. I've been using a KVM to use my living room TV as another screen that I can play games / stream video / generally use my PC which is in my bedroom.
It works great in a max resolution of 4K/60hz and zero latency as far as I can tell on the USB ports for gaming controllers and mouse & keyboard. I use KDE big screen to easily navigate & open programs, emulators, steam, whatever with a controller so I don't have to try to read tiny 4K text from the couch. I generally find disabling my monitors and enabling my TV works best.
Basically how it works is:
PC (HDMI & USB) -> transmitter -> Ethernet (CAT 6 or better) -> receiver -> TV (HDMI & USB)
The Ethernet wire only connects from the transmitter to the receiver. It does not connect to your network at all.
This is the particular one I got:
Basicolor HDMI KVM USB Extender 4K@60Hz KVM Extender Over Cat5e/Cat6 Up to 60m (196Ft), 4 Ports USB,Lossless or Zero Latency, Plug&Play(Point to Point KVM Extender) https://a.co/d/8Ki2lzw
Other option, if everything is in the same room you could just run some long HDMI or displayport and USB cables.
This is a fascinating idea, I've used KVMs in the past, but never One like this with an extender to go a long way over cat. I'm going to do some research on this, this might be exactly what I was looking for in the future when I want to eventually have a server room that I can have all my PCs in one room and go to other areas of the house. Thanks