Games

I have a pro that I use with a ps5 controller, sunshine and moonlight, but I connect the controller directly to my pc instead of going through the shield. Using the shield results in a different “feel” to the games and android insists on stealing the ps button input for android menu nonsense without any way (that I could find) to disable that and pass it through to the pc.

There’s lots of options for extending Bluetooth and usb to computers further away if yours isn’t close enough. I wouldn’t recommend this setup if you needed to connect the controller through the shield. I am sensitive to that sort of thing, but I think most people would find it pretty bad, especially if they have any experience using it with a console.

The rest works brilliantly (when connected with wired networking), I rarely use my pc directly for games anymore.

I have a 2019 tube and a 2019 Pro. Definitely go with the Pro. The tube complained of low system storage out of the box. I had to install an SD card to make it stop notifying me that storage was low. The pro seems to hang less than tube. Although the tube only really hung when using emulators or kodi.

Get the shield controller as well. I used the pro with an Xbox one controller and it would randomly disconnect during gameplay but I didn’t have any problem with the shield controller.

If you have your PC and shield both hardwired, the streaming quality is flawless. I could never tell the difference between native and streamed performance.

A used minipc could also achieve this, potentially with less cost then buying the Shield.

If you're planning to use paid streaming apps with it too, that's a different story and probably worth it.

Or you could even go the long HDMI cable + USB route.

Although this is half the price of the steam deck I'd recommend that because it'll last a whole lot longer and you can put whatever version of android you want on it or just stick to Linux. The streaming is top notch especially with the oled model having a more powerful wireless chip.

The SteamLink experience within the Shield has only gotten worse over the years, and a LOT worse recently. Examples include:

• The app often fails to launch big picture mode, or launches it, but without focus, requiring me to go walk to my desk in the other room to fix it.

• Connecting to a PC with a game already-in-progress no longer puts the game in focus immediately, again requiring me to walk over to the desk and fix it.

• The app is prone to having the video completely freeze within any of the Steam UI, requiring a disconnect and reconnect. Like VERY prone. Like, it'll take 5 tries at connecting and reconnecting to actually make it into a game.

• Some games that used to be able to play well remotely now have an unplayable amount of input lag.

• The app will occasionally get drop to si gle-digit framerates within a game, for which the only fix seems to be to completely reboot the Shield.

As a media player, I'm still overall happy with the Shield, and I know there's a rather large community of custom OS enthusiasts for it, but with the degradation of Steam's performance, and the slow addition of ad gabrage in the home UI over the years, the Shield is NOT sensible for a new purchase.

I use the Shield Pro, and it works great for streaming Steam games. I've never used moonlight/sunshine, but Steam Link has worked flawlessly for me, as well as xbox controllers, PS4 controllers, and Switch controllers and their knockoffs. My only gripe is it only has the HDMI port for 4k/60hz (HDMI 2.1? Can't remember the number) and can't stream the 4k/120hz my TV can handle.

Don't forget moonlight also runs on the Raspberry Pi. https://github.com/moonlight-stream/moonlight-docs/wiki/Installing-Moonlight-Qt-on-Raspberry-Pi-4

And I had it running on a PS Vita, though the experience wasn't great and I never used it very much.

It can be a good experience, depending on the kinds of games you play and your tolerance for input latency. Don’t go in expecting a miracle and you might be surprised how good it is.

The best experience I’ve had so far is with an Apple TV running Steam Link. My Xbox controller is also able to connect to my PC through the floor just fine, which i find helps a bit with the lag compared to pairing it with the Apple TV.

It was even better before they ditched streaming through GeForce Experience or whatever. Moonlight + Sunshine work, but I’ve never felt like there was a good Sunshine configuration tool, and adding games manually has always been too much of a pain for me to bother with.