Experiences with moonlight, parsec or steamlink?

Swampy

Since you can test Moonlight and Parsec in Retropie I would share experiences with you.

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/19872/moonlight-request-for-comments-and-testing
https://github.com/Kozova1/Parsec-Integration-With-RetroPie (I didn't test)

First of all, I have a Raspberry Pi 3b+ with a recent RetroPie installation.
For Parsec I use a stand-alone image with raspbian lite.
The host is a AMD Ryzen 2700X with a GeForce GTX 1060 6GB.

My problem is, that I don't find the right settings for a smooth streaming. I always have little lags. Parsec works for me a little better than moonlight.
I must comment, that I'm using a power-line adapter, because the TV is far from the computer. Parsec noted, that you shouldn't do that. I don't have 5ghz wlan.
I also noticed, that some users mentioned problems in streaming, especially with the Raspberry Pi 3b+.

I'm also interested in your experiences with streaming the Dolphin emulator.

Please post your experiences.

hhromic

@Swampy I can report from my own experience on this. Before starting to work on the moonlight scriptmodule I actually tried Parsec first. I didn't have luck to make it work, the sign-up process was a bit cumbersome and the windows client never worked for me. I can't speak in general of course but Parsec didn't leave a good impression to me. Then I decided to try moonlight and everything worked as expected out of the box on first try. This good start and easyness to use is what motivated me to make the moonlight scriptmodule to include in RetroPie.

Regarding the lag you are experiencing, I can confirm you that using Wifi over 2.4Ghz is not a good thing. I tried moonlight on my RPI3B (not plus) that only has 2.4ghz and indeed was laggy and choppy. Then I tried it with my RPI3B+ that has 5ghz and is a whole level of difference. The video is very smooth and I barely can feel latency/lag. I use automatic settings for 720p60. Furthermore, this is using a laptop as gaming computer also connected via 5ghz, meaning zero cables around for that setup. In fairness, the router, the game computer and the RPI are in the same room, so of course an advantageous situation but still proves it works.

I have tried Powerline adapters before (not with moonlight) but they mostly fall in the category of 150-200 mbps very theoretically. This is not ideal for moonlight streaming (much like Wifi 2.4ghz). I think with that setup you won't be able to go too far.

In summary, if you want quality game streaming, I think you will have to invest on a proper 5ghz Wifi router and make sure your gaming computer also is properly connected to the network (for example via Ethernet cable). If you are able to run Ethernet cable across all the devices, even better. Any of the components running in a slow link (2.4ghz for example) will ruin the streaming experience.

Swampy

Now I want to share my experiences with steam-link too:

I installed it with the experimental packages. I'm still using 1.0.7 beta and will update it in the next days.

As I mentioned above I'm using a power-line adapter. But with steam-link I have smooth streaming the first time. The next advantage I realised is that I can use my Ubuntu 18.04 as a host. Parsec and moonlight accepts only a windows-host for streaming.

I have xbox-360 controllers and I am able to control steam-link with it. For the controls in games I had to install sudo apt-get install steam-devices on the host before it worked. I have not found out yet how to control in non-steam games (only tested dolphin emulator). I installed the non-steam games via https://github.com/FrogTheFrog/steam-rom-manager. For me that would especially important with the dolphin emulator. Controllers work on the host with dolphin within steam, but not with steam-link on the Raspberry Pi. Perhaps someone has a hint for me.

Finally, I'm very happy with steam-link.

Swampy

Small supplement:

I updated steam-link with the experimental packages. ~~Before, I added the PR from @psyke83 in scriptmodules/ports/steamlink.sh.~~

Now, I was able to play the dolphin-emulator mith my xbox-360 controller:

I opened steam on the host-pc
I started steam-link in retropie
I switched on Settings/Streaming/Advanced Options/Start Streaming desktop and then I started
Now I was able to configure the controls within dolphin. I also made a combined hotkey to exit dolphin (In my case the Start and SELECT Button). Switched off Confirm On Stop and Render To Main Window on within the dolphin-emulator
Switched off Settings/Streaming/Advanced Options/Start Streaming desktop
Restarted steam-link and it worked

I also installed steam-devices on the Raspberry Pi too, but I don't know if it makes any differences. If I want to play a game with a keyboard, I have to plug off the controller before starting steam-link.