Steam Link Again
I suspect that like many others, I started replaying The Witcher 3 when the netflix series of the same name came out, but in addition to work, and then playing GTA Online with Duncan, I found I’m spending a lot of time at my desk. I decided that since I play it with a controller anyway, I could be playing on the couch instead for a change of scenery.
Unfortunately, since moving, we’ve no ethernet connection behind the TV (yet, it’s on our todo list when Baz has time). But I can fix that, I’m armed with a lot of cat5e, some RJ45 heads, and the requisite crimping equipment, so I should be able to come up with something temporary right?
Further to this, we have a shiny new Chromecast with Google TV that has a Steam Link app built in! Last time I tried it, it was terribly laggy, but I figured this was probably just due to being on wireless instead of hard wired. We preemptively bought ethernet adaptors for each of them, so let’s try that out first.
When I plugged it in, the switch came up at 100FDX instead of Gigabit. Huh, that’s weird, I’ve made many a cable and not stuffed one up in a long time, but it’s not out of the question. Off to Hammer Barn for a cheap cable tester, and it came back fine. I double checked I didn’t have them out of order or anything, and nope, I’ve complied with the same T-568B wiring I’ve used elsewhere.
So I connected up the old Steam Link instead, and surprisingly enough it worked fine - I’m guessing the CCGTV is just underpowered for this, even when I clamped it to 1080p (I figured it was trying to stream 4K due to our TV being such). But just as I was about to cut the heads off the cable and try again, I plugged a laptop in instead, and… gigabit!
So I went and looked up the documentation and it turns out that yes, the USB-C ethernet bricks that come for the Chromecast are actually Fast Ethernet. I mean, that’s probably acceptable for even the meatiest of 4K streams, but it just underscores the rest of my complaints about this device: it’s so utterly half-arsed! The absolute bare minimum for the device, at every step. It does the job, but it’s so damn annoying.
Anyway, I was able to sit and play a few games on the couch, which was nice. It’s unpleasant having a blue cable draped across the carpet when I want to play, so I’ll probably have to ring up Baz and bother him to see about getting some sockets put on the brick behind the TV - he’s supposed to give me the plastic housings we will size it to, then I will cut the bricks out, mortar them in place, then he’ll do all the wiring. He’s super booked-out as of late though.
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