Speculation: possible Steambox "good" variants

[mashakos]

1. Seamon T-Panel
   
   
   
   A 10.1" 1080p touch panel that recieves HDMI and usb wirelessly from a PC up to 30m away. The technology is claimed to work through walls at a lower distance in the WHDI website.
   
   Couldn't find much else about it aside from the video below.
   
   
2. Seamon SEM-PC2500
   
   
   
   A device that fits in a 5.25" bay that adds wireless HDMI and USB to your existing tower. That way, all you need in your living room is the dongle that comes wit hthe device to hook up your TV and gamepad or mouse/keyboard to.

[soldant]

So we're advertising Seamon today? These are just streaming devices, if the Steambox is going to be worth anything it'll be a mini PC... with all the performance concerns that entails. Or it won't be overly small, one of the two. Given that Valve, sorry, GabeN doesn't seem to like streaming for games, I think that suggests that the Steambox won't be streaming games to your TV or whatever.

But to pick up your thread and contribute - does the new Razer tablet count as a potential Steambox alternative? I mean it's a compact gaming device which focuses on PC gaming and no doubt will point to Steam as the best online store. Only difference is that it runs Windows 8 as opposed to Linux.

[mashakos]

So we're advertising Seamon today? These are just streaming devices

The way we sort of think of it is sort of "Good, Better," or "Best." So, Good are like these very low-cost streaming solutions that you’re going to see that are using Miracast or Grid. I think we’re talking about in-home solutions where you’ve got low latency. "Better" is to have a dedicated CPU and GPU and that’s the one that’s going to be controlled

http://gamebanana.com/news/20531

Gabe Newell predicts PC-to-TV streaming as standard in future TVs

The 'good' segment will be in-home streaming, where users have one traditional PC that's capable of streaming images to any TV in the house with super-low latency. "The good news is that's going to start at about $100 and eventually go down to zero," he said.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...in-future-tvs/

[soldant]

Fair enough. Still don't know if the first Steambox will be streaming, I think they'd go with a client-side solution up first. After all what's the point of a Steambox if you're just using your PC?

[gundato]

Fair enough. Still don't know if the first Steambox will be streaming, I think they'd go with a client-side solution up first. After all what's the point of a Steambox if you're just using your PC?

Depending on the solution: Play on a tablet (holy grail for most 4x and grand strategy games) or play on your TV (all the comfort and "style" of a console but with the processing power of a PC).

[soldant]

or play on your TV (all the comfort and "style" of a console but with the processing power of a PC).

But there's still a PC supplying all that processing power, and it happens to be plugged in and using up power. Might as well just plug it into the TV.

[mashakos]

But there's still a PC supplying all that processing power, and it happens to be plugged in and using up power. Might as well just plug it into the TV.

the "good" version will only be one of three. It's targeted towards those who already own a gaming PC tower and want a console experience without:
A) Having to lug their tower over to their living room
B) having 30m HDMI and USB cables running from their pc to the living room TV
C) Having to buy a new Steambox PC just for the privilege of playing on the couch.

[JayTee]

But there's still a PC supplying all that processing power, and it happens to be plugged in and using up power. Might as well just plug it into the TV.

My PC would look like ass in my lounge, a little dongle streamer thing would be easy to hide away. I'm vain; I don't think I'm alone in that though.

[gundato]

My PC would look like ass in my lounge, a little dongle streamer thing would be easy to hide away. I'm vain; I don't think I'm alone in that though.

Yeah.

For most people, they'll either have to move their PC (potentially frequently if they use it for things other than gaming) or get a crapton of cables (and by "crapton" I mean "Really long HDMI" :p).

With a streaming solution, they can potentially not have to do anything. Power consumption will be an issue, but the cost of one more device isn't something most people will be concerned with (for better or for worse).