I’ve hooked it up to my TV to play some games with a PS4 controller. But I’ve encountered some really annoying issues. Audio not outputting through my TV speakers unless I go into desktop mode, then reset the console. When I go into desktop mode, the controller no longer registers so I can’t play. So I have to go back to gaming mode, where I can’t get sound from TV speakers. I’ve tried adjusting settings on both my steam deck and TV to no avail. That is, display options on desktop mode, and steam input settings.
The performance is also horrendous, with a very unstable ~20fps. This is even at 720p resolution and lower. When I reset the console docked, I have to unplug it then plug it back in or the screen just stays black.
It’s all incredibly frustrating. Is it just human error, or is SteamOS still really buggy when it comes to docking? I feel like it should just be plug and play, but I’m tired of having to set so many things up just to play on my TV. And then it being subpar visually compared with just using the deck’s own display.
Nah it isn’t ideal, I wanted to make a post about it eventually but I wanted to try some third party docks and/or see if updates fixed it.
What I have figured out is that the best way to use the dock is to boot the steam deck up not connected to the dock, get it to the home screen and then connect it to the dock. I find this has the best chance of inititating everything right.
Make sure to check the controller order under the control settings for a particular game, use change who is the number 1 control input easily once you learn where it is, and that can help some of the problems that arise.
I don’t have any performance issues, but not that if you try to run a really high resolution tv at anywhere near a native resolution the steam deck just is going to quickly be outclassed by the performance demands. So idk, 720p sounds suspiciously low though, try checking the settings (under the lefthand bar) and examining how the display settings are set. Change it to native or some other setting and see if that helps, it might be that the settings are keeping your steam deck from jumping up to a higher resolution. Same thing with framerate lock, which you can check under the righthand bar, I recommend setting framelock settings (maximum framerate) on a pergame basis.
Your TV is playing a large part in the degraded visuals. It may be receiving a 720p signal from the Steam Deck, but it then needs to upscale that to whatever resolution your TV is displaying. Most TVs are hot garbage at doing this task, and will make your picture look washed out, or even pixelated.
If you aren’t using the Official Dock and Charger, then you need to make sure they’re delivering enough power for the Deck and any attached peripherals. USB-C is much more complex than previous generations, and not all docks/cables are created equal.
These are problems I’ve never encountered in my ~2 years of owning a Deck myself, but I can’t give you more feedback without knowing what specific Dock and Television you’re using.
I’ve had a pleasant experience with my anker dock and tcl TV. My only issue is that the resolution upgrade can make the performance worse depending on the game.
Yeah. It’s really that bad. They’ve been releasing quality of life patches, but Valve made a portable device that happens to support docking, not a device meant to be docked.
Based on your experience, I assume you have the official Steam Dock, which I find worse to use with the SteamDeck than any random USB C dongle that I have tried.
Edit: Be sure to check for updates. I recall some of the issues you mention (like the blank screen) were mentioned in SteamOS release notes this year.
I know it’s not helpful but I don’t have any of these problems. Very much plug and play for me.
Yea, I’d try and alternative dock and maybe see if there’s something with the display settings - I have no issues using a simple USB adapter and some Xbox controllers.
I know the PS controllers can be finicky, as well as CEC causing problems - might need to see if those are some of the root causes by disabling/changing.
I definitely sometimes have the audio issue and it’s annoying as hell. I don’t have a solution though I’m sorry
Using the official dock? Most of my problems were solved by updating the firmware. That does NOT happen automatically via the regular Steam Decker updates btw, need to trigger it yourself.
I use a dell dock from work and various controllers and have had no problems at all, in fact we use it almost exclusively as a console.
I have none of those issues, but a couple of extra weird ones… this is the official dock btw. First, maybe it’s something I plugged in, but the Deck’s battery will be drained (slowly, over many days) if it’s plugged in and not turned on. Suspended or off is the same, I must unplug. Then the one that really pisses me off because I can’t wrap my head around it, I can’t unplug it unless I fully turn it off first. Doing otherwise tends to make my home network comatose! Basically nothing can see anything. Computers lose connection to the NAS, to the router… nothing works until I plug it back and turn it on, then I can turn it off and unplug. ffs.
Which dock are you using ? We can’t help much without information.
I don’t often dock my steam deck (have no controller so I’ll only use it as a media console) but when I do the only issue I’ve had was some applications starting in the wrong resolution when in gaming mode.
Otherwise I can’t say I could see the issues you’re having; I have no issues with sound over HDMI, my mouse and other Bluetooth devices stay connected in desktop and gaming mode.
Have you tried connecting another device (ideally also Linux) through the same dongle to check wether it outputs the sound through the Tv?
My experience has been the polar opposite of yours. Of course, depends on the dock and TV as much as it depends on the deck, so our mileage will vary.
The official dock has been fine for me on both an LCD 1st batch model and a late 2024 OLED model, plugged in 100% of the time. What dock are you using? There’s a lot of bad docks out there, from a compatibility standpoint.
Another thing to try is a full factory reset. Make sure your game saves are backed up in steam cloud and move as many games to the SD card or temporary drive as you can to make it easier to get back up and running.
There’s gotta be an issue in your setup. I’ve never had audio issues and performance should be identical when running at the same resolution.
sorry to not be helpful but I have not had this problem
