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.
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.
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.
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.
Which dock are you using ? We can’t help much without information.
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.
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.
sorry to not be helpful but I have not had this problem
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After using a Switch for nearly a decade, the docking experience with Deck is pretty awful in comparison. Make sure the firmware is up to date on the dock you have or buy a better one if that doesn’t work and you can certainly get it in a useable state without serious issues… but I sure do wish it was a simple as slotting it in and having everything seamlessly work like it is with Switch.
Yeah. I’m sympathetic to the whole “technology is hard” thing, and the idea that the SteamDeck is primarily meant to be for mobile gaming.
But switching from Nintendo Switch to SteamDeck really highlighted to me how good the Nintendo engineering team is, that I never had any of these display issues with a docked Switch.
There’s some component in your docking setup (the dock or the TV) that’s causing this. I regularly dock to a 1440p monitor and a 1080p projector with zero issues.
That being said, there are multiple docks out there (even the official one) that don’t jibe with both the Deck and every display and thus give a subpar experience, as there are widespread reports of that. You kind of have to luck into the compatibility of both of those components, and even then there are also TVs out there that aren’t really dock-happy with anything.
Try docking to someone else’s TV next time you go visit someone, if it’s fine then you know it’s either your TV or your TV and dock not liking each other.
Sounds to me like your dock is garbage.
From what I understand the official dock is the only one that doesn’t have issues. Don’t ask me why, but I have seen this issue multiple times online. The only solution seems to be the official dock.
I’ve heard the opposite, people having lots of issues with official dock while 3rd party docks will work fine.
I’ve got a $20 3rd party dock, and it’s been doing fantastic for me.
No problems with my Anker hub.
I definitely sometimes have the audio issue and it’s annoying as hell. I don’t have a solution though I’m sorry
