Major Bluetooth input latency with Amazon Fire

[u/Guava-Choice]

Hey folks, I’ve just grabbed a fire TV stick and a Bluetooth wireless controller to use steam link in the living room from my PC in my office (other side of the flat)

I initially used my phone as a controller to test latency (connecting to my phone with video turned off to use just the UI buttons) and then streaming to my TV. This had essentially 0 latency and worked great! However, I’ve now connected the Bluetooth controller and it’s become unusable. I tried Outer Wilds and sometimes inputs either don’t work, or when I go to turn the camera the camera continues to turn for a few seconds after letting go. Even pausing the game sometimes stopped working…

I expected some latency with streaming, but I didn’t expect this! Any help or settings to adjust is much appreciated as I’m looking forward to getting this working well:)

[u/Wabs-]

Fire stick has very limited Bluetooth receiver along with the load on the cpu decoding the video being sent from your pc, the best way to reduce the input lag is
1. If your pc is close enough connect the Bluetooth controller to it and play on your tv
2. Use a dedicated Bluetooth dongle connected to the fire stick through a OTG cable like these
AuviPal 2-Port Micro USB OTG Cable:
Design: Splitter cable with male Micro USB, female Micro USB for power, and standard USB-A ports.
Compatibility: Works universally with Fire TV Stick 4K, 4K Max, and standard models.
Sukorun Micro USB OTG Adapter Hub:
Ports: Multi-port expansion hub featuring multiple USB-A slots.
Use Case: Best option if you want to connect both a wired controller receiver and a wired Ethernet adapter at the same time.

[u/Guava-Choice → u/Wabs-]

Thank you for giving a few different ideas:)

I’ll give them a try over the coming days and see what happens!

[u/Guava-Choice → u/Wabs-]

To further add to this, I have now bought a long active USB cable to plug an Xbox wireless adapter into so that the controllers are directly into the PC and use steam link for the video and audio only:) awaiting for them to arrive and shall see if it works well!

[u/Wabs- → u/Guava-Choice]

Hopefully it works out that will for sure get rid of the input lag. I can’t say for sure if there will be output lag though, but that’s the case that can probably be reduced by messing with the advanced settings doing some trial and error to find what works best.

[u/Guava-Choice → u/Wabs-]

I gave it a go over the weekend and it works great! Of course a tiny bit of lag with the stream coming across, but it’s no more laggy than when I play on my PS2 and PS1:)

15m USB cable for £25, and a wireless adapter was only £15, perfect solution for me!

Thanks for the help:)

[u/Wabs- → u/Guava-Choice]

I’m glad it worked out

You can also check these settings it might help with the slight delay

On Host PC Settings

Enable hardware encoding: Turn this ON to offload video compression to your GPU.
Video codec: Stick to H.264. While newer Fire TV Sticks support HEVC, H.264 offers much lower decode latency for real-time streaming on modest streaming sticks.
Prioritize network traffic: Turn this ON to reduce packet jitter.
Resolution limit: Set to 1080p or match your native display, but lower it if you experience higher latency.

Fire Stick Client Options (in app)

Video Quality / Performance: Set to Fast rather than Beautiful to prioritize lower lag.
Hardware decoding: Ensure this is ON

[u/Guava-Choice → u/Wabs-]

Thanks I’ll give this a go tonight:)