If you're the sort of Steam Deck OLED user who prefers to stream your games from a local PC rather than relying on the Valve handheld's hardware, we've got good news. As part of the latest Steam Deck Beta Client update, you can now stream to the Deck in HDR. That means it's time to say so long to compressed and underwhelming visuals.
While the Steam Deck OLED's reliable performance and easy-to-use operating system have helped it stay at the top of our guide to the best handheld consoles, its streaming capabilities have lacked optimization. Now, though, Valve has stepped in, with this latest beta adding HDR support for the OLED handheld and improving the color range. That last bit is quite a big deal, as, until now, streaming has occasionally led to muddy visuals, slightly defeating the whole point of owning an OLED device.
It's worth noting that if you want to check out HDR streaming on the Steam Deck, you'll first have to sign up for the Beta program. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to do. All you have to do is go to the systems tab in the settings menu, look for the 'Beta Participation' section, opt in to the Beta option in the System Update Channel drop-down menu, and restart your handheld. If you run into any issues, it's just a matter of following the steps again and reverting to the default.
As we alluded to earlier, one of the benefits of streaming to your Steam Deck OLED is that it puts less pressure on the handheld's hardware, which, in our experience, is starting to show its age a little in 2026. It does, of course, rely on having a home PC that's more powerful than the Deck itself and is capable of HDR streaming, but for those who like to use the Valve handheld while away from their desk, it's a great option to have.
It's also worth mentioning that the new Steam Deck Beta Client update notes also include a fix for "additional cases preventing local network game transfers from starting." It's just speculation, but that particular line suggests to me that Valve is working to make its newly expanded ecosystem, which now includes the Steam Machine, easier to use. Either way, it should now be easier to stream the best Steam Deck games on the handheld in higher quality, and that's a win.