So, I’m not the smartest guy when it comes to understanding computer specs, but I’m currently looking into buying a desktop to run my streams off of. My laptop can run a stream smooth, but once I start running other programs or try to increase the quality, it slows down. I’m looking for something that’s decently priced. If anyone could link me a few computers that would be able to run a stream pretty well without any problems, that would be sweet. Looking for something ranging from 500-800 bucks. I just need the tower considering I own like 4 Evo monitors @_@.
If you want an Xsplit esque program that you can run on Windows PC I highly recommend SCHF DSH. It’s a japanese program that essentially makes a virtual webcam. You can specify independently how each application is handled. I’ve got it set up with FMLE to stream to justin.tv.
Well, do you already have the capture cards or not? That makes a huge difference.$600 should be the most you have to spend including the price of the card though.
A pretty basic PC could do it, and this is really pushing it with the six core(no, you don’t need a graphics card just to stream):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.739448&cm_sp=DIY_PC_Combos--739448--Combo
Ideally, this would be all you need:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.739451&cm_sp=DIY_PC_Combos--739451--Combo
if you bought the 2nd PC, bought a Hauppage HD PVR or a Blackmagic intensity pro and Windows 7 Home Premium(OEM copy), you would only spend $569 and you would be almost ready to stream. That PC doesn’t have onboard video though, so you’d need a graphics card that is either PCI or PCIe. If you don’t have a spare this will more than suffice:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127544 so you would be coming it at just under $600 for a full setup.
Anyway, if you want higher spec’s parts, I’d advise you go with what you actually want. If you want to play more demanding games on the PC you’ll also want a nicer video card(that 30 card is okay, but certainly not for gaming), and that will be at least $100.
Ah, so I’d have to buy W7 and graphics cards only for those pc’s?
Random couple questions, thought you guys might have some experience with it: I just got a BlackMagic Intensity Pro up and running, working with XSplit in Windows 7. Seems to be working well enough now (had some trickiness w/ enumeration when I first got the card), but there are a couple things I was wondering.
First of all, is there any bindable/macro-able/command line interfacing with regards to controlling the settings on this card? I’ve got a multi-system event I’m gonna be casting next month, and I’ll need to be switching between HDMI/720p59.94, HDMI/720p60, and HDMI 720p50 (I think) sources, along with potentially Component/720p as well. It seems I can do this manually via going into the source settings and configuring it in XSplit, and luckily I’ll have some pretty long transition periods where I can cut away from it… so it’s not entirely necessary to streamline it… but it’d be nice to be able to bind a hotkey to each source. This would also make training my stream tech assistants to do the transitions a lot easier.
Secondly, has anyone had luck capturing PC and Mac sources over this unit’s HDMI port? The reason I ask is it looks like it’s not modifying the EDID data of the monitor on the passthrough (which I’m using for testing; I’ve got a splitter for the event itself), so it’s not telling the source that it’s not HDCP compliant. The end result is when I plug in a MacBook Pro as a source, I end up getting video on the passthrough monitor just fine, but it’s black on the capture device itself. I’ve got the resolution/framerate set appropriately, but nothing is showing up; I can only assume that it’s HDCP rearing it’s ugly head; I suspect OS X just opts for HDCP whenever it’s available on the monitor, but I don’t know this for sure. I’ll be testing with a PC source this weekend, but it’d be nice to know if this simply won’t work (or, even better, if people have a workaround/hack that prevents the source from trying to initiate HDCP). I’m not trying to capture any flagged content, naturally; I just want basic screen capture. I’ll have to opt for my backup (VGA output + VGA->Component box) if I can’t get HDMI working. Not a big deal, just a third signal type to have to switch/worry about. XD
In Xsplit you can hotkey sources/shots, but BMIP and all instances of it will only be one source. So you will have to manually adjust the source settings individually. I know you can record PC sources through HDMI as long as you aren’t playing HDCP protected material on the machine itself.
Well, for the 2nd PC yes, for the first one, which is a little over the top anyway with 6 cores, has an integrated graphics chipset, so it does not need a graphics card only windows.
Now you do have to assemble these yourself(which is very simple and documentation is everywhere, if not, somebody local could probably do it for you) but it will probably be the cheapest way to get a PC of ample specs to run a stream.
So once I install W7 on the first computer, I’m ready to go? I have an HD PVR already that I use with my laptop. And someone said something about not being able to use this computer without a dedicated video card?
i switched to xsplit and im getting a lot better quality now than i was w/ wirecast w/ no stuttering issues.
Has anyone tried streaming with the Avermedia C874?
Would anyone who uses xsplit care to share their workflow to create the gameplay screen where I can show player1 vs player2 while they are playing?
just add the camera on there like you added the gameplay footage
No I mean show the names of who is playing
You want to use “Titles” – it’s a kind of source within XSplit. You may also want to put a small image background behind it, but usage of the basic title interface can be found here. I personally use a helper script that I wrote to make a small file with the formatting that I need for a remote URL source file (can’t remember what they call that, it’s explained in the video IIRC), because that lets me modify them quickly and all at once, and queue up the next pair, etc., but that’s a little overkill for most peoples’ applications (I like to over-complicate things :P). You can just go in and modify the title from within XSplit.
I don’t like that Xsplit has bad aliasing on titles if you’re streaming at a non HD resolution, does your script give higher quality text or the ability to change font sizes?
I stream using the following set up:
HP G62-144DX Notebook
2.13ghz i3-330M Processor
7200rpm Hard Drive
8gb RAM
Hauppauge HD PVR
Flash Media Encoder 2.5 w/VhScreencap
Usually stream between 1800~2000kbps using .bat style streaming.
This is the quality of what I get using the equipment based above.
[media=youtube]zCVrMuxLTf4[/media]
No, the script just creates a text file with the raw text, encoded in the appropriate <tags> so that XSplit can find it. I haven’t had any aliasing problems, but that’s likely because I’ve been sticking with 720P broadcasting. I’m fairly new to XSplit (usually stream on OS X), but I’m working on a new project that will be on a JTV Partner account (AKA, they downscale the stream from 720P to lower resolutions so that I don’t have to worry about it). It looks pretty good from what I’ve seen, but I’m going to be doing more significant testing this weekend.
EDIT: I should clarify that the script is actually just a management script for a lot of things while I’m running a stream – creating the strings file (as I call it) is only one of it’s roles. It was written in Python, so it mostly works on both OS X and Windows.
I wish to stream Starcraft. What is the best settings on Xsplit or Wirecast.
Big question. A few things will help us answer a little better, but it’ll still likely take some experimentation:
What are your computer specs? CPU, RAM, Graphics card, all useful.
What bandwidth do you have? Test it and give us the results (upstream is most important here, but both numbers can be useful to know). Don’t just tell us what your ISP promises you; it’s complete BS, and a theoretical maximum at best.
What resolution are you playing at/what were you hoping to stream out at?
I can stream console perfectly. So, here’s my specs.
Processor: AMD Phenom ™ II x2 Processor (2CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Memory: 4096 MB
Display: 1440x900
Grapic: ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series
Total Memory: 2804 MB
A Phenom X2 will not be powerful enough to play StarCraft2 and stream at a decent quality at the same time, you’re either gonna get frame drops ingame or on stream. You will need to turn down the settings pretty low on SC2 and stream at a lower resolution at medium bitrate.