Streaming and Recording Guide/Research

Tech Talk
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On the contrary. AMD’s APU’s are actually both shoved into the same die. It’s like a dedicated onboard video chipset(like how you can have Nvidia or AMD chipsets on mobos) that’s placed on the processor die to lower motherboard production costs, and prevents unnecessary components from being incorporated into features that many will not use. You are thinking more of the Intel model in terms of integrated graphics hardware.

The particular processor I had linked is a 3.0ghz quad core with a dedicated 600mhz graphics chipset on board(based on the HD 6550, however, I’m an Nividia fan, so I don’t know what that would be as it doesn’t affect me), that is unlocked can be overclocked independently of the CPU with any GPU overclocking program. However, it does need to utilize system RAM, so 8gb is a requirement here.

And yes, I do buy AMD processors and Nividia graphics cards. It’s a strange mix, but it’s my personal preference. Not to say I’m not open to ATi, but I like Nividia’s offerings better most of the time.

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[media=youtube]IhbQVRPCw84[/media]

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It’s actually a Phenom X4 9650. Here’s my basic specs:

AMD Phenom X4 9650 - 2.3 GHz AM2+
Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H Motherboard
6 GB of PC6400 DDR2 DIMMS (2x 2GB, 2x1GB)
Nvidia (EVGA) GT550Ti Graphics Card
Avermedia Game Broadcaster HD

I overclocked it to 2.5 GHz and my GPU is factory OC’d a bit from the usual clockspeed of a 550TI. I tested motion and it’s slightly higher, but it’s menial.

This is all fine and dandy for 480p streaming, but if I want to roll with the HD big boys, I would most definitely need something a bit more. Then again, I don’t see any point since stream monsters love dat 240p. Kappa

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Well that explains the cpu usage. Phenom I series had really really crap performance compared to their Intel counterparts. Thankfully Phenom II isn’t as bad, but AMD is still generally losing the performance battle against Intel, especially when overclocking is factored in. Not trying to be a fanboy here, but the benchmarks say so.

If I can get ahold of some of this streaming stuff maybe I can try how my pc fares.

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Anybody here ever play around with/test HDMI matrix switches? I need a preview+live monitor setup with 4 devices being switched between for an event; it’s not a fighting games crowd, admittedly, so latency’s not entirely paramount, but I’d like to go as low as possible. Every matrix I tried a couple years ago added a good half second of latency (unacceptable), but newer and cheaper stuff has come out since then, and I’m looking for input. It’d have to be at least 4x2, though 5x2 or 6x2 wouldn’t hurt.

The alternative I’m considering would be grabbing a second capture card, and switching in software, then some splitters and switches to make the monitors appropriate (obviously much less than ideal for the technician, though it doesn’t have to be “clean” for anyone except the stream viewers – no live audience). It seems like some of these matrix switches can be had for less expense than a capture card alone, though, so I’d only go this route if there isn’t a relatively cheap solution with acceptable latency.

Thoughts?

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I’m guessing you’re trying to do something for a MOBA or SC2 so each person’s game can be seen?

I was thinking of something along the lines of what you’d want. It’s pricey but it can work. You’d need distribution amplifiers for every station you’d want your preview monitor to have. And then each switch goes to the TV, and then the other goes to a matrix switch that can freely change between games without interrupting the players. 1 in 2 out distro amps are 20 a piece on ebay, and a 4 in 1 out switch is around 30.

The only problem I can think of is that it might switch off the A/V and reset the xbox. Although that’s only when your video settings change from digital to analog, or HDMI to DVI.

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Not quite, actually – charity marathon event where switching between multiple consoles and computers will be necessary, and setting up the next one to switch onto is necessary (sometimes involving installing software/setting up/playing the games to a certain point on the “preview” monitor). Luckily the transitions themselves can be hidden (switching to a full-screen of the cam feed), the live-source transitions will only be happening between games, and the players themselves are in on the whole thing (thus why it doesn’t have to be “clean” behind the scenes; we’ll be interrupting them constantly, but once they’re off the stream it doesn’t matter).

This was done last year using all component sources (a switch and a splitter on each source’s sync cable (green, IIRC) so that we could connect up a preview monitor in some sort of a workable condition (weird colors, but it worked for us on the cheap)). Moving to HDMI, if we can set it up right, will get rid of some of the issues we had, and remove or simplify a lot of the technician work (vital for a 4+ day marathon event). My current plan is to have a Live and Preview monitor both receiving HDMI from different sources (hopefully, if I can find a suitable one, through a matrix), with the Live one configured to mirror it’s audio output to RCA (the set I have has a nice, no-latency RCA output that doesn’t disable the built-in speakers) for the mix. The Live set’s HDMI feed would also be split off and thrown at a capture card (through an HDFury to neutralize HDCP; we may opt to grab the audio from that instead, since either would work), and the card’s pass-through would just go unused.

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Would anyone recommend/has anyone tried using a SSD for recording video? I’m considering either getting a SDD or two HDDs and making a raid for a new stream computer, but unsure which would be best.

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Most ssds are plenty fast enough for recording or streaming. Specifically, they have plenty of throughput (sequential write), which is usually the key factor.

I’ve been using an Agility 3 ssd, which usually tops out at like 140mb/sec or so. For reference, when I tested how much throughput I needed for 1080p60 with fraps, it came out to somewhere around 100-110mb/sec or so (tested using ramdisk). Since most ssds can easily handle well more than that, especially the newer ones, I think you should be fine.

I will say though that the Kingston ssds probably will not be fast enough. They used to be the cheap-man’s ssd, and the Kingston V100 64gb I used to have could not keep up. I don’t think it could even do 1080p30.

That being said, the solution depends on your needs, or how much you need to record at a time. If you only need to record short bursts of video, you can probably just invest in ram and use a ramdisk. If you already have plenty of spare SATA ports available and a decent raid controller, 2x hdd’s might be the better choice due to having the most capacity; this is assuming you already have some spare hdd’s because hdd prices right now are severely overpriced. A single ssd will probably be more than enough, but might cost the most per gb.

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XSplit Panel Writer v1.5 has been released!

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Tried Xsplit for my latest stream combined with this, i would say it’s a must have, and the new twitter tab is really nice.

Also today i got a new capture card that i bought for the next event i will be doing, an Avermedia “Game Broadcaster HD” that feature a VGA input, i posted about it on Neo Empire, i’ll copy past that post here in case people are interested by this card.

[LEFT]I started my tests with the avermedia software, capturing another pc via VGA and HDMI works well as expected, it can capture almost every standard pc resolutions, there’s quite more choices than the old avermedia capture HD card. I don’t have a 360 to test but it should work the same as it uses pc resolutions.[/LEFT]

[LEFT]Then i try with Xsplit, no problem here, but i wasn’t able to make it work with Wirecast :/[/LEFT]

[LEFT]Next tests were what i really bought this card for, the support of 640x480 combined with the VGA input that make it very interesting for capturing arcades games.[/LEFT]

[LEFT]My first test was an Atomiswave with HNK and sadly it doesn’t work, the VGA output of the atomiswave can be problematic with some devices so it’s not that much of a surprise (it also doesn’t work with my vga to hdmi converter and some lcd monitors), that makes me a sad panda as it’s one of my favorites games

http://neoempire.com/forum/images/smilies/frown5.gif

[/LEFT]

[LEFT]Then i connected a Naomi with Akatsuki, this one worked without problems, the video preview had a bit of tearing on fast scrolling text in the intro of the game, but that doesn’t appear on the videos recorded.[/LEFT]
[LEFT]The video quality isn’t as good as on an HDMI source but it’s way better than the other solutions that were available to capture this kind of games before (and VGA capture cards that were available before this one are way too expensive).[/LEFT]

[LEFT]Also with the Naomi i was able to confirm that the card supports interlaced 640x480, i’m gonna buy what i need tomorrow to do a scart to VGA cable so i can check if the atomiswave can wortk this way, it should also make possible to record the ps2 RGB output this way and get maximum quality for games that don’t have a progressive scan mode.[/LEFT]

[LEFT]So as a conclusion, even if the part about arcade games doesn’t concern you, this card is pretty interesting IMO, the VGA input might come in handy in some tournaments, and if you need this, it’s better to use native VGA than a VGA to HDMI converter.[/LEFT]
[LEFT]The only downside i can see for this card is that is doesn’t looks it works with wirecast, also as ihave only one card, i can’t confirm is if it’s possible or not (like the old HD capture) to have more than one working in one pc.[/LEFT]
[LEFT]The price is just a litlle less than a Blackmagic intensity pro, but quite more than the old avermedia HD capture card, so it pretty much comes down to if you would use the VGA input or not.[/LEFT]

[LEFT]Another thing that i got at the same time is a new keyboard to replace the crappy one i was using on events, i got a good deal on a Logitech G110 that interested me for the macros keys, combined with a software called “wirecast toolbox” it’s really interesting if you use wirecast (for pc only).[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Wirecast toolbox itself is already quite helpfull, especially if you use multiple layers for your stream, but with macros (also using wirecast built-in shortcuts) it gets even better, for exemple only having one key to press to open the changes box of a specific shot is really nice ^^[/LEFT]

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To get that card to work with wirecast you need a directshow capture program, VHmulticam, and use that feed to go into wirecast.

Xsplit video out also works

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Ok i see, didn’t think of trying that.

Actually i used the virtual video output of xsplit into wirecast to get my Logitech 910 to work in 16/9 720p before it was supported by the 4.1.3 update, it has quite a bit of delay and sometimes the feed got some tearing, then i switched to manycam for that and it was quite better, but not as versatile.
I’ll try tomorrow to see how that works, i wonder how much more cpu it would use than having the card supported by wirecast, but well i’m pretty much set on using Xsplit for the event i’ll need the VGA input for, so it’s not really a problem for me.

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Whats up stream heads, I just build a new streaming machine and ran into a big wall when making the switch from Wirecast over to Xsplit. I’ve posted an in depth thread over on the Xsplit forums to see if anyone there might have any ideas but I’d like to get a few more eyeballs on it just in case someone has dealt with this before. If you have a few minutes please take a look at my issue.

Thanks Guys!

http://www.xsplit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=8874

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Not too sure about that. I own one personally and it directly links into wirecast. Before you open wirecast, choose whatever source you are going to use, D-sub or HDMI, in their program, Avermedia Center 3D. Close it, then open up Wirecast. It doesn’t automatically pick up whatever source is being fed into the cap card, so you’d need to do that prior.

It’s a great card for the money. Considering the amount of resolutions it supports, and that VGA slot means theres a lot less converters involved when you want to stream things other than consoles. Hell, you can hook up your 2nd monitor out into the VGA and use that as a native full-screen to record tutorials you’d want to make for computer programs!

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Pretty strange, i actually tried this when i did my tests in wirecast as you need to do the same thing for Xsplit, but even if the card appear in the sources list, i only get a black screen.

Feeding wirecast with the virtual video output from Xsplit works as expected but the delay is noticeable, for some reason manycam give me an error message that it can’t connect with the card, but it give me the same message with the Avermedia capture HD, so i guess it’s a compatibility issue.

Also i made a cable to connect the scart output of my supergun to the vga input of the card to try to capture the atomiswave in 15Khz, doesn’t work sadly, maybe the card only works with discrete H/V sync and not composite sync, i’ll have to try with a ps2 to confirm that or if it’s only a problem with the atomiswave video output.

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That’s unfortunate. It’s been working pretty well on my system although I’d very much prefer it had it’s own audio inputs for component, but that’s not a huge loss for me.

If you guys are interested in the AverMedia Express HD DVR and the AverMedia GameBroadcaster HD, I’ll be giving a pretty detailed video review for both in a week or so. I’ll be getting the Express HD DVR (express card solution) soon from B&H which is selling it at it’s cheapest for less than $80 bucks.

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Yo guys. Anyone try pairing the Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle with an ASUS Sabertooth x58 mobo? I can’t get the thing working. Everything checks out in troubleshooting. Drivers and firmware on mobo/USB3.0 ports (Renesas) are up to date, on top of everything being plugged in correctly. Still haven’t managed to load up the device in any directshow programs. This includes BMMediaExpress, Adobe Live Encoder, the XSplit demo, VLC and Sony Vegas 9. Doesn’t seem to want to register the device as plugged in.

Tempted to go out and buy a USB 3.0 PCI-E card and see if that works.

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The only thing i can think of is that your USB 3.0 might not be operating at 5.0 gbps? I did look up your motherboard’s specs and it should be able to since its a relatively brand new iCore based motherboard. Maybe something in your bios is setting your usb 3.0 at a slower speed? Usually the only thing other than finnicky drivers for the windows based systems would be USB 3.0 compatibility for the BMI. I could be wrong, but it never hurts to check your USB 3.0 speeds.

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I don’t think it’s that, since I even plugged in a PCI-E 2.0 USB3.0 slot extension and tried it with that. Still nothing. All ports register the device, but Desktop Video doesn’t want to detect it.