But first, some backstory...

Ok so basically for anyone who isn't aware I am one of the biggest retards when it comes to technology. It might sound odd coming from a progamer but basically my parents were quite strict in terms of using the computer growing up. When I was allowed to play games as a teenager it was always next to the kitchen where everyone was and my parents would make it as uncomfortable as possible by nagging. So basically every time I got a chance to play the PC I'd hop straight into games and cram my time in. I never went on forums, websites etc. I also had an older brother who I'd rely on to install, fix and download every game, patch etc.

Basically the results of all this was that by the time my teenage years were over I knew absolutely nothing about how to use a computer other then how to play games! So anyway last year I set up my stream and was absolutely amazed at how simple it was thanks to the help of a bunch of sc2sea people who helped me get my settings and off I went into the land of 240p streaming! I found it really interesting and exciting and liked trying to interact with the streamchat and make an interesting viewing experience!

So go 6 months later and I'd upgraded my mobo, cpu and RAM so that I got to the land of 500p! Yeah, it still wasn't too great, and soon enough my PC was back to dropping frames and whatnot and my streaming was relegated to the funfun ladders of SEA and NA. But hey I did coaching all the time and shared it with everyone as well as did a handful of episodes of "PiG's POV": http://www.twitch.tv/ttpig/b/300206949

So streaming was going ok, the quality wasn't the best but I was feeling happy with it. Whenever I streamed steadily my viewers were growing and even when D3 was down i stayed above 150 viewers for a few hours lol!

Fastforward to today...

But anyway, a few weeks ago the awesome people at AVerMedia sent me this amazing capture card: http://www.avermedia.com/avertv/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?Id=565

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At first I was intimidated due to my technology retardation and busy with tournaments so I avoided installing and setting it up but today I finally did it! Oh damn am I glad I finally did it! Some of you may have caught the new and upgraded 750p quality on my stream today! : http://www.twitch.tv/ttpig/b/321943134

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As you can see above the card is actually a really simple piece of hardware which I found slotted into my motherboard really easily. At first I tried to do a 2-PC setup using my laptop to play and my desktop to process everything and after confusing myself over the different resolutions I realised I don't even need to use a dual-PC setup!

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Derpppp!

So basically I just plugged a HDMI cable from my mobo slot to my GPU slot and sound worked! A few minutes later I'd turned off my 2nd monitor (my gpu is old and can't handle more then a 2 things taking/giving it information at any time) and now it worked!

Basically the card just sits in my pc and says "hi computer I'm your friend you don't need to blow yourself up trying to process video anymore I do that for you!". My bandwidth at just 0.83mbps can handle 750p just fine and as the card handles everything I have no frame drops from the stream burden!

So in summary...

I'm really happy as I never realised that I'd be able to stream in such high resolution on Australian internet! I probably need to adjust some settings to optimise it but I was really happy with the quality already. I'll be streaming on a more and more regular basis as the lag will be less of an issue and you guys can actually see my zerglings on creep now!

Thanks AVerMedia! Hopefully see you all on my streamchat soon!

Sats

Australia21 Posts

June 19 2012 14:57 GMT

Had a look at the vod mate, looks great!

High definition PiG!

edit: Great work from AverMedia too, I've used their products previously and they are great! Good to see them supporting

Stitch

Hong Kong129 Posts

June 19 2012 15:20 GMT

So does the card allow you to stream at higher settings than you already are? I heard there is also some streaming box type of thing, is it the same? Hmm... I need something like this if I want to stream!

Would you know the cost for this type of thing?

PiGStarcraft

Australia945 Posts

June 19 2012 15:26 GMT

On June 20 2012 00:20 Stitch wrote:
So does the card allow you to stream at higher settings than you already are? I heard there is also some streaming box type of thing, is it the same? Hmm... I need something like this if I want to stream!

Would you know the cost for this type of thing?

Yeah basically there are two limitations on streaming to my understanding:

1) Internet: The card cannot help with this.
2) Computer power (particularly processor): This is where it makes a massive difference!

The Card basically takes over from your PC for all the normal grabbing of your desktop, rendering and processing and does it all for your PC. It was explained to me basically just acting as a visual/audio source that directly sends all the prepared information to xsplit to upload.

In Australia I believe it retails for around the $200 mark though you can probably find it a bit cheaper. Obviously being in the far corner of the globe this could be quite different to the price elsewhere! I wish I had one of these last time I spent $500+ upgrading my PC specifically to make it handle streaming better!

MegaFonzie

Australia1083 Posts

June 19 2012 15:55 GMT

Ohhhh sick! So clear now O_O

I've watched your stream a bunch in the past and the quality was always a bit of a let down, but now it's all pretty. This is most good news!

iTzSnypah

United States1738 Posts

June 19 2012 16:25 GMT

I don't understand how this could work without increasing your input lag. So the GPU sends it's data to the card and the card then sends that to the monitor?

Jinsho

United Kingdom3057 Posts

June 19 2012 16:26 GMT

AverMedia are sponsoring Gamerbee :3

Stitch

Hong Kong129 Posts

June 19 2012 16:47 GMT

Cool! thanks so much.

Because the problem with my xSplit right now is it keeps giving me Greenlight for my settings, but when I stream not only do I feel massive delay in-game but I also start dropping a lot of frames. I wonder if this can fix all of that!

hewley

Germany959 Posts

June 19 2012 17:48 GMT

The first thing which came into my mind seeing this blog was Gamerbee. Seems like a quality product.

EtherealDeath

United States8294 Posts

June 19 2012 18:16 GMT

#10

You're saying I can upgrade an sc capable computer to a streaming beast for 200. This is brilliant. Tell aver they are great.

PiGStarcraft

Australia945 Posts

June 20 2012 02:36 GMT

#11

MegaFonzie hope to see you on my stream in future mate! What's your twitch username?

iTzSnypah I'm probably a bit too noob to really explain how the card works correctly but I'll give it a go.

The monitor as standard plugs into the GPU. The Card plugs into the GPU, takes the images and sound (im guessing it just gets sound from the mobo it's slotted into), processes and renders these into streaming format (this is the hard work which PCs struggle with) and sends it straight to your streaming program which just uses it as a source of video/audio input just like a camera. In fact in Xsplit you simply select "add camera" to get the AVerMedia Card source. It sends through a clear and processed image and sound and suddenly my quality is way better with 0 of the lag I was experiencing on my lower settings.

Sorry if that doesn't answer your question.

EtherealDeath that's pretty much the gist of it. Cheers!

dot89

81 Posts

June 20 2012 05:19 GMT

#12

Heck yes! The stream looks so awesome in 750p. I was skeptical that the card would do anything, but you can really see the difference this card makes for smooth high quality streaming.