WCSThis guide is an advanced guide for streaming from Ustream.TV or Justin.TV. I expect you to know how to find some of the information in this manually, but in case you can’t I guess I’ll cover that anyways to make this a comprehensive guide. To make things a little bit simpler, I’ll also make a video guide of this shortly after I publish this. The goal of this guide is to get a very high quality stream set up, ideally 720p minimum, but this really depends on your hardware and upstream (internet). As a very rough guideline, lets take a look at the minimum hardware requirements for certain stream qualities:
See the guide here!
http://pwnnoobs.com/2010/09/advanced-ustream-tv-streaming-guide/
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WHAT I STILL NEED
Your graphic settings and picture example so others have a starting point.
Any suggestions for IRC moderating and tools to use
Anything else you can think of! Credit always given to contributors!
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And now back to your regularly scheduled...
![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen/ustream/ustream-logo.png){kind=logo}
I'm probably the least knowledgeable person about the subject, but I will get ustream functional by the end of this tutorial. If you have any tricks for higher quality, share please! Of course, livestream's procaster does all this for you, but if you have a beef against livestream's ads or recent freeze/crash issues then Ustream is the next best thing. Please if you have any suggestions/additions do tell!
PROGRAMS:
![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen/ustream/manycam-logo.png){kind=logo}
Manycam is a free screen capture device that is low quality, but doesn't have a watermark.
![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen/ustream/vhsc-logo.jpg){kind=logo}
VH Screen Capture free / watermark
64 bit operating systems only (This version is buggy, don't use)
32 bit operating systems (AKA, x86)
x86 version permanent download link. Need to fill out a form with fake info
x86 version direct download mirror link
NEW! (or is that OLD!) Here's an old version found by WhiteShadow that seems to have all the same features as the newest version but doesn't have the watermark
VH Screen Capture is the highest quality capture device with the least amount of headache for free.
![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen/ustream/fmle-logo.jpg){kind=logo}
Flash Media Encoder Free because adobe wants to rule the internet
Download from adobe
Flash Media Live Encoder is the program that Ustream has chosen to integrate into. We have to use this to get around the fact that the Ustream producer doesn't allow anything but the microphone for audio in (AFAIK) It also allows easy manipulation of video quality.
![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen/ustream/webcammax-icon.JPG){kind=icon}
WebcamMax $50
Webcam Max is not a free program, but it does capture your screen without a watermark. It seems to be very CPU intensive though, so try this out if you want a more professional quality and have the computing power to handle it (Core i7 and above)
I have not tested this software
![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen/ustream/camstudio-icon.JPG){kind=icon}
CamStudio free / open source
Camstudio is another freebie of unknown quality.
I have not tested this software
![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen/ustream/infanview-icon.jpg){kind=icon}
InFanView InFanView is a free image viewing/editing program for non-commercial use
Download it here
This is what you'll use if you need an image always-on-top of your starcraft window. Useful for hiding the replay timer or if you just want to create a brand or advertise for your sponsor.
Hardware requirement:
Any sound card that allows stereo mixing. This includes all Soundblaster Live!, Audigy, and Realtek HD sound devices. Mine is integrated into my motherboard and works fine.
Soundblaster name = What U hear.
Realtek name = Stereo Mix
![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen/ustream/realtek-logo.jpg){kind=logo}
PREPERATION, SETTING YOUR AUDIO DEVICE.
This section will be two-fold. First you need to make sure your mic playback isn't muted and second you need to make sure your stereo mix / What u hear is turned on. (Don't make it default, just turn it on). I'll only be able to explain this for Realtek HD sound cards, these are almost always the card you will have integrated on your motherboard in a desktop, laptops get funky.
Step 1: make sure your mic is set to playback. Find your Realtek HD Audio Manager. This can be done by either right clicking the red speaker icon in your system tray or by going to your computer's Control Panel and selecting it.
+ Show Spoiler +
![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen/ustream/realtek-mic-page.jpg)
Step 2: Make sure your stereo mix is not hidden and turned on.
a) To get to this location, click Sound Devices, Sound, or Change System Sounds in your control panel. Alternatively, choose Audio Devices from the right click menu of the Realtek red speaker icon in the system tray.
b) Any way you get to it, switch to the Recording tab. If you see Stereo Mix, Great! right click and enable it. If you do not see it, right click anywhere on this screen and choose "Show Disabled Devices". Now enable it. If you still don't see Stereo Mix then your sound card doesn't support this feature. Either google a different solution or download the latest realtek drivers.
+ Show Spoiler +
![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen/ustream/recording-tab.jpg)
SETTING UP VH SCREEN CAPTURE
Step 1: Once you install VHSC go into your start menu or on the desktop and choose "Configure VHScrCap" It will probably yell at you that there is no device found, Choose the option for setting up a new driver.
You should see one of these 3 screens with the option to switch between them:
+ Show Spoiler +
![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen/ustream/VHSCD.jpg)
If you can't switch between them try using the x86 version, this is what happened to me too.
Step 2: Make sure the Capture tab is set to track screen
Step 3: Set the Settings tab to 60FPS, we will be adjusting FPS and quality on FMLE instead, so we want the highest quality going from this program to the other.
GETTING FMLE WORKING!
Step 1: make sure both VHSC and FMLE are running.
Step 2: Assuming you already have a ustream account, go to the Advanced tab on your show's settings. Scroll down to this area:
+ Show Spoiler +
![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen/ustream/fme-xml.jpg)
and download that XML file to your local machine (don't select open).
Step 3: install the two programs you downloaded, FMLE and VHScreenCapture. Start both programs
Step 4: Inside of FMLE, go to the file menu and choose "Open Profile". Select your XML and open it. This should fill out the information on the right side of the program for "Stream to Flash Media server" with the ustream info and your secret code. Don't share your secret code (the one in the stream box) as this will allow others to broadcast on your Ustream account.
Step 5: Set your settings like this
+ Show Spoiler +
![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen/ustream/fmle-settings.jpg)
or something similar. You can mess around with H.264 format, frame rates, bit rate, and output size to your hearts content to get the best quality.
![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen/ustream/ustream-u.png)
FINALLY, START BROADCASTING.
Step 1: once VHSC is providing the video, Stereo Mix is providing the audio, and you're output is set to ustream's XML data hit the START button at the bottom. It will look like this giving you output values:
+ Show Spoiler +
![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen/ustream/fmle-streaming.jpg)
Step 2: Go into ustream to the YOUR SHOWS page and select BROADCAST NOW
Step 3: When the broadcast window pops up, it should look like this:
+ Show Spoiler +
![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen/ustream/ustream-streaming.jpg)
The video and audio sources are blank, because it is pulling the stream directly from FMLE's feed. the broadcaster is not doing any work except turning it off and on.
HIT START BROADCAST!
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![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen/ustream/teamliquid-logo-cropped.png){kind=logo}
Adding your stream to the teamliquid.net User Streams list
There are no requirements to add your stream to the non-featured streams list on the site, here is how you should prepare.
EDIT:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=145584
Chill posted new rules. Visit that thread for adding your stream.
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Setting up your Image Overlay to block the replay timer or plug your sponsor
We will be using a program called InFanView for this. Once downloaded, open the program and open your favorite image file.
Follow these simple steps to get rid of any distractions, make the window resizeable, and always on top.
1) Options menu, select "Always on top" (last option) simple enough.
2) View menu, Display Options, Choose "Fit image to window" and make sure the bottom 3 are checked for quality (they are by default)
3) View menu, Show/Hide the first 4 options for Status bar, Toolbar, Menu bar, and Caption.
Alternatively, hold Alt+Shift+S,T,M,C respectively.
Done! Now you have an image that will stay on top of your starcraft display (assuming you're in Windowed or Windowed (Fullscreen) modes) and not look ugly. Have fun
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![[image loading]](http://home.comcast.net/~ghen//ustream/helpful_tips_image.jpg)
- by TotalBiscuit of SC2 Shoutcraft fame
► I was looking at some information on another forum about this and it stated that a possible fix for the 2-3fps thing was to change from FME 3.0 to FME 2.5. I have not managed to test that yet, so it may be a complete red herring, but it's worth a shot.
I should also point out that 'internet connection' has nothing to do with that problem at all. Check the encoding logs, you will quite clearly see frequent, absurd drops to really low bitrates, such as 30kbp/s as well as low framerates which cause that juddery issue as well as the artifacting. FME 2.5 MAY alleviate that problem, maybe. it's worth a try.
► Another thing, VHScrCap can cause a lot of flickering in SC2 UNLESS you play it in Fullscreen Windowed mode. If that occurs for you, that's the solution.
► Also, Ustream does 4:3 or 16
ratios, not 16:10. Just bear that in mind when choosing which resolution to use.If you want to broadcast in high definition, you're gonna have to broadcast at a high bitrate. You'll need 1000 - 2000 Kbps to stream at a resolution higher than 640*360
► This is overkill. You can stream 852x480 in 500kbps and it will look pretty good. If you're obsessive about quality, VoD to Youtube instead.
► H.264 appears to yield better performance, less framerate drop
► The profile I'm currently using for H.264 is 'Main' Keyframe ' 10 seconds', '3.1'. Lower keyframes appeared to result in frequent game freezes. I was also able to further increase smoothness by setting processor affinity in SC2 to CPU 0 and FME to CPUs 1, 2 and 3. I would imagine this would assist those with older quadcores. I5/I7 rigs will most likely not need that.
I don't think the 10 second keyframe is a good idea either, needs to be lower than that.
► Me too, for SC2, a 1-3 seconds keyframe should be used. A keyframe is a full-quality no-delta frame. That means if you scroll the screen (like you do every few seconds in SC2), for all the time between two keyframes, only differential data will be sent (what pixels changed). Since this is not a normal TV News scene where only the head moves, all the screen will look blurry and miscolored until the next keyframe arrives, or sufficient normal frames have been rendered
Tip by mrproper, thanks!
► A lot of artifacting can be eliminated by picking an output resolution that is easily divisible by your input. I changed my output (now that I've got a better net connection) to 960x540, which is exactly half of the input resolution (1920x1080). That eliminated a significant amount of artifacting and blur.
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Resources:
TotalBiscuit's current optimal video setup - Check this out for some good default settings to use
Youtube video about setting up FMLE, using a different crappier program but still worth a look
Ustream's FAQ, extremely outdated but still mildly useful
Split Media Labs - the creators of VHSC, pay them to get rid of the watermark probably
Random youtube people like this kid showing how to enable Stereo Mix
[Guide] by Dankmids for boosting your in game FPS. This can help you get a higher quality stream if that makes any sense for low-end machines, if you maximize your FPS in game your CPU and GPU aren't working as hard and will have more power to encode the stream.
Ustream broadcasting from iPhone official app (thanks Amber)
Another tutorial, can't get enough
Settings as per Calpico. Use this to help with 16:10 resolutions like 1920x1200 since FMLE can't handle it natively and neither can Ustream
Credits:
Ch00 - For telling me about VH Screen Capture and generally getting the ball rolling
TotalBiscuit - for the entire TIPS section above. :D
mrproper - For helping define some of the stranger settings and help in adjusting them for maximum streaming value
Disclaimer:
Please feel free to copy this anywhere you feel useful. Provide a link-back post so I can check it out
