The Definitive XSplit Guide by ApocTV and TechnicalMonkey (XSplit Community Staff Members)
Intro: This guide is for setting up and tweaking XSplit. If you’re not familiar with XSplit, it’s software to live stream just about anything you want. Whether it’s your desktop, a video game, camera content, a console game via a capture card, or even a video from a file, XSplit can do it! XSplit can also make local recordings on your hard drive of the content.
Get XSplit: First off, you need to download and install XSplit from XSplit.com. This guide assumes you are an XSplit licensed user. If you are not, as you go through the guide you can adjust the settings to what you are restricted to in the free version of XSplit.
The Video Version of This Guide:
Main XSplit Window:
Get Speedtest.net Results: Next, go to http://www.speedtest.net and do 1 or 2 speedtests to locations near you, making note of your results, or even just saving the image file of your results.
Basic XSplit Setup: In XSplit, we first need to setup the basic settings. Go to Tools -> General Settings, and go to the “General” tab. In here, we want to turn on “Disable Aero Theme”, turn off “Hide from Screen Region”, and turn off “Enable Skype interaction”. You will also see “Enable virtual camera output”. This is used if you want to use XSplit as a camera source for another piece of software. In most cases, you want this turned off. The last option is “Enable Game Source”. This is for “hooking” into games and using them as a direct feed into XSplit. If you are not familiar with GameSource, you can read more about it on XSplit.com. It also is explained a bit more in depth in the “Add Sources” section of this guide.Still in the “General” tab of XSplit, you will see where you can set your Microphone. Select your mic in the dropdown. Below that is “My Recordings”, and this is where you specify a location where local recordings will be saved when using the “Local Recording” profile in XSplit. The “Local Recording” profile is setup like a stream channel is, but instead it records it to your computer locally instead of uploading it out. Keep in mind, you can stream out and also do a local recording at the same time. It’s a great way to save your content for making VODs later.
(It is highly recommended to use less CPU resources on your desktop while streaming. In Windows 7, you can change the theme by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting Personalization on the context menu. You can then force your PC to use either the Windows 7 Basic theme or the Windows Classic (which disables Aero). This will save on both CPU and GPU resources when it comes time to stream.)
Stream Channel Setup: Now let’s setup your channel where you will be streaming to. We will assume you have an account with Twitch.tv or Own3d.tv and have already activated your channel by going to your streamer dashboard. If you don’t have an account, go set one up! It’s free.
To setup the channel, go to the “Channels” tab under Tools -> General Settings. Click “Add”, and then choose your stream provider, generally Twitch.tv or Own3d.tv. As far as settings go, this is where things vary from person to person. We’ll include some basic “templates” based on your CPU, but even then you will probably want to tweak the settings a bit to find the perfect settings for you. If you aren’t sure what CPU you have, google “CPU-Z” and download and run it. It will tell you all the info you need related to your CPU such as make, model, and speed.
We will list two settings for each CPU line. The first settings are the “low” settings, assuming your CPU is stock and untouched. The second settings will be marked with “(OC)” and assumes you have your CPU overclocked and are a more advanced user. Again, these settings are only a rough template, and although accurate, can still be tweaked for each individual:
Anything older than these, you will have to test it out yourself. If we get input on settings from users with other CPU lines than what’s listed, we will add them into the guide. Keep in mind, this is what the CPU is capable of, not necessarily what you should stream at. More explanation later in the guide.
Now to actually setup your stream channel: Channel 1. Username - Input your username for the stream provider in all lowercase. 2. Password - Input your password for the stream provider. Note: This is case-sensitive. 3. Stream Key - Alternative to your password. You will still see this used at sites like Twitch.tv. Note: DO NOT SHARE YOUR STREAM KEY. ANYONE CAN USE THIS TO STREAM UNWANTED CONTENT TO YOUR CHANNEL. 4. Channel - This should automatically fill itself out and will match your username. 5. Location - This is the ingestion server you will be uploading to. To test ingestion servers, first you want to set your VBV Max Bitrate and VBV Buffer to your full upload speed. To do this, look at Item #8 and #9 in this list. Those are the fields to input your full speed to. So if your speedtest.net result was 5Mbps on the upload, put “5000” for both. Then select an ingestion server near you, and click “Test Bandwidth” button at the bottom of the channel setup window. Note the results, and then test a couple more. Whichever yields the fastest speed, use that server. If you ever get lag, you will want to test the speeds again. Remember, once you are done testing, return your Bitrate and Buffer (Items #8 and #9) to your normal stream settings. Video Encoding 6. Preset - In almost all cases I recommend “Veryfast”. If you aren’t sure what to put here, start with that. You can also reference TABLE #1 above for what you should put. 7. Quality - This number is used to set the quality and affects the bitrate that your stream may spike up to. The max setting allowed for streams is 10. Note: this can be changed manually, and will be covered in the Advanced Guide. You can also reference TABLE #1 above for what you should put. 8. VBV Max Bitrate (kbps) - This is the bitrate of your video, and directly relates to your upload bandwidth. Remember in step 2 of the guide we had you speedtest your line at speedtest.net? Look at the results and note the upload. Remember, 1mbps = 1000kbps. Here are some rough examples on what to put:
TABLE #2
Speedtest.net upload result What bitrate to use in XSplit ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1mbps 600 1.5mbps 1100 2mbps 1500 2.5mbps 2000 3mbps 2400 4mbps 3000
Any higher, and you will want to test it out yourself to find optimal settings.
9. VBV Buffer (kbps) - This should be the same as your Max Bitrate setting (Item #8). 10. Resolution - For almost all users, you want to leave this at “Default Stage Resolution”. This is used to choose a resolution to transcode to. Note: This is generally used to have a stream or recording at a lower resolution, and may affect the picture quality of the video. Use at your own discretion. Recommended for advanced users. Audio Encoding 11. Format - We recommend “44.100 KHz 16 bit stereo”. If you know what you’re doing, feel free to change this. 12. Codec - If you are a licensed user, you definitely want to use “AAC-LC”. This selects the audio encoding method to be used on your stream. If you are using the free version of XSplit, you will be limited to “Speex”. Sorry 13. Bitrate - It depends on the content of your stream and how important audio quality is to you, but in almost all cases “128000” is fine. This is 128kbps. 14. Automatically record broadcast - You never want to use this. If you want to do a local recording, use the “Local Recording” profile, not this. 15. Interleave audio and video in one RTMP channel: In most cases, you will want this turned on.
When you have everything setup, press “OK”.
Now you need to specify the resolution and FPS (frames per second) which you will stream at. From the main XSplit window, go to View -> Resolution. Make sure you reference “TABLE #1” above, where we listed CPU’s. That was what your CPU is capable of, assuming you have unlimited upload bandwidth. Though, that’s usually not the case. Now that you know the bitrate of your stream (Item #8 in the channel setup list above), you now can setup a resolution and fps to match that. Remember, your bitrate directly relates to your resolution and fps. Here are some recommended templates:
This assumes your CPU can handle the resolution and fps at each bitrate setting. Make sure to reference TABLE #1 earlier in the guide and balance it with this table. Also note, these resolutions are all 16. You want to stream at a resolution that is native to your source, whether that be a game or your desktop, or even a webcam.
Add Sources: Now you have your channel all set up and you’re ready to stream to it, but what are you going to stream? We’re gonna show you how to add some “sources”.
In the main XSplit window, you will see “Scene Sources” in the bottom left. (Note: To the right of that you will see a microphone icon and a speaker icon with bars next to each. This is where you can set the volume for the default microphone and speaker capture respectively, or you can click one of the icons to mute or un-mute.) At the bottom left of scene sources you will see “Add”, “Remove”, and “Settings”. This is how you will manage your sources. Click “Add”, and you will be presented with a drop-down box with some options.
Add Camera - Add a camera source. Note: It’s also where you would add a DXTory source if you are using it as a “hook” source for your games. Add Media File - Add single picture, video or sound/music files with this choice. Some files that can be added to your presentation are .mp3, .wmv, .jpg, .flv, etc. Add Screen Region - Add a screen region. A screen region is an area of your desktop. To add your whole desktop, just click any blank space on your desktop, and the full desktop will be added. Add IP Camera - You can add an IP camera, which is a camera that is linked to an internet feed. Most people don’t have one of these, and will just use “Add Camera” to add their webcams. Add Video Playlist - If you have multiple videos and you want them to play one-after-another, this is where you add them. There are quite a few features, so play around with it. Add Title - This is a basic text title. It also has a scrolling effect that can be used. Example: “BRB in 10 minutes” can be added on your stream, even scrolling across the screen if you like. Add Livestream - You can add another livestream as a feed directly on your stream. Make sure you have access to the content you are adding so you don’t run into copyright infringement. Add Game - If you have GameSource enabled, you can directly add a game. GameSource has some pro’s and con’s vs Screen Region. Screen Region is lower on resources (less lag), but can do only a maximum of 30fps. GameSource in some cases can result in a bit of lag, but can also do up to 60fps as a source, and also typically has higher quality image than Screen Region. More Sources - This is where you can access the “Plugin store” and can add other sources that aren’t packaged by default with XSplit. Have fun here
Hotkeys: If you plan on streaming regularly, this is definitely something you want to setup. It allows control over many aspects of your stream without having to go to the XSplit interface and click stuff, but rather to just hit a hotkey on your keyboard to handle it.Go to Tools -> General Settings, and select the “Hotkeys” tab. Here, you select an item that you want to set a hotkey for, and in the bottom right use the dropdown box to select what keypress it is. Additionally, you can toggle “modifiers” for the hotkey, such as “Shift”, “Control”, and “Alt”.
We definitely recommend setting up hotkeys for at least a couple scenes, as well as turning on/off your stream.
Glossary: VOD: “Video On Demand”. (Example: Videos on YouTube.com or Blip.tv are VOD’s) Mbps: “Megabits per second”. This is a measurement of internet speed (aka “bandwidth”). Note: 1mbps = 1000kbps Kbps: “Kilobits per second”. This is a measurement of internet speed (aka “bandwidth”). FPS: “Frames Per Second”. Measurement of how many images are shown per second in the video. DXTory: Software used to record PC game content. It can also be used to output the video via “DirectShow” which XSplit can use as a source (under Add Camera). Great quality, allows 60+ fps capture, and doesn’t impact your game performance much at all. Can be found at http://www.dxtory.com
Need More Help? Join the Official XSplit IRC Help Channel! Server = irc.quakenet.org Channel = #xsplit
EDIT: I just want to stress again that the templates/guidelines in the tables is a safe starting point. If you are totally new to streaming, start with those based on your CPU. Once you are more familiar with streaming and using XSplit, we recommend to tweak your settings out to find the perfect settings for you. What works for one person, may not work for another, and vice versa. Thanks to everyone who has given us great response, we appreciate it!
i dont understand that people dont think anything under 1mbit upload speed means that you cant stream HD. i got 0.7mbit in upload speed i stream 25fps @ 720p.... No lag of course...
Some things stress CPU far more, and while i can stream 960x540@60fps@veryfast on 2 cores of an i7 950 @3.72ghz playing starcraft 2 just fine with no cores maxing out, higher stress enviroments like Tribes Ascend or other games with first person cams and fast movement/turning means i cant even hold 24fps 100% of the time on the same preset
If you have only 0.7mbit upload, then you probably stream at 400kbit-500kbit? You definitely don't want to stream at 720p at this bitrate. You will get macro blocking. In the guide, I don't say that you *can't* stream at a higher resolution, I just list recommended resolutions. A 400kbit stream will look better at 720x480 (480p) resolution than 1280x720 (720p), that's just fact. And it will take less CPU.
@framtidenskrig and @Cyro:
These are guidelines. Keep in mind, people that know what they can push out of their cpu and tweak their settings to maximize it are not the ones this guide targets. These are guidelines so a newbie can put in the settings and get their stream working right off the start. Then later they can test settings out and tweak things to optimize.
As far as internal testing for XSplit, I do a lot of tests. I'm very knowledgeable on what can be done and what can't be done. But for this guide, I had to generalize and give "safe" recommendations. I had to not only consider some variable from user to user and what stuff they could be running on their PC that would use resources, but also the *huge* variable of what content they could be streaming. I've tested all the big games on the market, so I know the range. Again, I had to sum it up and give safe recommendations to newbies. Nowhere in the guide does it say "run these exact settings, they are perfect". I'm pretty sure I stated multiple times for users to test things out and find the perfect settings for them.
Hopefully you can see that and appreciate it for what it is.
For the advanced users, look forward to the advanced guide. You will definitely learn some tips/tricks there Should take us about a week to 10 days to have it done.
Btw, one of my testing machines is an i7 950 (@ 4.4ghz). Your SC2 numbers sound correct, but you shouldn't have that much difficultly with Tribes Ascend. What GPU do you have?
Great guide, I have noticed some lag while streaming with a i2500k @ 4.5.
Anyone know if upping to an i2600k would help? I have one in my machine at work, could just switch em. I have not checked my settings using this guide yet though.
On April 21 2012 01:24 swunder wrote: Great guide, I have noticed some lag while streaming with a i2500k @ 4.5.
Anyone know if upping to an i2600k would help? I have one in my machine at work, could just switch em. I have not checked my settings using this guide yet though.
To be honest, unless you are streaming something really taxing, you shouldn't have lag with a 2500k or 2600k. As far as the difference between the chips, very little. They are both second-gen i7's, 32nm architecture, etc. Also you have a nice overclock already, so I wouldn't worry about swapping chips, I'd more focus on figuring out what is lagging your machine while you stream.
Btw, one of my testing machines is an i7 950 (@ 4.4ghz). Your SC2 numbers sound correct, but you shouldn't have that much difficultly with Tribes Ascend. What GPU do you have?
GTX580, the game just seems to put 2-3x the CPU load on encoder on the same preset as sc2. Tribes doesnt cap my GPU at any point (it probably would, but the annoying forced framerate limiter stops it)
How do you have a 950 @4.4ghz? I was under the impression that ~4.2 was extreme high end for those cpus with an NH-D14 or something
Btw, one of my testing machines is an i7 950 (@ 4.4ghz). Your SC2 numbers sound correct, but you shouldn't have that much difficultly with Tribes Ascend. What GPU do you have?
GTX580, the game just seems to put 2-3x the CPU load on encoder on the same preset as sc2. Tribes doesnt cap my GPU at any point (it probably would, but the annoying forced framerate limiter stops it)
How do you have a 950 @4.4ghz? I was under the impression that ~4.2 was extreme high end for those cpus with an NH-D14 or something
It's on water. My gaming machine is an i7 3930k @ 4.7ghz, but I've pushed it to 5.0ghz. Though, I really don't need it that high so day-to-day I run the 3930k at 4.7ghz. That chip already murders everything I throw at it anyways, lol.
Ok so, what input source are you using in XSplit? Screen region, gamesource, dxtory?
Hello. I'm trying to stream LoL, but I can't get my game to run at any more than ~22 fps while streaming.
I've been working with DXTory outputting to XSplit. I've tried using XSplit's screen region, but I usually get around 15-20 fps, with a lot more drops and variation. My settings within XSplit are veryfast, 2500kbit, 6 quality, 640x400, and to Twitch.tv. I've tried messing around with settings, but I can't seem to break 22 fps or so. At this point, I'm trying to get the game to a playable fps, preferably around 30-35 at least. I'm not so worried about stream quality as long as it's not completely unbearable.
@UberBaller Have you tweaked your priorities? I was thinking about putting this into the main guide, but some people said it should be in the advanced guide, so I'm gonna put it there.
But basically what you need to do is download a piece of software called "Process Lasso" (google it). Then in it, setup "Default Priorities". Set XSplit.Core.exe to "Above Normal" and then all of your game's .exe's (ie "sc2.exe") to "High". That will maintain static priorities.
Oh and before anyone responds and says "setting affinities is better", I promise you it's not. Priorities is the way to go
On April 20 2012 23:53 framtidenskrig wrote: i dont understand that people dont think anything under 1mbit upload speed means that you cant stream HD. i got 0.7mbit in upload speed i stream 25fps @ 720p.... No lag of course...
I have to agree. I can stream 720p in good quality without lag as well at 1mb/s upload
On April 22 2012 12:44 Esoterikk wrote: What about i5 2500k? didn't see it in the table, is this cpu not recommended for streaming at all?
Quite the opposite, really. It's probably the best price/performance ratio CPU on the market right now. If you're gonna get one you better make sure to overclock it and you should never have any problems streaming or otherwise.
I've streamed with X6 1055T @ 3,7GHz with 720p res, default preset, 1500 bitrate, 30 fps, Q8 to 10, and high audio settings (can't remember these) without issues. You can add that to the list.
Also I've tried 965 BE at 3,7GHz, and it was stream capable at 600p with the same settings as above except I ran 25fps.
I was also capable going full HD in WoW but my upload wasn't enough to have decent quality.
On April 22 2012 12:44 Esoterikk wrote: What about i5 2500k? didn't see it in the table, is this cpu not recommended for streaming at all?
The i5 2500k is a great chip to stream with. You should be able to get 1080p 30fps @ veryfast / 10 without issues. Like I said in the video for the guide, we only added cpu's to the list that we have testing machines of and are very familiar with. Also the list is very newb-friendly, and shouldn't be used for exact settings. Only starting settings, and from there you can tweak things and get the settings perfect for you.
On April 22 2012 22:27 Thezftw wrote: I've streamed with X6 1055T @ 3,7GHz with 720p res, default preset, 1500 bitrate, 30 fps, Q8 to 10, and high audio settings (can't remember these) without issues. You can add that to the list.
Also I've tried 965 BE at 3,7GHz, and it was stream capable at 600p with the same settings as above except I ran 25fps.
I was also capable going full HD in WoW but my upload wasn't enough to have decent quality.
Well, I'm happy to see that between this thread and the Twitch.tv thread, the only criticism is directed at the tables (which we knew there would be from the savvy users), and none at the content of the guide itself. We figured this would be the response, but it's good to see. We're getting a ton of positive response from users that have used the guide and are now streaming and having great results, so thanks for that guys.
Both myself and TM (TechnicalMonkey) are XSplit staff and extremely familiar with both the software and streaming/video encoding, so rest assured we know what we're doing.
For all the savvy users, you'll enjoy the advanced guide. Some stuff in the advanced guide has been covered briefly in certain 'advanced threads' on the XSplit forums, but we'll also be showing some stuff that has never been shown before. =)
On April 20 2012 23:53 framtidenskrig wrote: i dont understand that people dont think anything under 1mbit upload speed means that you cant stream HD. i got 0.7mbit in upload speed i stream 25fps @ 720p.... No lag of course...
I have to agree. I can stream 720p in good quality without lag as well at 1mb/s upload
You can do 300kbit 1080p, it doesn't mean it's the best resolution to stream at for 300kbit. As far as 1mbit bitrate goes, that's borderline for 720p, and is definitely at the lowest range. You would probably have better results with a slightly lower resolution.
The result of streaming at too high of a resolution for your bitrate is "macro blocking" (aka "blocking"). You can read up on it if you want more information, but for any savvy users this should be fairly common knowledge, it's discussed a lot in the streaming/video encoding world.
Btw, one of my testing machines is an i7 950 (@ 4.4ghz). Your SC2 numbers sound correct, but you shouldn't have that much difficultly with Tribes Ascend. What GPU do you have?
GTX580, the game just seems to put 2-3x the CPU load on encoder on the same preset as sc2. Tribes doesnt cap my GPU at any point (it probably would, but the annoying forced framerate limiter stops it)
How do you have a 950 @4.4ghz? I was under the impression that ~4.2 was extreme high end for those cpus with an NH-D14 or something
It's on water. My gaming machine is an i7 3930k @ 4.7ghz, but I've pushed it to 5.0ghz. Though, I really don't need it that high so day-to-day I run the 3930k at 4.7ghz. That chip already murders everything I throw at it anyways, lol.
Ok so, what input source are you using in XSplit? Screen region, gamesource, dxtory?
Tried all 3, doesnt seem to have any impact on CPU load, just game performance. Screen Region gives me much higher FPS (gamesource hits my framerate by ~70%?) but gives a frame or two of input lag. I would like to encode @540p60 and can hold that without any frame drops in output video or stream @veryfast on 2 cores, but capturing/gamesourcing 1920x1080 source @60fps hits framerate too hard, so im sticking to 30fps @slow for now :/
3930k would be sick to have, but you would be limited i guess to 720p60 at a decent preset because you really need a capture card to not drop from 330fps to 80 while staring at 6 probes on minimum graphics by adding game source, which is unfortunate. Dropping to sub-20fps whenever you engage in PvZ past the 12 minute mark (and much further if there are storms, banelings etc everywhere) makes the game completely unplayable.
Btw, one of my testing machines is an i7 950 (@ 4.4ghz). Your SC2 numbers sound correct, but you shouldn't have that much difficultly with Tribes Ascend. What GPU do you have?
GTX580, the game just seems to put 2-3x the CPU load on encoder on the same preset as sc2. Tribes doesnt cap my GPU at any point (it probably would, but the annoying forced framerate limiter stops it)
How do you have a 950 @4.4ghz? I was under the impression that ~4.2 was extreme high end for those cpus with an NH-D14 or something
It's on water. My gaming machine is an i7 3930k @ 4.7ghz, but I've pushed it to 5.0ghz. Though, I really don't need it that high so day-to-day I run the 3930k at 4.7ghz. That chip already murders everything I throw at it anyways, lol.
Ok so, what input source are you using in XSplit? Screen region, gamesource, dxtory?
Tried all 3, doesnt seem to have any impact on CPU load, just game performance. Screen Region gives me much higher FPS (gamesource hits my framerate by ~70%?) but gives a frame or two of input lag. I would like to encode @540p60 and can hold that without any frame drops in output video or stream @veryfast on 2 cores, but capturing/gamesourcing 1920x1080 source @60fps hits framerate too hard, so im sticking to 30fps @slow for now :/
3930k would be sick to have, but you would be limited i guess to 720p60 at a decent preset because you really need a capture card to not drop from 330fps to 80 while staring at 6 probes on minimum graphics by adding game source, which is unfortunate. Dropping to sub-20fps whenever you engage in PvZ past the 12 minute mark (and much further if there are storms, banelings etc everywhere) makes the game completely unplayable.
If you are wanting to do 60 fps (or anything higher than 30 fps for that matter), you need to use a direct hook such as GameSource or DXTory. Screen region only captures 24-30fps, so streaming at higher will make no difference, as the source will be less. For certain games it's optimized for, Gamesource can be good. But generally, DXTory has better performance. In time, this will change as Gamesource is developed more.
Also, if anyone has a GTX 680, the drivers are causing issues with DXTory. Some games it results in super low fps while recording (or outputting to DirectShow), while other games the output itself will be choppy.
On April 23 2012 21:54 DooMNoThx wrote: Is there any big difference between 60fps and 30fps ? I just tried that and I really see no difference ?!
The difference between a 30FPS and a 60FPS stream is huge. Try watching stephanos stream and then switching to djWheats stream. Djwheat has 60 FPS, stephano 30. You can clearly see it running much much smoother. If you see no difference then its likely you cant handle the strain of it and your game isn't reaching 60 FPS.
Im running a 720p stream @ 50fps at the moment @ www.twitch.tv/kaluroo. There's a huge smoothness difference between a 30 and 50 FPS stream.
People come in there all the time to compliment me on the high FPS rate, that it's really good on the eyes. I have my settings so that there aren't any video artifacts popping up when you rapidly switch sceneries and that there is a steady constant 50 FPS.
A lot of streams get artifacts for half a second before smoothening out when switchin sceneries, not something you'll want with the rapid gameplay of sc2 ^^'.
Thats my computer and I have a 100mbit up 100mbit down fiber optic connection. There is no way in hell that I can get a 1080p 30FPS stream without scenery switch artifacts. I doubt anyone can at the moment. Unless I completely ignore the compression rate and go for the fastest rate, but then it would be a huge hit on people's connections to even watch my stream.
All the good streamers stick to 720p to avoid the scenery-artifacts. Including idra.
On April 23 2012 21:54 DooMNoThx wrote: Is there any big difference between 60fps and 30fps ? I just tried that and I really see no difference ?!
It's a huge difference. Almost all gamers can notice the difference instantly. I stream at 45 fps and 60 fps (mostly 60 fps though) and get compliments all the time on my stream, same as the poster above.
In my opinion, the future of game streaming is high FPS streams.
Oh btw, a couple of the recordings from my stream won't look amazing, as DXTory developer says there's a bug with the GTX 680 drivers currently, which results in low fps output. And since I use DXTory... =\
Alright guys, today I will be casting a tournament and try the 60 fps without telling my viewers and see if they notice the difference, thx for the long answers. <3
On April 24 2012 15:55 DooMNoThx wrote: Alright guys, today I will be casting a tournament and try the 60 fps without telling my viewers and see if they notice the difference, thx for the long answers. <3
The majority will, assuming your CPU can handle 60 fps and will actually output 60 fps. You also need to have a source that's sending 60 fps to XSplit. Which means, you can't use screen region (in XSplit) and get 60 fps. You will need to use Gamesource or DXTory. Good luck
On April 24 2012 15:55 DooMNoThx wrote: Alright guys, today I will be casting a tournament and try the 60 fps without telling my viewers and see if they notice the difference, thx for the long answers. <3
The majority will, assuming your CPU can handle 60 fps and will actually output 60 fps. You also need to have a source that's sending 60 fps to XSplit. Which means, you can't use screen region (in XSplit) and get 60 fps. You will need to use Gamesource or DXTory. Good luck
Thx for the info but i know that already, and yes my cpu is powerful enough, i will give some feedback of my viewers when my show finishes ^^
Dxtory is such an improvement from game source. Dxtory gives me like 30-40 additional FPS.
Though It sometimes drops below 60 sadly. Streaming 720p @ 60 FPS while playing starcraft 2, sometimes drops my game below 60 FPS. Should this even be happening with this rig:
This is a test video i did with diablo 3 and compared to the other tests i did at 30fps, this video came out twice as fluid and smooth. Do you agree that it looks like 60fps output?
Ill definitely be picking your brain later once im home and not typing from my phone
Apparently only with Aero on is it limited to 24-30 fps on the capture. (Referring to screen region). With aero off, Hellgreen (@XSplit) was able to get 56.76fps on the capture.
This is news to me as well, Henrik (@XSplit) told me it was capped at 24-30 fps.
A lot of people are commenting saying that they are streaming at 720p with .7 upload. I have an i7 2630QM with .7 upload speed but seem to lag when i set the resolution to 720p. What settings are you guys using/should i be using for vbv bitrate and quality at .7 up?
14. Automatically record broadcast - You never want to use this. If you want to do a local recording, use the “Local Recording” profile, not this
wondering what effect this has?
Also I noticed we have almost exactly the same system specs (3930k w/ GTX 680). I watched your clip testing out BF3 @ 1080p/60FPS and you seemed to have the same stuttering issue as myself.
Have you been able to get BF3 any smoother? I'd like to chat with you about it when you're available. I tried catching your on irc, add me on skype @ Archaic00 if you're cool with that.
14. Automatically record broadcast - You never want to use this. If you want to do a local recording, use the “Local Recording” profile, not this
wondering what effect this has?
Also I noticed we have almost exactly the same system specs (3930k w/ GTX 680). I watched your clip testing out BF3 @ 1080p/60FPS and you seemed to have the same stuttering issue as myself.
Have you been able to get BF3 any smoother? I'd like to chat with you about it when you're available. I tried catching your on irc, add me on skype @ Archaic00 if you're cool with that.
Thanks
If its the latest VOD's, its DXTory issues for me. I'll be pushing 120fps constant (I use vsync/cap fps at monitor refresh rate), and DXTory is outputting steady at 60fps, and my CPU usage isn't above 50% even and still the output is laggy.
If you check one of my older VODs of playing in BF3 Beta, it should be pretty perfectly silky. And that was done on an i7 950 with GTX 470.
Its not adviced to put max upload speed on Max Bitrate. This should only be done if you are partnered with Twitch.tv (Automatic Transcoding). If you put 5 Mbit on bitrate you are basicly saying "Sorry! You need atleast 5 Mbit inbound to view my stream". Also the VBV Buffer should be 1 to 2x the bitrate. I am using 2x bitrate for best results.
On April 25 2012 16:52 Esoterikk wrote: Is DXtory a better choice over screen capture then? If so I need to switch.
I have mixed experience. For SC2 I use screen capturing by Xsplit, but for Diablo 3 I need DXTory to get acceptable performance. But it looks like this depends on some (unknown? at least to me) configuration issues.
On April 26 2012 17:57 Avean wrote: Its not adviced to put max upload speed on Max Bitrate. This should only be done if you are partnered with Twitch.tv (Automatic Transcoding). If you put 5 Mbit on bitrate you are basicly saying "Sorry! You need atleast 5 Mbit inbound to view my stream". Also the VBV Buffer should be 1 to 2x the bitrate. I am using 2x bitrate for best results.
I don't know if this is supposed to be a reply to my question?
I need to record some things locally because I have a usable upload speed of about 500 kBit (video and audio combined) which is too low for HD video. When I use local recording however, I get really big files which take ages to upload on Own3D or Youtube. I would like to limit the bandwidth.
Sorry it was for the thread starter Regarding your question you can adjust bitrate for local recording under User Settings and just edit Local recording. Setting higher VBV Max Bitrate and FPS under the view menu will result in higher recorded file. So lowering these two files will result in smaller files.
I really-really recommend NOT using game source. Use dxtory!
It's a weird thing and it's one of the reasons I actually tried cracked premium vers of xsplit before bying it (I deleted it after, let's assume I did ).
I tried to stream SC2 using game source and dxtory and dxtory taxed my PC a bit less for all I know : my game ran at 100+ fps and I streamed/played without any flaws. With game source instead of dxtory my game ran at ~90 fps (means its a bit less optimized), the videoq quality was the same, same resolution e.t.c ,but I felt that latency increased and I experienced SPIKES in game , like it kept micro-freezing for 0,01 sec every 2-3 seconds for no reason - my connection has a plenty of room ( 10 mbit upload, i use less than 2 mbit to stream ) and the fps was well over 80. but the game was just stuttering as hell.
On April 26 2012 20:16 Avean wrote: Hmm i can configure the btirate for it, you have updated to newest client ? Or maybe cause you are a free user ? dunno
I now found it ... it is at another position compared to live stream config.
How do you set a higher quality than 10? I can't stream at 1080p but I stream at 720p and I'd like to go higher than 10. It says that's covered in the advanced guide but I can't find it.
On April 26 2012 17:46 [F_]aths wrote: How can I limit the video bandwidth when I do a local recording?
In XSplit, menu Broadcast -> Edit Channels. You will want to adjust your settings for "Local Recording". One of these will be max bitrate, which is exactly what you are inquiring about. Then, you just need to go to menu Broadcast -> Local Recording to start recording to your hard drive.
NOTE: If you are streaming live as well, make sure you start both profiles. For example, I want to stream to Twitch.tv and I also want to make a local recording. When I'm ready to start streaming and recording, I would go to menu Broadcast and then click "Twitch.tv - apoctv" to start streaming. Then I would again go to menu Broadcast, but this time click "Local Recording". That would result in me both live streaming to my channel on Twitch.tv and recording locally. (Don't forget you need to stop them both when you are done, haha)
On April 26 2012 17:57 Avean wrote: Its not adviced to put max upload speed on Max Bitrate. This should only be done if you are partnered with Twitch.tv (Automatic Transcoding). If you put 5 Mbit on bitrate you are basicly saying "Sorry! You need atleast 5 Mbit inbound to view my stream". Also the VBV Buffer should be 1 to 2x the bitrate. I am using 2x bitrate for best results.
I think you misunderstood what I was talking about at that part in the guide. Putting your max upload speed as the bitrate is *only* for speed testing ingestion servers.
Yes, for VBV buffer the guideline is 1:1 to 1:2. But in almost all cases, 1:1 will be perfect for users, which is what we stated in the guide. Less than 1:1 can result in video artifacting. But, we will discuss this and a ton of other topics further in depth in the advanced guide -- which is coming soon.
On April 27 2012 09:00 HazMat wrote: How do you set a higher quality than 10? I can't stream at 1080p but I stream at 720p and I'd like to go higher than 10. It says that's covered in the advanced guide but I can't find it.
Great guide.
In the video guide this was covered. But to answer your question, for live streaming you can set quality from 0 to 10. For local recording, you can set it from 0 to 20.
So, to get higher than quality 10, you need to use the "Local Recording" profile.
On April 26 2012 19:48 [F_]aths wrote: I need to record some things locally because I have a usable upload speed of about 500 kBit (video and audio combined) which is too low for HD video. When I use local recording however, I get really big files which take ages to upload on Own3D or Youtube. I would like to limit the bandwidth.
You will want to set the max bitrate in the "Local Recording" profile in XSplit. It can be found at menu Broadcast -> Edit Channels. If it's not in the list, click "Add" and add it.
Thanks for a great guide apoct. I've followed the instructions and everything seems to work out fine. But I get a black screen on both side of my stream picture. I have tried both screen capture and add game. I'm using my native resolution for my screen.
My settings are: 1920 x 1200 720p 60fps VBV Max bitrate = 5000
Any ideas on what i am doing wrong?
Edit: XFX Radeon HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Intel® Core i7-2600K Processor Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3, Socket-1155
I thank anyone who replied to me previous question about local recording max bitrate.
I have a new question:
I often experience an issue right at the beginning: In the first seconds, the image is mostly blanked out. I see the motion blocks but no longer the original background image. After some seconds, it returns to normal video. How can I avoid the first seconds of having image artifacts?
I was having a lot of problems with my stream where my FPS in game would be fine, but any video (local or streamed) ended up being choppy. I lowered my settings far below what my computer was capable of but nothing was working. I finally fixed it by changing one setting.
Highlight your screen region and click settings and uncheck the second box (optimize for still pictures or something). If anyone else was having that problem, that's how you fix it.
I have not tried the latest version of DXTory, but can you capture Full Screen games with it now? As far as I know, before you could only capture some games if you were running them in fullscreen without windowed mode, how does it work nowadays?
Or is there some special trick to get it to work in fullscreen?
when I add the game sorce to xsplit, before going live, my ingame fps drops from 60 (vsynced) to 40, when I go live, even with core affinities set, game fps drops to about 20-25.
I play on ultra settings at 2560x1440. my specs are 2600k @4.8ghz gtx 680 asrock extreme3 gen3 neo eco 520c 8gb ddr3 1333mhz.
my cpu usage isn't causing the problem
civ v has absolutely no fps issues and stays above 60, but i play it at 1600x900 and stream it at 1280x720.
note: the fps drop to 20 occurs even at the start of the game.
is there anything I can do?
edit: I ended up enabling aero and now everything is perfect.
Does anyone use DXtory? I checked out that dxtory+split ultimate guide over and over, and every tiem I use dxtory, it just craps out my framerate really bad.
I was playing on .6mb up, but just today I got 4mb upload. I hope to start streaming regularly, just every time I play, although I'd have to make work on athlon ii x4 3.4ghz/2.5gb nb and 4gb of RAM (how much ram is necessary to stream?). I think this hardware might be enough to stream, given my upload speed though... right? I just set my bitrates to 2400/2400 at the moment. I haven't really tested out, but when I was on .6mbs up with 1280/768 (my standard resolution) streaming seemed okay, just barely unplayable input lag when I played during streaming. I hope I can stream now with this new connection... or do I need better cpu first?
On April 30 2012 21:08 Belial88 wrote: Does anyone use DXtory? I checked out that dxtory+split ultimate guide over and over, and every tiem I use dxtory, it just craps out my framerate really bad.
I was playing on .6mb up, but just today I got 4mb upload. I hope to start streaming regularly, just every time I play, although I'd have to make work on athlon ii x4 3.4ghz/2.5gb nb and 4gb of RAM (how much ram is necessary to stream?). I think this hardware might be enough to stream, given my upload speed though... right? I just set my bitrates to 2400/2400 at the moment. I haven't really tested out, but when I was on .6mbs up with 1280/768 (my standard resolution) streaming seemed okay, just barely unplayable input lag when I played during streaming. I hope I can stream now with this new connection... or do I need better cpu first?
It depends on what game you are wanting to stream, but *generally* speaking, you will want a stronger CPU to stream. Grats on your 4mbit upload by the way =)
Also, I've only seen that input lag effect from DXTory happen on old CPU's. I've used DXTory extensively on my i7 950 machine and my i7 3930k machine and both of them run beautifully with DXTory and the video input from DXTory on the stream is gorgeous quality.
Can any of you guys tell me if the i7 2600k and 16gb of 1600mhz RAM can do the placebo preset @ 720p, 1100 bitrate, 2200 buffer kbit? If not, please post a processor that can. Thanks anyway
AMD Phenom x4 955 OC to 3,6 ghz Geforce GTX 560 ti 1GB 5 GB of ram
And I just can't get it to stream properly, almost at any quality. I just get like 12-25 fps for some reason, even when streaming low quality. Anyone who can help me?
On June 13 2012 08:44 gobrownscle wrote: Can any of you guys tell me if the i7 2600k and 16gb of 1600mhz RAM can do the placebo preset @ 720p, 1100 bitrate, 2200 buffer kbit? If not, please post a processor that can. Thanks anyway
Yes, you can probably do 1080p or 720p @ 60fps if you overclock.
i think it's fine on the viewers end but i feel the lag which is the worst.
i got an i52500k 8 gb ddr3 ram Radeon HD 6770 1GB
i like to play the game on specific setttings. everything on low except a few cpu heavy things on medium changes the graphics a bit and its just what i like personally.
keep in mind that im in newyork. these tests are just as far possible in west and east coast like the op guide explained to do.
Ive been messing around with different bitrates. i read you should use 20% less than what you're getting so i was using about 6,000. i get like 7-8 upload .
really the stream is great going out but the game itself has lag. i can play through it but if i ever needed to play good i would opt to not stream because it hinders my play. any ideas? i think the lag is the same on both medium and low settings inside sc2.
On July 09 2012 15:36 Black[CAT] wrote: I dont really understand what is the preset differences.
Simple answer: The slower the preset the more work you make your CPU do, in exchange for a slightly higher quality stream at the same bitrate.
For example, a 1.5mbit/s "Veryfast" will look a little better than "Superfast", but "Superfast" will use about 50% less CPU than Veryfast.
In other words, high bitrate can be combined with a faster preset to put more load on your network and less on your CPU (uploading more data rather than less, but more well-encoded data).
edit: theres no exact calculation as to what bitrate your stream 'looks' like when using a certain preset, but, I've noticed a substantial difference when I used "Veryslow" to test quality (it looked great but I couldn't do more than 10fps, whereas I normally do 30 on Slower, and 60 on Slow). Just for reference this is with a 2600k @4.5ghz. Keep in mind resolution and framerate also play a huge role in CPU load.
edit2: basically use the slowest one you can deal with while playing if you have less than optimal amounts of bandwidth (I'm stuck using 500kb/s video, and I can pull off good looking 360p streams/480p streams, depending on the game)
The main issue that I am having now is that when I do a local recording to FLV the video quality seems extremely foggy. When I record with the same settings to MP4 it's a bit better but still slightly "gray washed" if that's the correct term. It just seems like the colors are a lot dimmer and not crisp or sharp. I have a top of the line computer so if anyone can recommend any settings or link me to the advanced video that might go over something I missed please let me know
The other option that I have, since I really only want to do local recordings, is to find a way to get an editable overlay working on another screen recording software. Fraps won't do it properly andI haven't used dxtory but it doesn't sound like it can do it either.
On July 18 2012 01:57 striderstone wrote: The main issue that I am having now is that when I do a local recording to FLV the video quality seems extremely foggy. When I record with the same settings to MP4 it's a bit better but still slightly "gray washed" if that's the correct term. It just seems like the colors are a lot dimmer and not crisp or sharp. I have a top of the line computer so if anyone can recommend any settings or link me to the advanced video that might go over something I missed please let me know
The other option that I have, since I really only want to do local recordings, is to find a way to get an editable overlay working on another screen recording software. Fraps won't do it properly andI haven't used dxtory but it doesn't sound like it can do it either.
Right click the picture in xsplit, go to color tab, you can mess around from there. The color issue happens in encoding, so you wont see it in the preview, but i have found setting the second option down on the left to "2" makes the output look a lot better IMO, the white/black left/right semicircle
On August 08 2012 23:15 XERtirips wrote: Any reccomendations?
My stream looks stretched but I cannot find out what resolution I need.
Screen resolution; 1024 x 728 (if i use this for xSplit resolution, the stream is horrible.)
xSplit resolution; 1280 x 720 (seems to be the best so far :/)
You need to use the same aspect ratio for your stream as you have on your screen.
Your screen is 4:3, the stream-setup you mention is 16: 9. That's why it looks stretched.
Ideally, you should use the same resolution as the one your screen uses, 1024x768. Since it's a small amount of pixels than the 1280x720 you tried as well, your computer should be able to handle it. What exactly looks horrible with the 1024x768? Got a VoD to demonstrate the problem?
I have an amd 7770 core i5 3470k (might have been a misstep buying it over the 2550k?) 4gb ddr3 using 2 monitors (1 with the mb onboard graphics card) using xsplit with gamesource (screen region flickers for some reason)
is ram an issue at all while streaming? Am I correct in assuming 1080p is kinda out of reach? Should I use gamesource or dxtory?
On August 08 2012 23:40 monomo wrote: I have an amd 7770 core i5 3470k (might have been a misstep buying it over the 2550k?) 4gb ddr3 using 2 monitors (1 with the mb onboard graphics card) using xsplit with gamesource (screen region flickers for some reason)
is ram an issue at all while streaming? Am I correct in assuming 1080p is kinda out of reach? Should I use gamesource or dxtory?
Just to let everyone know, by popular request, TechnicalMonkey and I are working on "The Definitive OBS Guide"! When it's done, it will be posted here on TL as well
If there is anything in particular you'd like in the OBS guide, please send me a message and let me know.
EPT![[image loading]](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JyDHN81ZdTs/T49gWbXxkbI/AAAAAAAAAFo/Bvjgc8VpiWw/s1600/xsplit_main_window.png)
![[image loading]](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t84JUtel2fQ/T49cUjMnHKI/AAAAAAAAAFI/up1pbK1bROQ/s1600/general_settings.png)
![[image loading]](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xcVHNR6GITo/T49e0be8okI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/pOKCdrHbaIY/s1600/channel.png)
. You want to stream at a resolution that is native to your source, whether that be a game or your desktop, or even a webcam.![[image loading]](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yi-068CkEPY/T49faiQ4j2I/AAAAAAAAAFY/kiVbJ-ofpGw/s1600/add_sources.png)
![[image loading]](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0IIpNtEJTlI/T49gK6wSRrI/AAAAAAAAAFg/tq9I-XJ4I98/s1600/hotkeys.png)
We definitely recommend setting up hotkeys for at least a couple scenes, as well as turning on/off your stream.
