Do you stream? - Stream setup thread

Criticalhitkoala

Criticalhitkoala

[H]ard|Gawd
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Apr 17, 2015
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I was wondering if any other [H] peeps stream on twitch/youtube/mixer. Curious about your setup, your insight on both a hardware level and just your thoughts of streaming, and just any wisdom you guys have in a case of "Wish I've done this, and wish I didn't do this".

Here's some random insights from my personal experience.
  • Dedicated stream machine for console streaming. While the on console streaming for the PS4 and Xbox are passable...the quality is way ugly (even on the PS4pro) and the options to expand are very limited. I've been told repeatedly by viewers that footage captured to the capture card is superior to console streaming people. Console streaming does have the advantage of sharing the headset mic with both your party chat and stream, thus an easier setup.
  • Put up a sticker on my monitor that says "When Streaming, talk more". It's super useful as a reminder to engage the viewers.
  • Eventually followed the "Low bitrate" advice. When you first start it's easy to strive for the best quality possible. I tried 6k bitrate 1080p60fps streams thinking they were great...and they do look great..for the rare people that can view them. Most of my audience has been people who don't have the same network speed I do...and they skipped my stream. Soon as I dropped it to 900p60 at 4.3k bitrate...I've noticed viewership has steadily been higher. Many do 720p30 at 3k to make it even easier for others.
  • Streamdeck or something like that - I'm not a brand sloot...but damn does some El Gato stuff make streaming easier. The streamdeck has been super awesome and very useful.
  • Been honest to people that I do have goals to make money streaming, but that it wasn't my main focus. That honesty has actually inspired people to donate and subscribe and it's actually made me break even cost wise for streaming.
  • Audio noise gates, compressors, and stuff make a huge difference. So does audio plug ins.
  • NDI is cool but has issues...syncing audio is a big part of it. Capture cards were better for me in the long run.
  • Nvenc, mostly the newest edition, is HELLA good...but it sucks if you have more than one video source (such as a webcam).
  • It's expensive, but a Camlink with an Digital SLR with Clean HDMI out is AMAZING. I currently have been trying out a Sony A7III for my webcam and I absolutely love it.
  • Setting up a spare cheap monitor that displays your stream alerts is super useful and easy...really helps keep the flow of the stream going.
Looking forward to seeing if anyone else on the forum streams. PM your twitch name, I'll give you a follow btw.
 
I stream. And I came herev to learn how to do it better. I don't play video games much. When my cox bill hit $200/mo, I left. I live in a town with a fiber ring. I get 100 mb/s for abot $75. If I but the same router. it would drp abot $15/mo. But I'd loose some pretty good protection.

'Anyway, I buy HuLu. I get a disconcerting delay between moth movement and words spoken. I have 1 TV in the house with an HD broadcast antennae. Works pretty well. It gets about 30 stations with no deleays.


I primarily buy HuLu ($55/mo) for local TV. Onviously, I can buy local TV for about $30-$50 for the antenna. What else to use?

-Ike
 
Streaming is the way to go but basically the streamers have ADD reading the comments and trying to play the game at the same time While vocally responding to the comments. I mean if you can make living from it just do it or retire like Ninja or female with cat ears streamer.
 
I've been streaming for four and a half years, no webcam, no schedule.

I feel webcams are entirely useless for the overwhelming majority of the time you're streaming as people tend to look like donkeys when they're not directly engaging a question or topic. For certain games, like horror, it makes a lot more sense. But watching somebody watch a screen is...not engaging. I also think that webcams make you more of a target (close friend of mine was swatted) and clutter the space unnecessarily.

Dual monitors are a must with triple being ideal.

Streamdeck is rad. Definitely glad I have one as it's like a launch sequence when starting a stream.

You really don't need a terribly fast connection for streaming. I'd take reliability over speed every time as losing a stream is way, way more costly than having lower settings.

I stream at 900p60 and settled on a bitrate around 4500. Since I'm partnered people can choose whatever quality they want but I still like making it accessible and legible. This is that happy medium. You don't need to go any higher.

Live vs offline performance in games is specific to each game. In some games I've lost 40% of my frame rate and only about 15% in others compared to when I'm offline. Don't be afraid to scale back some settings to keep things smooth for your gameplay, too.

Don't get some shitty chair, get a good office chair that has lumbar support.

Drink a lot of water when streaming. People easily forget to do this because they're afraid of breaking the stream up. Too fucking bad. If you want to have serious health complications and risk DVT, amongst other things, go ahead and sacrifice yourself for a few viewers that probably don't care about your health anyway. Get up and stretch, stay hydrated.

Don't be afraid to moderate your chat. Too many streamers create an extremely toxic environment in their chat and let it ride. Give people a warning and then drop a 10 minute time out (hot600) on their chest. Ban em if they come back and continue doing what necessitated the time out. Keep it simple, convey to your mods what you want done. It's your chat and you want people to interact, ask questions, etc, but you need to take control of it at times, too.

Don't spam the chat with a bunch of long automated messages. Jesus Christ that's annoying as hell. If it takes more than two sentences remove it from automation and make a command for it with a 5 minute cool down instead. Huge mistake by a lot of people either because they don't realize it's annoying or because they need to see that movement in chat. Which is weird but whatever.

"Success", whatever that means to you, is 99.9999999% luck.

Affiliate and Partnered are the same damn thing. Don't kill yourself trying to get either and especially not partnered. A lot of people deal with post-grind depression because next to nothing changes. Manage your expectations.

Do a variety of games. Don't let people see you as a one trick pony. Get them used to you mixing it up.

If you're going into it thinking you're going to make it a career you've got a harsh reality check coming. Make it a hobby, not a job.

The most important thing: turn off your viewer count. You'll get at least one email about the stream after you've ended. Chasing viewers is one of the fastest ways to torpedo your own chances at doing anything with streaming.

Probably more but that's off the top of my head
 
It would probably help me a ton if I could get a couple guys here who have used bot Hulu and Sling to compare the high and low points of each.
 
please help me figure this out idk know anything about streaming or any of that I'm using twitch and obs my resolution is 3840x2160 im outputting to 1920x1080



and sorry if this isn't in right spot

also my specs are
Thermaltake P3 White//AMD RYZEN 7 3800X 8-Core 3.9 GHz (4.5 GHz Turbo)
Corsair H100i-PRO//GIGABYTE GA-AX370-Gaming K5 MB
EVGA RTX-2080TI (11GB) 1TB-SSD//8TBHDD(x2)
G.SKILL TridentZ Series 32GB//1000 Watt Corsair PSU
65"TCL-4KHDR-TV//27"Dell-4K//Windows 10-(X64)

and my internet is spectrum just did this speed test
Download Speed
95.5 Mbps

Upload Speed
11.1 Mbps

sometimes the stream is a little behind but I mostly just want people to be able to see it right
thanks.
 

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Business6 said:
I've been streaming for four and a half years, no webcam, no schedule.

I feel webcams are entirely useless for the overwhelming majority of the time

-Well, not for telemeds and checking your kids.

Dual monitors are a must with triple being ideal.

-If you don't play games, why so?

Streamdeck is rad.

-What is streamdeck>=? I'll ask Dr. Google, but tell me what you like about it pls.
Click to expand...
 
What the hell are you talking about? Webcams for streaming on twitch, you weirdo
 
chuckle. Simmer down, there Business6. If you don't like webcams, don't use them. Let's go back to streaming.

If you've been streaming for 4 1/2 years, you've prolly use both Hulu and Sling. Got any pros and cons for them?
 
EntropiaIke said:
chuckle. Simmer down, there Business6. If you don't like webcams, don't use them. Let's go back to streaming.

If you've been streaming for 4 1/2 years, you've prolly use both Hulu and Sling. Got any pros and cons for them?
Click to expand...
The OP is not talking about streaming TV services like Sling and Hulu. They are referring to live streaming yourself playing games on sites like Twitch.
 
I think in my first post I explained I was NOT a gamer. At least, I hope so. Should I be asking these questions elewhere?
 
EntropiaIke said:
I think in my first post I explained I was NOT a gamer. At least, I hope so. Should I be asking these questions elewhere?
Click to expand...
You responded to a thread created by someone else specifically about game streaming, and are now defending that you responded talking about streaming video services? Yes, you should ask those questions elsewhere, probably in your own thread. This isn't even the same topic.
 
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