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Streaming/recording gameplay

Oblivion Knight

Bang bang!
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Andy
My interest has been piqued about the possibility of doing this, if not now then perhaps in the future.. :unsure:

@Smokey or anyone else who may know, what equipment is needed to best stream and/or capture gameplay with commentary? Am I likely to need an upgrade from an almost 10-year-old laptop? It's an i5 processor with 16GB RAM..
 
I only really have limited knowledge of game capture on the PC - so I can throw in what I know, if it helps.

First things first, if you are capturing from a game console, you'll need a capture card. There are loads of different types out there, for older consoles without HDMI, and the rest that do have HDMI. There are many brands but it basically boils down to an Elgato, Avermedia, or Razer (I'm sure somebody with more knowledge in this area will have others too).

If you're just capturing from a PS4, Elgato HD60s will do the job. It can capture up to 1080p 60FPS. It requires USB 3.0. You just connect it between your console and a PC.

Then you can use software to handle the recording and streaming. Elgato will have it's own, but most people use either OBS or Xsplit. I personally use OBS - it's quite simple to use and has a load of options. If your PC is lacking in power, you may have to experiment with the encoding settings e.g. bitrate for streaming. But I think an i5 with 16GB RAM is more than enough for most things, as most i5's have a hardware encoder, and the Elgato doesn't require dedicated graphics as such.. as all your PC will need to do is crunch some numbers in order to push out what the card is sending through.

If you're capturing PC stuff.. You can record on the PC you're using, but that would require a beefy PC (thats what I do :cautious: )

You can capture your commentary audio on your PC, then mix it all together in OBS. You've got full control, so you can change things on the fly before you start streaming or recording.

Doing the recording or streaming in OBS is simple. It can stream directly to Twitch, YouTube, Facebook etc. Or you can record direct to your hard drive and then you can upload as an edited video.

On that note, you can't do any editing/trimming in OBS. You can place simple filters, move stuff around your 'scene' (i.e. lay out whats going to appear on the screen), but you'd have to do any editing in some proper software... Or if you're like me.. Just stick it online as-is warts and all... :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:

Hope that (kinda) helps.
 
The first time I read your reply, even it went over my head 😅 (maybe I was tired) - but after a second read it actually seems reasonably simple.

I guess now I just need to decide whether or not to replace my aging laptop, or just to jump in and see whether or not it can handle it.
 
Trust me, if loads of young wannabe twitch streamers can do it with the help of their non-techie parents, you definitely have the chops. :ROFLMAO:
 
There are little kids that stream now as well so I'm sure you will be fine lol. The best thing to do is to have a go with your current laptop and see what it is like whilst streaming. If it works, you save some money and can go ahead.
 
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16GB ram is recommended for streaming, if it's an i5, it should be okay with an external capture card. i wouldn't try gaming and capturing from the same machine, I have a gaming laptop with DDR4 ram in it and even I don't do that.

So what would be needed:
-Console
-External Capture card/device such as an elgato HD60S or Avermedia equal.
-A microphone or headset to capture your voice audio.
-Decent enough Processor & Ram
-OBS Studio (Free)
-Good enough internet - In most cases, i'd say 20 upload MINIMUM is needed, the higher the better, obviously.



Depending on your laptop's specs would depend on if you need an upgrade or not.
 
Streaming with a capture card is relatively easy on your PC's hardware, so you are probably good. The capture card a good amount of the stress off your CPU. The only real potential barrier would be your Internet connection. Did you ever try it out?
 
No I never got around to trying it out.. I'm still tempted to have a go though, it'd make for some unique content if nothing else! 😅
 
Should the Elgato HD60 S suffice, or should I pay a bit more and get a HD60 S+ to futureproof myself a bit?

I also saw another device advertised recently via an advert on Facebook.. It basically allowed to you connect a Switch to a Laptop via USB, but looked as though you could use it in a similar fashion. I can't remember what it was called though.. 😖 Still better going with Elgato you reckon?
 
I was also thinking about doing this recently as I am very much so enjoying playing Call of Duty a great deal and might wanted to record some of it. Would be fun to setup.
 
To wet my appetite a bit, I've picked up a second hand Elgato Game Capture HD, the predecessor to the HD60 / S.

Why? Because from what I've read, the newer devices aren't any good for retro gaming anyway which is pretty much where I want to start.. The setup looks fairly easy, and it seems that it could potentially act as a HDMI converter - the existing link cable I have by Pound technology is pretty much garbage.
 
The Game Capture HD got returned since it didn't come with the PS3 cable or adapter.. I did try ordering an adapter separately which have proved to be pretty difficult to come by, but it too got returned as it arrived damaged.

I've now bought a new HD60 S - I haven't had any time to have a play yet (it's still in the box), and I'm primarily waiting for my replacement HD Link cable for PS1/PS2.. but that's not to say that I couldn't give it a run with a PS3/PS4 game as my first playthrough. Either way, I'm looking forward to giving it a go and producing some content! I might even share with @Smokey and Revillution if he's lucky.. ;)
 
Looking forward to seeing some home-grown video content.. I hope everything works!
 
I'm not good enough to record myself playing any games. Not unless it was for comedic purposes anyway!
 
I'm not good enough to record myself playing any games. Not unless it was for comedic purposes anyway!
Some of my playthroughs could be interesting to say the least.. 😅
 
I've always thought about streaming... but I wouldn't talk on it. Just think that's a bit of a detractor - plus I can never really set aside time each night at exactly the same time in order to allow people to plan ahead and 'check in' when I start. So I would probably be a bad streamer.. :ROFLMAO:

On the plus side I have the hardware to do any and all of it...
 
..which is pretty much why I'm thinking of just recording and uploading vidoes, rather than streaming.

I may do one-off live streams if I'm able to plan ahead and give people notice, but for the most part I won't be playing live.
 
It's quickly become apparent that my laptop isn't up to the job, so I've had to jiggle my setup around in order to connect up to my PC.. It means that I'm no longer gaming on my brand new TV (for now), but sometimes sacrifices have to be made.. 😂
 

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