Xsplit Guide
There is a new update as of august 5 that is a resource hog for streaming. Don't use it.
I have been playing around with the setting in Xsplit and I want to share what I have learned to help other improve the quality of there casts.
This is my hardware that I based my guide of off
Manufacturer: HP-Pavilion
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
Sound Card: Speakers (2- Creative SB X-Fi)
Resolution: This is related to what you will broadcast in. If your game is in 4:3 then you should probably broadcast in that unless you showing more then just the game. I would recommend 640X480 (4:3), 720×480 (3:2), and 768×432 (16:9) resolutions for good quality and screen usage. Though you can broadcast higher or lower depending on your needs. You should also consider the needs of the viewers when go up on higher resolutions as I believe you can boroadcast in 720p without partnership but viewers don't have a choice.
I also find that sometimes you may have to change the core affinity for games and/or Xsplit. To do that go the the task manager and find the program. The right click and select change affinity. Adjust as need according to your cpu usage. I find that setting Xsplit to separate cores from the game works well. You should do the same for the game so the game doe not use the core that Xsplit is using. Core 0 is used by your Operating System so you should put Xsplit on that and one other core.
Frame rate: I believe that this depends on your CPU. 60 and 59.9 might cause stuttering and jumpiness depending on your computer. 30 fps is good for the most part. If you want to squeeze more fps, then use the custom setting though you may only notice a difference past 45 fps.
Tools—–> Settings
General: When you plug in your microphone, look down at audio and make sure it says microphone.
To access these settings, right click on the screen region or media file.
Also disabling Aero may help if you are playing pc games that don’t allow you to interact with anything else other then the game unless you hit the windows key or
ctrl-alt-delete
User settings
For this tutorial, I will talk about JustinTV settings.
Location: Some say this makes a difference but I have not really noticed anything. Still Set the location to the server closest to you.
Preset: Despite what you may think, This does affect the quality of a broadcast. The lower you go, the less pixiation and birate you need to get the same quality. Though going below very fast will require a fast CPU and will most likely stutter no matter what the bit rate is. (Note that full screen is subjective depending on your resolution. mine is 1440x900)
Ultrafast- A lot of pixilation and blur. It takes a high bit-rate to make it look decent but doesn’t get rid of pixilation. This may be good for slow computers. 900 is a minimum to make a stream look decent
Super fast: 500 is the minimum I recommended using without the stream looking horrible. 800 is good though it might look slightly pixilated in full screen. 900- 1200 bit-rate is excellent.
Very fast: 400 is a minimum. 700-800 is good quality. 800-1200 is excellent.
Faster and fast presets: 300 bit-rate results in slight pixilation. 400 is decent. 700 is good but full screen will have a slight quality drop. 800-1200 bit-rate is excellent.
Quality: I set it to 10
VBV Max bitrate: This depends on your upload speed. If your upload speed is 2Mbps then you can go up to 2000kbps. It’s best not to exceed or use up any upload limits. I personally say keep it about half your upload. Also take into the consideration of the viewers intrnet as what your uploading is to them downloading, so I have heard. I believe this may apply to those who are not partners.
VBV Buffer rate: this does not have anything to do with your upload speed. Lowering it or raising it may affect the stream speed.
Audio options
For good sound that does not sound like its underwater or distorted use these settings as a minimum.
Format: 22.050 Khz 16bit stereo
Bitrate: 40000
I have tried the Game Source application and it depends on the game if it will work or not. When it does work, it seems to work even better depending on the game. It can work whether the game is in full screen or windowed. If done in full screen, you have to go to the desktop once you start the game then set it up. You should be able to see it once you go back to the full screen game. It's mainly good for streaming PC games.
