Jump to content

XSplit Guide - How to Stream with XSplit


Dateranoth
 Share

Hey everyone. I've been meaning to type this up for a while now, and I am finally getting to it. I'm going to go over the basics of setting up XSplit so you can use it to broadcast your games or whatever else you like.

This guide will be divided into 5 sections:

I. Downloading and Installing XSplit

II. Basic XSplit Settings

III. Configuring your Channel

IV. Resolution and FPS

V. Scenes, Sources, and Starting your Broadcast

Part I - Downloading and Installing XSplit

To begin navigate to http://www.XSplit.com .

-Near the bottom of the page you will see " Register and join our Beta Crew" .

part1pic1.png

1.>Your first step will be to enter your details and sign up. Even though XSplit is now Public Beta the application requires you to login to use it. So, enter your info in the fields below and click 'Join Now'

2.>Once you have registered return to the main page and click the "Download XSplit Now" Button

-Once you have XSplit downloaded. Run the executable and follow the instructions to install.

-After installation you should have a folder XSplit in your start menu. Navigate to it and click XSplit Broadcaster to start the program.

The first time you start XSplit you are going to be greeted with this window:

part1pic2.png

1.>Enter your email and password that you used to register on the XSplit.com website.

2.>You also will likely want to click remember me and Log me in automatically to avoid seeing this screen everytime.

3.>Now just click Log On

Part II - Basic XSplit Settings

Once you've logged on you will be shown the XSplit program in its full glory. Our first order of business will be to do basic setup.

part2pic1.png

1.>Click Tools>Settings

Here you will see the Settings page. The first page is just your Profile.

part2pic2.png

1.>You need to Click the General Tab

2.>Most of these options are optional. but you want to have Optimize for motion picture selected if you are broadcasting any sort of fast moving media ( games, etc. ) As of the latest version of XSplit I am recommending leaving Optimize for motion picture disabled UNLESS you have problems with a choppy stream. It uses more CPU resources so if you can stream without it then all the better. I suggest leaving disable capture of layered windows unselected as this will disable aero while XSplit is open. Optimize text resize can also be left off as it uses a lot of CPU. Show mouse and show mouse clicks are completely your preference.

3.>Enable virtual camera output can be left unchecked unless you want to use FME instead of XSplit to broadcast. Enable skype interaction can also be left unchecked unless you want to use XSplit as a camera in Skype.

4.>Finally, the microphone you want to select depends on how you are capturing sound. If you are streaming a PC game and are using your PC mic to talk then select the microphone you wish to use to talk. However, if you are streaming a console and/or have a stereo mixer mixing your mic and game audio then you will want to select the Line In jack that you have your mixer attached to.

Part III - Configuring Your Channel

Now that the basic settings are done we can configure your channel.

part3pic1.png

1.>Under user settings Click the Channels tab.

2.>Once the Channels tab is active Click Add...

3.>In the popup select the account you wish to setup. This guide will cover a JTV account, but they're all the same as far as setup goes.

part3pic2.png

After Selecting the Service you want to broadcast to you will get the channel properties screen:

part3pic3.png

1.>The first thing you will want to do is enter your username and password associated with the account you chose. The channel name will auto fill.

2.>Under Video Encoding there are two options you will want to concern yourself with. Quality and Max Bitrate. Both are dependent on your upload bandwidth and your computers processing power. At this point you will need to know your upload speed. Try http://www.speedtest.net if you don't know. For this example we are going to assume an upload speed of 1.5Mbps. That's 1500kbps. However, you don't want to use the full amount. I would suggest setting the quality to 6 and the max bitrate to 1000 for that upload. This will leave room for your audio and some overhead for network troubles. Keep in mind, these are two of the settings you may need to tweak until you get the quality/smoothness you want in your stream. If you're not satisfied, simply come back here and change the setting again. Everything else under Video Encoding can be ignored. ( Including buffer size, it is auto set based on your max bitrate )

3.>Last thing in the channel properties to setup is sound. Change the codec to AAC LC if available to you (paid users only) otherwise set it to MP3 . Format to 48.000 Khz 16-bit stereo. Now, for the bitrate I would suggest starting at 128000 but you can go up or down depending on your preferences. Personally I wouldn't go much below 112000 because sound quality is important to me. The only time you may want to is if you are very limited on your upload speed and need to make a sacrifice in audio to get the video acceptable.

4.>When you're finished Click OK. If your username or password for that service are incorrect then the program will let you know and give you a chance to change it before you can click OK. All of those settings are now complete and you can click apply or OK to return to the main broadcaster window.

Part IV - Resolution and FPS

Once back at the main broadcaster window it's time to setup the Resolution you want to broadcast at and the Frames Per Second.

part4pic1.png

1.>Click View then Resolution

2.> You will be provided with a list of resolutions you can choose from. This is another situation where there is no exact right setting. I'll go over the basics of choosing the best resolution. The resolution needs to be chosen depending on what you're capturing. If you are capturing a PC game you will want to play in a 4:3 ( standard ) or 16:9 ( widescreen ) resolution to make the process easiest. Justin.tv has a default display resolution of 640x360 (widescreen) . So, if you don't capture widescreen you will have black bars in your cast. So, for starters, we will choose 640x480 for a non widescreen cast OR 640x360 for a widescreen cast. If you have higher bandwidth and the processing power you can select a higher resolution such as 768x432 for widescreen or 800x600 for non widescreen. And on the other hand if you have a slower computer you can drop the resolution below 640x360 but be warned. Text in game becomes pretty much unreadable below 640x360. Console gamers can follow the same guidelines above. Just remember to select the right resolution depending on widescreen or not.

part4pic2.png

3.>Next you will click view then Frame Rate.

4.>This setting is easier to hammer down. Start with 30.00 fps and if it's too hard on your computer select a lower one. I wouldn't recommend going below 25 unless it's very slow paced game then you might be able to do 20. Lower than that and it becomes very noticeable in the stream. I also don't recommend going above 30. Going higher won't do anything but cause more strain on your computer and require a higher Bitrate to look good. So, unless you just have the means and want to brag there is no need. 90% of people won't notice the difference.

Part V - Scenes, Sources, and Starting your Broadcast

We're getting close now and down to the easiest part. Choosing what you want to broadcast and sending it out for all to see!

There are a number of capture options available but this guide will only be covering capturing with a camera source or capturing the screen.

This is assuming the camera has already been setup with you console.

part5pic1.png

1.>First thing you can do is choose a scene and name it to what you want. This is a useful feature if you capture both console and PC. You can have different scene sources for each scene.

2.>Click Add then, depending what you want to capture, select the appropriate source. If it's a camera or a capture card click camera and choose the appropriate one. If it's a PC game or desktop click Add Screen region. Remember you can capture multiple sources. So you can capture your desktop and your camera to broadcast yourself playing.

part5pic2.png

3.>If you selected Add Screen region you will see the crosshairs above. Either click the window you want to capture OR if you don't want the title bar to show up in stream, click and drag to select the area you want to broadcast. If you make a mistake just delete the source and try again.

part5pic3.png

4.>Once you have your source or sources selected you will see them in the broadcaster window. Click and hold to move them around or click a corner and drag to fill the entire window with one source. You will want to make sure it's filling the entire window or you will be broadcasting a small window and a lot of black.

part5pic4.png

5.>One final thing to setup is the Mic/ Speaker Capture. If you are using a hardware mixer then you need to click the speaker button and make sure it's muted. Leave the Mic button unmuted and adjust the volume accordingly. If you are capturing a PC game or not using a hardware mixer then unmute the speaker button and the mic can either be muted or not depending if you want to have your voice heard or not. The volume ONLY adjusts mic volume. To adjust the volume of the game you will need to lower or raise it in the game itself.

6.>That's it! Now all that is left is to click Broadcast and then the name of the account you setup. This will start the broadcast. You will see bitrate along with some other information at the top of the window to let you know you're broadcasting. To stop just click the Broadcast>account name again or exit XSplit.

That's it everyone! I really hope this guide is useful to you! Check us out live at http://live.gamercide.org! I'd like to add that it will be moving to a pay to use program. If you really like it I suggest purchasing it now at the low price they are offering.

 Share


User Feedback

Recommended Comments



I'll update the guide here and on the main page when XSplit comes out of Beta. However, I wanted to mention for everyone who has or is thinking of getting a Black Magic Intensity Pro. I'm using the newer drivers Blackmagic_Desktop_Video_Windows_8.0.1 with mine and XSplit fully supports the changing of resolution and capture refresh rate internally now. This was the biggest hassle to get working right, and they seem to have the bugs worked out on that end. Haven't tried the audio capture yet, but I will let you guys know when I do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just thought I'd let you know that this is an absolutely brilliantly written guide and I've used it. It's also the number 1 hit on Google when you inquire 'xsplit guide'

Good job Dat!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You should see Dat field the comments on the main site where this guide is also posted. He's in there almost every day, helping people set up their streams.

Dat is a champ -

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seems XSplit has an issue with the AVERTV HD DVR capture card. The XSplit.Core.EXE*32 process never ends correctly but it does in FME. When XSplit is open and no Aver device has been selected as a scene it closes just fine. Great guy and I hope to get everything fixed. :(

EDIT: Holy hell, I figured it out. Now, I'm trying to get it to save my output settings. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I have the full version and I'm having some issues with major FPS loss. Do you think it could be my hardware?

I have the i7 920 processor at 2.67GHz, a Radeon HD 5850, 6GB of DDR3. Should I be getting drops of FPS in my game like 200 FPS to <30? That can't be right, right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's possible, but most likely something is up. That hardware really shouldn't have a problem with it. There will be FPS loss, but it shouldn't be that substantial. What's your XSplit setup? Resolution, Frame Rate, bitrate, quality, etc? Oh, and what game are you seeing the FPS loss in, and what capture method are you using? Desktop, Game etc?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • I use the screen region capture method.
  • I run at 1920x1080 for my normal desktop resolution.
  • My resolution for Xsplit is set to 1280x720.
  • Frame rate is set to 60FPS at the moment but I've tried 30FPS with no success either.
  • The bitrate is set to 1500kbps. Here is my connection speed taken minutes ago. 2096306800.png
  • Quality is currently set to 6.
  • The game I'm trying to stream is League of Legends.

I'm gonna try to run the game while streaming and see what it's like on the stream. Usually when I had people watch it, it was lagging pretty badly. Almost unwatchable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 fps for the frame rate is plent for streaming. Everything else looks good to. Have you tried using the game capture method instead? Only other possibility is lowering xsplit resolution, but still shouldn't be that big of a hit in game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 fps for the frame rate is plent for streaming. Everything else looks good to. Have you tried using the game capture method instead? Only other possibility is lowering xsplit resolution, but still shouldn't be that big of a hit in game.

Okay, so I'm running the bandwidth tester in Xsplit itself and it's always giving me the red signal no matter what I set the bitrate to. That shouldn't be happening right? I'll post the logs of the most recent Bandwidth Test at 1500kbps.


Initializing connection to server....
Trying to stream maximum data rate of 1564 kbps...
Initializing transmission to server... (100%)
Average data rate during 1081 ms: 273 kbps...
Average data rate during 2203 ms: 252 kbps...
Average data rate during 2173 ms: 228 kbps...
Average data rate during 2159 ms: 338 kbps...
Average data rate during 2175 ms: 310 kbps...
Average data rate during 2044 ms: 319 kbps...
Average data rate during 2084 ms: 383 kbps...
Average data rate during 1433 ms: 181 kbps...
Average data rate during 2161 ms: 321 kbps...
Average data rate during 2173 ms: 345 kbps...
Average data rate during 1626 ms: 120 kbps...
Average data rate during 2144 ms: 227 kbps...
Average data rate during 2064 ms: 239 kbps...
Average data rate during 2089 ms: 251 kbps...
Average data rate during 2318 ms: 334 kbps...
Done.
Average data rate: 275 kbps.
Dropped frames: 768
Your bandwidth to server is probably not sufficient.
You can redo the test, but if the test consistently gives you a RED signal, you may consider lowering your combined audio bitrate and max video bitrate to below 1564 kbps.

EDIT: I don't see why I can pull a speedtest of over 4MB/s but can't pull more than 300kbps on my Xsplit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, so the biggest problem here is the choppiness of the stream. If you're getting that low that's definitely the problem. You get the lowers speeds because of Justin.tv Ustream, etc, servers. They can only handle so much, and I wouldn't put it past them to throttle channels that aren't producers etc. I suggest, if you're trying to broadcast to a site that supports it, changing your server location. If you're using Twitch, then change back to the default server and retest. If that's not better, then go to the closest server to you and work your way further out until you get better results.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Currently trying the default server location. If this doesn't work, I'll retest on the Own3d.tv server and see if that's any better. I'll keep you posted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Funny, I just linked someone to your guide yesterday. Unsanity/Tom, when he was having streaming issues.

Not sure what the issue is for you, Nick, but some games have more issues being streamed than others. Though League of Legends shouldn't, as it's a very commonly streamed game on JTV/TTV.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unsanity has been using Xsplit for longer than we have. What problem was he having?

It hates him, and keeps crashing on him. It's only amusing because he has a big PANIC! logo pop up when the cast dies. lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It hates him, and keeps crashing on him. It's only amusing because he has a big PANIC! logo pop up when the cast dies. lol

Was he streaming Flash games from his browser? Seems that's usually the case when Xsplit is crashing on his channel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm gonna try to stream some. Should I wait until you update it or can I go ahead and use it now?

You could still use this to set up a channel pretty much perfectly. And any issues you have you could just post asking Dat. Now that I've got it semi-figured out, I can probably provide some insight too if you have any basic issues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nah Bacon. The basics are still the same. Should be enough info there to get you started, and if not feel free to ask. It may be awhile before I get around to updating it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites




Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now

  • Members

    No members to show

  • Member Statistics

    539
    Total Members
    1,666
    Most Online
    zhongma1
    Newest Member
    zhongma1
    Joined
  • Twitch Streams

×
×
  • Create New...