Post by Darknezz on Jan 2, 2009 22:52:18 GMT -5
Welcome to my step by step guide on broadcasting, and doing it right. Hopefully, this will allow you to do it right, but if any complications come up, please contact me here or in JTV chat.
Equipment Needed:
PLEASE NOTE! If you just want to broadcast the PC's screen, you do NOT need a capture card; The capture card is for broadcasting console games. Likewise, you will not need VHScrnCap if you are going to broadcast console games, as it is for the computer screen.
For broadcasting a PC screen:
VHScrnCap (Free, hmelyoff.lgg.ru/VHSC_inst.exe)
Flash Media Encoder (Free, www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Adobe-Flash-Media-Encoder-Download-63537.html)
Flash Media Encoder Config File (Free; www.justin.tv/broadcast?section=fme)
Broadcasting PC Screen, including games, movies and everything else:
Phase One: Loading VHScrnCap's configuration
Technically speaking, you only need VHScrnCap to broadcast, but using FME gives you more options and a better ability to control your cast, along with not hogging your system resources to the point that you can't do anything.
So, loading up the configuration for VHScrnCap. Go into your start menu, all programs, locate Hmelyoff Labs and then expand "VHScrnCap." Select Config. You should end up with a screen that looks like this:
Hit "Create New One" in the lower right. Don't worry if there is text in my empty box, just ignore it. Now you should have this:
Okay, you'll be in the About tab when you start it, but don't worry! Just go to the "Settings" tab and be on your merry. On this tab, change border color to BLACK. Trust me, other colors are distracting and look funny.
Change the other settings to your heart's desire, but remember to check BOTH optimize boxes in the lower left.
Most importantly, change the box labeled "Frame Rate" to 60.
If you're not sure about a couple of the settings, leave them at default until you start testing. If it looks weird, and you're not sure if you should fiddle with the settings, contact me and I'll help you.
Next, hit up the "Capture" tab. Here is where we work our magic. Now, depending on if you want to broadcast only a portion of your screen because you run games in a window to check on chat or if you run full screen, you're going to want to select this differently.
If you run games in a window, press the REGION button, and make sure none of the boxes are checked. You should get 4 red lines that meet at your cursor. Click once in the upper left corner of the game screen (but leave out the task bar at the top and the border), and then the lower right corner.
If you run full screen, just click the REGION button and click in the upper left corner and the lower right corner respectively.
Once you have that done, move on to the next phase.
Phase Two: Flash Media Encoder and all its wonders.
Now that you have VHScrnCap Configuration all squared away, DO NOT CLOSE IT. Let it run in the background.
Load up Flash Media Encoder and go to File in the upper left. Hit Open Profile and select the file you should have downloaded at the start of this tutorial.
With that open, go to speedtest.net and check your upload speed. This is IMPORTANT, so don't skip it.
Once you have your upload speed in mind, change the bitrate for the audio to 40. Change the video bitrate as high as you want as long as it doesn't go over the upload speed. If you plan on playing games online and broadcasting them, you should make sure that the audio and video bitrates together make up, at the very most, half of your upload speed.
With those squared away, locate "Size" in Flash Media Encoder under video. Make sure that it isn't too low, if it is, you'll come out with a really bad quality video, but also don't put it so high that your computer starts to chug, because then your video will come out laggy. I keep mine on 640x480, but I also have a single core processor. Just toy with it until you find the right settings.
Finally, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, set "fps" to 60 for smooth playback.
Please note that when you view your own channel on the same computer that's broadcasting, it will be laggy. Don't worry, to everyone else, it's just peachy keen.
Phase Three: Sound
Now that you have everything ready, now all you need is SOUND! If you have a microphone, you can talk to people by default, but you want your game audio coming through too, right?
For Windows XP: Click the arrow to left of your clock in the lower right corner to open the system tray and then double click the speaker icon. Go to thee upper right and under Options, click "Advanced Controls" to enable it. Next, go to properties, under options, and leave "Playback" selected. Make sure the checkbox for "Microphone" is checked and hit okay, then unmute your microphone from the Volume Control window.
Then go back to properties and select "Recording" and make sure the checkbox for "Stereo Mix" is checked. Then hit OK and select "Stereo Mix" in the box that comes up. Check the box under it, and amke sure to adjust the volume using the slider.
For Vista: You can't. Microsoft made Stereo Mix not work in Vista.
Now you can go back to Flash Media Encoder and hit the big, green "START" button at the bottom. That will start the broadcast automatically.
Equipment Needed:
PLEASE NOTE! If you just want to broadcast the PC's screen, you do NOT need a capture card; The capture card is for broadcasting console games. Likewise, you will not need VHScrnCap if you are going to broadcast console games, as it is for the computer screen.
For broadcasting a PC screen:
VHScrnCap (Free, hmelyoff.lgg.ru/VHSC_inst.exe)
Flash Media Encoder (Free, www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Adobe-Flash-Media-Encoder-Download-63537.html)
Flash Media Encoder Config File (Free; www.justin.tv/broadcast?section=fme)
Broadcasting PC Screen, including games, movies and everything else:
Phase One: Loading VHScrnCap's configuration
Technically speaking, you only need VHScrnCap to broadcast, but using FME gives you more options and a better ability to control your cast, along with not hogging your system resources to the point that you can't do anything.
So, loading up the configuration for VHScrnCap. Go into your start menu, all programs, locate Hmelyoff Labs and then expand "VHScrnCap." Select Config. You should end up with a screen that looks like this:
Hit "Create New One" in the lower right. Don't worry if there is text in my empty box, just ignore it. Now you should have this:
Okay, you'll be in the About tab when you start it, but don't worry! Just go to the "Settings" tab and be on your merry. On this tab, change border color to BLACK. Trust me, other colors are distracting and look funny.
Change the other settings to your heart's desire, but remember to check BOTH optimize boxes in the lower left.
Most importantly, change the box labeled "Frame Rate" to 60.
If you're not sure about a couple of the settings, leave them at default until you start testing. If it looks weird, and you're not sure if you should fiddle with the settings, contact me and I'll help you.
Next, hit up the "Capture" tab. Here is where we work our magic. Now, depending on if you want to broadcast only a portion of your screen because you run games in a window to check on chat or if you run full screen, you're going to want to select this differently.
If you run games in a window, press the REGION button, and make sure none of the boxes are checked. You should get 4 red lines that meet at your cursor. Click once in the upper left corner of the game screen (but leave out the task bar at the top and the border), and then the lower right corner.
If you run full screen, just click the REGION button and click in the upper left corner and the lower right corner respectively.
Once you have that done, move on to the next phase.
Phase Two: Flash Media Encoder and all its wonders.
Now that you have VHScrnCap Configuration all squared away, DO NOT CLOSE IT. Let it run in the background.
Load up Flash Media Encoder and go to File in the upper left. Hit Open Profile and select the file you should have downloaded at the start of this tutorial.
With that open, go to speedtest.net and check your upload speed. This is IMPORTANT, so don't skip it.
Once you have your upload speed in mind, change the bitrate for the audio to 40. Change the video bitrate as high as you want as long as it doesn't go over the upload speed. If you plan on playing games online and broadcasting them, you should make sure that the audio and video bitrates together make up, at the very most, half of your upload speed.
With those squared away, locate "Size" in Flash Media Encoder under video. Make sure that it isn't too low, if it is, you'll come out with a really bad quality video, but also don't put it so high that your computer starts to chug, because then your video will come out laggy. I keep mine on 640x480, but I also have a single core processor. Just toy with it until you find the right settings.
Finally, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, set "fps" to 60 for smooth playback.
Please note that when you view your own channel on the same computer that's broadcasting, it will be laggy. Don't worry, to everyone else, it's just peachy keen.
Phase Three: Sound
Now that you have everything ready, now all you need is SOUND! If you have a microphone, you can talk to people by default, but you want your game audio coming through too, right?
For Windows XP: Click the arrow to left of your clock in the lower right corner to open the system tray and then double click the speaker icon. Go to thee upper right and under Options, click "Advanced Controls" to enable it. Next, go to properties, under options, and leave "Playback" selected. Make sure the checkbox for "Microphone" is checked and hit okay, then unmute your microphone from the Volume Control window.
Then go back to properties and select "Recording" and make sure the checkbox for "Stereo Mix" is checked. Then hit OK and select "Stereo Mix" in the box that comes up. Check the box under it, and amke sure to adjust the volume using the slider.
For Vista: You can't. Microsoft made Stereo Mix not work in Vista.
Now you can go back to Flash Media Encoder and hit the big, green "START" button at the bottom. That will start the broadcast automatically.
