How do I make Ingame-Videos?
In my channel at justin.tv I got asked a few times how I broadcast games from my consoles. Since I also had a discussion now about “Let’s Plays” on a German gamer – community too, I thought I should make a detailed tutorial about this topic.
Attention!
Please don’t think this is a “This is the only way” – tutorial, I just explain how I do all this. There are often alternatives, so I will, if helpful, mention those in the subtopics.
If you still have questions leave me a comment or send me an email. (Address can be found on the contact – page.)
So, here’s an overview about the topics:
- Basics: What hardware do I need?
- How do I connect everything?
- Capture Software: Let’s start recording!
- How do I record a separate audio commentary?
- Scaling, bitrates, changing formats: Converter
- Video Editing: Let’s get creative!
- Nerds: How about Gameboy games?
- Realtimegamer: How do I produce a Livestream?
- Pal60 – Why is my video just black/white?
Now, let’s start with the tutorial!
In my channel at justin.tv I got asked a few times how I broadcast games from my consoles. Since I also had a discussion now about “Let’s Plays” on a German gamer – community too, I thought I should make a detailed tutorial about this topic.
Attention!
Please don’t think this is a “This is the only way” – tutorial, I just explain how I do all this. There are often alternatives, so I will, if helpful, mention those in the subtopics.
If you still have questions leave me a comment or send me an email. (Address can be found on the contact – page.)
So, here’s an overview about the topics:
- Basics: What hardware do I need?
- How do I connect everything?
- Capture Software: Let’s start recording!
- How do I record a separate audio commentary?
- Scaling, bitrates, changing formats: Converter
- Video Editing: Let’s get creative!
- Nerds: How about Gameboy games?
- Realtimegamer: How do I produce a Livestream?
- Pal60 – Why is my video just black/white?
Now, let’s start with the tutorial!
Basics: What hardware do I need?
Of course a Pc. At the moment I work with a Pentium 4 (3Ghz), 2.5ram. This is absolutely enough for recording, but for broadcasting I would recommend a Dualcore minimum.
To capture any video footage you will need a Videograbber. For the start I had a cheap one from Logilink (about 15€), now I replaced it with a Dazzle DVC100 (around 45€ at Amazon). I can’t really recommend the first one anymore. Ok to get started, the poor video quality is now pretty obvious. If you want to record videos in a good quality you should invest some money into the hardware.
Note: You should forget about recording in HD, unless you want to buy hardware for about 200€ or more. “Blackmage” is worth mentioning here. It’s pretty expensive but great as capture hardware. Everyone needs to decide for himself if it’s worth spending that much money for “just uploading a few videos on Youtube”. Since I don’t have such hardware and can’t test it, I will just talk about the Dazzle DVC100, which I can recommend.
The audio of the game can be recorded / broadcasted directly, for a separate audio commentary (for a Let’s Play, as an example) additional software will be needed. Since there are various ways for that I will get back to this in a subtopic.
To capture the signal you will need the right cables and something to get the video to the TV (where the game is played) and to the grabber (where you record). I use a normal cinch cable (yellow, red white for video, audio left + right) and a scart adapter, which has an additional in-/output, for this.
How do I connect everything?
Uploaded with ImageShack.us(Pictures can tell more than words…)
A note again; I am using a scart adapter, but you can also use “splitters” or something else.
Instead of the cinch cable you can also use an s-video, but not every consoles sends the correct signal, so the grabber won’t receive a video signal. The quality difference is enormous, especially the sharpness, so it’s definitely worth a try.
Capture Software: Let’s start recording!
Now you can start with recording. As soon as everything is connected you will need the right software. The dazzle comes with software (this may vary in the different packs). Since this seems to record only DVD-format, I stay with the “Vh Capture”.
Link: http://www.hmelyoff.com/index.php?section=22
This freeware allows you to record in various formats, bitrates and more, but one step after another.
When you start the program you should first select your grabber. If you installed everything correct, there should be the “Dazzle DVC100 Video Device” in the pull down – menu in the right upper corner. If you don’t see any video yet, no worry, this is probably due to the settings.
The next step: Click on the arrow on the right side of the menu where you’ve selected your grabber, then choose “video capture”. In this menu you can select various options, so first select if you want to record Pal or NTSC. Don’t wonder about all that different formats, normally it doesn’t matter if you select Pal_B or Pal_D, for example, the video will look the same.
ATTENTION: Pal60 is a special format for grabber; I will get back to this in a separate subtopic.
On the register “Vid-Proc” you can change more video settings, like the contrast etc.
Capture Software: Let’s start recording!
Now you can start with recording. As soon as everything is connected you will need the right software. The dazzle comes with software (this may vary in the different packs). Since this seems to record only DVD-format, I stay with the “Vh Capture”.
Link: http://www.hmelyoff.com/index.php?section=22
This freeware allows you to record in various formats, bitrates and more, but one step after another.
When you start the program you should first select your grabber. If you installed everything correct, there should be the “Dazzle DVC100 Video Device” in the pull down – menu in the right upper corner. If you don’t see any video yet, no worry, this is probably due to the settings.
The next step: Click on the arrow on the right side of the menu where you’ve selected your grabber, then choose “video capture”. In this menu you can select various options, so first select if you want to record Pal or NTSC. Don’t wonder about all that different formats, normally it doesn’t matter if you select Pal_B or Pal_D, for example, the video will look the same.
ATTENTION: Pal60 is a special format for grabber; I will get back to this in a separate subtopic.
On the register “Vid-Proc” you can change more video settings, like the contrast etc.
The last page, “Video Image” contains more options. Most interesting should be the “Image Mask”. Maybe you notice some flickering on the top or bottom of your video; if so, you can select how many lines should be cut out and if those “empty lines” should be colored in gray or black.
Next step: same button. Click on the arrow again and select “Video Capture Format” this time, here you can select the input resolution. The higher you set the resolution, the better the video becomes, the files become larger. However the video will have more errors. Something that seems to affect all grabbers is the “interlace”; especially at fast movements. You will notice more or less blur in the video. This effect can be reduced after recording, so I will get to this later.
Next step: same button. Click on the arrow again and select “Video Capture Format” this time, here you can select the input resolution. The higher you set the resolution, the better the video becomes, the files become larger. However the video will have more errors. Something that seems to affect all grabbers is the “interlace”; especially at fast movements. You will notice more or less blur in the video. This effect can be reduced after recording, so I will get to this later.
With a solution about 640x480 I get good videos with acceptable errors, you should test on your own, which quality works best for you.
Now to the audio, here things get a bit tricky. Chose in the “Audio Capture Source” the “Dazzle DVC100 Audio Device”. If there is no sound or this device doesn’t even show up, here’s the solution: Click again at the video source on the arrow and select “Crossbar”. In this window you select “Audio Decoder Out” at the Output, now the left menu at Input should be empty. Click it now and select “Audio Line In”. Save your settings and close this window, if you choose the “Audio Device” the sound will work.
You can also select some options for the audio too, like the volume etc.
We are getting close to the first recording. At “Video compression” you can set a Bitrate and the Framerate. I’ve set the framerate on “30 Frames key frame” and “Frame Rate: 25” (the standard, if I remember correctly), the video is pretty smooth that way. The higher you set the Bitrate, the less the video will “pixel”. I get good results at 6.400kbs, you can choose more of course.
You can select where the files should be saved when you click on “browse” right next to the record-buttons. Clicking the arrow next to that opens the options in which format the videos should be saved. I recommend testing on your own which works best for you here. The setting “mpeg / mpeg 1” offers a good balance between quality and file size for me.
Now, when you’re done with the settings, click on “Record” and that’s it. “Stop” and “Pause” explain themselves well, I guess.
Note: All videos, in which you record with your grabber, will ALWAYS be in 4:3 format, even if the game is in 16:9. To solve this problem you can a) use a converter to change the scale or b) change the file format in your edit – software, more about that in the subtopics.
And that’s it about the freeware Vh Capture.
How do I record a separate audio commentary?
A good Let’s Play should have a good commentary. “PanaX” seems to be a good solution for this.
Link: http://yoocha.ath.cx/
This freeware allows you to record from different audio sources at the same time, even if these are just connected via USB. Stereomix does not support USB-sources and doesn’t help at this point.
The software is pretty easy and explains itself, so I won’t get more into detail here.
You can put the recorded audio to your video with Video Edit Software, that’s all to get your commentary to the game.
Sadly, this software doesn’t offer you the option to select different volumes for the sources (not yet, at least), but you should be able to change that in the settings of the specific hardware.
An alternative is to only record your audio, just select your microphone etc. in the Capture Software as the Audio Device. Also, Stereomix offers the possibility to bundle more than one audio source to one signal, but once again: Stereomix doesn’t work with USB – devices.
Scaling, bitrates, changing formats: Converter
The “XMedia Recode” offers tons of options to rework the recorded videos and change file formats, scaling and more.
Link: http://www.xmedia-recode.de/download.html
(The site is in German, but if you download the software you can choose English as language.)
Now to the audio, here things get a bit tricky. Chose in the “Audio Capture Source” the “Dazzle DVC100 Audio Device”. If there is no sound or this device doesn’t even show up, here’s the solution: Click again at the video source on the arrow and select “Crossbar”. In this window you select “Audio Decoder Out” at the Output, now the left menu at Input should be empty. Click it now and select “Audio Line In”. Save your settings and close this window, if you choose the “Audio Device” the sound will work.
You can also select some options for the audio too, like the volume etc.
We are getting close to the first recording. At “Video compression” you can set a Bitrate and the Framerate. I’ve set the framerate on “30 Frames key frame” and “Frame Rate: 25” (the standard, if I remember correctly), the video is pretty smooth that way. The higher you set the Bitrate, the less the video will “pixel”. I get good results at 6.400kbs, you can choose more of course.
You can select where the files should be saved when you click on “browse” right next to the record-buttons. Clicking the arrow next to that opens the options in which format the videos should be saved. I recommend testing on your own which works best for you here. The setting “mpeg / mpeg 1” offers a good balance between quality and file size for me.
Now, when you’re done with the settings, click on “Record” and that’s it. “Stop” and “Pause” explain themselves well, I guess.
Note: All videos, in which you record with your grabber, will ALWAYS be in 4:3 format, even if the game is in 16:9. To solve this problem you can a) use a converter to change the scale or b) change the file format in your edit – software, more about that in the subtopics.
And that’s it about the freeware Vh Capture.
How do I record a separate audio commentary?
A good Let’s Play should have a good commentary. “PanaX” seems to be a good solution for this.
Link: http://yoocha.ath.cx/
This freeware allows you to record from different audio sources at the same time, even if these are just connected via USB. Stereomix does not support USB-sources and doesn’t help at this point.
The software is pretty easy and explains itself, so I won’t get more into detail here.
You can put the recorded audio to your video with Video Edit Software, that’s all to get your commentary to the game.
Sadly, this software doesn’t offer you the option to select different volumes for the sources (not yet, at least), but you should be able to change that in the settings of the specific hardware.
An alternative is to only record your audio, just select your microphone etc. in the Capture Software as the Audio Device. Also, Stereomix offers the possibility to bundle more than one audio source to one signal, but once again: Stereomix doesn’t work with USB – devices.
Scaling, bitrates, changing formats: Converter
The “XMedia Recode” offers tons of options to rework the recorded videos and change file formats, scaling and more.
Link: http://www.xmedia-recode.de/download.html
(The site is in German, but if you download the software you can choose English as language.)
This freeware looks well organized, but needs longer than the alternative “Super Converter” (also Freeware). Anyway, the option to “De-interlace” videos works here. This removes the blur – effect in your videos when you’ve recorded in high resolution. You can find this option in the register “Filters/Preview”, just select “De-interlace” in the dropdown menu.
Try to test the different options for that, some cause blurriness of my videos.
Both converters allow you to choose different presets (profiles) at the start; XMedia Recode already has a profile for YouTube.
I recommend to save your own profiles and set bitrate, scale (warning, with the zoom-option your video can still get in the wrong scale if you like to rework it to 16:9, so DON’T use zoom for this) and more.
Specifically, the bitrate should be set higher; 2.000kbs will probably cause a so called “fragmentation”. Set it to a higher value and you won’t get a Pixel-Art video.
Video Editing: Let’s get creative!
Windows comes with the “Windows Movie Maker”, which may not be the best, but it’s for free and good enough. There aren’t many good alternatives in the freeware section, so this should be ok for the start.
Note: If you don’t have the Movie Maker you can download it for free. Uncle Google helps.
There are enough tutorials for this program on the web, so I will just get into a few details here.
Both converters allow you to choose different presets (profiles) at the start; XMedia Recode already has a profile for YouTube.
I recommend to save your own profiles and set bitrate, scale (warning, with the zoom-option your video can still get in the wrong scale if you like to rework it to 16:9, so DON’T use zoom for this) and more.
Specifically, the bitrate should be set higher; 2.000kbs will probably cause a so called “fragmentation”. Set it to a higher value and you won’t get a Pixel-Art video.
Video Editing: Let’s get creative!
Windows comes with the “Windows Movie Maker”, which may not be the best, but it’s for free and good enough. There aren’t many good alternatives in the freeware section, so this should be ok for the start.
Note: If you don’t have the Movie Maker you can download it for free. Uncle Google helps.
There are enough tutorials for this program on the web, so I will just get into a few details here.
At the beginning I had some problems to produce the correct format for YouTube. The player set my videos in 4:3, which caused black areas on the sides. There are two ways to solve this problem:
For both ways a look at two different sections helps. First, go to “Extras” and choose the options, then go to the second register. I set “Videoformat” to NTSC and “Scale” to 16:9 here.
The second step is shortly before the arranged video is rendered. Once you clicked on “File” -> “Save movie to…” and set the save folder and file name, you click on “more” in the “Movie Settings”. I manually set this to “Local Video (2,1mb/s)”.
For both ways a look at two different sections helps. First, go to “Extras” and choose the options, then go to the second register. I set “Videoformat” to NTSC and “Scale” to 16:9 here.
The second step is shortly before the arranged video is rendered. Once you clicked on “File” -> “Save movie to…” and set the save folder and file name, you click on “more” in the “Movie Settings”. I manually set this to “Local Video (2,1mb/s)”.
Again, I recommend testing various options to see which setting works best for you. Like I said before, a converter helps to get the video in the right scale once it’s finished.
If the produced videos have the already mentioned Interlace-effect, the solution again is: use a converter.
At least I should note that the Movie Maker likes to produce many tiny clips from long video files. I still don’t get why this happens, but you don’t lose any footage here. It takes just a bit more effort to arrange all those short clips, especially for longer videos.
Nerds: How about Gameboy games?
The first question here is “which” games are you going to record? If it’s just the old monochrome ones, a Super Nintendo and the “Super Gameboy” will do it. If you also want to record Gameboy Color and Advance games, the “GameCube Gameboy Player” is the right choice.
Simply connect your console as usual and start your games. No need to do more, for the grabber it’s the same like a usual Pal (or NTSC) signal which you can record.
The Super Gameboy offers some nice frames and “more” colors at some games, if they are programmed for that. The cartridges have a “Super Gameboy” – logo on it then (this tiny, black one, just check that by yourself). Pokémon Yellow or Donkey Kong Land are examples.
On the other hand, the Gameboy Player let’s you zoom the game, decide on your own which one is your choice here.
A last note: Yes, you can also connect the Gameboy Camera as a cam that way. If you use it with the Gameboy Player you don’t get a correct image, but with the Super Gameboy it works fine. Horray for the nerdiest webcam around!
Realtimegamer: How do I produce a Livestream?
There are many sites that offer live streams, such as UStream or Justin.tv. You can sign up on both sites for free; the broadcasting is also free. There seems to be more console-gamers on justin.tv, so this site is my choice.
The advantage in a live stream is the fact that I usually do not see reworked videos, but live footage from the games. Each channel also has a chat so you can talk with the broadcaster and the other viewers directly. This is more exciting than just reading through comments on YouTube, so it’s definitely worth a look. It’s like watching TV, just with a much better program.
For broadcasting I recommend the freeware “Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder”, short FME. To use this program you need to sign up, but using is still for free and you won’t get any spam after that.
Link: http://www.adobe.com/de/products/flashmediaserver/flashmediaencoder/
First, you make a profile on www.justin.tv. Then download the FME and install it. You will need a “XML-“profile so the FME knows where to send your video. To download it, go to this site:
Link: http://de.justin.tv/p/help_resources
Click at the “Guides and Tutorials” on “Flash Media Encoder”, on the next site you find the download link at the “Download your XML profile” topic.
ATTENTION: You need to be LOGGED IN at J.tv to download the file!
Start the FME. Go to “File”, then “Open Profile” and open the downloaded file. Now there should be some info on the right side at “FMS URL” and “Stream”, the FME needs this to direct your footage to your channel.
At the “Video” and “Audio” section you can choose your grabber and the audio source. If you click on the tiny screwdriver next to them, you can set different options, just like in Vh Capture.
But the FME offers more, at “Bitrate” you can select in which quality you want to broadcast your stream. The values you can / should fill in here depend mostly on your bandwidth. With the setting 500kb/s at the video and 64kb/s at the audio I get good stream quality. If I play online on my Xbox 360, I mostly set the video down to 350kb/s, otherwise I get some lags sometimes in Bad Company 2, for example.
At the “Output Size” you can choose the scale of your stream now. If you fill in the same values like the “Input Size”, the format will be the same. Since grabber only captures in a 4:3-format, you have to fill in different values manually to scale the stream to 16:9.
Since I “just” have 3 GHz, I often use half of the Pal – resolution as the Input Size (352x288), if the stream should be in 16:9 the right Output Size would be 376x216. That way I save resources on my CPU and the video has no black bars in the player. Once again: Testing, testing, and testing. Just start your stream and have a look at the player or check the “past broadcast” – section on the site to see if it works, you will find your right setting that way.
The function “Crop” helps to cut out some areas of the video, so maybe want to reduce the frame of the Gameboy Player or something else for example.
If you activate the “De-interlace”, the FME will reduce the already known blur-effect in higher resolutions.
On the right side you can find the function “Auto Adjust”. Activate one of these and the FME will set the bitrate automatically depending on your bandwidth. Since “Drop Frames” often causes a lagging stream, I recommend the “Degrade Quality”, the FME will set the bitrate up again if more bandwidth is available.
At least you have the option to save your video directly on your Pc with “Save to File”. Anyway, everything you broadcast on J.tv is available for 7 days (you can change that option in your profile on the website), so I just download the videos with additional software if needed. Sadly, there is no option to directly download the videos, but you can upload it to Youtube from J.tv.
If all settings are as wished you just have to click on “Start” and your live stream is on air. Don’t worry if it’s not completely real-time, there are about 6-10 seconds between your game and the stream on the website, that’s normal.
While you are sending, the FME shows you some statistics about what’s happening. Like, which bitrate is set right now, how are the averages, how long the stream is on air and more. With “Stop” you can end your broadcast.
A recommendation: Save some profiles for different Consoles. I have some presets for my Xbox 360 (16:9), for my N64 (4:3) or the Gameboy Player (4:3, cropped). This will save you a lot of time and you won’t have to remember every single value.
Pal60 – Why is my video just black/white?
Pal60 is some kind of special format for grabber; newer games may not work in 50Hz. Since 60Hz is no Pal-standard, the grabber can’t receive the video signal.
If you set your grabber now to NTSC (cause 60Hz), you will just get a black – white screen. The problem is: the color is transmitted differently in these signals. The grabber doesn’t understand the color spectrum and shows only b/w.
The solution: First, set your Dazzle to NTSC. You should now have a b/w – image. Now go to the settings again and switch it to “Secam”. However, you can now record in 60 Hz and color.
Note: Everytime you restart your capture software you’ll have to first set the grabber to NTSC, then to Secam to get it to work. Sometimes it takes a moment until the image shows up, so be patient.
Depending on which software you’re using (for example the FME) and can’t set Secam directly you may need a external program to switch the signal. For this you can use “AMCap”.
Link: http://amcap.softonic.de/
Start your broadcast with the NTSC-setting and when you’re on air open AMCap. Here you choose your grabber in the “Devices” and then go to “Options” – “Video Capture Filter” and set it to Secam, the Dazzle will switch to color then.
That’s it!
Enough about bitrates, scales, grabber and software, I hope this will help you to get started with recording videos, broadcasting your games or whatever comes to mind. If there are any questions left feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. Again, you can find my email on the contact page.
Dears,
Redmaker
PS: I would like to thank Charlieeee (she helped me out with the Pal60 - problem) and Lenn (for additional editing) on this tutorial. Thanks, you are the best! <3
If the produced videos have the already mentioned Interlace-effect, the solution again is: use a converter.
At least I should note that the Movie Maker likes to produce many tiny clips from long video files. I still don’t get why this happens, but you don’t lose any footage here. It takes just a bit more effort to arrange all those short clips, especially for longer videos.
Nerds: How about Gameboy games?
The first question here is “which” games are you going to record? If it’s just the old monochrome ones, a Super Nintendo and the “Super Gameboy” will do it. If you also want to record Gameboy Color and Advance games, the “GameCube Gameboy Player” is the right choice.
Simply connect your console as usual and start your games. No need to do more, for the grabber it’s the same like a usual Pal (or NTSC) signal which you can record.
The Super Gameboy offers some nice frames and “more” colors at some games, if they are programmed for that. The cartridges have a “Super Gameboy” – logo on it then (this tiny, black one, just check that by yourself). Pokémon Yellow or Donkey Kong Land are examples.
On the other hand, the Gameboy Player let’s you zoom the game, decide on your own which one is your choice here.
A last note: Yes, you can also connect the Gameboy Camera as a cam that way. If you use it with the Gameboy Player you don’t get a correct image, but with the Super Gameboy it works fine. Horray for the nerdiest webcam around!
Realtimegamer: How do I produce a Livestream?
There are many sites that offer live streams, such as UStream or Justin.tv. You can sign up on both sites for free; the broadcasting is also free. There seems to be more console-gamers on justin.tv, so this site is my choice.
The advantage in a live stream is the fact that I usually do not see reworked videos, but live footage from the games. Each channel also has a chat so you can talk with the broadcaster and the other viewers directly. This is more exciting than just reading through comments on YouTube, so it’s definitely worth a look. It’s like watching TV, just with a much better program.
For broadcasting I recommend the freeware “Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder”, short FME. To use this program you need to sign up, but using is still for free and you won’t get any spam after that.
Link: http://www.adobe.com/de/products/flashmediaserver/flashmediaencoder/
First, you make a profile on www.justin.tv. Then download the FME and install it. You will need a “XML-“profile so the FME knows where to send your video. To download it, go to this site:
Link: http://de.justin.tv/p/help_resources
Click at the “Guides and Tutorials” on “Flash Media Encoder”, on the next site you find the download link at the “Download your XML profile” topic.
ATTENTION: You need to be LOGGED IN at J.tv to download the file!
Start the FME. Go to “File”, then “Open Profile” and open the downloaded file. Now there should be some info on the right side at “FMS URL” and “Stream”, the FME needs this to direct your footage to your channel.
At the “Video” and “Audio” section you can choose your grabber and the audio source. If you click on the tiny screwdriver next to them, you can set different options, just like in Vh Capture.
But the FME offers more, at “Bitrate” you can select in which quality you want to broadcast your stream. The values you can / should fill in here depend mostly on your bandwidth. With the setting 500kb/s at the video and 64kb/s at the audio I get good stream quality. If I play online on my Xbox 360, I mostly set the video down to 350kb/s, otherwise I get some lags sometimes in Bad Company 2, for example.
At the “Output Size” you can choose the scale of your stream now. If you fill in the same values like the “Input Size”, the format will be the same. Since grabber only captures in a 4:3-format, you have to fill in different values manually to scale the stream to 16:9.
Since I “just” have 3 GHz, I often use half of the Pal – resolution as the Input Size (352x288), if the stream should be in 16:9 the right Output Size would be 376x216. That way I save resources on my CPU and the video has no black bars in the player. Once again: Testing, testing, and testing. Just start your stream and have a look at the player or check the “past broadcast” – section on the site to see if it works, you will find your right setting that way.
The function “Crop” helps to cut out some areas of the video, so maybe want to reduce the frame of the Gameboy Player or something else for example.
If you activate the “De-interlace”, the FME will reduce the already known blur-effect in higher resolutions.
On the right side you can find the function “Auto Adjust”. Activate one of these and the FME will set the bitrate automatically depending on your bandwidth. Since “Drop Frames” often causes a lagging stream, I recommend the “Degrade Quality”, the FME will set the bitrate up again if more bandwidth is available.
At least you have the option to save your video directly on your Pc with “Save to File”. Anyway, everything you broadcast on J.tv is available for 7 days (you can change that option in your profile on the website), so I just download the videos with additional software if needed. Sadly, there is no option to directly download the videos, but you can upload it to Youtube from J.tv.
If all settings are as wished you just have to click on “Start” and your live stream is on air. Don’t worry if it’s not completely real-time, there are about 6-10 seconds between your game and the stream on the website, that’s normal.
While you are sending, the FME shows you some statistics about what’s happening. Like, which bitrate is set right now, how are the averages, how long the stream is on air and more. With “Stop” you can end your broadcast.
A recommendation: Save some profiles for different Consoles. I have some presets for my Xbox 360 (16:9), for my N64 (4:3) or the Gameboy Player (4:3, cropped). This will save you a lot of time and you won’t have to remember every single value.
Pal60 – Why is my video just black/white?
Pal60 is some kind of special format for grabber; newer games may not work in 50Hz. Since 60Hz is no Pal-standard, the grabber can’t receive the video signal.
If you set your grabber now to NTSC (cause 60Hz), you will just get a black – white screen. The problem is: the color is transmitted differently in these signals. The grabber doesn’t understand the color spectrum and shows only b/w.
The solution: First, set your Dazzle to NTSC. You should now have a b/w – image. Now go to the settings again and switch it to “Secam”. However, you can now record in 60 Hz and color.
Note: Everytime you restart your capture software you’ll have to first set the grabber to NTSC, then to Secam to get it to work. Sometimes it takes a moment until the image shows up, so be patient.
Depending on which software you’re using (for example the FME) and can’t set Secam directly you may need a external program to switch the signal. For this you can use “AMCap”.
Link: http://amcap.softonic.de/
Start your broadcast with the NTSC-setting and when you’re on air open AMCap. Here you choose your grabber in the “Devices” and then go to “Options” – “Video Capture Filter” and set it to Secam, the Dazzle will switch to color then.
That’s it!
Enough about bitrates, scales, grabber and software, I hope this will help you to get started with recording videos, broadcasting your games or whatever comes to mind. If there are any questions left feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. Again, you can find my email on the contact page.
Dears,
Redmaker
PS: I would like to thank Charlieeee (she helped me out with the Pal60 - problem) and Lenn (for additional editing) on this tutorial. Thanks, you are the best! <3
very fine written tutorial!
AntwortenLöschenthey feels formal the passion to written this long tutorial :)
very nice - i will remember to hit this blog up again when i hope to maybe do the same one day.
AntwortenLöschenI'm working on a new video at the moment. I guess a new blog about it will follow in a few, tho. ;)
AntwortenLöschen