Looking to jazz up your stream
with things like this?
Or maybe something like this?
Or maybe just wanna smooth stream with no
stuttering or lag or frame drops.
Not to worry friends, I gotchya covered.
This is DIY in 5!
Hey everyone!
Welcome to DIY in 5.
I’m your host Trisha Hershberger and today
I’m going to give you a crash bang course
in streaming software like OBS, XSplit, Shadowplay,
Stream Elements and Streamlabs
- from broadcasting software options, to streaming apps
and all your options in between.
If livestreaming on Twitch or
YouTube is your goal,
and honestly it’s so fun I
don’t know why it wouldn’t be,
I think you’ll be ready to jump
right in once you realize
how simple the software side of it can be.
Let’s break it down!
When it comes to broadcasting software, there
are a range of options out there at various price points,
so we’ll go over the most common.
Open Broadcaster Software, or OBS, is the
go-to choice for the budget conscious
since it’s absolutely free
and works on Windows, Mac and Linux.
It’s very reliable and doesn’t take up
a lot of processing power to run,
and because it’s open source,
there are constantly new plugins being released,
meaning you have tons
of customization options.
The downside to being open source
means there’s no real customer support
and it is a bit difficult
to navigate for streaming beginners.
That being said, I learned on OBS and can
personally vouch for how awesome it is.
Multiple scenes, source transitions, media
types - the sky’s the limit.
Another popular streaming
software is XSplit.
XSplit has two versions
- Broadcaster and Gamecaster
- with Gamecaster being more basic
and easier to use than Broadcaster
but giving you
less options overall.
Both XSplit versions are beginner friendly
with a “Setup Wizard” button
that will figure out the optimal
settings for your stream
and when you are just starting out,
that thing can be a lifesaver!
They have great support and the free version
will let you stream up to 720p without a watermark.
The paid version is $60 annually, removes
the watermark on higher res streams,
and adds features like stream delay, streaming to
multiple services at once and more.
In addition to scenes, sources,
transitions and importing media,
they also have a new VCam feature that will attempt to
key out your webcam background,
mimicking a green screen,
but using software AI.
In my testing it’s very hit or miss but feel free to try it out
because VCam is totally free.
The last broadcasting software we'll mention
is NVIDIA Shadowplay,
which comes bundled with NVIDIA’s
GeForce Graphics cards.
Shadowplay encodes using your GPU instead
of CPU which can drastically help your stream quality.
Shadowplay itself doesn’t offer any overlays
or even scenes with multiple sources,
ie, a webcam in the corner
of your full screen gameplay.
There is a way to use Shadowplay with OBS,
however, using the NvEnc encoder from NVidia.
It takes a little more know-how but is a good
option if you already have an NVidia graphics card.
Now let’s move on to apps that work alongside
your software and there are many.
These are what really personalize your streams
- from animated tip jars, to loyalty point programs,
to custom on screen notifications,
and can be a huge factor in earning income from streaming, taking you from hobbyist to professional.
Stream Elements and Streamlabs are probably the two
most common and they are both completely free.
Each have their
diehard fanbase
but will offer you monetization and personalization
features out the wahzoo.
In addition to those I listed above, you can
do custom merchandise, on-stream music requests,
animated overlays and
face masks, and the list goes on.
Streamlabs even has an integration with OBS,
called Streamlabs OBS or SLOBS,
where you get all the features of Streamlabs right in
your broadcasting software.
Just like regular OBS it is open source, free
and has tons of features,
plus it uses less screen real estate
and processing power.
The downside to SLOBS is that it’s still
new and still beta-ish,
so you may run into some bugs or
hardware incompatibility.
As you can see, streaming software is pretty
readily available for low to no cost.
So what are you waiting for?
If you already stream regularly, which of
these programs do you use?
Let us know in the comments.
I personally use XSplit to stream to Twitch
and OBS to stream to YouTube with all my alerts
and fun features
setup through Streamlabs.
I only haven’t made the switch to SLOBS
because it’s not compatible
with my current capture card,
but I need to play around with it more.
Make sure to check out our previous video
on our streaming hardware recommendations.
Ok everyone, happy streaming and I’ll see
ya next time with more DIY in 5.
