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.