Live streaming/recording of games.

[thatshortguy]

I know a couple of us heathens who have dipped our toes into the Twitch waters and admittedly I'm getting a bit curious myself. I'd like to poll the masses as to what people prefer when they watch videos as well as what hardware/software tends to work well for those of you who stream.

Any attempts to use NVIDIA's GeForce Experience software saw it seemingly refuse to recognize any microphone I plugged in. I like how xSplit's Gamecaster software works, but paying for HD recordings is kind of a pain (though I figure that's going to be a necessary evil). Still trying to figure out which mic works best: my CAD u37 desk mic or my Gioteck EX-05s headset mic.

Alas, what be ye preferences?

[MalaCloudy Black]

My cousin uses xSplit for his Twitch stream, and a desk mic with a pop filter. When he streams, it's typically gameplay with commentary and interaction with whatever viewers he has at the time. That's typically what I like to see on Twitch, and really, er, I don't know how else to answer your question as far what you prefer. The majority of Twitch content seems to be "gameplay + commentary, viewer interaction". >_>

As far as your mics go, I'd record something real quick with each one and try to compare the quality. That EX-05s looks beastly, though.

[RoyWill Rumble]

Maybe consider looking into OBS?

[JasonM]

Maybe consider looking into OBS?

I have used OBS many times in the past, and it's good enough to do the job and then some.

I know a few guys who are more involved in streaming, and they also use OBS.

If you're saving your files as output at the same time, OBS has a much better and already encoded output video, so you're not gonna kill your hard disk like with a programme say FRAPS. No clue about X-Split though.

Anything you save to disk with OBS is also ready for upload from the get go, no need to use Handbrake for video encoding.

X-Split is more fancier, but OBS does the job. OBS also does HD for free, but you're probably not gonna get that on Twitch/Hitbox unless you're partnered. But I can be wrong.

As far as microphones go. The CAD would probably be better quality, but you'll have to have headphones extra., but the Giotek would be more all-round. A quick of Amazon reviews makes the CAD better review-wise.

I personally use the Zalman MC1 microphone. It's cheap as shit, but the quality is actually very very impressive after a little bit of setting up.

http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Zm-Mic1-Sensitivity-Headphone-Microphone/dp/B00029MTMQ/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1409780075&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=Zalman+MC+01

[Red Devil-Taker316]

I use a hauppauge HD recorder and this mic:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6OYC/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Works pretty well. I only do Youtube LPs.

[Rocky]

I spend waaaaay more time on twitch than I probably should... Almost 4-8pm daily (Barring activities)

Most of the streamers I'm involved with run OBS and mic/pop filter (Mostly Blue Yeti mics, I believe.) and they tend to use earbuds more often than not for hearing the audio.

[apsham]

This is pretty much the best thing that I have ever seen for recording, bar none.

http://www.bluemic.com/snowball/

[The Red Reuben]

I prefer the Blue Yeti, but to each their own.

[JasonM]

If you can get a Yeti or a snowball on the cheap, then that's the ultimate thing you can get really.

But I think if you're just starting out with the streaming stuff, it's not really neccesary to invest in big time hardware, especially if you might not go through and end up shelving it after a few weeks.