How to stream desktop or pc games w/ Wirecast?

[CTT_MULLii]

How???????????

[bifuteki]

Search its your best friend.

[CTT_MULLii]

anybody? I need a real answer. Not just somebody trying to get their posts up.

Thanks

[VariXx]

Bifuteki is correct. There are many great detailed guides to help you getting up and running with Wirecast but I will do my best to give a short description of how I broadcast with Wirecast. Hopefully you can adapt it to your needs.

I use two computers (one for broadcasting, one that I play on) but you can just as easily do this for one computer.

For capturing my desktop I use Desktop Presenter which is usually included with the Wirecast installation but if you do not have it installed you can get it from Telestream's website.

Depending on your version of Wirecast there are different ways to add the desktop presenter shot to your layout. You should be able to click the add button and select Desktop Presenter. If you are on a different version you may have to do this through the Media menu at the top of your Wirecast window.

With the Desktop Presenter shot added and selected as well as the Desktop Presenter program running you will now need to set up your audio. Generally people use the Stereo Mix feature from their sound card to achieve this.

If your soundcard has the Stereo Mix feature it should already show under the audio tab in Wirecast. If you are using an older version of Wirecast you may have to click the "+" to add the shot, select audio, and then select Stereo Mix.

Finally you'll need to setup your broadcasting settings. To do this select the broadcast menu and select Broadcast settings. Click the "+" button to add another stream. The drop down menu on the very top of the dialog window that opened should say Flash Server, if it does not you will have to change it to this. Once changed to Flash Server you will need to change the server type from the drop down menu on the bottom right and select Justin.tv. Enter your username in the box under the drop down menu and click Generate RTMP. Enter your password when prompted to do so and click ok.

By default under Encoding Settings you will start at Medium Bandwidth. This setting will vary depending on your connection and the power of your computer for encoding. I would suggest to start with Medium and tweak the settings until you find a "perfect balance".

Once these settings are complete you can either click the "Broadcast" button in the top left corner of your Wirecast window or click the Broadcast menu > select Network Broadcast > select Justin.tv. To stop broadcasting simply follow these steps again.

Again, this is just a quick and basic setup which I am typing through memory of using Wirecast over time so sorry if it is not detailed enough to help you along the entire way. There are many detailed guides that can help you if you find yourself stuck or would like a more in depth explanation.

Hope this helps!

[CTT_MULLii]

Thanks VariXx . I figured out how to stream my desktop but if i try to stream my pc game the same way its a black screen. What is the trick to stream a PC game?

[VariXx]

You're welcome. Glad I could help!

It sounds like you may be trying to broadcast a game in full screen mode. To my knowledge if you are using a screen capture program you will not be able to broadcast games while they're running full screen.

The trick to get around this is to play the game in windowed mode and capture the window. There are two ways that I know of to do this with Wirecast. The first way would be to select the game window in Desktop Presenter. This is an easy way to get started but keep in mind it will capture the entire window meaning if you game has a window border, which most do, it will also capture that.

A good way to get around the window border being broadcasted is to select the screen that the game is on in Desktop Presenter, usually this will be your main display, and change the selection drop down menu. Depending on your version of Desktop Presenter you can use either the "Custom, Centered" option or "Select Screen Region".

I personally use the Custom, Centered option and tweak the height/width because I have been using Wirecast before the Screen Region was an option but I would suggest using the Select Screen Region option as it is more of a "what you see is what you get" method. You can adjust the size of the capture area on the fly while you're live so you won't have to restart your broadcast if you change games or your game changes in size as long as you don't mind people seeing your desktop for a brief second. Remember to protect your stream key!

Also, if you're using Desktop Presenter with PC games make sure "3D Compability" is checked! It sounds pretty obvious but sometimes Desktop Presenter can start with the option unchecked and it will make a huge difference in terms of quality.