NotJoe.com

REQUIREMENTS:

1. A capture card that accepts composite inputs. I use the Avermedia A 180. Find it here: Newegg.com

• Are there better capture cards? Maybe. But this is the PCI card used in the PC I use to broadcast.  It has worked well for my purposes and will be . Do your own research before trying other cards. Personally, I could not get the Dazzle Platinum capture device to work. Also, make sure the PC you're using your capture device with is compatible with the card. For instance, you'll need a PCI slot for the Avermedia. Just be sure.  This card cost me around $75 shipped, you may be able to get it cheaper somewhere else.

2. A way to send the video from your console to your T.V. AND capture card. Ex. TV Out or adapters/spliters.

• In my case, my t.v. has an Audio and Video composite out. If yours does not, you'll need to use a mechanism to split the video/audio to your t.v. and other devices (capture card and/or mixer). Any good suggestions out there for where to get these cables for? Those without a T.V. out will need it. I'm sure Radio Shack has em' in some form.

3. Up to 2 sets of Composite Cables.

• I plug my console into my t.v. using it's composite cables, then I use another set of composite cables to send the audio from my t.v. to the mixer, and then use the final set of cables to take the audio from the mixer to the capture card. The video skips the mixer, in that it goes from console to t.v., then t.v. to capture card. Make sense? Just make sure you account for all the cables and adapters you'll need.

4. An internet connnection with good upload speeds 1.5 Megs up suggested!

1.  Without an adequate internet connection to upload your feeds, your investment of time and money just doesn't make sense. In the Flash Media Encoder software that will be mentioned shorlty, you can adjust the quality and bandwith that will be required. I suggest you have at least 1.5mbps (megabits per second) upstream. You may be able to get away with 768kbps (768 kilobits per second) up but you'll need to be careful about what else happens on your connection while streaming (No Torrents, No Downloads, Etc.).

5. Flash Media Encoder - this is the software that will take your stream and send it Justin.tv. The software is free and you can grab it from Adobe.

•  As of this writing, other streaming providers don't seem quite up to par with the ability to stream content with a high framerate (games!).   If you know of some other sites that can do a good job, post a comment.

6. Sign up for a Justin.tv account if you intend to use Flash Media Encoder.

• After you sign up, you'll need your FME XML file.  Press the Broadcast button while logged into Justin.tv, then in the new window that pops up... look for the FME link at the bottom of the window, it might be hard to see.  After you open up that window, it'll give you a quick primer on where to get Flash Media Encoder and a link to download the XML file for YOUR account.  You'll need this later, so save it.  

• Other sites may now support Flash Media Encoder by the time you read this, if so, be sure to post a comment indicating so and your success (or not) with it.

7. A Mixer. Want to talk to your viewers while playing? Yes, you do. One way to do it is to use a hardware mixer. I use the Behringer Xenyx 502 Mixer.

• There are lots of other mixers out there. At the time of this writing, you can grab one of these off ebay for $45 shipped in the U.S. But basically any mechanism that will let you combine the audio from your console and your microphone (or other audio sources, like ipod, laptop, etc.) should work.

Other Considerations:

8 - Get A laptop!

• Ok this isn't absolutely required, but it's quite handy. You'll need a way see what your viewers are typing to you, and a laptop really helps. A nearby PC can work as well, but I've found a laptop to be a great tool. Looking for a hot laptop that is totally overkill for this purpose, check out the Lenovo Thinkpad X300. I use an older Thinkpad T42, but the X300 is seriously sexy and very well reviewed.

 9 - Tolerance for playing your games in Standard Definition.

• Do you love your HD TV? Playing your next gen games in high definition? Well, you may have to take it down a notch if you intend to stream games live. At the time of this writing, I know of no reasonable way to play games in HD while streaming them using a capture card.  When I say reasonable, I mean something under $1000 and the ability to stream at the higher resolution without alienating viewers without super uber high speed connections. Therefore, ever since I've started broadcasting, I have played in Standard Definition, meaning using the composite (Yellow, Red, White) outputs of my consoles. I got used to it quickly, but I've always been one to focus more on gamplay and less on eye candy. If you have comments on broadcasting with compontent or hdmi outputs, post em'!

SET UP!

1. Install your capture card and install the drivers.

• Refer to the manual for details, but it should be pretty straight forward.

2. Make sure the console(s) you wish to stream are configured to output to composite (standard definition).

• Test this out on your T.V. first and make sure it works.
  

3. VIDEO CAPTURE
   

• Get the composite video from your console to your capture card. As perviously mentioned, I do this via the video out on my TV So the console plugs into lets say Video 1 on the TV, then the Video Out on the TV goes to capture card. Voila. Capture card AND the T.V. should be getting the video signal! If your T.V. doesn't have a video out, you'll have to do some magic will adapter cables or perhaps a pricey splitter box. I'll post details on a good way to do this when the info hits me.
  

4. AUDIO CAPTURE
   

•  Get the composite Audio to go to your T.V. If your T.V. has that vital audio out ... send it to your mixer if you have one (the mixer I list above has inputs for composite audio) or if you don't have a mixer, plug it right into your capture card.
• So now, your capture card should be getting audio from either your T.V. or mixer.
• It may also be possible to use both optical sound output from your console to your sound system, while just sending the composite output directly to your capture card or mixer. Seems to work for me on my 360. At least you can keep your surround sound! Don't be afraid to examine the possiblities of using your reciever (if you have one) to make your setup easier/better.
  

5. Mixer Considerations

• You may need adapters to get your audio inputs to work with the mixer.  For example, none of my PC microphones work when I plug them into the mixer, even if i use an adapter from Radio Shack.  I need to send it through my laptop.  So basically:
• I plug my Mic into my laptops Microphone in jack. 
• I plug a 1/8" male cable into the headphone out jack on my laptop, which then goes to a 1/8" to 1/4" adapter that plugs into the mixer.
• I then unmute the Mic in the Windows Audio Mixer.
• This is a pretty sloppy setup, I should really just get a Mic that plugs into the Mixer directly, but if you do use this route, make sure everything else on your laptop has its volume off, like any streams that are running, any reminder noises, etc.  Those will come through on your broadcast.   The plus side, is that with your laptop connected to your mixer, you can find Sound Boards on the internet and play humorous or appropriate sounds during your broadcast to add some livliness.
• You will likely need to adjust the sound levels on your mixer to get everything just right, you can do that during testing below.
  






6. Flash Media Encoder

• After intsalling Flash Media Encoder, go to File and Open Profile.  Open the XML file you got from Justin.tv (as mentioned in Step 6 in the REQUIREMENTS above) and it will populate many of the necessary fields for you. 
• Next, choose the video capture device from the Device drop down under the Video section on the left.  You should see your video capture card if it's supported and installed properly. 
• After you select your video device, in my case the Avermedia, set the frame rate to 15 and the resolution to 320x240.  
• Then press the wrench to the right of the device drop down.  In my case, I had to change the video input on the Crossbar tab to Composite in.  If it's set to TUNER like the default was for me, you won't see any video coming through. Press OK.
• Still under the video area, select a bit rate.  I suggest starting off with 350 and increasing it to 500 if your streams appear to be smooth for all your viewers.  If people say they are getting buffering, reduce the bitrate back down to 350.  You could go higher with the bitrate (which will impact the quality of the video stream), but remember... the higher you set it, the more bandwith your viewers will need.  If a viewer doesn't have a "fat pipe" to watch your stream, you'll be alienating them, menaing they won't have a very enjoyable time watching your stream.  I used to broadcast at a bit rate of 800, then 650, then eventually settled at 500 because it made the most people happy and kept the stream at a reasonable quality.  Feel free to experiment.
• Next press the wrench next to Advanced.  For the quality section... choose Lowest Quality - Best Framerate. I hate to say it, but when it comes to broadcasting games, you'll see that frame rate is more key to a better stream than the quality of the picture.  Feel free to share your experiences.
• Now under the audio section, choose your capture card once again. 
• Set the Format field to Nelly Moser.  I've had the best experience with Nelly.
• My sample rate is 22050 and the Bit Rate is 44, but you can experiment with something higher. 
• NOW SAVE YOUR PROFILE.  If FME crashes before you save, you may have to redo all the above. 
• Now that it's saved, you should see some preview windows at the top of program.  Boot up your console and see if your video appears there.  In my case, the TV had to be on and set to the appropriate video channel for the video output to be sent to the capture card.  If everything is configured correctly with the video, you sould see it in the Output window.
• There should also be an audio bar there too, and if Flash Media Encoder is getting sound, that should be going up and down.  If it's not, go into Video device wrench configuration, go to the Crossbar tab and check off where it says link related streams.
• In some cases, where I got no sound, I had to close FME, open it up again, and re open the XML configuratoin file we saved above.
  

7. The Test!

• I suggest putting a password on yoru Justin.tv channel while doing your testing, or just testing using a separate account. 
•  In FME, press START and if you get no network errors or such, your video and audio should start appearing in your channel.
• Play a game, do some talking then check out the results on your stream.  You can do this by just using head phones to another PC watching the stream, or by just watching the archives of what you just recorded.  Then just tweak the sound and quality to what works best for you and your viewers.   Once you're ready to go live, make your channel public and have a good time
   

8. Ettiquette 

•  What good is a stream with no one to watch it. Well, now that I think of it, you can use your stream to capture video and easily post clips to youtube ... but that aside, streaming is fun because you hang out and interact with your fellow viewers!

Here are my personal suggestions:

1. Respect your Viewers. 
1. Don't expect your viewers to treat you with respect if you don't do the same.  If you have someone being disrspectful... and they are ignoring your requests or rules, then you or your mods should probably take action (a time out or ban). 
2. Appoint trusted moderators in your channel.
1. Your goal should be to create a great experience for yourself and your viewers.  Having to focus on the administrative tasks of the channel can detract from crafting a good time.  This is where having trusted, understanding, knowledgable, awesome moderators can make your channel shine.  The mods you appoint should be trust worthy and understand the goals of your channel.  In most cases, you want mods who will help clarify the rules of the channel while
3. Make the rules of your channel clear and available.
1. State the rules of the channel clearly in the about you channel.  If a question about what is allowed is asked frequently, you may want to add it to your page as well.
4. Don't post links to your channel in other channels without getting permission. 
1. When you're new to broadcasting, and want to get the word out, it may be tempting to go into the most popular channels and spam your address link.  That will likely hurt you more than help.  Making friend and establishing a relationship with others in the community is one of the better first steps to establishing your presence.
5. Be yourself.