How to strive properly on a laptop. Big Hide
Always wanted to become a streamer, but do not know how to start? In this material, we have collected a short course for any successful streamer. We lay out on the shelves why Twitch is now the most popular and convenient site for streams, what iron and which software will be needed for high -quality broadcasts and how to configure OBS for minimal loss in performance.
We made this article with the support of the brand of gaming laptops Omen from Nr – fast, light and powerful devices that can be an excellent streaming station. Read more about the laptop Omen 15 You can find out by the link.
Why Twitch?
Today Twitch – The largest site for broadcasting video games. In the first quarter of 2021, the platform users watched more than 6 billion hours of video. This is much more than the closest competitors: YouTube Gaming Live (1.37 billion hours for a similar period) and Facebook Gaming (1.06 billion hours).
TOP 5 of the most popular games on Twitch collected in this collection.
One of the reasons for such popularity is a high credit of trust. Twitch stood at the origins of streaming and has remained synonym for many years for many years: any gamer who wants to broadcast anything, the first thing will go to the site Amazon (Jeff Bezos bought the service in 2014). And ordinary spectators are looking for new streaming content mainly on Twitch.
The second plus of the platform is a convenient interface. All content is divided into categories-tabs with specific games or thematic content (for example, retro-gaming, art or sport), which helps in the search, even if the viewer does not know what wants to watch. According to the results of 2020, the most popular categories of steel League of Legends , Fortnite , Grand Theft Auto v And Valorant. But the most, surprisingly, I scored the “Just Chatting” tab – she had 1.9 billion hours of views over the year.
Since the start of the start in 2011, Twitch has gathered a huge community of streamers with a variety of interests. Therefore, now on a par with game broadcasts on the site, you can find a designer assembly Lego In real time, a trip to the mountains, films and even a kind of NSFW content in the form of half-naked streamers in pools. Sometimes celebrities love to tonsure: for example, Snep Dogg, Drake, Steve Aoki, Brandon Uri from Panic! At the disco and others.
From the point of view of business, Twitch is also growing: in the company's portfolio, cooperation with the largest e -sports and sports associations, charitable marathons, its own merchants, as well as a festival Twitchcon , where you can talk live with the community, play new releases, watch e -sports matches and meet your favorite streamers.By the way, about streamers: now they are most popular Ninja (16.9 million subscribers, strip Apex Legends , League of Legends and Fortnite), TFUE (10.7 million subscribers, has recently played in Call of Duty: Warzone And all the same APEX) and AuronPlay (10.2 million, plays in Minecraft And Fall Guys ). And what we have?
The Russian-speaking community is a significant part of Twitch users: according to Streams Charts, the Russian was in sixth place in the top of Twitch broadcasting in the first half of 2021. And in total, the audience spent more than 623 million hours on viewing such channels. The most popular categories we have for the same period – Dota 2, "Communication", Counter-Strike: Global Offensive And Hearthstone. The top three of the leaders in the number of subscribers among streamers occupy S1Mple (2.7 million subscribers, a professional e -sportsman in the CS: GO discipline), Buster (2.1 million, streams mainly the same CS: GO) and EveLone192 (1.6 million, translates entertainment content and Counter-Strike). However, everyone has a chance to dial the right audience. The main thing is to start!
But in order to do this, you must first decide on a number of technical nuances, into which we will now plunge.
Sound
First of all, you should pay attention to the sound. Even if you are not yet ready to strive with a webcam, but you can’t wait to tell the world about yourself, you will need an acceptable microphone quality: it will be enough for a successful start of conversational broadcasts. You can start with a good computer headset – for example, with HP OMEN MINDFRAME. However, if you have aimed to build a street-studio of a professional level, then the best choice for such a task will be a condenser microphone that will give out a pleasant “radio” sound of your voice for broadcasting. It is worth choosing unidirectional microphones or, as they are also called, microphones with a cardiode diagram of orientation: such focus on what you say and cut off extraneous sounds (for example, the knock of the keyboard or mouse clicks). And yes, if you do not chase the high accuracy of the transmission of thin nuances of the timbre of your voice, choose models with USB shield: you can just stick them in a PC, and everything will be ready to work. XLR microphones are better, but more complicated: they do not work without a pretext with phantom nutrition, so you have to buy a pretext or audio interface. And if you want to build a striming studio for the broadcast with several people in the future, and therefore several microphones (say, for podcasts or parties in the table), you will need a preliminary or audio interface more serious-with several XLR inputs and a built-in mixer.
Camera
We figured out the sound, go to the image. And here you should start with a webcam. Yes, not everyone immediately decides to show the audience a face, but this is useful for the development of the channel: if you are not a master with sky-high skills, the viewer comes precisely for your emotions, and not for the game in itself.
Which camera to choose? The recommendation is simple: do not chase the characteristics (ultra -high resolution, the number of megapixels or the lusty 60 fps). Mix the video sequence of the game at 60 frames per second with a stream of webcam at 30 fps: nothing is terrible will happen. A broadcast with a resolution is higher than 1080p, Twitch will not miss, so the 4K camera will simply be useless. Well, as for megapixels, then for Full HD they need only two, and their larger number of video quality will not affect in any way.
The light is much more important. Here his arrangement will have to think about God Odds sister sites it properly – minimally you need at least one directed source of multiple light. This can be either a diode lamp covered with a mattressed sheet of transparent plastic, or a lamp on a tripod and a transparent photo zont, or softbox. All these options will cope with their task almost the same, so, again, immediately chasing something expensive is not worth. Pay attention only to the power and parameter CRI (Color Rendering Index) of your lamp. The latter is especially important: the higher it is, the more natural and correct colors your camera will be broadcast. By the way, for the same reason, it is better not to use domestic incandescent lamps or energy -saving lamps as lighting sources. They have extremely low CRI: viewers will see your skin with an unpleasant yellowish or greenish tint.
So, we decided with a minimum, but how much light you need ideally? Answer – three sources. Straight or obliquely scattered light for your face, “kicer” (a small and low-power light source that emphasizes the texture of your hair; accordingly, it must be installed somewhere above your head), as well as the backlight, that is, the background. A combination of contrasting colors in the frame will look especially good: for example, a blue and orange on the background – or vice versa. Everything that is needed for this is photographic filters. They are very inexpensive, but make the picture richer: different shades of light will provide the frame with a volume, due to which the pictures will have clearly defined front and back plans, just like in the movie.
If your budget is completely constrained, then you can use a natural light source: just sit opposite the window. The advantages of this approach are a lot of light with the standard CRI, and all this is absolutely free. Well, the downsides are obvious: stricting in bad weather or the dark time will not work.
All ways to capture the video
Well, now the most difficult thing: the choice of the method of capturing the video and its transfer to Twitch. If we talk about popular methods, then three of them – and all with their advantages and minuses. We will analyze each in order.
So, the first option is streaming using a video card (GPU). Support this technology as video cards from AMD ( VCE H264 , VCE H265 ), and from NVIDIA ( Nvenc ). If you are very rounded, both decisions allow you to conduct broadcasts. And to be as objective as possible, then NVIDIA NVENC gives the picture much better. The case is the unpredictability of the AMD Coder: he will squeeze one type of content well (the main task of any encoder is to capture the original picture and squeeze it as much as possible for quick transfer to Twitch), and the other will turn into absolutely unacceptable porridge. Nvenc for this part is much more reliable and always gives a good result. This is especially true for the updated Nvenc, which appeared in the 20th series of cards RTX from NVIDIA. At the moment, this is an unconditionally best hardware encoder among all solutions for GPU.
Option number two – output of the picture by the processor forces. You can do this in two ways: either with the help of the nuclei of the CPU and the software codec X264, or through the hardware encoder. U Intel This QuickSync (is in all processors with integrated graphics), AMD – AMF (there is only in AMD APU, that is, again, in the CPU with a built-in video man). So what is better: coding videos with nuclei or hardware encoder? The answer is nuclei, but you need to understand that the compression of the image on the fly is an extremely resource -intensive task, so you will need a really powerful processor. As for hardware coding, Intel QuickSync, especially the latest versions, gives a much more pleasant picture in comparison with the solution from AMD.
The third option is broadcasting by a separate PC forces. This is the most difficult and costly path: you collect two PCs at once – one for games, and the second for the output of the video stream to Twitch. Next, you connect one of the GPU video outputs of the first computer to the video Catch card on the second PC (it will have to be purchased separately), and it completely takes on the signal encoding.
What to choose from this?
Comparison of the quality of the transmission of the same picture from Rocket League : X264, Nvenc (New), Intel QuickSync
On this we approached the main question: what will give maximum quality from all this list? One can say one thing: VCE H264, VCE 265 and AMD AMF in outsiders. Following them is QuickSync, that is, hardware encoding built into processors Intel Core Video -trend. But the best option is difficult to determine.
In the screenshots above, examples of how the broadcast will look when encoding using Codca X264 (program coding of processor nuclei), Nvenc (New) and QuickSync. On the one hand, the result of Nvenc is perceived visually more pleasant: the artifacts of compression in the form of blocks are not visible, but the video also looks like it is not in focus. On the other hand, in the case of software compression, artifacts are clearly visible, and there are many of them, but if you look closely, you can see that X264 retains much more image details. Brick masonry near the gate, at the gate itself, the ornament on the flags at the top left – all this is NVENC simply “ate”. But what is better – the flaws of compression with the preservation of the details or a pleasant but more blurry picture – it’s hard to say, here you can already decide.
But there is another factor that needs to be taken into account: high -quality methods of coding video lead to an inevitable loss of performance. QuickSync and the encoders built into the AMD processors do not affect it in any way: your video card and processor are engaged exclusively with the game. The work of Nvenc and Vce is already more noticeable, but the influence is still small. Well, closes the list X264: incorrectly displayed broadcast settings can lead to frank “brakes” both you and your Twitch channel guests. So what to choose? It all depends on what iron you have.
Correct selection and use of iron
So, we figured out the methods of coding – let's move on to which of them to choose in a particular situation. Since this material is prepared with the support of HP, we will consider streaming options by the example of the HP OMEN 15 laptop from Intel Core i7-10750h And Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q.
Our processor is six -core with 12 flows – this is a fairly powerful solution, plus it has built -in graphics, that is, QuickSync can also be used. The video card is installed 20th series, which means it supports Nvenc (New). As a result, we have three options before us, between which you will have to choose. So which is preferable? In fact, it makes sense to use all three, but based on a specific task.
Say, if we are talking about spoken stream, where you will be in the spotlight, it makes sense to entrust the coding of the flow with a processor nuclei or video card (X264 and Nvenc, respectively). This will give the maximum quality of the picture, and since the laptop will not perform other tasks in the background, the drop in performance will not affect anything.
If we are talking about a game broadcast, then here you already need to look towards QuickSync or, again, video cards. The processor in this situation disappears, as it will be busy with the processing of logic and the game engine: by giving it the processing of the video stream, we will simply overload it. In the best case, brakes will begin with yourself, and in the worst they will also see the audience. In a word, it is better to leave CPU alone. QuickSync and Nvenc remain, and it is quite simple to determine between these two: just look at the download of the video card. If she already threshes the full, and FPS is not sky -high – use QuickSync for striming. You will only lose slightly as a picture, but the guests of the broadcast and you yourself will not notice a single hang. If the game does not really load the GPU, feel free to switch to NVENC – get a picture close to the maximum quality and a complete absence of performance problems.
To achieve an ideal coincidence of expectations and reality during games and striming allows the application Omen Gaming Hub. With it, you can configure most parameters for yourself: from performance to keyboard backlight. Branded cooling technology Omen Tempest Cooling will protect from overheating even at maximum settings. Read more about the Omen 15 laptop can be found at the link.
Setting OBS
At this stage, the last one remains – the settings of the broadcasting program. We will work with OBS , or Open Boadcaster Software, since software, firstly, is free, and secondly, is secretly considered the standard among streamers. Note that in the framework of this article we will consider only those options that affect the quality of the broadcast. To familiarize yourself with the basic functionality, it is better to go to the official website of the developer. We also clarify: all settings that are relevant for OBS are applicable for another popular program: StreamLabs OBS (they are made on one common platform).
So, download OBS and immediately go to the “File” tab at the top. In the drop -down menu, select "Settings". Here we are interested in four tabs: “broadcast”, “conclusion”, “video” and “expanded” – let's start with "Translation". In the Service tab, a platform for which we will broadcast is selected – we are interested in Twitch. The "server" option can be useful if you have a bad ping before the server by default, so if there are problems with sending the flow to Germany, you can try, for example, Sweden.
We proceed to the next tab – "Conclusion". It has a bunch of everything, and this is the most important point of the OBS settings: it is here that you will choose how to encode the flow. It is not worth relying on automation, it does not give the desired flexibility, so in the “Conclusion mode” field we immediately select “extended”. Now we disclose the “Coder” menu item and select the method of compression of the flow of interest to us: X264, VCE H264, VCE H265, QuickSync or Nvenc or Nvenc (New). What to rely on when choosing, we told above, so we will not repeat ourselves.
Conclusion settings with X264, Nvenc (New) and QuickSync, respectively
“Rubbing the conclusion” is responsible for the initial resolution of your broadcast-this option will be useful for those who play Full HD or, for example, WQHD permits. It is not necessary to give such a picture on the air, and sometimes fraught with brakes, so you can squeeze it to 1280×720: this will reduce the load on your system and the Internet channels of the audience.
"Bitrait Management" – always CBR.
“Bitrate” is the flow rate from your computer to Twitch servers, and it should be selected based on the speed of your Internet connection. Ideally, it is better to adhere to the recommended 6,000 kb/s.
“Key personnel interval” – always choose 2.
“Potion of use of CPU” – this parameter will be active if you use x264, and here it is worth focusing on loading your processor. If it is close to 100%, increase the coding rate (say, instead of Medium, select Fast). If the load is small, you can try to improve the picture, lowering the speed (select Slow instead of medium). In the same way, this principle acts when working with hardware coding by the GPU forces or the built -in graphic core of the processor, only instead of “prescribing the use of CPU” you will see “presets” in this field. Here, again, we proceed from the load on the system: if it is low, feel free to look towards the presets of Quality or Max Quality. If everything is already and so on the fire – Balanced or Performance.
"Profile" – always High. "Setting" – no. In the case of using NVENC, it makes sense to activate the “prediction” and “psychovisial adjustment” checkboxes: this will positively affect the quality of the etheric picture, but it is worth considering that these parameters increase the load on your GPU. "Maximum number of B-cadres"-2.
We go to the menu item "Video". Everything is simple here. By basic resolution, this refers to the resolution of the picture that you see on your monitor, under the weekend – to what size you want to squeeze the picture. The "scaling filter" should be switched to the "Lantzosha method", this will provide the best quality. “FPS value” will depend on the power of your system, but the gold standard is 60 FPS.
Well, the last tab – "Expanded". Here the main thing is not to affect the "Color range" menu item. By default, it is partial, and this is true: its adjustment will lead to problems with the audience. Also, in no case do not forget to turn on the delay in the flow-it will help you in the fight against stream-sides (spectators of broadcasts that prevent the streamer from playing normally).
For high -quality stream, you need a nimble, productive and mobile machine – Omen 15 was created exactly. In terms of power, the laptop is not inferior to game PC, and the screen with a frequency of up to 300 Hz makes it possible to enjoy a smooth game and a clear picture on maximum settings. Read more about the Omen 15 laptop can be found at the link.
Well that's all! This is more than enough to start our first stream right now, and we can only wish you good luck!
And to choose a game for stream, you can read our selection about the 5 most popular games on Twitch