Broadcasting PC GAMES

[mygb]

hello. What I want to do is broadcast my computer screen when I play PC games for others to stream and watch. A close example is how SQUARESOFT does it on their final fantasy website http://square.radix.accelia.net/v1.asx

I tried windows media encoder and set the video capture as Screen Capture using the SCreen Capture video method but the computer runs way to choppy when I play a 3d game. I also tried a webcam program that puts your desktop on your webcam but it also runs too slow when i play 3d games..

I have 2 computers is there a way i can do this?

[edDV]

In the old days internet games like Flight Simulator exchanged meta data and graphic files that were rendered locally. ASX is a control file that does the same plus manages media downloads. See here.

http://www.webreference.com/js/column51/asf.html

[mygb]

Thanks. But how can I set up a game camera like the one above to do what I want?

[edDV]

Those features are often built into the multiuser game. An external screenrecorder is fraps.

http://www.fraps.com/

[jagabo]

Use the TV output on the computer playing the game, capture and stream with the other.

[mygb]

could you explain in more detail please jagabo?

[jagabo]

Many graphics cards have TV output in the form of s-video or composite video. These can be set up to mirror whatever is on the computer monitor. Note that s-video and composite are low resolution compared to a computer monitor so the picture will not be as clear. Many graphics cards have limits on what screen resolutions can be sent to the TV output so you may be limited to running the game at 1024x768 or less.

On the other computer you will need a video capture device that can capture the output from the first computer. You will need to run some video capture and streaming software like Windows Media Encoder or VideoLAN.

Hook up the audio and video outputs from the first computer to the audio and video inputs on the second. Capture and stream on the second computer while playing on the first.

[mygb]

So computer 1 with the TV out can directly plug into computer 2 (just like it would a TV) and computer 2 can get the mirror of computer 1 and capture it and stream it? So a TV OUT cable from computer 1 would connect directly into computer 2's capture card?

[edDV]

THanks. I was wondering if there was a way to avoid the whole TV thing and just get the second computer to capture whats on the first computers monitor without using a TV?

The only output you can capture is SD TV resolution. There is no TV in the path. Just an S-video cable from the playback computer to the capture card.

[mygb]

the capture card, what kinda of piece of hardware do i need
can this work ? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7215603&st=wintv&type=product&id=1114638478841

[jagabo]

I believe that particular card doesn't have an s-video input, only composite video (which is slightly inferior). Check to see what type of tv output your graphics card has.

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/compare/compare_pci.html

You might also consider USB 2.0 devices:

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/compare/compare_usb.html

You will also have to figure out which ones are supported by whatever streaming software you will be using.

A VLC streaming guide:

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic259354.html

[mygb]

the only other wintv product thats available in my town is the WinTV-PVR-150 MCE-Kit
http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/compare/compare_pvr.html its the second from the left
it says it has SVIDEO INPUT so i think it shold work and its PCI too..

my svideo cable looks like this http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/SVideoConnector.jpg
and my graphics card has tv out, clone, dualview etc..

[jagabo]

It looks like VLC can stream from the PVR-150:

http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15522

The MCE version might be different though.

[mygb]

Windows Media Encoder should work with it though, right?

[jagabo]

I don't know.

[mygb]

so now im trying the WINTV HVR 1600
the program "wintv32" that it comes with wont let me display the input when i select Display > S Video, instead it just goes back to Ext 2. However Ext 2 does display my screen, but it says its labeled as "composite video" so im worrying that it might be lower quality, when im on these forms, the other computer is displaying my screen however, the quality is bad i cannot even make out any words on this web site, is that normal s-video quality?
here is a snapshot

[jagabo]

the quality is bad i cannot even make out any words on this web site, is that normal s-video quality?

Yes, s-video has a resolution of around 640x480. The desktop is being scaled down for output to s-video. Running the other computer at a lower resolution will help (because the text will be bigger). If you're going to be streaming this over the net you will be further reducing the frame size to something like 320x240 (like the squaresoft link you refered to ealier) so the low res s-video cap doesn't matter.

Also try turning off overscan compensation on the other computer. That will get rid of most of the black border.

[mygb]

thanks again!

any idea how to use windows media encoder with this? if i just click next the input and output are just gray..
theres lots of options that u can configure...





i tried changing the inputs around and the channel to "1" but still nothing. Sometimes it will say (not supported) in the gray box where the video is suppose to be

[jagabo]

Aren't you trying to capture from the s-video input? Did you select the two s-video options?

[mygb]

ya i am...ya i tried the first svideo and then the second. it says (not supported)

[jagabo]

Did you try running WinTV2000 while you attempt to stream with WME? Some of the messages at forum.videolan.org mentioned having to do that before they could stream with VLC.

[mygb]

ok i got it to actually show up and stream in VLC.
however it defaults to 720x480, kinda big for SVIDEO. Now whats annoying in the Hauppage ECP video tab i try to change the HORIZONTAL RESOULTION to 320 or anything else and it doesnt stick, it just goes back to 720 right away...

[jagabo]

ok i got it to actually show up and stream in VLC.
however it defaults to 720x480, kinda big for SVIDEO. Now whats annoying in the Hauppage ECP video tab i try to change the HORIZONTAL RESOULTION to 320 or anything else and it doesnt stick, it just goes back to 720 right away...

Try using the VCD template, 352x240.

[mygb]

where's that at?

[jagabo]

Here:

[mygb]

hmm after i click "configure" i dont get that specific option that u showed...have a look

[mygb]

i saw under the videolan forms someone said to enter the chroma format as UYVY in the Advanced Options of the Direct Show input. If i dont do this , the video doesnt show up. I also decided to try and click Device Properties, Tuner Properties. when i do before the vid starts many windows show up with options...

have a look

[jagabo]

I can't help you directly because I have a PVR-250 and older drivers. It doesn't have any of the uncompressed video (UYVY) options. But the MPEG1_VCD option on the Hauppauge ECP System tab appears to be the same setting.

[mygb]

ok i changed to to VCD but now the output is all green and flashy .

[mygb]

been trying new things for awhile, still when i select MPEG1_VCD the video is all flashy with jolting lines all over, can't even make out any part of the desktop...

all the stream types work including:
"Program"
"Program_DVD"
"Program_DVD_Mediacenter
"Program_VCD"

the ones that dont work are
MPEG1
MPEG1_VCD


everything labelled "Program" uses the Driver Mode NTSC/MPEG2
but the MPEG1-'s use NTSC/MPEG1...

i also noticed that all of the "Program" stream types only allow 2 "output sizes" in the stream format properties...720 x 480 and 640 x 480..everything else doesnt allow the video to show up