I went with the i7. First batch of cameras, cords and hubs showed up today. Started messing with it all briefly. Update laptop to windows 10 when I opened it today first.
Proof of concept works with x split. Next batch shows up tomorrow. Once that stuff arrives I’ll see what the limits of this laptop are…
Thanks! I’ll try that. I didn’t try unclicking keep aspect ratio, because I assumed I wanted to keep aspect. 
I think I was chasing ghosts with frame lag, I tried switching cables, settings, cameras and what not, and in the end (should’ve tried this first) I plugged the camera straight to the screen at 1080p at 60fps and that was pretty much the same thing that I saw in xsplit. So I think I’m good. I don’t run over USB at all. I have 3x AverMedia Live Gamer HD so I should be able to capture at best possible quality.
Ah, ok. I think what you are experiencing is normal lag–like you flip in the game, then a second or two later it happens on screen. If so, that’s normal for capture card recording in general.
We put together a post that outlines the technical side of getting a stream up and running. Computer, cameras, other hardware, software, etc:
(Updated link as of 2/20/18)
I have a pet peeve when it comes to watching a live streaming tournament. For some reason I feel it’s just not necessary to show the people commentating. West coast channels tend to be the frequent offenders. NWPC was decent and I would rather watch something than nothing (thank you @KCB) but I wish that third camera could’ve been set up to show either scores, or a closeup of whomever was on the machine. Most of the time I was having difficulty keeping track of scores, and who’s who.
I show commentators because I don’t have enough cameras to use for score cameras and would have a giant gaping hole in my layout without a 3rd active camera. Heck, I sent 5 cameras up to the NWPC guys so they could cover all their games and have an additional side shot. These setups for covering multiple games get very complex very quickly. Not a simple or cheap task.
Want to sponsor IEPinball so I can buy more cameras?
Not a pet peeve for me, but I heard this mentioned on the recent NW Championships broadcast. One possible alternative to the commentators screenshot could be to show the current standings. Maybe simulcast the DTM screens that rotate among current standings/games/etc that’s always used at tournaments?
Of course, I offer this comment with no experience of live streaming, so take that for what it’s worth. I’m from the software world and I have a feeling this comment may be similar to “can’t you just add a button to make it do that?”
But a huge thanks to all of the broadcasters who go through the time and trouble to do what they do. Always appreciated.
The answer is basically “yes you can”. Karl did it for CAX this year, and we definitely could if we had been better prepared and not panicking about our first time running NWPC.
One tip I’d like to pass along is that if you’re streaming in 60fps (and probably really in general), you might not want to bother with 1080p. Unless you’re a Twitch partner like me who gets their videos re-encoded at multiple quality options, the bitrate you’re going to need to stream at for 1080p will be prohibitive to people who watch on their phones / from places with not as great connections. I would stick to 720p.
If you had a kickstarter that included any work you do for your software or twitch, myself and i’m sure many others would support it. I’m just suggesting take the camera pointed at the announcers and turn it towards whoever is currently playing or the scores of a game.
Actually doing this with any quality is vastly more complicated than it might seem. Thanks Karl and Kevin and all the others who work on these streams.
For me it’s all or nothing with showing the DMDs/Scores. I’ll see what I can do come INDISC in January (PLUG: 15th-17th @ Arcade Expo) as I’m experimenting with another option for displaying DMDs in the broadcast. If only there was a good wireless camera that could be used.
first off I want to thank Karl for helping us out at NW champs. saved us with the software update in the middle of classics. I was the one in the Booth last night with Kevin for the final two games.
besides the issue of internet data…we tried out best. as for the camera on the announcers:
first off it is a money and resources issue. as was mentioned before in this thread.
another thing is most streamers on twitch have a camera on themselves and viewers like this kind of interaction. maybe some segway info,stats and standings…upcoming tourneys like PAPATV does… could add to the feed but I like have a cam on the announcers.
besides that what did you all think of the last two games of the stream? were we clear? did you enjoy our play by play? you know…I have four words on my mind right now…
Broadcasting yourself or a small group of friends playing a single game is one thing, but getting a flexible enough setup to do everything people want in a tournament setting is both complex and expensive.
Noticed the higher framerate/resolution/etc on the broadcast. VERY NICE!
I have to say, I’m super excited to see new names in this thread every time I hop in it.
Keep it up!!!
First, thank you to all who stream pinball! Woot! I do not stream and have not streamed, and got a mere taste for how complex it is from talking with Karl on the flight back from ReplayFX.
Second, I agree that if it’s easier or of equal difficulty/complexity/cost, I would prefer that a scoreboard be shown instead of camera shot of the commentators. The scoreboard that Karl has pulled off in a section of the screen for the Vegas tourneys and other Cali events was fantastic.
Something a little bit different, but might be interesting -
Eden Stamm took a run at the guinness world record for pinball marathon recently . I did the camera setup to provide the video proof to guinness.
Slightly different requirements to a livestreaming setup, as priority one was all cameras recording the entire time, recording for 40+ continuous hours.
Here’s the gear:
The four cameras at the front right are HD IP security cameras - they get power and data off a single ethernet cable, which made wiring simple. The larger camera in the second row has a higher resolution and a fisheye lens - it was used to capture the playing area, the DMD, and the timer running on a TV to show that everything happened at once. Unlike using a normal handicam style device for streaming, each camera is doing it’s own encoding, so minimal load on the computer.
A number of different clamps and mounts were used to attach cameras to railings and stands.
The box under the keyboard is a combination ethernet switch (POE to power the cameras) and computer, with a couple TB of storage that the cameras where recorded to.
Here’s some setup shots:
Anyone have any luck running several webcams on a single powered USB hub? Having no luck here. Tried two different powered hubs and both act the same. Plug two in only one powers up. Unplug the powered up one and the other one kicks on. Powered USB 3.0 hub should work. Running a nice 4 port sabrent one currently.
I am running two mostly fine through a single powered HUB. I can’t control the settings of one of the cams when I do it this way, but they both come up separately in the software. I haven’t tried a third cam on it though. I am going through USB 2.0, so I can’t vouch for a 3.0 hub.
Ran three via a single 3.0 hub just the other night. 2 920s and one other cheapo Logitech. Now, it wouldn’t work via my Surface Pro 3 but it worked fine via my desktop.
Stupid Surface. I blame @hisokajp 
