Please note: This guide is currently just for streaming emulators. With some help, it may turn into a screen capture card etc tutorial eventually, but at the moment all I aim to do is show you how to stream emulators.

You most likely won't have certain benefits that Atarix has (hardware mixing and some other things) but you WILL be able to stream some old classics if you follow this guide. I stream Sega Master System and Nintendo Entertainment System games from time to time and my computer is seven years old.


GETTING STARTED

OK. Start off by downloading Super Webcam: download.cnet.com/Super-Webcam-Recorder/...3633_4-10586902.html

Install and open Super Webcam. In 'Video Source' choose 'Desktop'. Then in 'Options' click on 'Video Options' and choose 'Video output stream'.

In this window you can draw a rectangle around your windowed emulator (the rectangle that you draw will be what is shown on the stream) and choose the framerate and resolution. Because my computer is old, I use 320x240 at 25fps. You may want to set it higher than that, but keep in mind that it's best if you can use the same settings here as you do in Flash Media Encoder (FME). We'll get to FME shortly.



If you have a fast computer with a good internet connection, you should try 640x480 at 25fps. As I just said, whichever resolution and framerate settings you choose in Super Webcam, try to keep them the same in FME (this will save your CPU some work).


ADOBE FLASH MEDIA ENCODER

OK, so now let's get FME version 3.1.

This is the application that will broadcast what is happening in Super Webcam. You can Google for a link to this software but it should be on the NewNet server soon (or you could also just ask Atarix if he can send it to you).

Once you have that, download the justintv cfg file for FME from here: www.justin.tv/broadcast/adv_other

This file includes the URL etc so that all you need to do is configure your settings and click on 'Start' and, if you are logged in to justintv, it will start streaming directly to your channel.

Open up FME and within this program adjust your bitrate, audio quality, etc accordingly. You will notice that as you change quality settings, FME calculates everything so that you can see exactly how much bandwidth you will need to stream it all. Very handy.


Be sure to choose your correct audio driver and enable stereo mixing by clicking on the the 'wrench' next to the audio driver setting.

Also, unless you have a hardware mixer (unlikely), you will need to enable stereo mixing in Control Panel in Windows and adjust your volumes accordingly. The easiest way to do this (in Windows XP) is to right click the speaker icon in taskbar, open volume control, then go options>properties>recording and look at your stereo mix volume and also make sure you tick the box for stereo mixing there. You can only have one boxed ticked at a time in that window and it needs to be stereo mixing that is ticked.

If you don't plan on using your mic at all then you can just forget most of this stuff, BUT it IS important that you check your volume levels because it doesn't take much for your audio to be really loud and distorted to the viewers.


YOU'RE NEARLY THERE:

It really helps to have a friend who is ready to watch your stream and give feedback on your volume levels, make sure you are listed, etc. Also, I have noticed that both Windows AND FME constantly forget my stereo mixing settings so always be sure to check over them again before you click Start in FME. Just tick the boxes etc like you normally do... It simply forgets...

When you feel like you have your bitrate and audio/visual settings ready, click 'Start' in FME. Although you are still testing, you may want to make sure you are listed. I've found the easiest way to see if your channel is listed and EASY to find is by putting it under Shooters in Gaming. If your channel isn't showing up in justintv, simply click Stop in FME and, after waiting for a few seconds, click Start again. You may have to do this two or three times before your channel gets listed.

The best way to keep your eye on the chatbox is to click on 'Popout', which is found to the top right of the chatbox on your justintv page. This will put the chat in it's own little window so you can close down the larger browser window. The only problem with this is you can only see viewers who are logged in.


That's pretty much it:

OK so that's the end of the guide (for now at least). It might seem like a lot of work, but once you do it a few times you get used to it and it's really easy remembering everything.

Have fun.

Nice one, Flanky. When we were talking about this a while ago, I think Atarix said that streaming from my consoles with the EasyCAP would be best for my PC, which is even older than yours. I'll see if I can set that up with the info you presented here and let you know how it goes.

A short vid of one of your streams would make a good addition to the guide.

I found your justin.tv page so we can give each other a hand. I was just watching one of your saved Master System streams and I didn't realise at first that you were talking during the games. I guess it must be tricky to balance out the speech/game volumes on your own. You might wanna put a link to your page somewhere in the guide for anyone else that's interested. Here's mine:

www.justin.tv/neckshredder1

Also, have you tried this method with MAME in a small window yet?

Yeah I could probably talk about the volume levels a bit more, but as I said it's best to just have a friend there checking everything out for you while you stream, and to just not turn it up too high.

Haven't tried Mame or anything else other than NES and SMS so far. I can only handle 320x240 so I've basically been sticking to old 8-bit games. Sure there are some Mame games that could work but those aren't the Mame games that I normally play. Would be worth checking out Galaga or any games that you can't get on other systems.

Hey flanky, very good work

I'll add some tips about how to stream when i am back in italy, too

That's good, Atarix, since I'm the newb now.

FME thinks that there's a problem with EasyCAP; says it's busy or not connected and the EasyCAP light stays off. However, when I check EasyCAP in Ulead the light comes on and there's no problems with it.

And is there any other software besides Super Webcam that can do the same job? When I went to install I got an evil warning about this:

Warning

• Microsoft strongly recommends you only use device drivers with the Designed for Microsoft Windows XP logo. Installing device drivers that have not been digitally-signed by Microsoft may disable the system, allow viruses onto your computer, or otherwise impair the correct operation of your computer either immediately or in the future.

I kept mucking around and somehow managed to get FME to see EasyCAP. No idea what fixed it or if it will keep working though. The funny thing is, when I went to stream it got sent to your channel, Flanky, instead of mine.

What the hell?!

PS. During that messed up test I noticed that the audio got streamed, although FME doesn't play any game audio on the desktop. If I'm not meant to be online while streaming then how the hell am I supposed to hear the game?

Thanks for letting me know Pete and sorry about that. It seems that the profile file that I downloaded, since I had saved it after configuring stuff, has also saved the URL for my justintv page rather than just streaming to the default page like it should. Looks like i'll have to track down the original file again.

As for the sound stuff, are you sure you have enabled stereo mixing? (Right-click the speaker icon in taskbar, open volume control, then go options>properties and recording and look at your stereo mix volume and also make sure you tick the box for stereo mixing there. You can only have one boxed ticked at a time in that window and it needs to be stereo mixing that is ticked)

I'll have to tweak this guide a bit...

Edit - OK try downloading the justintv cfg file for FME from here: www.justin.tv/broadcast/adv_other

Added to original post.

Cheers mate! At least with that sorted out I can stream to my own channel now instead of yours all the time.

I managed to pinpoint what was blocking EasyCAP in FME. The first time you open FME the resolution is set to an unsupported size for EasyCAP (720x480 I think). When I change it around to some of the other resolutions the EasyCAP can appear in preview.


Unfortunately though, I still can't get any EasyCAP audio in FME preview. I'll either have to get some line splitters so I can play on the telly at the same time, or wait for Atarix to get back.

I've never used FME to preview audio, only video. I watched one of your vids (from my channel lol) and the audio seemed fine. Good to see you're making some big progress!

I preview my audio by opening up the stream window and saying "test, 1, 2, 3" in my mic with the game running at the same time and then I listen to it on the stream (after the few seconds of delay) and check it that way. Once I know that it's all good I close that window and just keep the popped out chat window open. This is probably the best way to preview everything when you think about it (you're seeing and hearing exactly what the viewers see and hear).

Heh heh... good thing it was me that accidentally figured out that you gave away your stream ID, otherwise anyone could stream anything they felt like to your channel, anytime they wanted. I hope you deleted that upload.


So, how do you hear the game while you're actually playing it? Do you still get sound from the emu itself? I've only tried console streaming so far and it sucks having no audio while I'm playing. Apart from the obvious solution of splitting the lines to the telly, I'm hoping Atarix has a trick for enabling audio preview in FME.

I found this very detailed post with some relevant info, including an alternative to Super Webcam (VHScrCap) and an older version of FME to use (2.5):

multiboxing.com/forums/f2/exact-way-stre...e-jtv-read-1116.html

Well some emulators stop playing sound when you bring a different window to the foreground and other emulators continue to play sound regardless of what window is at the foreground, but either way, once the stream page loads up and starts playing audio you can tell how loud it is for the viewers.

And yeah I sent the link to a justintv chatbox the other day because the broadcaster wasn't happy with Dyyno or something lol... I'm just hoping no one uses it. If they do then i'll just make a new channel. It didn't give you access to my password or anything did it?

Nah, no PW. I only noticed by accident that what I streamed went to your channel since you followed me and I noticed that your channel was live at the time. It turned out it was me who was live, though, just on the wrong channel lol.

Haha that's pretty funny!

Oh look, it's old mate Flankdog! Sup Flank how's it goi-WHAT THE HELL????

Lawl, yeah mate!

One of the cool things about that other mob I linked before - multiboxing.com/forums/f2/exact-way-stre...e-jtv-read-1116.html - is that the dude gives instructions on how to make a batch file to run FME in DOS and save resources, just as justin.tv never intended.


Anyway, hopefully Atarix will notice our discussion and maybe gimme some clue how the heck I can preview audio in FME.

I noticed the discussion - I just didn't found a moment to get into it until now (you know, a new creative phase is coming up right now ^^). I will be there the whole saturday for you already from the morning on

Yeah, I know mate. Creative is my middle name. Check you on Saturday for the FME info.

Hmmmm, it is Saturday... but i see no creative shredder in TS

I was in there for an hour or two earlier this morning but there was no Atarix so I went and had a nap. No matter, I'm talking to you in TS right now.