Having Issues Streaming on a MAC... This helped me :D

unitingforce

Hey guys, I wanted to post this to possibly help others who might have been having some difficulties streaming to Twitch Tv using a mac.

What I use:

Hardware:
Mac Mini
8GB Ram
2.3GHz Dual Core i5 with 3MB cache
Intel HD Graphics 3000 Processor / 288MB of Shared RAM  - (basic processor for Apple)

Hauppauge HD PVR
Blue Snowball Mic

Software:
Eye TV - $80
CamTwist - Free
SoundFlower - Free
Audio HiJacker - $30
Flash Media Encoder 3.2 - Free

Ok, all of the settings I have seen on here for setting up a stream is correct (hit me up if you want to know more about setting up the other softwares) - but the one thing I wanted to point out which is what helped me is the settings with FME. Follow this set up:

1) Make sure CamTwist records at 1280x720 at 24fps (which you can set up under Preferences - General).
2) Once that is done, go into FME.
3) Set your Video Settings to this:
    a) Device - CamTwist
    b) Format - H.264
    c) click the settings button for Format and set Advanced Encoder Settings to:
        Profile - Main
        Level - 3.1
        Keyframe Frequency - 5 seconds
    d) Frame Rate - 24.00 FPS
    e) Input Size - 1280x720 (Click Maintain Aspect Ratio on)

Now the really important part:
    f) Bit Rate - 650Kbps - 800Kbps MAX!!!
   g) Output Size - 640x360

It is important to note that 650Kbps - 800Kbps is really all you need. The stream will look really good. What this does, is input HD720P quality into FME and then upload it at a much lesser bit rate (which is what you want to achieve). For some reason, even though I have 50MB down and 5MB up internet speed, anything higher than 800Kbps and my stream gets cut. What this will do is allow your computer to not over load your processor and still produce a great looking stream.

You can see by checking out my streams and it should give you an idea on how it should look -  http://www.twitch.tv/unitingforce

Anyway, I hope this will help you guys who are having troubles with broadcasting to Twitch.


UnitingForce

PS - this took a long time to figure out so if you have any other questions, feel free to comment and I'll get back to you asap.

j2thep30

Hi, I used these settings but i still have lag issues with my stream. I have a 2 mb upload speed and i even lowered the settings you gave for FMLE to 550 kbps and an output of 460x258. I dont use any applications or anything while streaming except the ones used for streaming. Do you know why this happens? Thanks.

unitingforce

@j2thep30
Make sure that FME settings and/or your firewall excepts this: www-cdn.jtvnw.net



This needs to be allowed to pass through your firewall. Make sure it is.



Hope that helps

j2thep30

Thanks for responding. I am able to enter the website. Is there anything else i can do?

unitingforce

@j2thep30 You should be able to enter that URL into your firewall settings and make sure it says "allow". Let me know if you have troubles finding it - I can make a quick tutorial vid if that will help.

One other thing you can try is to portforward your conputer's ip address from your router and open ports 1935 and 80.

But this didn't always work out if you stream online games because your game suffers and or your stream dies out.

Let me know how it's going :)

apcpredator

do i need split to stream my content?

unitingforce

@apcpredator if you are referring to xsplit - no because they don't have a Mac version but you will need QTB ,Audio HiJack, camtwist and sound flower to do this :)

ruin427

Thanks Unitingforce,

This guide helped a lot and saved me a lot of time and headaches. Cheers!