How to Stream/Record your rounds for upload to Twitch as required by Tour Guidelines

[JohnMeyer]

In accordance with Optishot Tour Guidelines it is highly recommended that you record and upload all tournament rounds so they can be verified for the correct use of clubset settings and other guidelines

The simplest and easiest way to do this is to stream your rounds live to Twitch. This has the added benefit of letting other players watch your rounds live, as well as providing a backup recording of your round that can be watched later by anyone wishing to verify your round

Step 1

Setup a Twitch Account at http://www.twitch.tv/

Twitch Account Settings

1. Once you have created your account navigate to the Twitch Homepage of not already there by clicking the Twitch logo in the top left of the screen
2. On the Homepage in the top right of the page you should see your username with a down arrow next to it. Click the down arrow and select settings
3. Select the Channel and Videos Tab and check mark the box next to Automatically Archive my Broadcasts
4. This will ensure that when you stream your rounds they are automatically saved to your Twitch channel for review if no one watches your round live.
5. Remeber how to get to your settings page as you will need it later in this guide to retreive your Stream Key


Step 2

Download and install the OBS streaming software from obsproject.com/download

Step 3

OBS Basic Settings -

OBS MUST BE RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR TO FUNCTION CORRECTLY

1. Start the OBS software by using Right Click, then Run as Admnistrator. (Alternatively edit the shortcut properties to do this every time)
2. Start the Optishot Software
3. Once the Optishot Software is at the Main Menu press ALT - TAB to minimize Optishot and return to the OBS Software





4. Once you're at this screen you are ready to setup your profile

5. Right Click on the Source box, select Add, and Select Game Capture

6. The Enter Name Box will appear, enter the name Optishot and Click OK

7. The Game Capture Window will appear. Use the drop down box to select your Optishot and Click OK

8. You will now return to the main menu screen and see Optishot is in your Sources Box. Put a check mark in the box next to Optishot to select it as your source.

Step 4

Stream/Recording settings - Upload speed higher than 1.2Mb/s

The following settings are for players who have an upload speed of greater than 1.2MB/s. To check you speed please use a service such as www.speedtest.net in order to verify it. If lower than 1.2MB/s please skip this Step and go to Step 5

1. Click on the Settings Button on the Main Menu and make the following changes to each of the sections. If any setting is not covered please leave it as the default setting and do not change it.

General

In the Setting Profile Tab enter the Name Optishot Twitch and click Add

Encoding

Video Encoding - Ensure Max Bitrate is set to 1000

Audio Encoding - Set Bitrate to 80, Format to 44.1khz

Broadcast setting - VERY IMPORTANT

Mode - Live Stream=

Streaming Service - Twitch

Server - Pick the server that is closest in location to you

Play Path/Stream Key - To get this log in to your Twitch Account, and then after logging in return to the Twitch Home page by clicking the Twitch logo in the top right. In the top left of the home page you will see your username and a down arrow next to it. Click on the down arrow and select Dashboard. Click on Streaming Key, then Show Key. Copy and paste this Key into the Play Path/Stream Key box on the OBS software

Auto reconnect- Check mark for yes

Auto reconnect timeout - 10

Video

Base Resolution - Should be the same as the resolution the Optishot programme is running at

Resolution Downscale - This will depend on your PC specs, start at 2.5x and try a different setting later if you are unhappy with the quality/file size of your videos

Advanced

Keyframe Interval - 2


Click on Apply and then OK

You are now ready to Stream to Twitch and as we already setup at step 1, any stream will also automatically be saved to your channel so it can be viewed any time



Step 5

Stream/Recording settings - Upload speed lower than 1.2Mb/s

The following settings are for players who have an upload speed of less than 1.2MB/s. The settings are very similar to those at Step 4 but will result in a reduction of quality and file size to make streaming/uploading possible at lower speeds. During testing a successful upload was completed at and upload speed of 0.2Mb/s, with no frames lost

1. Click on the Settings Button on the Main Menu and make the following changes to each of the sections. If any setting is not covered please leave it as the default setting and do not change it.

General

In the Setting Profile Tab enter the Name Optishot Twitch and click Add

Encoding

Use CBR - Remove the check mark from this box

Quality Balance - Set to 5

Video Encoding - Ensure Max Bitrate is set to 700

Audio Encoding - Set Channel to Mono, Set Bitrate to 32, Format to 44.1khz

Broadcast setting - VERY IMPORTANT

Mode - Live Stream=

Streaming Service - Twitch

Server - Pick the server that is closest in location to you

Play Path/Stream Key - To get this log in to your Twitch Account, and then after logging in return to the Twitch Home page by clicking the Twitch logo in the top right. In the top left of the home page you will see your username and a down arrow next to it. Click on the down arrow and select Dashboard. Click on Streaming Key, then Show Key. Copy and paste this Key into the Play Path/Stream Key box on the OBS software

Auto reconnect- Check mark for yes

Auto reconnect timeout - 10

Minimize Network Disruption - Place a checkmark in this box

Video

Base Resolution - Should be the same as the resolution the Optishot programme is running at

Resolution Downscale - This will depend on your PC Specs and your Base Resolution, in testin Optishot was running at its native resolution of 1024 x 768 and Downscaling set to 2.5 to give a rendered video at 408 x 306. This resolution streamed succesfully at 0.2Mb/s Upload speeds, with a quality more than adequate for verification on Twitch. It also resulted in files sizes equivalent to 1MB/minute of recorded video

Advanced

Keyframe Interval - 2



Step 6

1.If after trying all the above setting you are still unable to upload/stream directly to twitch, then using whichever Video Settings you find give the best performance, instead of Streaming you can just record to your own PC and upload at a later date to Youtube.

2. The settings at Step 5 give a file size of 1Mb/ minute, so with a usual round last between 45 mins and a hour it shouldnt take too long to upload. This MUST be done within 24 hours of completing your round.


Click on Apply and then OK

You are now ready to Stream to Twitch and as we already setup at step 1, any stream will also automatically be saved to your channel so it can be viewed any time


Video Stream Procedure- This MUST be done for EVERY Tournament Round

Every time you play a Tournament Round you must stream it to your Twitch Channel. To do this

1. Open Optishot, Login to Optishot Live, and Join you Tournament Game

2. ONLY once the game has loaded and you are on the 1st Tee - ALT TAB and open OBS Software

3. Click Start Streaming in the OBS Main Menu (Start Recording if you are unable to Stream)

4 ALT - TAB back into Optishot. IF you have OBS open on a separate screen to your Optishot Game you will be able to see a preview of your stream and also your upload rate in the bottom right hand corner.

5. BEFORE TAKING YOUR FIRST TEE SHOT YOU MUST SHOW YOUR BALL SETTING, AND ALL CLUBSET SETTINGS so they can be verified. THIS IS ESSENTIAL

6. Once you have completed your round and ALT - TAB back out of Optishot and click Stop Streaming in the OBS Main Menu

7. You should now have an uploaded video of your complete round, also showing ball and Clubset settings saved in your Twitch Channel, which can be verified at any time by the Board and other players as required by Optishot Tour Guidelines

8. If you Recorded your round as unable to Stream you MUST UPLOAD your video to Youtube etc within 24 hours

9. Once you have confirmed your video is uploaded please post a link to your Round in the relevant Tournament thread on these Forums, allowing other players and The Board to verify your Round.

[JohnMeyer]

Give it ya best effort pal, just make sure you've had a read through The New Player Setup Guide Thread, and you're familiar with the website, the method on how to fill in your scores and stats and also how the handicap system effects you. Welcome to the Tour

[Willymakit]

So last night I did a practise round using streaming to twitch. After I finished round I went back to see how it turned out. And not sure if my eyes are going or if it's just blurry. I have everything on the lowest settings and still have same results when set on automatic it higher. I am using gamecaster the other program to record game. Any suggestions

Name is willymakit2k. So check out the video and see what I can correct.

[JohnMeyer]

I'll have a look later on. So the video on there is using low settings? If so may be a little blurry. Are you saying even if you increase the settings, eg reduce the downscale value, it's still blurry?

[JohnMeyer]

Jason

Just watched it back and as you say is very blurry.. have a read of this and if you wanna try the links this is from

https://support.xsplit.com/forum/faq.php

What settings for Quality, VBV Max Bitrate and VBV Buffer and Preset should I use? Usually Quality that is set to about 7 to 8 will produce a good quality stream and will not suck you dry of bandwidth. VBV Max Bitrate should be set to match your available upload bandwidth while matching the resolution - see this table: 480p: 500-1000kbps 720p: 1500-3000kbps 1080p: 3000-5000kbps Remember that your viewers will have to be able to download the rate you choose*, so don't set it too high. (We recommend using the bandwidth testerto help you figure this out). Setting a high Quality without providing enough bitrate to accommodate this will not provide the desired results - for example, setting quality to 10, resolution to 720p and a VBV Max Bitrate to 200 kbps will be nonsense.

If you set quality between 7 to 8, then we have some very rough guidelines as to what bitrate may be required for video game streaming:

VBV Buffer should be set to a value corresponding to the Flash player buffer. The flash buffer is in most cases unknown so set it to 1 to 2 times the VBV Max Bitrate corresponding to a 1 to 2 second Flash player buffer.

The VBV Max Bitrate is the rate at which the buffer is filled, so, technically, you should get better results with a higher buffer as this will allow the discrete bitrate of your stream to fluctuate more (as required) to maintain your required quality. But if the Flash player buffer is set to 2 seconds, you should not set your VBV Buffer higher than 2 x VBV Max Bitrate. You must also consider the audio bitrate, but try to stick with the default values for buffer, which is automatically changed to a suggested value (depending on the channel plug-in) as you change or set your VBV Max Bitrate.

As for the Preset, "veryfast" is typically a good starting point, unless you have an extremely powerful cpu, in which case you can choose a "slower" value. This means that the encoder is using more advanced and more demanding algorithms/methods to compress your stream better. It might also lower your output bitrate as the encoder will compress the video stream more (though still without loss of quality). However, you must never let any of your cores max out, because then your stream+game may start to lag.

If you want to know more about Quality, VBV-Buffer, VBV-Maxrate and Preset Settings, please read this little write-up. *) Unless you are partnered with your stream service provider and therefore provides multiple resolution options to the viewer.