I recently for fun started setting up a Twitch streaming channel and wanted to share some of the helpful links I came across regarding getting things up and running.

Software you will need

Open Broadcast Software – Free and open source software for recording and live streaming. Source code is available to everyone to contribute and improve. XSplit Broadcaster / Gamecaster – There are two products under XSplit, namely, XSplit Broadcaster and XSplit Gamecaster. XSplit Broadcaster (which most of its users refer to as XSplit due to it being the original product), acts as a video mixer, where it is able to switch between various media configurations (also known as “scenes”) while dynamically mixing it with other sources such as video cameras, screen regions, game capture, and flash sources. These sources are used to create a broadcast production for both live and on-demand distribution on the web. XSplit Gamecaster, on the other hand, is a turnkey live streaming and recording application, designed for casual gamers who immediately want to start live streaming or recording their gameplay with minimal setup and configuration.

Instructions for OBS

Instructions for XSplit

Of course there are a few other software solutions for streaming which you can find on the Twitch broadcast page so don’t feel like this is the end all be all of streaming solutions.

Recommended hardware

Headset with a microphone

Webcam – I am currently using an old PS3 eye camera + CLDriver which lets you hook it up to a Windows machine. Nice and cheap solution ( $12 total )

Decent enough PC as streaming will affect your video game performance, specifically on the graphic side of things.

Decent enough internet connection specifically on the upload side as you are down very little downloading and lots of uploading to the Twitch servers.

Once you get all these pieces hooked up the rest of the fun comes from actually performing the stream and interacting with folks who stumble into your channel.

Hopefully this helps you folks out !

If you want to catch some of my streams ( shameless plug ) check out OldManVelocius@Twitch