Combination for live streaming?

[ludo05]

Hello eveybody,

I am relatively new to this forum.

So first of all, hello to eveyone!

And thanks for all the interesting contributions, a tiny part of which I've read.

I was not sure whether it would be right to ask this here, but my search on this forum has shown that some topics go in this direction. So I'll just ask.

I am trying to figure out if I can do live streaming with the combination that I am having in mind.
The combination is:
- OS Windows 7;
- Open Broadcaster Software;
- One of the following capture cards : AVerMedia Live Gamer Duo (LGD) GC570D or StarTech.com PCIe HDMI 2.0 4K 60Hz Capture Card or ElGato Cam Link Pro or DeckLink Quad HDMI Recorder;
- Camera : any one or all of Panasonic Lumix GH1 or GH2 or GH3.

Are there any incompatibilities between the elements I mentioned?
Is there anything I am forgetting? (well, cables should not be a problem ;-) )

Thanks very much for your help.

Ludo

 

[Boernstain]

Hey, a multifaceted topic, not to be answered just like that, but I'll try to give a little input.

First of all, it would be good to know what you want to stream and to what extent. Do you want to do just chatting, but gaming, a big setup where something crafty is shown? On which platforms? Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, or something else entirely? The basic setup is of course halfway the same everywhere, but then there are differences that you could already consider at the beginning.

In general, I would recommend a more current operating system, is there a reason why you use Windows 7? Shouldn't be a big disadvantage, but I suspect that Windows 10 or 11 is a bit better suited in some areas. The Elgato Cam Link, for example, needs at least Windows 10.

Just a small note about Capture Cards: You only need Capture Cards if you want to connect consoles to your PC or use a dual PC setup. If OBS is running on the PC you are showing your content on, then you don't need a capture card. :)
It's different with cameras though, if you want to connect a higher quality camera, you'll need a camlink (like Elgato's) unless your camera can output video directly via USB.

Apart from that, it's important to know what specs your PC has. Encoding a stream is relatively resource consuming, so this is very important info. Also your bandwidth, for a stream you should not have less than 10Mbps upload.

As you can see, a diverse topic, but very exciting!

 

[koala]

Since the current and future versions of OBS doesn't run with Windows 7 any more and Windows 10 is end of life in 3 years, there's no point in setting up a new streaming environment with an obsolete Windows 7. Keep in mind there will be no more app and plugin updates or new plugins for older OBS versions, so you will be locked in a point of time of the release of the last OBS version that runs with Windows 7 (27.2.4, March 2022).

The update to Windows 10 is still free, and also to Windows 11. My PC runs under Windows 11 with the Windows 7 license I bought 2009 the day Windows 7 was released.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

I was running Win10 on a 12+ yr old PC (not for OBS) just fine. SO, agree with above... it is way past time to free upgrade from Win7 to Win10 (presuming you have a legitimate OS license). Win7 is, except for experts with advanced security tools/knowledge, and specific network setup, isn't safe on the Internet for average user. period. And with rare exceptions, latest Win10 works on most any PC that you'd want to run OBS on today. There are some things I don't like about Win10, but most of those can easily be turned off (and the others I simply deal with, though some begrudgingly). So, I'd advise going to current Win10 if at all possible. you are overly restricting yourself otherwise. anyway, moving on

As noted above, live-streaming requires a solid, stable, and consistent (above streaming rate) bandwidth, ideally with consistent jitter. not all ISPs provide this... and bandwidth tests won't show this, and the upload bandwidth rate on most consumer tests is upper-end optimistic, and what you need to know is the lower-end threshold... so beware.

Multiple camera inputs means either, lots of expertise on optimizing your setup, or a computer capable of handling computational demand with room to spare, and that means a relatively recent computer, especially if you want to handle resolutions higher than 1080p.
As for camera input, I'm not familiar with the Panasonic's but - if USB port is USB2, then resolution will be low and for full sensor output, you'll want clean HDMI out from the camera and a HDMI capture card. If camera has USB3.x port... then it depends.. you'll have to research the camera specifics

So in addition to your posts, there is the issue of sophistication of your OBS setup. For example, audio filtering/effects take less CPU. Something like Chromakeying can take a lot of CPU. so it depends... you can make due with an older PC, or you could need a relatively (and at least mid-tier or higher power) recent CPU. Get carried away in OBS, and a brand-new US$4,000 workstation can be brought to its knees. For most folks, you'll have a certain budget (or working with largely what you have) and that will determine what you can pull off (leaving room, as if you try and run your PC at 95+% for an extended time, the occasional unexpected background process can easily lead to overload (lag/crash/corrupted video, ... it depends) I say this not to discourage you... just to let you know this can get complicated depending on your expertise, expectations, where you get your info from (lots of bad advice on the Internet)
side note.... if PC isn't all that powerful, but budget doesn't allow upgrade, then a GPU upgrade to can offload some video decoding/encoding may help (depends on what you have now, and other tech details as to whether this might be worth it or not)

With that.. have fun..

 

[ludo05]

Hello everyone,

And thanks for your advice.
This will help quite a lot for a start.
Well it's nothing to do with gaming anyway.
The ambition is rather to do interviews, debates, discussions about all sorts of daily topics, on a regular basis.
Hence the number of cameras between two and four would be best. But in this field (cameras) experience is still lacking (hence the question).

As far as the OS is concerned, there's no prejudice towards Win - be it 7 (which I'm still using on a daily basis), 10, 11, or 15 for that matter :-)) We're even open to Linux (Debian 11, Ubuntu Studio 22.04 LTS).

And as far as computer hardware is concerned, it's also all open. Ther's old stuff, there's new stuff, there'll be newer one, we'll get it sorted out.

Fun we'll sure have ;-)

Cheers

Ludo