Video Streaming Software Comparison

[Jack0r]

Hey!
There are quite a few different programs available to a Streamer and having a good overview of all their different features takes time and work searching through all the pages. I tried to incorporate as many features and available options in the following list. I hope I didn´t miss anything OBS already includes or which is already planned for the future.

Click the Picture to open the Google Spreadsheet:


I couldn´t find a feature list on the Page and searching the Forum (except going through all changelogs maybe), this would be a good addition to the current page. Some of OBS´s "competitors" also lack quite a few informations so I will update my list as OBS evolves, gets updated as well as the other Programs. :)

Greetings hemp|jack0r

 

[XeiZ]

Nice work!

Some things regarding obs though:
You maybe only have the given downscale options in the downscale menu but if you set your base resolution to what you want to output and just make it "fit to screen" it will capture everything too just like xsplit, so yea downscales -> unlimited.
And im not sure what you mean by audio mixer for xsplit and obs, i think the only difference between them is that xsplit has a noise filter.

 

[Warchamp7]

I think you should use Y / N instead of X / -, it's a little confusing at first

For video formats, OBS can do FLVs

For Xsplit you listed H.264 and x.264. That's... not how that works. H.264 is a standard for encoding, x264 is a library for encoding in H.264.

For downscaling, I don't think Xsplit has the capability. I think it just resizes everything, which doesn't achieve as good of quality.

 

[Jack0r]

Thanks for your feedback!

I added the x264 because the Avermedia HW encoder is called that way in XSplit (as far as I remember) but since I also mention it further down I removed the x264 part. Hope thats right now.
I changed the x / - part, as you mentioned :)
For the downscaling I guess you are right, I changed unlimited to resize, for a better understanding. Using XeiZ mentioned option to fit to screen is also a resize, if I understand correct ?! :) So I added, resize / 1.5 / etc...

For the Audio Mixer part, changed it into two different options: Volume slider for each source and an extra Audio Mixer (like the Livestream Producer offers for example).
Did I miss any feature or would you like me to split some more Infos into special sections?

 

[MSgtGunny]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... 2ZUMF80bXc

Thats a fixed version with some updated info for XSplit and spelling fixes.

 

[Jack0r]

thx Gunny, i added your fixes. If you want to I can also add you, so you can change things right in the main document!

 

[ogry]

Hi everyone.

Here Oscar, from Madrid, Spain.

I worked with Wirecast for about a year now and I want to let you note that with wirecast not only you can record locally the output (is easy, there is a dedicated icon in the main window), It also has internal servers for WM9 (multibitrate), flash and quicktime. In the scene editor, you can play also to alpha-blend (Trasparancy), resize, rotate or crop the image area.

Even it has some very interesting features, that dont have XSplit nor OBS; you can pan, tilt, zoom-in or zoom-out digitally, and play easily with the way the transictions would be done.

But for me, the most imoportant feature is that it works as an ActiveX Oobject, via a external API, and I can make a C# program to automatizate the transition between live sources and recordings, wich serves, by example, to make synchro, rythmic transitions. That puts a very professional look to the final result.

BTW, I don't see where to change color-bright-gamma, wich is a very often needed feature to calibrate sources. I would imagine an implementation based in single click calibration procedure. Also I missed a way to integrate live streaming sources, as XSplit does...

 

[ogry]

More about

Yes, wirecast could downscale the output. Is the usual way I work when working with 3G connections. Working 1080p/30 and outputing in 480p/20

I don't know about plugins, but you can add some things (video or audio sources, basically) with the SDK,

Practically all the features in the 'Special' section are implemented in wirecast (pro version, of curse), but the skype capture (not sure, really). The remote desktop capture is specially good.

 

[Jack0r]

Thanks for the update, added everything! (will give the trial a run later for the last missing points)

 

[philpav]

Thanks for the great comparison!

I'd like to add that Wirecast doesn't support stream delay. It supports hotkeys but it needs to be in focus.
Regarding the supported number of scenes. I've just added more than 200 and all were functional, so I would say there's support for unlimited scenes (shots).
Thumbnail scene preview is build in. But the image doesn't get updated automatically. There's also a camara preview mode where you can see a live preview of all inputs.

The remote desktop capture is specially good.

I totally agree!
I'd love to see something like this in OBS.

 

[craig Sheeler]

I've been using Wirecast for about 5 months and am running into trouble locking in a frame rate. I've followed the recommendations but continue to get a variable frame rate. Any body have a better solution or recommend a better product?
thanks