Pikesville, MD
x2 on AKM's opinion, Camcorder + Capture card. Lighting is tricky when avoiding shadows reflected on the playfield.
~ja
(Topic ID: 119129)
Linked Games
The Hobbit
Jersey Jack, 2016
Topic Gallery
Quoted from uncle_jose:x2 on AKM's opinion, Camcorder + Capture card. Lighting is tricky when avoiding shadows reflected on the playfield.
~ja
I would really like to figure out a reliable setup without HD cam and capture card. Can one set that up for less than a few hundred? That's more than what my whole rig has cost me.
What about hdmi signal loss at long distances? Anyone set up a PF HD cam with capture card where the computer is over 50' away?
Quoted from chuckwurt:I would really like to figure out a reliable setup without HD cam and capture card. Can one set that up for less than a few hundred? That's more than what my whole rig has cost me.
What about hdmi signal loss at long distances? Anyone set up a PF HD cam with capture card where the computer is over 50' away?
The thing about streaming of this kind is you need to future proof yourself. If you try to run a system on the cheap, all you will find yourself doing is having to cough up more cash for another system/setup shortly down the road. I know this because this is exactly what I did back in 2015--$350 laptop, cheap webcams and running everything at 640x480 (or 800x600 if I was lucky) simply because it's all it could handle. Needless to say that rig didn't treat me well for long and by the end of that year I had to upgrade. It's best to just do it right up front. Plus, you will be much happier with the higher quality of your stream.
As far as HDMI length, it seems like 25 feet is sort of pushing it. Repeaters exist, but they cost money. The logical solution is using an external USB 3.0 capture card, mounting it close to the cam, then running USB the 50+ feet you need. This is a cheaper and possibly more flexible alternative.
Quoted from Tsskinne:Thank you, I think I did have the right light or low light setting on at one point. What about my video output settings? Do I want to do anything with those? Thanks for all the help.
You have a system that is somewhat beefy and so you really shouldn't have any issue running your cams at anything less than 1080p. USB bandwidth *could* potentially be an issue so 720p is a good option too (1080p might even be redundant since the cams won't be filling up that that full 1920x1080 space anyway). Keep in mind standard c920 cams only do up to 30fps, so leave those at 30. No need to lower those.
Also, it looks like you have a GTX 1050 GPU in that thing. In OBS, use the Nvidia encoder. This will free up a lot of resources and may give you more headroom to run other parts of your stream more reliably. Boost the bitrate up to 5,000k/bps so the stream looks sharper with the GPU encoding (this bitrate is close to Twitch's max at this time; you've got the internet to handle it).
Quoted from akm:As far as HDMI length, it seems like 25 feet is sort of pushing it. Repeaters exist, but they cost money. The logical solution is using an external USB 3.0 capture card, mounting it close to the cam, then running USB the 50+ feet you need. This is a cheaper and possibly more flexible alternative.
I'm in the process of building a computer similar to tsskinne's setup so assumed I'll have the same capabilities if not more.
Didn't know this was an option for HDMI. My current setup I would like to run as perfect as possible with USB cams and having the computer right there. Then when I have tournaments, have the computer 75-100' away at a commentator table. So this hdmi idea you have could be an option if my Ethernet hub proves unreliable. Thanks again!
Quoted from akm:You have a system that is somewhat beefy and so you really shouldn't have any issue running your cams at anything less than 1080p. USB bandwidth *could* potentially be an issue so 720p is a good option too (1080p might even be redundant since the cams won't be filling up that that full 1920x1080 space anyway). Keep in mind standard c920 cams only do up to 30fps, so leave those at 30. No need to lower those.
Also, it looks like you have a GTX 1050 GPU in that thing. In OBS, use the Nvidia encoder. This will free up a lot of resources and may give you more headroom to run other parts of your stream more reliably. Boost the bitrate up to 5,000k/bps so the stream looks sharper with the GPU encoding (this bitrate is close to Twitch's max at this time; you've got the internet to handle it).
Thanks again for all the help. I may try to switch up some of the webcams or something because I am getting just incredibly inconsistent performance. Streamed from league two nights ago with no extra lighting and it looked pretty decent for that. Didn't change anything and tried to stream again last night and suddenly it looked like I was on some dial-up internet. I did go in and download some drivers off of Logitech's website and will mess with it some more tonight from home.
Just figured out how to set up the groupings and the standings in two different scenes in OBS. They are structured so they can handle up to a 40 player group matchplay event, and no changes are needed except for the URL in the settings.
So each time you go to use them, change the two urls to the current tournament and you're done.
Trying to figure out now how to export these setups for others to use.
akm Please add Colorado Pinball Collective to your fantastic list of broadcasters. Wednesdays, 7pm: on location playing a different machine each week and Fridays, 8pm: husband and wife stay home, drink, play pinball and be ridiculous people. All times are Mountain.
https://www.twitch.tv/coloradopinball
Tonight at 7pm we'll be streaming The Big Lebowski which I've only played a handful of times so if you tune in and know a bit more about the nuances and rules, please let us know! We've got white russians and a Lebowski sweater to wear so we feel pretty prepared.
Comcast is denying us internet access without the homeowner's personal account information (which he is unsure of and busy at work right now). He got a new modem/router with different security features apparently. So we will be uploading this episode after the fact.
Sorry! Comcast sucks!!
So glad I chose today to reach out to Pinside. 
Quoted from SnowGalvin:So we will be uploading this episode after the fact.
Looking forward to watching! 
Built myself a setup with c922 as playfieldscam and 3 pcs c920 for the rest. Audio comes from a seperate mike via 3.5 mm audio plug.
All cam’s are plugged via an USB extension cable 5 mtr plugged direct into laptop (I7 8GB ram SSD). Set at 720p.
Works great.
A test drive with a webcam mic and a c270 which i replced with c920 afterwards can be seen at
When you hear the sound you know why I switched to a stand-alone mic
Whole setup costed me approx USD 300 without laptop. Looked for some used webcams which drives the costs down.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a camera that can be hooked directly up to a TV? I don't want to stream or have to deal with a a laptop. I'm just looking for something to plug directly into a TV via HDMI.
I see some cheap cameras on Amazon (<$100), but wasn't sure if anyone had any experience with a direct to TV connection.
I'm just looking to have a camera on the playfield. I don't care about the DMD.
Quoted from Spyderturbo007:Does anyone have a recommendation for a camera that can be hooked directly up to a TV? I don't want to stream or have to deal with a a laptop. I'm just looking for something to plug directly into a TV via HDMI.
I see some cheap cameras on Amazon (<$100), but wasn't sure if anyone had any experience with a direct to TV connection.
I'm just looking to have a camera on the playfield. I don't care about the DMD.
No experience but any HD cam with a HDMI out should be good.
Quoted from chuckwurt:No experience but any HD cam with a HDMI out should be good.
So something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Camcorders-Besteker-Portable-Camcorder-HDV-601S/dp/B01LZMPR7B/ref=sr_1_1
How high of a tripod should I buy?
Our league started doing a stream as often as possible:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuqYZ-mZY7Hnn3mm8wRnsOA
I'm in charge of the stream but have unfortunately been absent the last few weeks.
Quoted from Spyderturbo007:So something like this:
amazon.com link »
How high of a tripod should I buy?
For tripod just anything that can mount the camera as high as the middle to top portion of the backglass. Not sure how high that is. Most tripods extend to pretty high so should be plenty.
Will a standard tripod work? I don’t think it’s be able to get it in the middle of the glass.
I was looking at a microphone boom stand which I think might make it easier to get into the middle of the playfield.
I guess I’ll need some type of adapter to attach the camera to the microphone stand?
Quoted from Spyderturbo007:Will a standard tripod work? I don’t think it’s be able to get it in the middle of the glass.
I was looking at a microphone boom stand which I think might make it easier to get into the middle of the playfield.
I guess I’ll need some type of adapter to attach the camera to the microphone stand?
Not sure. I use a very unique track system that hangs from my ceiling and before that I used these two items:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ABB4HC/ref=asc_df_B000ABB4HC5218980/
Quoted from Rensh:Built myself a setup with c922 as playfieldscam and 3 pcs c920 for the rest. Audio comes from a seperate mike via 3.5 mm audio plug.
All cam’s are plugged via an USB extension cable 5 mtr plugged direct into laptop (I7 8GB ram SSD). Set at 720p.
Works great.
A test drive with a webcam mic and a c270 which i replced with c920 afterwards can be seen at
» YouTube video
When you hear the sound you know why I switched to a stand-alone mic
Whole setup costed me approx USD 300 without laptop. Looked for some used webcams which drives the costs down.
Looks great man, can't we do some streaming from DPO this year? PAPA style?
Quoted from Pmuis:Looks great man, can't we do some streaming from DPO this year? PAPA style?
Why do you think I decided to built a stream setup 
If it will Be like Papa that remains to be seen but we will do our best. We will have a couple of stream setups. So plans are there to make it happen !!
Quoted from Rensh:Why do you think I decided to built a stream setup
If it will Be like Papa that remains to be seen but we will do our best. We will have a couple of stream setups. So plans are there to make it happen !!
Very nice. Would be great if it got streamed. Are you thinking of the finals of the tournament or even more? I'm in the tournament but don't think I'll be getting far, which might be good since I don't know if knowing it's getting streamed hurts my play 
Quoted from Pmuis:Very nice. Would be great if it got streamed. Are you thinking of the finals of the tournament or even more? I'm in the tournament but don't think I'll be getting far, which might be good since I don't know if knowing it's getting streamed hurts my play
Finals for sure and as we have the setups anyway more is likely to be streamed. There is also a youth and ladies tournament of which we can do finals. Can be some is recorded and put on YouTube afterwards. After all, we can only open 1 stream as far as I know under NFV account.
Quoted from Rensh:Finals for sure and as we have the setups anyway more is likely to be streamed. There is also a youth and ladies tournament of which we can do finals. Can be some is recorded and put on YouTube afterwards. After all, we can only open 1 stream as far as I know under NFV account.
Alright great, I'll see it there then
Hey guys! Super happy i found this thread! Myself and a good friend just started streaming my pins (Wizard of OZ and Baywatch) together just about a month and a half ago and have been having an absolute blast! This Will be our 7th week and we have gotten so much love and support from the pin streaming community and viewers. I would like to extend an invitation to all of you to come check out our first REMOTE live stream this Wednesday at 8PM! This weeks stream will be coming to you live from Fanny Anne's Saloon in Old Sacramento CA! Their Selection of pins includes Whirlwind, Stern Star Trek, Ghostbusters, KISS, Aerosmith and Terminator 2. I believe we are going to start on Whirlwind or T2 but may move around as the night progresses. Come stop by and just say hi or stick around chat and have a beer with us! In the future we both would really love to branch out even more and do some streams with other local pinheads and their collections as well! If anyone is in the Sacramento area come out to Fanny Anne's and say hi to us in person! We love to meet other local pin fanatics! Thank you all so much for your time and hopefully we will see some of you this Wednesday. You can find out stream at Twitch.tv/norcalpinball Cheers all!!!
Quoted from kwiKimart:New to the whole pinball streaming thing, but not streaming. Will be streaming in the near future.
Twitch.tv/kwikimartsd
Followed
Hey all. Remote stream from Fanny Anne’s has been postponed from this evening to a later date due to a family medical emergency. I’ll try and keep things updated here and on our twitch page for those of you that are interested in future content. You can find us at Twitch.tv/norcalpinball Thanks all.
Calgary, AB
for the folks who are successfully streaming running a bunch of Logitech c920-922s etc, what sort of laptop/pc specs are you working with? Any issues? Anything you wish you had in addition to what you are already running with? We were thinking of starting streaming occasionally (Pinball and Arcade), but need to pick up some equipment before we can get started.
I have a handful of decent camcorders as well, so capturing output from HDMI or something could be an option too. we would need a good capture card that can take multiple inputs simultaneously.
I run two C922s and a c920. I wish I could get the C922s to not look blurry if used on the playfield. No idea if it’s my computer or the cameras. Both c922s look that way. Also there was always a slight lag in the video if I streamed with the 922 on the PF at 60 fps.
So now I do 30 fps and use the 920 on the playfield and use the 922s for the player and dmd.
I’ll post my computer specs in a bit. I’m running windows 7 professional and have 4 2.0 USB ports and one 3.0.
Here’s my Funhouse stream from last night using this exact setup.
Quoted from Rensh:Guys, do you think there is place for another webcam
What arms are those? I'm looking for something like that to attach to my current stand.
Thanks!
Quoted from chuckwurt:I run two C922s and a c920. I wish I could get the C922s to not look blurry if used on the playfield. No idea if it’s my computer or the cameras. Both c922s look that way. Also there was always a slight lag in the video if I streamed with the 922 on the PF at 60 fps.
So now I do 30 fps and use the 920 on the playfield and use the 922s for the player and dmd.
I’ll post my computer specs in a bit. I’m running windows 7 professional and have 4 2.0 USB ports and one 3.0.
Here’s my Funhouse stream from last night using this exact setup.
» YouTube video
Maybe I should switch my 922 on my PF to my 920. Yours looks great.
I am using a c922 on playfield and doesn’t look blurry. Did you disable the focus? I put it on manually as it was sometimes moving the focus. Think is was confused by the lights in in pinball
I really reccomend the c922 As I think 60fps is really needed. At 30fps the ball movement is not so great seen on the display
Quoted from Spyderturbo007:What arms are those? I'm looking for something like that to attach to my current stand.
Thanks!
Which one do you mean? One of these?
Quoted from Rensh:I am using a c922 on playfield and doesn’t look blurry. Did you disable the focus? I put it on manually as it was sometimes moving the focus. Think is was confused by the lights in in pinball
I really reccomend the c922 As I think 60fps is really needed. At 30fps the ball movement is not so great seen on the display
Yes I turned off auto focus. 922s are very very very finicky. It’s seriously a luck of the draw thing if you get the lag and/or blurry video.
I use a 922x at 720P 60 FPS and lighting is key for your picture. Here is our stream from last tuesday with only decent light and it looks pretty darn good i think. I did just order an extra light for the play field and im expecting it to help a ton.
Quoted from Vexx_182:I use a 922x at 720P 60 FPS and lighting is key for your picture. Here is our stream from last tuesday with only decent light and it looks pretty darn good i think. I did just order an extra light for the play field and im expecting it to help a ton.
https://go.twitch.tv/videos/184899323
I found I had more issues adding light to my c922s, they worked better with just natural lighting
Quoted from Tsskinne:I found I had more issues adding light to my c922s, they worked better with just natural lighting
Adjustable lighting is best if you have it along with diffusers that allow for the perfect lighting quality and type depending on which diffuser you use. Just gotta play with it.
Does anyone know how in OBS when using a URL source how to get it to refresh?
Is there a key stroke that does it? The only thing I’ve seen that does it is to open the settings of that source, then close the settings. Haha
Going to the browser source properties, scrolling down then selecting the "refresh manually" button will refresh it. There should be a checkbox to have it refresh automatically as well. Make sure that is checked.
As long as you have an internet connection at the time of loading OBS, it should refresh automatically as long as the setting is correct. If you don't have a connection at the time of loading OBS, the browser source in my experience won't refresh for the first time until you do it manually.
There are shortcut hotkeys in OBS but you have to set them manually. Go to your settings screen and poke around there to see about setting them up.
Helsinki
K15 Open, Finland's leading pinball tournament is running this weekend and our live stream can be seen at http://tv.k15.fi/ (shortcut to https://twitch.tv/k15pinball ). Today Fri 3.11. we will be live from 17 to 23 EET, tomorrow Sat 4.11. from 11 to 22 EET and on Sunday 5.11. from 11 to 20, more or less.
Some features of our live stream:
- our gear covers six games simultaneously: The Hobbit, LotR, AfM, The Shadow, Dr. Who and CftBL.
- two games are shown at a time + players + displays
- auto-switching from idle machines to the ones that are actually played (temporarily disabled at the moment for performance improvement)
- player detection and information overlay
- live score overlay
About our tournament:
- an IFPA European Championship Series tournament
- annual since 2012
- 100+ participants from 6 countries
- players include an IFPA top 10 player and six top-100 players.
- in main tournament, qualification = 12 attempts on six machines. In PinGolf side tournament Kiss Pro, TWD Pro and TAF are set to 30M target.
- see http://scores.k15.fi/ and http://live.k15.fi/ to see the live scoring.
Check it out and let us know what you think.
--Jarkko, on behalf of the K15 crew
Got our new adjustable video light on Wednesday and did our first stream with it. Holy cow it made the biggest difference with the c922x we are running. It’s like night and day! If your using a c922 of any kind I highly recommend an adjustable video light! Check out the playfield quality at 720P 60 from our Wednesday stream!
Quoted from kwiKimart:What laptop do you use for streaming? I’m looking into getting one for streaming.
Make sure it has enough horsepower eg an I7 model with at least 8Gb ram, SSD and a real videocard inside would be great. The combining of several webcam streams into 1 picture takes horsepower dependable on the settings.
1 week later
Derby
Quoted from GotAQuestion:I didn't see it in the original post so I want to mention:
twitch.tv/pinball_live
This guy has the most fantastic streaming setup I think I've seen. He streams a good variety of machines and runs direct audio from every game, so you get the full, intended experience from the sound designers. High def camera for the playfield I believe. He even frequently has a camera for the tilt bob. Beyond that, he regularly gets good games going and is very charismatic and interacts with the viewers well. One of my favorite streams for sure. One of the few I have notifications turned on for.
Just joined the forum and seen this - thanks for the nice comments!
I'm finding that CX405 cameras to be far better than C920/922 cams, and I would agree with Vexx_182 about the importance of good lighting. Even, soft lighting is the key to a high quality presentation.
Had a great stream with RFM last night and will be playing a classic 1993 pin tomorrow (Wed) 8pm GMT / 2pm CT.
If you're around it'd be great to have you in the chat...
Glad to be finally on board.
Cheers,
Tim
Quoted from Pinball_LIVE:Just joined the forum and seen this - thanks for the nice comments!
I'm finding that CX405 cameras to be far better than C920/922 cams, and I would agree with vexx_182 about the importance of good lighting. Even, soft lighting is the key to a high quality presentation.
Had a great stream with RFM last night and will be playing a classic 1993 pin tomorrow (Wed) 8pm GMT / 2pm CT.
If you're around it'd be great to have you in the chat...
Glad to be finally on board.
Cheers,
Tim
I’m about to the point that I’m gonna go with the CX405 as well. Could you post a link to the capture card you use? I’m having a new PC built too.
Promoted items from Pinside Marketplace and Pinside Shops!
Reply
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!
Donate to PinsideGreat to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
