XSplit Future Transparency

At XSplit we’ve kept our cards close to the chest to avoid disappointing our audience when inevitable setbacks happen. We’d get asked questions on a daily basis things like; When is the next release? What features will it contain? Can you add x feature? Our response would tend to be vague due to not wanting to get hopes up. However as our industry shifts (both gaming and streaming) we notice a trend of companies being very transparent in what is next for their products and even though they may not meet specified deadlines, users know what to expect.

Going forward, we at XSplit plan on being a lot more transparent by outlining major items that are being worked on and having a public facing roadmap for all of our products. On top of that, we also have a way for users to give suggestions and vote on their favorite ones through our XSplit Feature Upvote page.We’ll be consistently monitoring this to prioritise what feature will be worked on next.

So…what is next? Version 3.7 of XSplit Broadcaster has just been released with a smaller feature set. The main improvements being NVIDIA NVENC optimizations and a new type of scene transition, Luma Transitions. We’ve been busy working on a ton of cool new features that we wanted to release with 3.7 but felt it important we release what we have now so we can focus on a super awesome 3.8.

I’ve recently transitioned into the new role of Senior Product Manager for the XSplit team. Before joining SplitmediaLabs I worked as head of production for ESL UK and on top of that co-founded Strexm, an all-in-one stream overlay tool. My aim moving forwards is to develop closer ties with you, the community, so that you have more influence on our plans, and our roadmap. If you’d like to get hold of me and chat about XSplit, you can reach me on Twitter or feel free to join our Discord.

Over the coming weeks we plan to release 3.8 Public Test Release (PTR), but what does that look like? We’ll have two brand new sources in the form of Replay Source and Scene Source. Replay source allows you to trigger a replay (up to 30 seconds) of your current stream by either pressing a hotkey or by switching to a dedicated scene where you’ve placed the replay source. Scene source is a little more simple, it allows you to add another scene as a source which can be great for reusing layouts from other scenes. A much requested feature which is currently in the top spot on our XSplit Feature Upvote page is noise suppression for microphones. This feature will allow users to remove the majority of background noise on their mics.

And lastly, what I think is the most exciting new feature, the in-game HUD. This will allow users to control, monitor and interact with their stream from inside their game without alt-tabbing. You will be able to see live previews of your scenes, monitor audio, start streams or recordings and more. Using our pinned widgets feature, you’ll be able to keep an eye on your stream chat or events from inside your game without it being visible on the stream. Essentially what I’m saying is this is a single monitor setup dream and even if you’re not on a single monitor setup, it’s still super useful!

So that’s what’s in the immediate future. We’ll be continuing to look at and work hard on features we deem important but also prioritising from our XSplit Feature Upvote – Things like source grouping are right around the corner and we’re working very hard on making audio better across the board from better audio previewing to more advanced audio features.

XSplit x Versus Evil at PAX East

XSplit and Versus Evil at PAX East 2019
After SXSW and GDC, we travel next to PAX East where our team will be co-exhibiting with the wonderful people over at Versus Evil.

Versus Evil is a renowned indie game publisher responsible for publishing titles such as The Banner Saga, Armikrog, Guild of Dungeoneering and more! We’ve worked with them for a number of times in the past but most notably in last year’s PAX East. This year’s flavor is pretty much similar, putting the spotlight on content creators streaming games to their channel all week long. All content will be streamed by our production team using XSplit Broadcaster. If you’re attending, make sure to visit us at booth #15090 and #15096 for some good content and free swag. And don’t hesitate to say hi to us!

Additionally, we’re co-sponsoring a party with Versus Evil and Woovit which will be happening on the 28th starting at 5pm. Learn more details about the party and how to RSVP here.

Just like with other events, we’ll be covering the event on our social media channels so make sure to follow @xsplit for some live updates!

NVIDIA NVENC Improvements in XSplit 3.7

We’ve been working with our good friends over at NVIDIA to optimize XSplit Broadcaster’s NVENC implementation by providing better default encoding settings as well as additional options that can improve the overall quality of your stream or recording. This update is part of the latest XSplit Broadcaster 3.7.

Our Director of Developer Relations Miguel Molina explains it more thoroughly in the video below while also showing some examples.

NVIDIA wrote a detailed NVENC-XSplit guide that walks you through each setting and what is recommended based on the type of content that you’re capturing. We highly recommend checking it out!
There’s more in this version than just NVIDIA optimizations. Please refer to the full release notes for a complete list of new features, improvements and bug fixes.

Finally, a big shout out to the awesome folks on our Discord channel, who spent some time and helped us in testing the PTR version of this release. If you want to get your hands dirty and get access to our PTR builds, join our Discord channel today!

Giveaway + Sale!

Woot woot! We want to celebrate this big time with NVIDIA, and we are by raffling off an RTX 2080 to go with a Premium Lifetime license and an #XSplitFamily T-shirt! It’s a simple giveaway and all you need to do is head on to this link to enter. One thing to keep in mind is the weight of each requirement so make sure to pay attention to the one that gives you the most points for higher chances of winning.

We’re not stopping there! We’re also running a 20% sale on our Premium licenses (including renewals) during this period through the code ‘XSPLITxNVIDIA’. If you’ve been using the free version for a while, or you have a short-term license from us and are interested in renewing, definitely take advantage of this deal as it won’t last for long. ???
XSplit Version 3.7 Discount Code XSplitxNvidia

XSplit VCam leaves Early Access

VCam Leaves Early Access
XSplit VCam has been in Early Access since November 16, 2018. While it has been received very well by streamers, the team has been working on it non-stop – iterating and improving an already amazing background removal and manipulation software.

Today, we are officially out of Early Access! XSplit VCam is now fully launched with VCam v. 1.0!

Download XSplit VCam now.

Here’s a quick list of the changes that are being implemented.

  • New and improved background removal AI, which cuts the already low CPU usage down by up to 50%.
  • Improved onboarding experience to make it easier for newcomers to start enjoying VCam.
  • Improved calibration to better recognize you from your background.

If you have any existing XSplit license, you have full access to XSplit VCam’s premium features automatically. XSplit VCam works on practically any software that can access your webcam, which means you can still VCam even if you’re an OBS user.

Now is the best time to get your XSplit VCam premium license. To celebrate VCam leaving early access, we are going back to early access launch prices until the end of the month! Until March 31, 2019, XSplit VCam is at 50% off at $24.95.

Get XSplit VCam at 50% off!

XSplit Partners with Intel at GDC

It’s a real busy month for us as we’re flying next to Game Developers Conference together with Intel to demonstrate XSplit VCam and showcase a lot of things that we’ve been really working hard on for quite some time.
XSplit will be at GDC
We co-produced a whitepaper about intelligent background removal on Intel GPUs and that’s what we’re aiming to demo live at the Intel booth located at #449, Exhibit Level, South Hall. This is a perfect opportunity for us to get XSplit VCam out in the wild and get as many feedback especially as we near towards the end of our early access period.

Are you going to GDC? Let us know in the comments below!

XSplit Partners with Alienware at SXSW Gaming

SXSW is one of the most anticipated conference of the year and we’re excited to partner once again with Alienware, handling the production aspect of their presence and running their live stream using XSplit.
Alienware and XSplit in SXSW
Located at the Sunset Room, the Alienware Outpost gives attendees the full experience through an exclusive first look of some of their latest gaming hardware. They will also be bringing in a whole host of content creators who will be playing and streaming games throughout the event. Some notable guests include Microsoft, NBA 2K, Vice, RedBull, GroundisLava, FaZe Cloakzy, and more! You can check out their full schedule here.

You can catch all the action at twitch.tv/alienware. The XSplit team will be sharing some live updates throughout the duration of the event so make sure to follow us on social media!

See you there!

Why XSplit is sponsoring OBS

XSplit sponsors OBS

Recently, several companies have taken the open source OBS code, rebranded it, and built entire new venture-funded businesses, largely based on the technology created by Jim and the rest of the OBS team over the past 7 years as a true passion project. This makes it more important than ever to remember and appreciate the hard work that they’ve done and are still doing, to develop and maintain OBS, and how it has been a huge contributor, alongside XSplit, to empower a whole new generation of content creators, to turn their passions and entrepreneurial spirit into entire new careers that we couldn’t even have imagined a decade ago.

Back in 2010, when live streaming was still in its infancy, we launched XSplit Broadcaster in Open Beta. Those were the days before Twitch spun out of Justin.tv, and own3d.tv appeared as the first content platform dedicated to making live streaming of gameplay something more than a rare oddity. We were proud and humbled to be there from the very beginning – to be a part of forging a whole new industry out of dreams, passion and new technology.

Some time later, OBS came into being in 2012, born out of a shared passion for technology and the same dream of making game streaming more accessible for everyone. While we set out to make XSplit a business to continually and sustainably create and explore new innovation and technology, OBS was made by the community, for the community, as a free, non-profit and open source project driven by the brilliant Hugh “Jim” Bailey. The introduction of OBS to the market kept us on our toes, spurred innovation, and truly helped to even further accelerate the growth of the game streaming industry. Great competition drives innovation, making us all better and making the pie bigger.

Live streaming has truly exploded over the last few years, and the powerhouse of Twitch has been joined by major companies like Youtube, Facebook and Microsoft, to create platforms where millions of people gather every day to watch new and exciting live stream content. Yet to this day, most of the content creators broadcasting to these platforms still use XSplit or OBS technology in one form or another to create the content itself.

We at XSplit want to support the OBS project and the OBS contributors to be able to sustainably continue the hard work they do for the streamers and the industry, which is why we’ve committed to support the OBS Project as a Gold Sponsor through Open Collective.

Today, XSplit is no longer just a streaming application. XSplit VCam was our first big step into our endeavours to create more and broader content creation apps for the market, with more to come later this year. Our goal is to make everything we do inclusive and useful for XSplit and OBS users alike.

Let’s continue to keep each other on our toes, spur thoughts and innovation, grow the industry, create new technology and work together where we can, to help all the streamers, vloggers, producers, businesses and content creators out there in all shapes and forms, to create amazing content!

-Andreas Hoye, COO SplitmediaLabs

Intelligent and Real-Time Video Background Removal on Intel Graphics Technology Using XSplit VCam

SplitmediaLabs Limited, an innovative Hong Kong based software company that specializes in developing multimedia applications and technology has teamed up with Intel to produce a white paper on our newest innovative software: a real-time video background removal on Intel Graphics technology using XSplit VCam.

XSplit VCam is an application that allows you to blur and change your background without the need for a green screen. It was developed by the research and development division of SplitmediaLabs to bring advanced-quality video background removal solution to the game streaming market. The technology is built upon a deep learning AI framework coupled with a custom-built, high-performance inference engine.

XSplit VCam uses a convolutional neural network model to perform background removal processing in real-time. The neural network processing (inferencing) is a significant workload that requires millions of calculations for each processed frame. However, results show that by performing this workload entirely on an Intel iGPU, users looking to stream or record their gameplay can use XSplit VCam to improve the production quality of their stream with minimized FPS performance impact.

To further read the white paper in full, please visit Intel Developer Zone here.

XSplit is Now on Discord

We’re always looking for ways to better connect with our users whether through exceptional and timely support or just engaging and having fun discussing everything gaming. In the last couple of years, we’ve upped our efforts with both providing 24/7 one-on-one support while also being more proactive on our social media channels so we can foster a closer relationship with you, our users.

Today we’re taking it up a notch by announcing our Discord channel!

Discord needs no introduction as I’m sure you’ll agree. And even though we’re a little late to the party, a lot of us are very familiar with the platform having been part of other channels ourselves which convinced us creating one for XSplit is the way to go.

Inside are some channel-exclusive perks and incentives. One of them is the PTR program which we have completely moved inside. Get to test new features and improvements that are not widely available yet and also help us shape our product updates by working closely with our team through giving feedback and bug reports.

And yes, there are going to be some exciting promos and giveaways only exclusive to members so you’re really gonna be getting a lot by being inside the channel.

Join our Discord at xspl.it/discord and start interacting with us and fellow content creators today. Let the fun begin!

XSplit VCam Holiday Offer

When we released XSplit VCam over a month ago, we’re already quite happy with the product as a whole despite it being in an early state. Even with that, we still didn’t expect the influx of feedback (mostly positive) from you since we released it, which obviously made us happy but also allowed us to keep on working and making the product better. All of this, despite VCam being only available to existing Premium license holders.

Now it’s time to open the gates and let more people in!

VCam Lifetime License & Free Trial Promo

XSplit VCam is more of a utility application which means people are going to be using it with a wide variety of applications. This means purchasing a Premium license just to get access isn’t ideal to some.

We’re removing that restriction by introducing a separate license for XSplit VCam which will allow users who are not using XSplit for streaming, or even those who are not into streaming, to avail it for a reasonable price. And reasonable it is, as starting today, the XSplit VCam Lifetime License will be available with an Early Access offer of $24.95 until January 15, 2019. That’s 50% off!

Buy XSplit VCam

That’s just the first part of the deal and you may be asking “before I pull the trigger and buy, why not give it a try?”. Well, to coincide with the standalone lifetime license sale, we’re offering a free trial to everyone for a limited-time period only. Head on to xsplit.com/vcam and click the “free trial” button to get started.

Time to get creative and have fun!