XSplit Blog

Oct 11 9.59 pm UTC+8

Update: We have a fix!

A new version 1.3.1310.1103 RC of XSplit Broadcaster is available. This update resolves the previously listed issues with Title source and Image Slideshow source affecting users who have updated Flash player to v 11.9

Have a nice weekend

The XSplit team

Tech Advisory: Flash Player 11.9 may break Title sources, etc.

XSplit Broadcaster makes use of Adobe Flash Player to render extension sources such as Title source, Image Slideshow source and Whiteboard source. If Flash is not detected when installing XSplit, the XSplit installer installs Flash 10.3 on the computer, but if Flash is detected, XSplit makes use of whatever Flash is already in the users system.

Adobe just released version 11.9 of Flash player for Internet Explorer and this update breaks the full functionality of these extension components on Windows 7. We are still trying to find out why, so we can make a workaround in a coming update of XSplit Broadcaster 1.3 and later versions, but this is not going to help those good people out there who have already upgraded to 11.9.

If you are on Windows 7 and have allowed Flash to upgrade to 11.9 you are likely affected. As a solution to quickly help users we have made a Flash downgrader to downgrade Flash from 11.9 to 11.8 on Windows 7 machines.

How do I check if I have Flash 11.9

Launch Internet Explorer (NOT Chrome and NOT Firefox) and go to www.adobe.com/software/flash/about. This site will show you the Flash player version you have installed.

How do I know for sure if I am affected?

Try to add a title to a scene in XSplit and make the text scrolling – if it works then you are not affected, but if the source is invisible then (well you know what that means). Demo.

How do I fix the problem?

Download our custom downgrader here: click to download

This downgrader will only work on Windows 7 and only if you have Flash 11.9 installed. Run the downgrader and follow the steps in the instructions screens.

Note: In the end you may be prompted if you will allow Flash to auto update – MAKE SURE TO NOT ALLOW FLASH TO AUTO UPDATE WITHOUT YOUR APPROVAL.

This issue is as far as we know is not present on Windows 8. We’re gathering as much data as we can, before filing a report with Adobe. We currently foresee this may affect many types of applications, not just XSplit.

This entry shows you how to use the Bandwidth Tester.

1. Go to Broadcast menu & Right Click the Specific Channel to which you Wish to
Test your Data-rate
 
When you right click a channel, the settings dialog will pop up. This corresponds to the action
Broadcast – > Edit Channels – > select and press the edit button.
 
(So now you know the shortcut. 🙂 )
 
2. Click ‘Test Bandwidth’ in the Settings Dialog
 
In the settings dialog, click the ‘Test Bandwidth” button to start the bandwidth
test which will run for approximately 45 seconds.
 
How the Bandwidth Tester Works and Why you Should Always Use it?
 
Correction: The bandwidth tester also take dropped frames into account, but some slight adjustments may still be needed.
 
Even if you may have a huge general upload bandwidth assigned by your Internet Service Provider, you have absolutely no guarantee of the data-rate (bandwidth) you can maintain to a particular target server. That is why general bandwidth testers are next to useless if you need to make sure you can maintain a particular data-rate to a particular server.
 
The XSplit bandwidth tester reads the configuration of your streaming settings, and more specifically your video max bitrate (MBR) setting and your audio bitrate (ABR) setting. Based on those settings, the bandwidth tester will try to maintain a stream of constant MBR + ABR to your target server. This is why the XSplit bandwidth tester is reliable (and any other method is next to useless).
 
If your video bitrate setting is generally low (<500 kbps) then you will often find that the bandwidth tester overshoots the target by a small margin and if your bitrate setting is equally high (>2000 kbps) then you may find that the tester slightly undershoots the target of MBR + ABR (don’t ask why).
 
If more than 2 bandwidth readings fall into below 96% of the target bandwidth test, the tester will respond with RED signal and suggest a lower bandwidth setting or alternatively to redo the test. If one reading falls below 96% and/or 2 or more readings fall below 97% but above 96% of the target bandwidth, the tester will respond with a YELLOW signal indicating that the bandwidth is probably sufficient but will still recommend to redo the test. If all bandwidth readings are above 97% of the target bandwidth then the bandwidth tester will respond with a GREEN signal indicating that you are good to go for now! (But remember that it just may be different tomorrow. 🙂 )
 
Please note: During the testing, XSplit will automatically set the frame rate to a maximum of 30 fps which is the maximum recommended frame rate for live streaming. This is to ensure an absolute constant frame rate can be maintained which is required to achieve accurate test results. You should be aware that the actual scene which was active when you started the bandwidth test will be streamed to your target.

Resources (required)

• Firmware (v. 13+ required)
• Driver (v. 22+ required)

Update: AVerMedia H264 encoding support is available to all licensed users including both Personal and Premium users.

Use as capture filter

Select File – > Add camera… -> “Avermedia Capture HD C985 Bus [X]” will add capture source to the XSplit stage.

The capture will attain the default resolution of the capture source and will be scaled in D3D as needed on the XSplit stage.

Audio Input source is default HDMI. If line in audio is used crossbar settings must be changed.  Right click on source -> “Configure” -> Crossbar

Except in the above case , there should never be a need to change or handle any settings directly form filter dialogs (but these are still available via Source Properties dialog (Right click on source -> “Configure”)

All camera sources in XSplit are “Global” this means that the same source can be added multiple times and different effect added to each. When a C985 source exists in one scene and a new copy is added to the same scene or another, this will not affect the running capture graph. Any DS settings made for one of the duplicate source will affect all.

When multiple duplicates are added each can be removed with no effect on others. Only when the last duplicate is removed will this stop graph and remove the internal reference.

AVerMedia Capture HD C985 only supports either capture or encoding. If capture filter is added to stage while encoding is ongoing, the capture source will show “Camera is not available”. Once encoding is stopped capture filter will be shown properly again.

If you have multiple C985 cards, then it is possible to capture with one card and then XSplit will automatically use the other card for encoding.

Use as encoder

Each broadcast plugin will have the option to select codec. X264 is default and the only option if no C985 is installed.

If card is attached and enabled, an option to select “AVerMedia H.264 Encoder” should appear on the plugin’s “Codec” select field.

If “AVerMedia H.264 Encoder” is selected, bitrate, resolution, and frame rate follows these rules

• Supported bitrate value is from 1000-15000kbps.
• Supported resolutions and max FPS are as follows:
  • 576×360** 60fps
  • 640×360** 60fps
  • 640×480 60fps
  • 720×480 60fps
  • 720×576 50fps
  • 768×480 60fps
  • 800×600** 60fps
  • 848×480 60fps
  • 1024×768 60fps
  • 1280×720 60fps
  • 1280×768 60fps
  • 1280×800 60fps
  • 1280×1024 30fps
  • 1360×768 50fps
  • 1440×900** 30fps
  • 1680×1050** 30fps
  •  1920×1080** 30fps

**For these resolutions, actual output file height is padded to the closest value divisible by 16. For example 800×600 -> 800×608, padding will appear as black pixels at the bottom of the video.

• Bitrate restriction is applied when editing the channel settings, so channel can only be saved if bitrate value falls within the supported range
• Resolution restriction can also be seen in the channel settings, only the supported resolutions are listed under the channel’s “Resolution” field. Channel’s “Resolution” field normally contains all items found in the View à Resolution menu

When encoding is started…

If channel is set to use “Default Stage Resolution” and the current stage resolution is not among the supported resolutions list, the lowest supported resolution which can contain the current stage resolution will be used. If nothing can contain the current stage resolution, the highest supported resolution will be used.

If the final resolution to be used for encoding is not the same size as the current stage resolution, whether “Default Stage Resolution” is selected in channel settings or not, a notice box will appear

If the current stage frame rate (View >> Frame rate) is higher than the max FPS allowed for the final resolution to be used for encoding, the max FPS will be used. No notice about FPS adjustment will be shown

If card was not detected (removed or disabled), default codec will be used (no prompt or notice to the user)

If card was detected but encoder fails to initialize…

• …if the capture filter is detected on any scene, a message box will prompt the user if he restart the stream using the default codec.

Default prompt text:  AVerMedia H.264 Encoder does not support encoding while AVerMedia Capture HD C985 capture source is used in any scenes. Would you like to switch to the default x264 codec?

• …if the capture filter is not detected on any scene a notice box will appear informing the user to ensure that encoder is available and capture filter is not added on any scene

Sample notice text: Your Local Recording stream was terminated. Ensure that AVerMedia Capture HD C985 capture or encoder functions are not used by another application.

• …if the encoder is already being used by any broadcast channel, a notice will appear

Sample notice text: Your Local Recording stream was terminated. AVerMedia H.264 Encoder is already being used for streaming in your Custom RTMP channel.

Note that if you have multiple AVerMedia Capture HD C985 cards, then encoder will use any of available card for encoding, so encoding will still succeed even if some cards were disabled or some cards were being used for capturing.

Last updated: June 28, 2015

The desire to have portable computers that can last long on a single charge while also being able to periodically deliver high performance, have lead chip manufacturers to come up with ways to intelligently switch between power-saving and high performance modes. One way is to turn off the gpu when it’s not needed and instead rely on a basic and simpler gpu that is integrated on the cpu. Through drivers these computers are able to switch between two different gpus on the fly, without any interruption. Many modern notebooks and laptops have this system built-in and it affects how software like XSplit performs.

Before we get into the details, let’s list some definitions.

Definitions/facts:

• iGPU – Integrated GPU (aka IGP – Integrated Graphics Processor), used for basic Windows desktop rendering to conserve power.
• dGPU – Discrete GPU, for high performance, often times used for games.
• Applications can run off either the iGPU or the dGPU. This is controlled in the gpu driver software.

Nvidia Optimus

On all NVidia Optimus enabled laptops, XSplit is pre-programmed to start on dGPU since V2 release, and as a result most users should see improved performance in Gamesource capture from DirectX games. With recent improvements in XSplit V2.1 + screen capture should now also work as expected in this configuration. 

AMD Enduro

Recommended settings:

Make sure to you run XSplit on iGPU. XSplit makes extensive use of shared Direct3D surfaces in its rendering engine. Since Enduro does not support shared surfaces on dGPU, XSplit will NOT run on dGPU.

If using XSplit Broadcaster, Screen Capture may be used as good alternative for Gamecapture for game running in Windowed mode. Due to the lack of support for d3d shared surfaces screen capture will usually work better on laptops with AMD graphics. XSplit Gamecaster only uses Gamecapture for both PC games and games running via the built in console viewer and there is no alternative available. 

Background:

AMD’s Dynamic Switchable Graphics (Enduro) is, according to our testing, not fully compatible with the full Direct3D API, hereunder specifically the use of shared surfaces. The competing Optimus technology from Nvidia works as long as applications only use shared surfaces either on dGPU or iGPU, but with Enduro and the latest Catalyst driver we have tested as of March 2013, the driver fails to work with Direct3D shared surface handles for any Direct3D device created on dGPU. We have created this bug rapport with AMD here changed  (https://community.amd.com/message/1288804).

Update June 28, 2015: As far as we are aware, there has not been any progress made by AMD on the support of shared surfaces in AMD drivers. Recent tests on laptops with Intel CPU and AMD mobile graphics still show the same issue. Until the mentioned issue is resolved, laptops with Nvidia Graphics will continue to have considerable better performance with XSplit.

Twitch Web Authentication is a means of simplifying the setup of your broadcast. With web authentication you no longer have to worry about logging into your Twitch account and having to locate your stream key. Now you just have to login to your Twitch account in XSplit products.

When the user opens the Ingest location combo box, a ping statistic is shown and updated continuously for each of the Ingest locations. Three values are reported:

a) “Last” The last measured and recorded ping round trip time

b) “Avg” The average of the total samples recorded since the combo box was opened (up to the last 100 samples)

c) “Jitter” The statistical variance of all previous samples (up to the last 100 samples)

In short: Less is better. Green is good, yellow is less good, and red should be avoided. Be sure to check your ingest location if your viewers experience lag or if you can’t achieve the upload rate you are used to. Streaming service providers can’t guarantee constant latency due to the complex nature of handling many multiple connections to their servers.

Server latency is important for real time video streaming and also important for bandwidth throughput on TCP based networks. Jitter shows the packet delay variation which is computed based on the previous ping samples using standard deviation formula. Large variations in transit time should also be avoided if possible.

This tester helps to determine the optimal ingest location at any given time. No automatic selection mode is currently implemented, so it is up to the users to select an ingest location that has a low ping and not too big Jitter. In the future it is possible that XSplit will implement an auto mode to automatically quantify the best ingest location when a stream is started. If so then such efforts will be implemented as a collaborative effort with the streaming service providers.

Color metric for ‘Last’ and ‘Avg’:
Green: value < 100ms
Yellow : 100ms <= value < 200ms
Red: 200ms <= value

Color metric for Jitter:
Green: value < 10ms
Yellow: 10ms <= value < 20ms
Red: 20ms <= value

Acknowledgement: Thanks to Richard Stanway (aka R1CH) for the inspiration to built this feature into XSplit.