Streamlabs Partners with Intel to Offer Integrated PC Plaforms Optimized for Live Streaming

[dmartin]

I'm pretty sure many of our readers devote part of their time not only to enjoy video games, but also to broadcast their games via YouTube, Twitch, Mixer or some other alternative. Live Streaming has become a phenomenon for users, but also for hardware & software developers. Suddenly a new, juicy cake appears on the market, and everyone wants a piece.

That's precisely what Streamlabs, developer of Streamlabs OBS is announcing. This free broadcasting app offers more options and a faster and easier startup for beginners than the original solution, OBS (Open Broadcast Software). The company has teamed up with Intel to develop PCs specially dedicated to live streaming. They won't be alone, as they've also partnered with Shuttle, SimplyNUC, ZOTAC and Acer. All of them will join forces to offer hardware solutions with Streamlabs OBS (which by the way, is still in beta stage) and various optimizations for this field already pre-installed.



The idea is interesting, especially if, as Streamlabs indicates, these PCs have a certification that validates that they are optimized to be able to broadcast these games live and without problems. In the official announcement Streamlabs states that it is working with Intel to optimize the Quick-Sync video encoder for "automatically import optimal settings to provide quality bit-rate, audio, resolution and FPS.

The first devices developed under this initiative - including an Acer concept team - are expected to be announced during TwitchCon 2018, the event that will take place from October 26-28 in San Jose. Very soon we will be able to check therefore if these new equipments fulfill their promise, something that without a doubt would raise an interesting alternative for users who want to avoid problems at the time of starting up their channels in Twitch.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[dorsetknob]

Live Streaming has become a phenomenon for users, but also for hardware & software developers. Suddenly a new, juicy cake appears on the market, and everyone wants a piece.

with Revenue from loot boxes under threat expect the usual parties to attempt to extract a broadcast/streaming license

Got to sip at this new Trough

 

[hat]

Oh, what a surprise, it uses QuickSync! Same thing I've been telling streamers (who use Intel hardware) forever... With QuickSync, the otherwise unused IGP picks up the load from the video encoding that comes with streaming, leaving the CPU alone. Users of AMD chips like the 2400g can probably do the same with their IGP, but their higher performance chips don't have an IGP... but they have enough cores/treads for a cheaper price where it wouldn't really matter. QuickSync, though, was (or had the potential to be) a good thing for streamers with Intel quads for years.

 

[eidairaman1]

Oh, what a surprise, it uses QuickSync! Same thing I've been telling streamers (who use Intel hardware) forever... With QuickSync, the otherwise unused IGP picks up the load from the video encoding that comes with streaming, leaving the CPU alone. Users of AMD chips like the 2400g can probably do the same with their IGP, but their higher performance chips don't have an IGP... but they have enough cores/treads for a cheaper price where it wouldn't really matter. QuickSync, though, was (or had the potential to be) a good thing for streamers with Intel quads for years.

That small case is typically a lower budget platform anyway which the AMD APUs would be useful in.

 

[hat]

Probably, but the mention of QuickSync triggered that comment from me. With Intel putting IGPs in all their MSDT CPUs, QuickSync is a viable option even all the way up to the 9900k. If I were streaming and I had a 9900k I'd probably use it myself... even though the 9900k has plenty of cores/threads to handle software encoding on top of running any game.

 

[HisDivineOrder]

Last I heard, Quicksync looks like garbage at lower bitrates like what most streamers will be using with Twitch.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

What this seems to be targeted towards is the ignorant noob. What it really is, is a cash grab to prey on innocent streamers that will soon think this is a critical item just to be able to stream. The modded OBS by streamlabs is a shitshow, forgive the pun, since it doesnt get updated as it should. Some streamers I regularly talk to, would rather use anything else than OBS, but since Twitch has a hand in this, well.... /roll d20.

 

[Ruru]

What this seems to be targeted towards is the ignorant noob. What it really is, is a cash grab to prey on innocent streamers that will soon think this is a critical item just to be able to stream. The modded OBS by streamlabs is a shitshow, forgive the pun, since it doesnt get updated as it should. Some streamers I regularly talk to, would rather use anything else than OBS, but since Twitch has a hand in this, well.... /roll d20.

I don't see the hate, I have no problems with Streamlabs OBS.

 

[hat]

Last I heard, Quicksync looks like garbage at lower bitrates like what most streamers will be using with Twitch.

While true that Quicksync has a lower quality/bitrate level, it has evolved a good deal from its initial iteration (with Sandy Bridge). Also, this isn't 2010 anymore, and most users can afford to throw a little more bitrate. I used to stream emulated Playstation games (with ePSXe) back in the day with 512k upload speed. I also had a much weaker rig at the time. Still, my stuff looked pretty damn good for what it was anyway, and nobody complained about shitty quality. Granted, I didn't use QuickSync then, but I also have literally 20x the upload bandwidth I did back then. Today, I'm sure I could produce more than acceptable results if I had Kaby Lake or higher (HD 630 is still the latest iteration of Intel graphics, Kaby Lake and up) with a relatively modest bitrate of 2500 I'm guessing...

Besides, we're talking about streaming games here, not ripping a blu-ray (or even DVDs) to a Plex server or something. If that were the case, software HEVC all the way for me, with very slow settings and even slower filters when necessary.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I don't see the hate, I have no problems with Streamlabs OBS.

LOL says 1 person out of thousands of others.

"Glad YOU dont"