Some months ago, the article’s author started to follow the girls’ streams on the Twitch platform. They played games and shared exciting ideas. I decided to discover where they lived. My first thought was Romania, but one of them mentioned the Ukrainian city. They lived in Ukraine, but the platform didn’t have local servers. And I asked myself how I would choose the server for streaming.
Some facts about Twitch
Table of Contents
Twitch is an American commercial streaming service. It has the functionality of Youtube, but it has a narrower specialization. This platform attracts gamers and Esports fans from worldwide. The teams and individual gamers have their pages there. This platform added educational and entertainment modules after the pandemic too. Some participants release charity programs to make the world softer. Shortly, each respective brand keeps some audience on this platform.
The advantages are:
- Strict moderation and intolerance of illegal content:
- 75% of users are energetic young people;
- The possibility of rewatching the complete long broadcasts and thematic videos.
Some countries like China banned the platform on their territory. Arabic countries restrict its use according to their religious beliefs.
Choosing the server
As Twitch is based on video streaming, it needs a powerful dedicated solution in the nearest location. In the alternative case, the users will annoy by misbalances. Even powerful equipment suffers from a significant number of viewers.
The video is impossible without the 3D rendering of virtual reality. These calculations require excessive power. Any shared or virtual private servers lose comparing the dedicated one as the latter category doesn’t have the hypervisor allocating the resources between clients.
The second factor is the closest geographical server location to your natural position. Ideally, the servers must be located in your country or region, but there may be some problems. For example, the platform doesn’t have servers in Russia, so the local gamers should choose the foreign one. Here impacts the factor of confrontation with Ukraine. The EU countries may limit or refuse the connection due to that. Some regions may require VPN to use the full functionality of the service. The specialized software Obs Studio or Obs Classic helps to choose the optimal case.
Don’t forget about the ping checkers like JTVping. Others, like Ping-admin, inform their customers about server accessibility worldwide. The IP checkers are a valuable solution because they estimate the environment’s safety. Current status and technical parameters are available on the Twitchstatus.com portal.
How to deal with the OBS Studio
Now we’ll explain how to exploit the software for searching the servers.
- First, install it from the official website by choosing the supported platforms. These are Windows, Mac, and Linux. The computer will ask whether you want to save or run the installer. Choose the required option. Downloading from the warez sites may be dangerous because of the risks of spam or hacking attempts. Further, please find it in the installed programs list.
- The next step is to link Twitch and the program. Log in under your account on Twitch and open the dropdown menu on the top-right edge. Identify the Dashboard line.
- Then select the Stream key option and click the purple option button Show the stream key. Read and confirm the warning to replace the long row of random letters and numbers of the demanded combination.
- Highlight it with the mouse and copy it using the keyboard combination or right-clicking the mouse.
- Launch the OBS Studio, click the Settings in the top-right screen corner, or call it via the File tab.
- There will be a menu on the left side. Streaming is the selection. It leads to a Service pull-down list. Twitch is among them.
- In that list, take the Server direction and choose the geographical sector closer to your location. That guarantees a stable connection. Insertion of the stream key is the final step.
This software accepts the signal from various consoles to make the stream more engaging. Xbox, Nintendo isn’t the problem. It will help to stream the personal channel using the footage and microphone.
The OBS Classic software is similar to the Studio solution. There may be only some design or tab differences. The algorithm is the same.
This software allows the user to play with the stream. It can install the background image from the computer library or Internet resources. The image size is 1920×1080 per default. The streamer needs to change the image size to full high definition. Otherwise, it may be noticeable on the resoluble monitors.
Gameplay footage in the program
Our portal considers this topic more difficult to understand, so the team decided to stop being more detailed there. Catch the instructions. Prepare the capture card for this procedure using the console or external source.
- Reconnect the console’s HDMI cable from the TV to the capture card. The latter joints PC or laptop via USB.
- Turn the console on.
- Click the program workspace and choose the Video Capture device in the add menu.
- Create the descriptive layer’s name.
- Choose the capture device from the dropdown menu. Confirm with OK.
Last word
The described system is enough if you stream for a small audience. Soon your viewers will share the link, and you’ll need more resources. It’s a reason to rent a dedicated server for video streaming. Choose one of the specialized companies providing the equipment for Twitch.
