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Streaming in the UK

Parallax Digital

Parallax Digital

Registered
Joined
Oct 11, 2021
Messages
143
Location
Cramlington
Evening all - taken a bit of leg work to get set up for online recording and streaming but think we are just about there here

I have posted a quick vid link to youtube this evening and would really appreciate a bit of input around the following

Normally the streams on twitch and youtube have audio captured through the webcams, and to be honest .... they often sound a bit noisy..

one option we have is to disable all of the webcam audio inputs and leave the electromechanical sounds out, which is what I have done in the video - the other option is to run another mic for player audio and manage the levels during gameplay with OBS setting

Tried a sanity check with my 14 year old gaming son, and he preferred the non-mechanical audio setup as we had some videos from earlier in the day with full audio - what do you think???

Once we have everything set up, it would be great to get some players from the NE in for some sessions and a chat (clearly with a beer or two) and then I am looking to set up some socials and competitions that are streamed online via twitch/FB/youtube etc

Would have loved for this to have been ready to go last year but things were not to be - battled to get some of Stern's HDMI boards but not to be - now quite happy with the LVDS capture system we have and the direct audio capture - now to get playing

Here is the link to the first video:


Not a fantastic score and the first ball was not what I had expected, but managed to recover.... almost a decent average score but clearly not staged (didn't have time to stage anything)

Cheers

Jeff
 
Parallax Digital said:
Evening all - taken a bit of leg work to get set up for online recording and streaming but think we are just about there here

I have posted a quick vid link to youtube this evening and would really appreciate a bit of input around the following

Normally the streams on twitch and youtube have audio captured through the webcams, and to be honest .... they often sound a bit noisy..

one option we have is to disable all of the webcam audio inputs and leave the electromechanical sounds out, which is what I have done in the video - the other option is to run another mic for player audio and manage the levels during gameplay with OBS setting

Tried a sanity check with my 14 year old gaming son, and he preferred the non-mechanical audio setup as we had some videos from earlier in the day with full audio - what do you think???

Once we have everything set up, it would be great to get some players from the NE in for some sessions and a chat (clearly with a beer or two) and then I am looking to set up some socials and competitions that are streamed online via twitch/FB/youtube etc

Would have loved for this to have been ready to go last year but things were not to be - battled to get some of Stern's HDMI boards but not to be - now quite happy with the LVDS capture system we have and the direct audio capture - now to get playing

Here is the link to the first video:


Not a fantastic score and the first ball was not what I had expected, but managed to recover.... almost a decent average score but clearly not staged (didn't have time to stage anything)

Cheers

Jeff
Click to expand...
It’s interesting to hear how clear the game sounds are as you’ve recorded it- more manufacturers should do this on their reveal streams once codes and modes have been explained as I’m sure it would shift a few music pins. Whilst I like Deadflip stream and his commentary, sometimes you just want to hear the call-outs and music clearly to follow what’s happened in a mode. I’m not far Jeff if you get round to organising a meeting with other local players in the future, cheers. Peter
 
SteadyP said:
It’s interesting to hear how clear the game sounds are as you’ve recorded it- more manufacturers should do this on their reveal streams once codes and modes have been explained as I’m sure it would shift a few music pins. Whilst I like Deadflip stream and his commentary, sometimes you just want to hear the call-outs and music clearly to follow what’s happened in a mode. I’m not far Jeff if you get round to organising a meeting with other local players in the future, cheers. Peter
Click to expand...
Will definitely be getting people together to have a social - cut my teeth in Tynemouth and W Bay arcades repairing pinballs as a teenager so looking forward to getting players together to chat and hear stories
 
SteadyP said:
It’s interesting to hear how clear the game sounds are as you’ve recorded it- more manufacturers should do this on their reveal streams once codes and modes have been explained as I’m sure it would shift a few music pins. Whilst I like Deadflip stream and his commentary, sometimes you just want to hear the call-outs and music clearly to follow what’s happened in a mode. I’m not far Jeff if you get round to organising a meeting with other local players in the future, cheers. Peter
Click to expand...
PS - lot of work has gone into getting that audio - we also have a Mando modified for 2 player bluetooth audio and will get some video of that up next week once I find my Samsung earbuds!!!!!
 
The game audio is good if your just focusing on the pure gameplay but for streaming with buddies n competitions n so on. I much prefer hearing the electromechanical noises, banter people grunting, flipper noises n that. If u get the right mic and set it up right, I’m sure u can make it sound good.
 
Tim (@strobey) has been mixing in direct audio to his streams for.. close to a decade now?

It's a shame he doesn't get more recognition for some of the innovations he brought to pinball streams. I'm pretty sure he was the first I ever saw with a mobile rig too for example

I guess the main downside to such clean/un-mixed audio (and especially for a game like Rush!) is the threat of copyright strikes
 
Parallax Digital said:
Evening all - taken a bit of leg work to get set up for online recording and streaming but think we are just about there here

I have posted a quick vid link to youtube this evening and would really appreciate a bit of input around the following

Normally the streams on twitch and youtube have audio captured through the webcams, and to be honest .... they often sound a bit noisy..

one option we have is to disable all of the webcam audio inputs and leave the electromechanical sounds out, which is what I have done in the video - the other option is to run another mic for player audio and manage the levels during gameplay with OBS setting

Tried a sanity check with my 14 year old gaming son, and he preferred the non-mechanical audio setup as we had some videos from earlier in the day with full audio - what do you think???

Once we have everything set up, it would be great to get some players from the NE in for some sessions and a chat (clearly with a beer or two) and then I am looking to set up some socials and competitions that are streamed online via twitch/FB/youtube etc

Would have loved for this to have been ready to go last year but things were not to be - battled to get some of Stern's HDMI boards but not to be - now quite happy with the LVDS capture system we have and the direct audio capture - now to get playing

Here is the link to the first video:


Not a fantastic score and the first ball was not what I had expected, but managed to recover.... almost a decent average score but clearly not staged (didn't have time to stage anything)

Cheers

Jeff
Click to expand...


It may be just me, but I much prefer this angle for pinball videos. Seems daft to me to have the pf squashed into 1/3 of the screen as that's the bit everyone is watching

 
jonathan said:
It may be just me, but I much prefer this angle for pinball videos. Seems daft to me to have the pf squashed into 1/3 of the screen as that's the bit everyone is watching

Click to expand...

You're not alone.

I understand why nearly all Pinball streams have used this layout, you're left with a lot of dead space on a TV and can show the dmd/display and players in what's left.

My gripe is the overhead pf view, it's too square on and flat. I like seeing the depth of the playfield all of the different levels which aren't obvious when looking at it top down. It feels more real, whereas top down feels unnatural and like a video game.
Unfortunately you're limited by space in the physical world and the screen layout so I understand why pinball streams are the way they are.

Sorry to go off topic 😆
 
David_Vi said:
You're not alone.

I understand why nearly all Pinball streams have used this layout, you're left with a lot of dead space on a TV and can show the dmd/display and players in what's left.

My gripe is the overhead pf view, it's too square on and flat. I like seeing the depth of the playfield all of the different levels which aren't obvious when looking at it top down. It feels more real, whereas top down feels unnatural and like a video game.
Unfortunately you're limited by space in the physical world and the screen layout so I understand why pinball streams are the way they are.

Sorry to go off topic 😆
Click to expand...

I also watch these streams on my phone, and this is the difference in what I see...

50102341-58A0-4745-9E7B-C9C4BE0083D8.jpeg

14DE7BC5-2911-46FE-9692-2882DF39F1B9.jpeg
 
I am with @jonathan , find it better to view portrait videos.

I don't normally watch that much streams. But for watching gameplay videos I will always try and find videos filmed in portrait, certainly better for viewing on tablets and phones. Portrait captures are also really good for watching when you have a vertical desktop monitor set up.

Personally I would find watching a stream filmed in portrait with a voice over would be better.

IMG_20221210_101110627.jpg
 
It ain't easy filming a pinball machine from a sporting perspective (keeping scores, demonstrating rules and plotting the progress through a game) because the table is the wrong shape and the ball moves so quickly.

You have to be really into your gameplay to watch a long broadcast on a static camera. A very good friend of mine works for Sky and is part of the team which films the darts (amongst other things). His first observation when I discussed filming pinball with him was that it's almost impossible to deliver a quality live experience because you'd require a broader angle overview as well as at least 4 cameras to provide close-ups on the playfield.

When they're filming darts there is a scoring director who decides which part of the dartboard to focus on. At it's simplest if a player has 40 points required to win the leg (game) the director knows to zoom in on double 20 . . . . basically the cameraman knows which part of the board is going to be aimed for next.

My mate's first question to me was, "Do you always know which area of the machine the pinball is going to hit next?". I told him in was impossible to know that all of the time so he just said that the director would never be able to keep up on a live broadcast . . . . in essence he told me to stick to a zoomed out elevated view for live broadcasts.

It's really not easy and what Tim does is nothing short of amazing but requires so much time and kit.

I guess the two questions are . . . . How important is the LIVE aspect of the video? If you're happy to upload retrospectively how much time are you prepared to put into an edit to demonstrate the two dimensional view and depth of the ramps etc rather than a static 1D camera?
 
Me playing my RnM (badly) I think even this kind of screen put into the usual vertical overview one of the streamers gives it a little more familiar look to us noobs.

 
All good feedback thanks - will have a play with camera angles and see what can be done - but get the isometric view thing - audio is easy to sort out
 
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