Elgato

Elgato Streamdeck Support Under Linux Is Now A Thing Thanks To Open Source Project

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I have an Elgato Streamdeck that I use for my livestreams, and for what I use it for it can be quite useful. Unfortunately I mostly use linux now, and devices like this don’t really have much support, that is until now.

  • Linux Compatible: Enables usage of all Stream Deck devices on Linux without needing to code.
  • Multi-device: Enables connecting and configuring multiple Stream Deck devices on one computer.
  • Brightness Control: Supports controlling the brightness from both the configuration UI and buttons on the device itself.
  • Configurable Button Display: Icons + Text, Icon Only, and Text Only configurable per button on the Stream Deck.
  • Multi-Action Support: Run commands, write text and press hotkey combinations at the press of a single button on your Stream Deck.
  • Button Pages: streamdeck_ui supports multiple pages of buttons and dynamically setting up buttons to switch between those pages.
  • Auto Reconnect: Automatically and gracefully reconnects, in the case the device is unplugged and replugged in.
  • Import/Export: Supports saving and restoring Stream Deck configuration.

Even the features are friggen stellar. Between this and vaapi making it possible to record directly from my GPU in OBS I’ll have to look into doing some linux livestreams. I’ve been waiting for something like this to materialize for quite awhile now, and it’ll be nice to have programmable macro device under Linux again.

 

The Stream Deck Be Mine, Yo.

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Nendoroid Not Included

The hardest part was trying to get it out of the mail box, the compartment my parcel was being stored in has a dirty or rusted lock. Had to use some WD40 and elbow grease to claim my new prized possession. I have it all set up for a future stream, those are my scenes and I also have a soundboard I put together. I’ll be adding more profiles and filling more buttons as the need rises. Unfortunately at this time there isn’t much support on the Linux side… But I have seen a toolkit developed for anyone else who has an interest in making this work in a Tux friendly environment. Until then this will have to be a Windows exclusive device. I would of liked to have done a stream today, but I was hella tired. I set this up, played Fallout 4 and at some point woke up in bed when I smelled dinner. Today was a rough day…

You can use this for more than just streaming too. I plan on programming it to use Shotcut keyboard shortcuts to make things a bit easier while editing, and perhaps make a default profile that launches programs. Between this and my G510 I’ll have macros for days. I’d like to do another stream soon, though tomorrow I won’t have much time. If I do stream it’ll definitely be a surprise to everyone including me.

SHINY BUTTONS!!!

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One of the things on my personal streaming wishlist has been an Elgato Streamdeck; a device with programmable LCD buttons that allows you to execute whatever you want with the press of a button AND giving it an icon of its own which can be helpful if you forget what your binds are. One of the nice things about these is the abillity to use it with your favorite software, you can use it with Elgato’s own capture software (assuming you own one of their capture devices) or you can use them with XSplit, OBS, etc.

They recently released a miniature version of their regular stream deck, with the difference being that it only comes with six buttons and it’ll cost only $100… or you could spend about another $40 to obtain all of the other buttons. Of course if you don’t want ALL OF THE BUTTONS and are living on the cheap I could see this as a tantalizing option.

Of course, I keep telling myself that I need to stream more before investing in such a device. :v:

Late Night Open Thread

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Twas a long work day. Came home and I was too tired to play anything with puzzles so laid off of Obduction for the time being, which seems to be a fine choice since Cyan has uploaded some hotfixes to hopefully improve the game. Though at this point I don’t know what’s more entertaining, the game itself or the people who are getting pissy trying to run the game on inferior hardware? Some of the people at the Cyan forums who are complaining that they won’t fund another project after backing a game that won’t run on their old hardware are really out of touch. You had 3 years to come up with something to run the game, and you choose to run the game on your toaster mac and act all surprised when it doesn’t work. Amazing! It’s almost like Apple markets outdated hardware at ungodly prices to make people believe it’s still relevant… oh wait.

I have fine tuned my OBS Multiplatform setup, have the Elgato running through it rendering with the codec for my GPU. When I go to start Obduction with a new save I should be ready, assuming the memory leaks are dealt with by the time I pick it up again. In the meantime I tested with Skyrim of course, and the CPU barely moved. Framerate was literally the same recording or not, and I don’t have to worry about audio latency. I see OBS Multi has an option too for streaming and doing a local copy (with more advanced features than Elgato’s setup), so I’ll have to test that when I find time to livestream.

What I’ve learned about the Elgato HD60 Pro

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elgato2

The Elgato HD60 Pro has been a bit of a learning curve. One of the reasons I haven’t been posting lately is due to my desire to get the best stream/recording combo up and running, and believe me when I say there have been some bugs that needed a good thwarting.

One issue I ran into prevented me from recording if I had flashback mode disabled. At first I thought it had to do with how I had the Elgato plugged into my GPU, when the entire time it was actually my audio.

xfi

I have a Creative XFi sound card with a ton of plugin options, and I noticed the software seemed a bit confused when it came to establishing which port was ok and what wasn’t. So I disabled everything but what I intended to use and all of a sudden the program started to let me record.

However my worries weren’t laid to rest as I encountered yet another bug was discovered while recording. The audio would have frequent skips throughout the final mp4 as though there was a buffering problem. After more intense experimentation I found a solution, record the game audio separately from the video. This gives me three different files:

  • The Mp4 file
  • Commentary Audio (if needed)
  • Game Audio

For some reason recording separately vs mixed streams outputs a better quality result. Which I’m ok with since I can just compile the footage in premiere anyway as well as tweak each audio file to my liking if needed.

However…

After about 18 to 20 minutes in the video will suddenly have video/audio latency issues that cannot be fixed. So what I have to do is record in increments of about 15 minutes to play it safe, which honestly isn’t that big of a deal to me. In FRAPS and even in OBS I’ve always stopped and started to make shorter files as an old habit. If I have to continue this practice I don’t see a reason to rage.

Now onto streaming. Twitch has been rather fickle, but that’s before I even bought the card. YouTube on the other hand has been really seamless, whatever I throw at it will stick. I streamed Dead Island while recording a local copy with zero framerate loss. The only problem I had was when I went to stop and start recording the game capture HD program didn’t want to behave, but that seemed to be related to Dead Island from what I can tell, as I tried to interact with other applications on my 2nd monitor and it outright refused until I brought up my task manager (revealing an adorable Stewie Kitten on live stream to my audience of 1).

I think I finally have it figured out enough to get started on proper recording again. If things continue to go smoothly I’ll do a YouTube video review of the hardware and address on the issues I’ve had to lick, on the chance that someone might be in a similar position with audio issues.

Open Thread at the witching hour

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Alright, I’m feeling well enough to post again. Felt kinda bleh in one form or another but hopefully it’s all passed.

Been experimenting with video streaming with the Elgato HD60 Pro to Twitch. My first run with it the other day was a little strange when my stream kept randomly traveling at the speed of cocaine, but tonight it went a bit smoother. Think I need to bump up the bitrate though to make it look a little more crisp. Also did a local recording at the same time the stream took place, no problems.

I’ll also be looking into YouTube streaming soon. It requires a phone number but that’s ok, I’ll be obtaining a flip phone that’ll do the job among other things. Honestly I would prefer to do my public streaming on Twitch, but YouTube seems to have a better setup. They don’t require Adobe Flash, you can stream at 60fps if your bandwidth can handle it, Twitch requires you to be partnered to always get good bandwidth while YouTube will take whatever bitrate you throw at them and the list goes on… I really wish Amazon would pay more attention to the streaming market, they’ve owned twitch for awhile now and it would be really nice if they offered better competition with YouTube/Google.

The Elgato has arrived!

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I’ve been playing with my new capture card since yesterday, it came a few days early! I finally have it all dialed in.

Elgato

The software isn’t that difficult to use, if you’re familiar to OBS there will be some similarities. I think the bigger problem I had was figuring out what inputs to use since I have multiple options, mainly trying to get mumble chat into the recordings. I finally perfected it tonight. Now I can simultaneously stream and record footage at the same time. Works perfectly for what I want. I’ve been testing it with all kinds of games. From Skyrim to TF2 to Hard Reset Redux to Solus Project, it handles it all without stealing any of my framerate so I can record/broadcast and enjoy my game at the same time. It was never really bad with Skyrim, but sometimes with the other games OBS was a little more demanding. That and I always had to choose between streaming and recording. While I could do both it would make me lag considerably even on good hardware.

It was nice running a UE4 game and doing a capture without worrying about a performance decrease. I think when Obduction comes out I’ll be able to capture my finest moments of stupidity in glorious 1080p 60FPS for all to cry at. 😀

In pursuit of a streaming device

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I’ve been getting more interested in streaming lately. My main problem though is that I want to Stream at one setup while recording a master copy at the same time in a higher framerate, and I don’t want to have two instances of OBS running, especially if the game is really GPU intensive. So I’ve been entertaining the idea of getting some external device so that I can record/stream at the same time while throwing all of my CPU/GPU power towards gaming… Hooray!

So I’ve been looking at a bunch of devices from companies like Elgato, Hauupauge, Pyle, Matrox, etc. The Matrox Monarch HD looked pretty nice, but with that I could only stream one source at a time. So far the Elgato HD60 pro looks to be up my alley, and the reviews I’ve been reading about them seem quite promising. I’m thinking after I do some more research I may purchase one. Then people can see how horrible I am at all kinds of games, at 1080p 60FPS!