advice

Troubleshooting Network Lag in Your Twitch, Mixer, or YouTube Live Streams

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Of all the calamities that can occur on stream, lag is one of the most common and most annoying to wrestle with. There are many potential reasons for why lag occurs, all of which require different sets of solutions.

Though I plan on covering all three major sources of lag, we’re going to cover just network lag in this guide. The post got incredibly long just covering the ways one can troubleshoot their networking difficulties, so we’ll focus on that. If your stream is suffering from network lag, try out some of these tips!

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Early Observations and Lessons Learned from Giving Control of My Twitch Stream to Viewers Through Channel Points

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“Ew… No.”

There I stood, alone in my soul, but in front of everyone at the Stardew Valley spring dance. After weeks of courting, the love of my life Haley viciously rejects my proposal to be her dance partner. In my silence, I could hear that a viewer had triggered the air horn. Usually meant as a noise of celebration, its presence only amplified the awkwardness.

Distraught in real life, I fall off my chair and into the fetal position. Unbeknownst to me, someone in the chat cashed in their Channel Points to activate the new Snorlax Cam. Normally, this is used to take a peek at my giant Snorlax bean bag chair when he’s not clearly in view. This time, it was being used to zoom in on me at my most vulnerable.

This was…not part of the plan. And that might be for the better?

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How to Let Viewers Control Your Stream Through Twitch Channel Point Rewards, Bits, Subs, and Chat Commands Using LioranBoard

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Create engagement and extend watch time by giving your viewers some control over your stream. Through activities such as subs, Bits, and Channel Points, it’s possible for these events to trigger scene changes, new camera angles, sound effects, animations, or even turn off the stream!

(Watch an example of viewers blasting my air horn on stream!)

Admittedly, initial setup and ongoing configuration can be a pain. However, the effort is worth it, as it unlocks a whole new level of interactivity on your stream. Follow this guide and give the people what they want!

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Improve Your Webcam Image Quality with LUTs in OBS and Streamlabs OBS

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At this point, we’re all familiar with image filters in social media apps such as Instagram. But did you know that streaming software such as OBS and Streamlabs OBS can do filters too? With the power of LUTs, you can apply filters to your image to improve the quality or create a dramatic effect. It might even save you the cost of buying a better camera. Here’s how!

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5 Mistakes I Made as a Twitch Streamer (And How You Can Avoid Them)

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Streaming for the past few years has taught me that it’s basically impossible for one to be a natural streamer. Being good at it requires one to possess skills in a myriad of otherwise-disparate disciplines, from video production, audio production, public speaking, marketing, and more. Furthermore, there’s a bunch of weird skills that you’re not going to develop until you go live. Heck, the actual part where you play video games is but a small part of the discipline.

Because of this, making mistakes is inevitable. Lord knows I’ve made many. It might be embarrassing in the moment, but what’s important are the lessons learned from those experiences and how you recover going forward. Here’s are just a fraction of the mistakes I made and how you can address them faster than I did.

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The Pros and Cons of Becoming a Twitch Affiliate

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For many Twitch streamers, attaining Affiliate status is a major milestone. It allows streamers to generate revenue from Twitch’s built-in tools while also acting as status symbol. You don’t have to browse very far in the world of gaming social media to find streamers that prominently display the title in their profiles. Heck, reaching that level was so important to me at one point that I went down a depressive spiral during my quest.

When the invite to join Twitch Affiliate finally came in, I pounced on it. But is that the right move for everyone? Probably not. Though I’m no longer weighed down by the stress of not having Twitch Affiliate, having the status hasn’t magically transformed me into a better or more important creator. It’s also limited my options in a few key ways. Here are some things you should know before you accept the deal.

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3 Tips to Improve Your Logitech C920 and Logitech BRIO Image Quality

Jett22 Comments

[UPDATE: Seeing a lot of confusion in the comments regarding where I toggle the settings. I use these cameras with my OBS setup, so I make all the changes within OBS. If you’re not using OBS, you can try Logitech’s webcam software. Admittedly, my experience with Logitech’s software is awful and I quickly deleted it when it wouldn’t give me the level of control I needed. However, if you’re not using your camera within the context of streaming or video recording, it might be your only option.]

The Logitech C920 is a great starter webcam. The Logitech BRIO is arguably the best webcam on the market. Even so, I noticed issues with my image with regards to my skin looking washed out and my overall image looking a bit grainy.

Turns out that both of those issues can be fixed by getting more hands-on with the camera’s settings. In case you’re looking to squeeze more out of your Logitech webcams, check out these tips!

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I tried streaming on Mixer. Here are my notes.

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Wanting to be taken more seriously in the world of streaming, Mixer sent shockwaves throughout the industry by getting the exclusive rights for streaming’s biggest star. The platform still has a lot of work to do before truly becoming a rival to the likes of Twitch and YouTube, but moves like the Ninja signing have gone a long way towards building name recognition. At the very least, when people discuss streaming platforms, Mixer is usually mentioned on that list as an equal.

Recently, I streamed on Mixer as part of a stability test for my ISP. Because I was having issues streaming to Twitch and YouTube, they wanted me to try Mixer in hopes that they could isolate my network issues to something relating to RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol). Twitch and YouTube use RTMP, while Mixer uses their propriety FTL (Faster Than Light) technology. Here are my notes from that experience.

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Even More Posts About Streaming! #BloggersWhoStream

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[This post is part of a blogging collaboration by Later Levels and Hundstrasse called #BloggersWhoStream. Make sure to give them both credit and follow the hashtag on Twitter for more posts from the community!]

My efforts for #BloggersWhoStream are technically wrapping up today. However, writing about streaming is something that I have a deep passion for. I write posts about the subject on most Fridays and I’ll continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

If you enjoyed my work this week and wanted more, here’s a handy post that compiles links to a number of my previous efforts. Give it a look and I hope you enjoy!

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The Writer’s Advantage: Using Your Writing Experience to Stand Out in a Streaming World #BloggersWhoStream

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[This post is part of a blogging collaboration by Later Levels and Hundstrasse called #BloggersWhoStream. Make sure to give them both credit and follow the hashtag on Twitter for more posts from the community!]

As a writer with ambitions of streaming, it’s easy to feel like you’re at a disadvantage. In a number of ways, you probably are. While you’re comfortable communicating your words through a keyboard, streaming requires you to learn a number of new technologies that you likely have little-to-no experience with. Even scarier is the thought of communicating through a camera and microphone with your voice, facial expressions, and body language. Oh yeah, and everyone will be judging how you look. Are you ready for your closeup?

Millions of other streamers have already figured out their tech and have no qualms with pointing a camera at their face. Is it too late for you as a writer to follow suit? Absolutely not. Even if the tech gives you plenty of headaches and you may forever be camera shy, your writing experience gives you a distinct advantage over many others in the space. Let me explain.

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