For some years I’ve done local lanparties here in my little 1 million population country. There has been somewhere around 150 participants, we have played some older and newer games and it has been fun.

Last year i also did some streaming for event’s tournament (in estonian language) and got surprisingly quite few people watching. I got some feedback saying that it’s pretty fun and all that but there is something missing, it lacks a little bit of that „live“ effect. Unfortunately I’dont have much time to play these days, but I really want to do something extra for local community this year to add a little excitement.

So the plan I want to realize is like this:

Up to 2-3 cameras in sync with eachother, one of them totally wireless with video and sound. Commentary table with 2 mics, lavalier or headworn type which could be used in the schools halls and corridors where events usually take place. Create tv-show or sportslike viewer friendly experience with live editing.

The resources i have: ’Laptop with usb3 port. (haven’t bought yet, need one with good usb3 interface and nvidia chip) ’PC computer with usb3. ’Firewire camcorder hv20 with analog output (firewire connection has 3 secs of lag so can’t be used) ’GH2 ’H4N ’Firewire external sound card with 1 XLR and 2 Hi-Z line inputs (H4N can be connected through line input) ’1 lav mic(works only with h4n 3,5 input, not Hi-Z / line ones) ’Rode videomic

The budget i have is somewhere about 2000€. All gear must be availible for shipping to Estonia (no extra tax inside EU) The things i think i need to buy but are not totally sure about are:

’USB3 HDMI Capture card. It would be good if i could connect two cameras into one, or i might need to use 2 capture cards. But is that even possible? Does USB interface allow such bandwidth? ’Used camcorder with CLEAN hdmi output and usable as usb webcam. I know some Canon camcorders are useable with USB, but i don’t have any idea about delay’s and sync, would be very useful feature nonetheless. ’2 lavalier or headworn microphones for commentary table ’Wireless hdmi video and sound transmitter with minimal to no delay (uncompressed signal is a must?) ’External sound card with more inputs or analog mixer (h4n itself might be enough in some situations) 'usb webcam (do these things have delay?)

The programs used will be Open Broadcaster or Xsplit, but can also be something else if it’s not too expensive. I have done research about allmentioned things myself and later I try to post some of my own conclusions after i have sorted all the links. At the moment things feel a little overwhelming, but it’s ok. ;)

At the moment the thing I haven’t figured out is how will i be able to monitor the cameras if i should buy 2 capture cards. I want to avoid buying Blackmagic ATEM just for monitoring function. I need a some way to monitor capture card inputs without showing them on Xsplit stream window. Basically, I need to preview the camera feeds that you'd throw live before you switch to them. At the moment it’s not possible with Open Broadcaster, Xsplit has a preview scene function in beta 2.0 at the moment which can be a workaround i guess. But maybe there are some other program to monitor capture cards inputs? I think Wirecast supports it, if can’t find any workaround then I might be forced to buy it..

There is also an older thread with also some good discussion: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/6391/web-streaming-hdmi-recording-2-3ghxs/p1

I would be most grateful if you would share me your advice and knowledge to make this Starcraft dream of mine happen. = )