Regarding well the hobby part. First off I like to say, all this video streaming thing made me realize 2 things (I wonder why it is often 2 things not 3). I learn a lot of stuff regarding video formats, types of video connectors, bitrates frame rates, terms used, video file containers, encoding format etc. It is a huge amount of information to absorb. I don't think this knowledge will net me any more money in my job but I do believe in improving myself and knowing more stuff. The saying goes "You become good at your job outside your job" assuming of course I earn from this which I don't.
Second thing is, all this equipment cost money. A lot of money. I lost count of how much I spent on the hardware but its like I am still lacking hardware to do some really good quality stuff. The last count I remember was nearly 3 thousand. I still lack another vital piece of hardware which is a sound mixer and a good mic which is clearly going to like cost another 500 bucks.
This cost lots of money.
Also live streaming is like the cutting edge crap. If anyone actually asks me how to do it, I be like "I need to spend an afternoon at like my own place with you showing you how everything works". I was talking to Farp just today regarding some of the new stuff he recommended me to have a look. It is literally exposed PCB boards with PCI-E cards sitting on it.
Invasion of cables. Lots of them
The setup I use is something like this. Xbox 360 into HD-Pvr into my comp via USB 2.0. On my computer (Running Windows 7 64bit) I would this software called SCFH DSF which is actually a software that captures the desktop at very good frame rate. You can google the name of the software but the page is in Japanese. If you wonder why I cannot capture straight from HD-pvr, the reason is HD-pvr doesn't not output what it captures straight into the computer. So it actually does compression on the hardware before it outputs to the computer via its own software. So I have to capture the output of the video of the software into FME. I also connect my webcam to my comp and launch my webcam software then I will make SCFH capture the video window of the webcam software then I will do some panel arrangements.
Anyways that's the general gist of it. If it sounds complicated, that is because it is. Definitely not for who casually wants to do streaming. The cheapest setup would still set you back at least a hundred. Again assuming you know what you are doing and what you need.
