Twitch.tv is a popular video streaming service. Carries out live broadcasts of e-sports tournaments, passing games. Provides a variety of recorded game videos. On Twitch, you can watch many battles unfolding in such "classic" games as Dota 2, StarCraft II for free, Counter strike, Diablo III, Dark Souls, etc. Chat with the authors of video channels and other site visitors. Create own channel(upload videos to the server, organize streaming).
Twitch.tv was launched in 2011. Its popularity is growing exponentially. In 2013, the site's audience was over 45 million people. The average age of visitors is 18-35 years old. Approximately 600 thousand players regularly broadcast their gameplay on Twitch (millions of hours of exciting battles and travel).
To register with Twitch, follow the steps below:
registration
1. Open the main page of the game service - http://www.twitch.tv/. And then scroll it down with the mouse wheel.
2. In the "footer" of the site, click the "Language" option. In the list that opens, select "Russian" (to quickly and correctly register in your native language).
3. Return to the "header" of the main page. In the right corner, click the "Register" button. Fill out the user form to register.
4. "Username": your nickname in the virtual space of the service.
5. "Password": Come up with a hack-resistant combination of at least 8 characters (use numbers, lowercase and uppercase Latin characters).
6. Specify your date of birth: select the required values in the fields "month", "date", "year".
7. "Address Email»: Enter your mailbox address.
8. Click with the mouse in the window opposite the inscription “I am not a robot”.
9. Answer the security question in the window that appears:
- select the pictures with the mouse according to the signs indicated in the task (for example, where there is a river);
- click the "Confirm" button (located at the bottom of the window, under the gallery).
10. Click the Subscribe button.
Confirmation email
So you've decided to become a famous streamer. You have a powerful computer, desire and skill. But you don’t know, Let's try to understand the streaming platform and related programs. In the meantime, let's talk about everything in order.
The beginning of the story
Before we figure out how to start streaming on Twitch, let's find out about the history of the project. And it starts almost 10 years ago. In 2007, four young and ambitious young men created their own project. His task was to show the performance in real time. Justin Kahn volunteered and began broadcasting his life 24 hours a day. He was daily and hourly with the camera and showed the audience all his life adventures.
The rest decided to do the technical stuff. It was decided to call the project JustinTV, and the work was started. For the entire period of the expected effect from the new brainchild, the guys did not get it. More often than not, viewers did not take him seriously and often made fun of Justin. Once the police called him, saying that there was a stabbing in the apartment, once they told the rescue service about a fire.
I must say that smart guys who already had experience in this matter took up the project. Justin and Emmett created an app after university, which they later sold for a quarter of a million dollars.
When the guys realized that JustinTV could no longer work, they decided to listen to people's opinions. Many asked to allow users to create the broadcast themselves. Literally a few months later, the developers responded to these wishes, and each soon launched its own broadcast.
But then the guys ran into another problem. The difficult situation with the servers also became it. Well, the worst case was the suicide of a student in live... Then the project met with a lot of reproaches and criticism.
Twitch to replace JustinTV
But the positive thing was that a lot of gamers joined the platform. In fact, it was thanks to them that the project kept afloat. And then in 2011, Justin decided to simultaneously create a platform for gaming streaming. Back then, few people knew how to stream on Twitch. Nevertheless, the project developed and lived.
A year later, "Twitch" became the official Internet channel, which broadcast from eSports events. Thus, the community of gamers found a home and took root on this platform. Popular games such as CS: GO, Dota2, LoL, etc. were in the top by views. Immediately on this basis, they began to form their own channels and esports organizations.
In 2014, Twitch was bought for $ 1 billion. There were many rumors around the event. But the guys themselves argued that the main thing for them was to preserve the independence of the platform. By the way, users were immediately banned from "Stream" in a half-naked form. Many streamers earned money precisely by their appearance.
More than 100 million registered users now spend a lot of time on Twitch. According to statistics, 60% of viewers watch channels more than 20 hours a week.
Streaming software
If you do not know how to start streaming on Twitch, then first of all pay attention to software... You probably know that in order to watch the broadcast, you just need to go to the platform's website, and from your smartphone or tablet - to the corresponding application.
But if you don’t know how to stream on Twitch, then you’ll have to get familiar with XSplit. Of course, there is much more software, but these programs are the most popular and, most importantly, are almost free. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. One program requires more resources, another requires certain system requirements... But most importantly, before you figure out how to stream through Twitch, you need to configure these programs.
Setting up XSplit
How do I stream with XSplit? Twitch will start streaming if you set up the program correctly. First of all, you need to register on the site. It's easy to do, so there is no point in describing the process. Now we download the program itself and figure it out.
So, first, let's set up the channel. To do this, go to the Channels tab and click Add. We add all the data. Next, you need to set up video and audio. The default video codec value is set to X.264, so we leave it that way. The Bitrate / Max bitrate value is responsible for the image quality. The larger it is, the better the quality, but keep in mind that the computer will consume a lot of resources.
In terms of audio, the setup is much easier. Here you need to adjust the codec, bit rate and format. If you downloaded the program for free, and did not buy an add-on, then there will be few customization options. Therefore, set the possible ones.
When you have prepared the channel, go to the main menu. Everything here is ready to start the broadcast. A preview is a window in which your broadcast is displayed, everything that is visible there will be broadcast to viewers. Further, under the preview, the volume of the microphone and stereo mixer is shown. This way you can check the audio on the stream. Below in the window you create a broadcast, select a game, you can also add titles and additional elements there.
What is OBS?
If you don't know how to stream to Twitch TV through OBS, this section is for you. This program is free and simple. The difference between OBS and Ixplit is that the first software allows you to capture any event that occurs on your screen. You just need to create the necessary "scene" and add a program, game, etc. there. But it's more difficult: if you take into account the fact that XSplit is configured automatically, then you will have to suffer with OBS.
Setting up a channel in OBS
So, we signed up for Twitch. How to stream (OBS), let's figure it out further. There are several modes in the program that allow you to record video live or on your PC. In the "Broadcasting Service" you need to select the platform to which you are going to stream, in our case - "Twitch".
To install the server, you need to check the baud rate. But if you have a fast Internet connection, the best way is to install Amsterdam / Frankfurt. Next, you need to take the key for streaming. We find it on our own Twitch account. There, in the Broadcast tab, select "Show Key".
Next, you need to check the box next to "Auto-reconnect" to resume the broadcast. The time indicator is set equal to five seconds. Broadcast delay can or may not be used. If you do not need someone to stream sniper, then you can set half a minute.
Setting up videos in OBS
If you are unsure how to stream on Twitch, follow these guidelines. Although, as practice shows, you still have to change something. So:
- "Constant bitrate" - put a tick next to "Twitch".
- Put a tick in front of "CBR padding".
- The higher the quality, the higher the bitrate. The maximum value is 10, which means, try to establish an average, and in which case you can correct it.
- "Maximum bitrate" is a thing that will also have to be changed. Setting this value depends on your initial speed. If you have a fast Internet connection, then set the figure from 2500 Kbps.
- The "Buffer Size" corresponds to the size of the "Max Bitrate".
Setting up audio in OBS
So, we have not yet fully answered the question of how to stream on Twitch TV. It remains to take time to customize the audio. There are three sections in the settings: select AAC for the codec; the average value for the bit rate is 112. The 44.1khz stereo format will be quite sufficient.
Many other settings will become available later, but these will be enough to start the broadcast. Setting up a scene is almost the same as setting up a broadcast in XSplit. You need to add a scene, and in the sources enter the address of the broadcast game. Webcam capture, titles and other elements are also added here. So we solved the question of how to stream on Twitch TV.
Twitch - what is it?
For 6 years, there has been an international platform for broadcasting streaming video games on the Internet on the Internet.
Anyone can use Twitch.tv - esports studios that cover tournaments, bloggers, professional players and ordinary people who love computer games and want to show the gameplay to other users, and at the same time communicate in real time.
In addition to the entertainment part, the portal has become the main source of income for both foreign and CIS players.
Each streamer has the opportunity to make money on their broadcasts when a sufficient audience appears (we will talk about this below).
If you love games, esports events and everything related to this topic, but are not yet familiar with the Twitch.tv resource, then now is the time to do it.
In this article, you will learn everything that is necessary for a novice Twitch user: how to create your own account / channel, how to subscribe and watch streams, how to become a streamer yourself, and much more.
What is Twitch?
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To get a complete picture of what Twitch is, let's get acquainted with brief history creation of a portal and its development.
When the service was created in 2011, it was Justin.tv. Within the framework of the portal, mainly broadcasts of e-sports tournaments and foreign streamers were conducted, since this topic was not very popular in the CIS region.
By the beginning of 2012, the site's audience had grown significantly - up to 15 million every month. In another year, this figure has more than doubled.
In 2017, Twitch.tv is the world's largest gaming and live streaming service.
To expand the audience and attract investors, new partners, etc., Twitch's management decided to go beyond just gaming content.
Gradually, art, IRL (streams of "everyday life"), conversation shows and the like were added to the thematic sections of the site.
All these opportunities open up a huge field of activity for talented people and give them the opportunity to prove themselves and get an audience.
In addition, twitch.tv is the main place where viewers will find all the official broadcasts of major esports events across all disciplines.
also in recent times the service supports presentations of gaming companies, exhibitions and similar events as part of broadcasts.
Companies such as Blizzard, Valve, Riot and many others cover their events on the site. The main servers of the service are located in San Francisco, Amsterdam and Singapore.
Twitch.tv as a whole ecosystem - brings together people with common interests and provides the opportunity to interact with each other, share gaming experience, show your level of play or engage in creative activities.
Any user who is at least a little familiar with the Internet and computer software can become a part of this system.
And this instruction will explain in an accessible language all the possibilities of the video service and the methods of creating your own broadcasts.
VIDEO: How to start streaming from scratch to a twitch channel via obs
How to start streaming from scratch to a twitch channel via obs
Possibilities
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First, let's take a look at all the functionality and capabilities that Twitch TV offers to its users.
The service provides a wide range of opportunities for both parties: those who broadcast and those who watch them.
First, let's take a look at all the possibilities for viewers:
- Watching streams on Twitch;
- Subscribing to streamers to receive alerts (free / follow) and to get advantages over other viewers (paid / subscribe);
- View all streams by category;
- Separation of broadcasts by games;
- Chatting with any streamer;
- Donate to streamers;
- Communication with other users in private messages.
Stream viewing is available to absolutely all portal visitors, even without registering a personal account.
You can open the twitch.tv website, go to the live streams section and select the stream you like by game, platform or language division.
Paid streamer subscription differs from free subscription by having unique emoticons for chat(they can be used in any chat).
Also, the streamer personally can conduct individual events, contests for paid subscribers, create separate rooms for communication, and so on.
On the site, you can view the broadcasts by section.
The subsection "Games" contains categories of games in descending order of the number of viewers at the current time.
Usually, the top positions are occupied by e-sports disciplines or new products from the gaming industry.
The "Communities" subsection contains a list of streamer communities that are grouped into groups.
Communities let you follow streamers from the same group and quickly switch between streams.
"Popular" directs you to a list of streams that are currently active. First there is a list of streams in your language, and below are all channels.
The "Creative" tab has appeared relatively recently.
Here you will find streams of drawing, cooking, music rehearsals, modeling, sculpting, and any other art.
The viewers in the section are several times less than in the main category. Since Twitch.tv is primarily a gaming platform.
Now let's list the streamer capabilities that the service provides:
- Broadcasting;
- Saving recordings of the broadcast in your channel;
- Channel decoration under the broadcast player;
- Receiving donations from viewers;
- Getting paid subscribers to your channel.
The main screen, on which all users spend most of their time, looks like this.
In the screenshot you can see the main blocks, which are marked with the following numbers:
1 Chat for communication;
2 Stream window;
3 Buttons for free / paid subscription;
4 Stream name, number of viewers and total number of views.
The main statistics that characterize the streamer channel:
- The number of followers. Indicated above the stream window. Indicates the total number of free subscribers;
- The number of total views for the entire lifetime of the channel;
- Current online broadcast (red number under the player);
- The number of paid subscribers (information is available to the channel owner).
All information about the streamer is located under the player.
There you can place a small block about yourself, about your computer and devices, links to donations and personal pages on social networks.
Also, streamers use the description under the stream to place ad units.
The administration of the service does not punish these actions in any way.
Where to see?
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The creators of the video service took care of the users. They provided the opportunity to enjoy streams on personal computers, laptops and mobile devices.
To view the broadcasts, you will need a browser if we are talking about a computer or laptop running, Linux or.
In addition, you can download Twitch at mobile device and watch broadcasts anywhere you have access to unlimited internet(It is not recommended to use a mobile plan with a restriction, since playing streaming video requires a lot of traffic).
The mobile application is available for operating systems or Android. You can download it absolutely free. Functional mobile version is no different from stationary.
There is also special utility for smartphones, allowing you to stream from them (more on that below).
More recently, the developers have introduced an application for the PC. Thanks to him, you no longer have to constantly hold open tab Twitch in the browser.
You can download it on the main page of Twitch.tv by clicking the "Download Twitch for PC" button. After that, click on the "Download" button again to start downloading the installer (about 120 MB).
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On Twitch, registration is very fast in a few steps. Our instructions will help you in this matter.
All you need to create an account is email. You can create a separate one, or log in using the Facebook page.
To do this, enter the following information in the appropriate fields:
- Unique nickname;
- Unique password;
- Date of birth;
- Email address;
- Confirmation (I’m not a robot).
Then click the Sign Up button.
After that, you will immediately find yourself in personal account your account.
The first step is to verify your account.
To do this, go to the settings and click the "Confirm" button.
Now switch to the email tab - a confirmation email should come to your address.
All account management is carried out through the side menu, which can be called by clicking on your nickname in the right upper corner pages.
The following sections and control keys are located here:
- Switching online mode and invisibility among themselves;
- Shaded or normal mode;
- "Channel"- redirects you to your personal channel, where you can look at it from the outside, like a regular viewer, and make any adjustments to the description or design;
- "Video Manager" - from this tab you can manage all videos and clips of the channel;
- "Information Panel" allows you to edit content under the stream (information about yourself and the notification feed);
- "Friends"- list of friends on Twitch;
- "Messages" a tab for correspondence with other users and the administration of the service;
- "Subscriptions" opens a window with channels to which you are subscribed for free or for free;
- "Purse" opens a page for management in cash on the account;
- "Settings".
It is worth dwelling on the last point in more detail.
In chapter "Settings" there are seven tabs:
- "Profile"... Contains basic account settings: changing email, channel address, avatars, information about yourself. Also here you can disable your account;
- "Turbo access" - a special bonus that can be activated for $ 8.99 per month (Fig. 9);
- "Channel and video materials" ... In this section, you can configure the design of the banner and page with videos. There are also buttons for setting the saving of broadcasts, and so on (Fig. 10);
- "Security and privacy" - password settings, blocking messages, privacy options;
- "Notifications" - a large list of settings for notifications about the start of a stream, clip views, and so on;
- "Connections"- linking third-party services to your Twitch.tv account;
- "Paid subscriptions" - display of all channels and their capabilities, to which you subscribed for money.
Let's dwell on paid and free subscriptions in more detail, since this is the main way to support a streamer, if you do not take into account donations and advertising.
Twitch subscription
After that, the channel will appear in the "Subscriptions" section in the menu of your account. You will receive notifications about the start of streams, new clips, saved recordings, etc.
This feature is provided by Twitch for free.
The second type of subscription is Subscribe. Previously, users could only subscribe for $ 4.99 per month.
A 9.99 subscriber gets one additional smiley, and a 24.99 subscriber gets two additional smileys. The streamer receives exactly half of the subscription price.
Why don't every channel have a Subscribe button, you ask?
The fact is that a paid subscription is provided to users with affiliate program and an agreement that is concluded directly with Twitch.tv.
To do this, the streamer must provide the statistics of his channel to the administration.
The most important thing is the number of regular viewers and a regular schedule of streams and adherence to all the rules of the portal.
After reviewing your application, a decision will be made to issue an "affiliate program".
There are no exact numbers after which the administration will issue the Subscribe button with 100% probability.
Also, Twitch.tv occasionally runs promotions that reduce the cost of a monthly subscription. For example, from September to October 2017 there is a 50% discount for the first month.
Choosing a payment method
6 Now proceed with confirmation.
Ready! You have issued paid subscription on your favorite streamer for exactly 30 days. After that, you can automatically renew your subscription, or cancel it through your account settings.
There is another method to subscribe.
At the moment, all users can apply for Twitch Prime - free access to Subscribe within one month.
"Chip" was created as a trial period for new users of the portal.
Registration is carried out through the Amazon portal (the company owns Twitch.tv). First you need to register:
- On the main page of Twitch, click Try Prime;
- Click on the Start Your 7-Day Free Trial button;
- Click the Create your Amazon account button;
- Enter your personal data and press the button again;
- Now you need to bind bank card... Enter her details and click Add your card;
- Enter your personal details and address, mobile phone and click the use this address button.
The owner of a Twitch Prime account gets the opportunity to subscribe to one streamer once, skip any ads, receive unique badges and emoticons in chats; get access to unique content.
Twitch Prime is available to everyone for a 7-day trial period.
If you still don't know how to stream on Twitch, then it's time to fill this gap. The video streaming service has long been a place where you can not only show how you play, but also chat with other users while playing and earn money from subscriptions.
Sign up on Twitch
It all starts with creating an account on Twitch.tv.
If the message “You are not eligible to create an account at this time” appears when registering, please enter a different date of birth that will show that you are over 18 years old. The rules of the service prohibit registration of users under 13 years old, from 13 to 18 you can create an account only with parental permission. But no one will check the documents, so just add a couple of years on top.
Two programs are commonly used to create streaming: Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) or XSplit. The second has more functions, but it is distributed under a paid license.
OBS is also a good place to start. If you want more features, then over time you can switch to another program for streaming on Twitch.
Preparing for the stream will take a lot of time, but if you properly set up the broadcast, then during the game you will not be distracted by debugging sound and video or explaining with the audience why nothing is visible or audible.
The "CBR (constant bitrate)" and "CBR padding" options must be checked. In this case, do not set the maximum bit rate higher than 2300. Then the image will be broadcast with a resolution of 1280 × 720 without defects. With the audio settings, everything is also clear: bit rate 128, Stereo channel, AAC codec, 48 kHz format. Subscribers will hear everything you say. 
The next tab is "Broadcast". Additional software is needed here. This is the JTVPing program. When it starts, a list of servers available for connection appears. 
You need to find the server with the lowest ping and select it in the "FMS URL" line on the "Broadcast" tab.
The rest of the tab options, in order:
If some parameters are set incorrectly, the program will prompt you what needs to be changed. To automatically make the necessary changes, click Optimize. 
The next step is audio and video setup. On the "Audio" tab, you must select a microphone and a playback device. 
On the Video tab, set the base resolution to 1920 × 1080 and 30 FPS. These parameters can be changed if you or your subscribers are not satisfied with the quality of the broadcast. 
For the convenience of managing the broadcast, you can additionally work with the "Hot Keys" and "Advanced" tabs, but there is nothing vital there. Therefore, after setting the audio and video parameters, you can proceed to creating scenes and sources.
Creating a video stream
Close the settings to return to the main OBS window. You will see two fields below: Scenes and Sources. The scene is the game you are streaming. Sources are layers, there can be several of them in a scene, for example, gameplay, text and video from your webcam.
In this simple way, you can add multiple sources. To see what you get, click Preview. Sources can be deleted, modified or moved. When everything is set up, click "Start Broadcast" to start the first stream.
The video streaming site Twitch.tv was launched in 2011 and over 5 years of operation has become one of the main places on the Internet where you can watch online esports tournaments or the play of individual charismatic characters. Twitch's audience is such that large corporations like Microsoft hold unofficial presentations of new game projects on their channels.
Even if you don't understand how you can look at how others play, then knowing how to stream on Twitch will be useful for you, if only for the reason that this service makes people popular or notoriously famous, which, in turn, brings good income that the channel creator receives from users who have subscribed to a paid subscription.
How to stream on Twitch
Registration on the service
If you are interested in the question of how to start streaming on Twitch TV, then the first step is to create an account on this streaming video site.
A letter will be sent to the specified e-mail address with a request to confirm the e-mail. Click on the "Verify your e-mail" button. 
The browser will open Twitch page games played by creators that you can subscribe to. But we are here studying how to stream on Twitch ourselves, so subscriptions to other channels will wait for now.
Broadcast setup
For streaming on Twitch, two programs are commonly used, XSplit and Open Broadcaster Software (OBS). The first application is paid, but it provides more options. However, for a beginner, the OBS features are enough.
If the channel will be popular and generate income, then you can switch to XSplit.
Make sure CBR (Constant Bitrate) and CBR Padding are checked in the settings. Set the maximum bitrate to no higher than 2300. The picture will be transmitted as 1280 × 720 without lags, provided that you have. Set the following audio settings: AAC codec, 128 bit rate, 48 kHz format, stereo channel. Click Apply to save the settings. 
Go to the "Broadcast" tab and specify the streaming options. Let's go in order:
If you see a message below that some parameters are incorrect, click the "Optimize" button. The program will independently select the settings for working with Twitch.
Video and audio
Go to the Video tab and set the resolution to 1920 × 1080. The aspect ratio will automatically change to 16: 9. Set the FPS value to 30 frames per second. Save the configuration by clicking "Apply". 
Click the Audio tab. Choose a playback device and microphone that you will use while streaming to communicate with your channel viewers. 
The rest of the audio settings do not need to be changed. Click "Apply" to save the new configuration.
Hotkeys and advanced settings
On the Hotkeys tab, you can assign specific buttons on the keyboard, clicking on which will launch a specific function. For example, you don't want viewers to hear what is happening in the room you are streaming from. Activate the Push-to-Talk feature and assign hotkey, when you click on which you can control what subscribers hear. 
The same with broadcast: hotkeys will help you save time when managing live broadcast and working with replays.
As for the "Advanced Settings" tab, add full-spectrum encoding, audio timing to video timing, and improved microphone sync to the existing options. 
Creation of scenes and sources
Return to the main OBS window. There are two fields at the bottom: Scenes and Sources. Let's deal with these concepts.
- The scene includes several sources.
- Basically, a scene is a game that you stream the gameplay. For example, I want to stream Serious Sam's gameplay. The name of the scene will be the name of the game.
- The Serious Sam scene will have two sources - gameplay and my webcam, so subscribers can see what I look like. Go to any channel on Twitch and you will immediately see what it looks like.
- Sources are stacked like layers. The source higher in the list is in the foreground.
Done with the theory, let's create the first broadcast. Expand the Scene Set menu and click New. Provide a name for the scene. I'm writing "Serious Sam" because I want to stream this legendary 2001 game. 
