XSplit Broadcaster is a tool of my favorite kind - neat, fast and useful. It's a program for audio and video mixing for online streaming, and what makes it particularly appealing is the utilitarian approach to functionality. After installing the application and launching it, you gain access to a simple well-built interface, if only a bit dark in color, that lets you do pretty much anything a broadcasting session needs done. XSplit Broadcaster can set up and adjust the video parameters, notifications send-outs, change the settings of Twitch, which is the broadcasting platform XSplit Broadcaster works with. It's refreshingly nice to be able to access options without having to open the web page and visit the site. Every broadcasting parameter is basically available in one window, which makes the program extremely comfortable to use.
Unfortunately, the interface lacks a proper chat window, but this is not that big of a deal to me. However, there is a feature that makes up for any flaw: you can launch the program in an optimized mode, accelerating broadcasting speed by about 10%. Combined with the fact that XSplit Broadcaster doesn't particularly freeze or slow down, this is almost to good to be true. But not perfect, of course. The abundance of options and extensive potential for setting up a perfect broadcast is also the cause of automated setup being pretty bad. You will have to go about adjusting settings, whether you want it or not.
Overall, despite some minor flaws, XSplit Broadcaster is still the go-to instrument if you want quality broadcasting. It's easy to use, complex and fast.
v1.3.1403.1202 [Jun 22, 2013]
Improvements:
XSPLIT-786 - Full Twitch platform compatibility for free users
XSPLIT-758 - Automatic migration from JustinTV (purple) plugin to Twitch (black) plugin
Improved Chroma key with autodetection and fewer settings (see our 1.3 beta blog post)
Faster loading time - most users should experience from 10 to 12 seconds loading time (and we’re not done yet)
Improved performance of OGL capture in some games
Ability to adjust certain video encoding settings while live/recording (see our 1.3 beta blog post)
Improvements for systems with switchable graphics including Nvidia Optimus and AMD enduro (CPPCORE-62 / XSPLIT-302)
- Game capture or screen capture will no longer show black feed on any configuration
- Default Optimus profile for XSplit to start on iGPU (User will still have option to change)
- Disallow XSplit to run on dGPU on AMD Enduro systems (Unsupported in AMD driver)
Update of the unified Twitch/Justin.tv plugin
- Automatically picks the closest ingest server when going live (see our 1.3 beta blog post)
- Channel setup wizard (will auto-configure your Twitch channel based on tests of internet and computer speed)
New Twitch plugin based on new Twitch API
- Automatically picks the closest ingest server when going live
- Channel setup wizard (will auto-configure your Twitch channel based on tests of internet and computer speed)
- Support for run ad/commercial via hotkey press
New simplified Local Recording plugin
- Simplified configuration to ensure much better quality
Broadcast menu usability improvements
- Ability to modify channel list from Broadcast menu
- Will open channel settings window on credentials error (wrong or empty password)
Bandwidth tester improvements
- Minor improvement with the log
- Fix for negative dropped frames
Show total bytes recorded in title bar during recording
Avermedia Live Gamer HD - select SPDIF Audio input by default (CPPCORE-50)
Avermedia Live Gamer Portable - detect resolution change (CPPCORE-50)
Updated Hauppauge Colossus support with same improvements as HDPVR
Support for Matrox MXO2 Mini express card capture device
XSPLIT-159 - Updated default resolution options to include 540p (360p, 480p, 540p, 720p)
XSPLIT-380 - Tooltip for live stream and local recording improved
XSPLIT-402/556 - Added ‘force constant frame rate’ option in Local Recording plugin
XSPLIT-551 - Introduced default “Enhanced resize” on Gamesource captures less than 50% original size
