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.
v2.6.1510.2621 [Nov 4, 2015]
Features and improvements
CPPCORE-796/881/877/XBC-4525/4632/4671 - Options to use hardware acceleration
* See option in Tools > General settings > Advanced tab
Hardware accelerated video playback
* Only available in Windows 8 & up
Hardware accelerate USB2 capture devices
CPPCORE-812/887 - Improve game capture for SLI configurations
Source property improvements
XBC-2932 - Allow adjustment on window region capture
XBC-4642 - Allow window capture target to be changed
XBC-4534 - Use pixels in cropping values for Layout tab instead of percent as units
XBC-4674 - Game capture: Make "Enable frame smoothing" a sub-option of "Enable special optimization"
XBC-2719 - Do not prompt to save presentation on scene switch or thumbnail preview on blank presentation
XBC-3037 - Ability to edit an existing tag without having to remove it if Backspace key is pressed
XBC-3209 - Create growl for when XSplit is launched in Compatibility mode
XBC-3447 - Integrate native RTMP w. HW decoding (Only works with exe parameter dsrtmp:1 and with video playback acceleration enabled in general settings -> advanced) (Features need more testing and improvement)
XBC-3858 - Allow to set network adapter in broadcast plugin
XBC-4006 - Improve handling of corrupted local database
XBC-4300 - Support for Wowza Streaming Cloud
XBC-4423 - Improve screen selection for Projector
XBC-4441 - Beta support for Intel Realsense cameras (ability to remove background)
XBC-4500 - Support for Brazilian-Portuguese language
XBC-4535 - Renamed "Script Plugin" to "Extension"
XBC-4594/4645 - Update stinger_howto.txt file
XBC-4619 - Preview Editor: Save current “Go Live” setting
XBC-4639 - Start position of "My Recordings" dialog affects usability in smaller screens
XBC-4651 - Perform Twitch ingest pruning in automatic mode
XBC-4652 - Provide localization for installer
XBCPLUGINS-122 - New HTML5-based Twitch chat source (BETA)
XBCPLUGINS-171 - Custom RTMP: Check authentication before saving channel settings and prompt if invalid credentials are used
Fixes
CPPCORE-314 - GameSource Compatibility with FXAA
CPPCORE-802 - Games are not captured correctly - Flight Simulator X and X-Plane
CPPCORE-865 - Reconnected source does not update when source properties dialog is open
CPPCORE-866 - Cropped webpage URL source gets distorted when setting chroma key
XBC-3575 - Cannot login 2nd account if "Remember me" is unchecked
XBC-4055 - X button still enabled on Yes/No confirmation dialog
XBC-4318 - Main window becomes inactive when auto-login is enabled
XBC-4461 - XSplit is stuck on splash screen when registering or when logging in on a clean machine
XBC-4474 - Missing moderator icon on the Twitch IRC Chat Viewer
XBC-4505 - Wrong codec name displayed on Reconfigure Stream dialog when streaming using VCE
XBC-4506 - Express Video Editor remains open after logout if warning dialog was dismissed by clicking the X button
XBC-4509 - Clicking sign up to Twitter and then log in with an existing account from the upper right link will open the Twitter dashboard in the same window
XBC-4533 - Dialog to save current presentation still shows after clicking New and Load Presentation even if presentation is made empty
XBC-4542 - XSplit may freeze by streaming to an unauthorized plugin and quickly clicking “Share stream” menu thereafter
XBC-4559 - HTML/Webpage URL source distortion when selecting color keying with cropping enabled in layout
XBC-4571 - Hyperlinks on the purchase points window and notice dialog are opened in the same window when clicked using the middle mouse button
XBC-4585 - Clicking the "here" link using the middle mouse button opens a web page within the VOD manager
XBC-4590 - XSplit may crash after stopping a recording (x264)
XBC-4593 - Application may get stuck if ESC key is spam clicked to close the about window
XBC-4611 - Previous and Next button in the media control of Video Playlist Legacy plugin functions are reversed
XBC-4622 - Hour duration displayed on the VOD manager resets when it reaches 24 hours
XBC-4641 - Incorrect parameter values used for VCE2
