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.
v4.0 [Aug 3, 2020]
Features and improvements:
- UI Improvements & updates.
- Added Stream & Record buttons in the top control bar.
- Improvements to the bottom panel.
- T12905 - Truncate names in source dropdown after a certain amount of characters.
- Sources.
- T12715 - Multi-Chat Viewer plugin.
- T15420 - Replay Source: Increase maximum replay buffer length to 2 minutes.
- T16132 - Google Slides plugin.
- T12481 - Preinstall plugins based on social login.
- T13457 - YouTube source plugins must launch auth in external browser.
- YouTube Live Chat Viewer.
- YouTube Live Alerts.
- YouTube Super Chat Alert.
- T17202 - Update default Text plugin version.
- Source Properties.
- T16416 - Added sharpen and smoothen filters to sources.
- T14831 - Make "Keep source in memory" as default for newly added sources.
- T15141 - Make "Allow Transparency" option a sub-option of "Enable Special Optimization".
- Broadcast Plugins/Outputs.
- T13455 - Youtube broadcast plugin now launches auth in an external browser.
- T13456 - Youtube sharing now launches auth in an external browser.
- Settings.
- T17077 - Show option `Use Media Foundation Engine for video playback` in Legacy/GPU modes.
- T17079 - Avoid app restart when changing some settings.
- Extensions.
- T10508 - Audio DSP effects for microphone (under Tools menu).
- T13032 - Per Scene Lighting extension - Elgato Key Light.
- T16486 - Security update for extensions.
- T14530 - Launch Audio Mixer using the main UI.
- T15226 - Audio Mixer: Show microphone signal level after Sound DSP plugin effects.
- T15231 - Audio Mixer: Include Stream-only audio.
- T14796 - Macros: Audio sensitivity trigger.
- T14934 - Macros: Support for Local Recording Actions.
- T14949 - Macros: `Add Cue Point` action.
- T14975 - Macros: Improve list numbering.
- T15275 - Macros: Added a new trigger for outputs.
- T16338 - Macros: Add toggle state to Set media source playback state.
- T16439 - Macros: Create Action to mute/unmute/toggle audio device.
- T14592/T15058/T15641 - Improvements to remembering extension window sizing & positioning.
- Local Recording.
- T15454 - Record multiple scenes at the same time.
- T16828 - Local recording to default to QuickSync if available.
- T16959 - Add pause option for recording in new top control bar.
- Playout.
- T15299 - Allow scene selection and pre-stream dialog for Playout menu.
- T13710 - Add Playout options for NDI.
- T15853 - Move Projector Border toggle from Settings into Playout menu.
- General.
- T16764 - Support for Xbox Game Bar.
- T15976 - Added support for 10-bit & 16-bit HDR input.
- T10950/T12120 - Vulkan game capture improvements to use less CPU and be more efficient in general.
- T15064 - Allow preset animations to work with Z-rotation.
- T15241 - Separate Speaker volume control from Stream-only audio.
- T9733 - Added more visual option for patch notes in future releases.
- T15516 - Add vertical video presets.
- T13652 - Full support of the new Logitech StreamCam, including auto-rotation.
- T14149/T14759/T14761/T14763/T14775 - Updated Broadcaster branding.
- T14965 - Use notification bar for new plugin updates available.
- T14981 - Update NDI SDK to 4.1.
- T15047 - Update NVENC configuration for streaming.
- T15434 - Set hand cursor for all clickable area in notification bar that triggers link action.
- T15481 - Add padding between last menu item and share button.
- T15846 - Provide alternative way to log in without native browser.
- T15969 - Relocate the native browser cache from Program Files to AppData.
- T10003/T16905/T12675 - Translation updates including support for Thai.
Fixes:
- Stability.
- T13735 - Stuck at splash screen when selecting "Load presentation previously saved to a file" on presentation backup dialog box.
- T14184 - Crash on generating graph text dump.
- T14450 - Forza Horizon 4 crashes if started afterward.
- T14782 - Possible NullReferenceException on login.
- T14962 - Possible error in setting audio devices.
- T15001 - Possible error when restoring extra encoder setting to default.
- T15011 - Endless loading window appears when selecting 1080p resolution on broadcast channel's video size using free account.
- T15040 - Crash when adding Google Chrome or Firefox as Window Capture source.
- T15048 - Error in saving settings.
- T15087/T15783/T16709/T16322 - Freeze when closing or switching scenes.
- T15336/T15770 - Freeze/Crash when recording Skype.
- T15417 - Freeze when adding scene as source then creating new presentation.
- T15431/T17055 - Crash/Freeze on startup/login.
- T15665 - Crash when IP camera goes down.
- T16152 - Non-admin Mode: Access Denied error prompt appears during login sequence.
