We're excited to introduce some great updates available in the latest version of XSplit Broadcaster! From smoother audio control to enhanced background removal and improved application capture, our recent releases bring several new features and tweaks to make your streaming and recording experience better than ever. Here's a rundown of what you can expect.<h4> </h4><h4>Enhanced Audio Mixer Control: Simple, Seamless, and Streamlined</h4>The Audio Mixer in XSplit Broadcaster has received significant upgrades to give you more control with fewer clicks. Key changes include:- New Delay Settings for Global Devices: Now, you can adjust audio delay for global devices directly in both Presentation Sources mode and System Devices mode. Previously, this setting was limited to System Devices, so this change allows you more flexibility in syncing your audio with ease.&nbsp;&nbsp;- Automatic Audio Track Enablement: Adding a new device or source? Now, all audio tracks are enabled by default, saving you the hassle of manually configuring each track.&nbsp;&nbsp;- UI/UX Improvements: We've made multiple quality-of-life improvements, including volume syncing for sources sharing the same process. Changes at the core level have also improved per-process volume control. And stay tuned—more user interface enhancements are on the way to make managing your audio even more intuitive!<div style='margin: 4rem auto;display:block;'><img alt='Enhanced Audio Mixer Control' src='/blog/xsplit-broadcaster-release-highlights-october-2024/audio-mixer.png' width='1080' height='720'/></div> <h4>Simplified Twitch Output Properties</h4>For our Twitch streamers, configuring your stream's audio output just got easier:- Easier VOD Track Setup: The Twitch VOD Audio Track can now be enabled with a simple checkbox, with the option to select a specific audio track if needed. This gives you flexibility with what goes to Twitch and what doesn't while making setup faster and more straightforward.- Enhanced Broadcasting: Want to choose a specific Twitch ingest server? Now you can! This feature helps you fine-tune your broadcast to match your preferred server for a stable and optimized stream.<div style='margin: 4rem auto;display:block;'><img alt='Twitch Output properties' src='/blog/xsplit-broadcaster-release-highlights-october-2024/twitch-output-properties.png' width='1080' height='720'/></div> <h4>Smarter Background Removal, with Hardware Acceleration on the Way</h4>The Automatic Background Removal feature has been fine-tuned to deliver even better results, helping you achieve a clean, professional look without the need for a green screen. And soon, NPU support will be available for hardware acceleration, enhancing performance so you can remove your background with even less strain on your system.<div style='margin: 4rem auto;display:block;'><img alt='Smarter Background Removal' src='/blog/xsplit-broadcaster-release-highlights-october-2024/background-removal.png' width='1080' height='720'/></div> <h4>Improved Application Audio Capture Reliability</h4>We've addressed a common issue with Application Audio Capture: audio will now continue capturing from applications even when minimized or hidden in the system tray. Whether you're juggling multiple applications or need to capture audio from a background source, XSplit has you covered.---These updates are designed to make XSplit Broadcaster more efficient, reliable, and easy to use. We can't wait for you to try them out! Are there any features you'd like to see in XSplit Broadcaster that you haven't found yet? Let us know in the comments, we're always trying to improve and add features you want!

We're excited to introduce some great updates available in the latest version of XSplit Broadcaster! From smoother audio control to enhanced background removal and improved application capture, our recent releases bring several new features and tweaks to make your streaming and recording experience better than ever. Here's a rundown of what you can expect.

XSplit Broadcaster Release Highlights: Powerful New Audio Mixer Features, Background Removal Updates, and More!

Welcome back to our series about getting back into streaming. In the last post I discussed how I fell out of love with streaming and how I intended to get back into it but focus on having fun. It's worth a read if you haven't already as we discuss burnout and how it's okay to take breaks. This time, we're going to take a look at how a month of streaming went and what I've learned on this journey! <h2>THE JOURNEY SO FAR</h2>Barring a few weeks off because I had to have a tooth pulled out of my head (dentists are great but, yeesh) I have been streaming pretty consistently on Fridays.&nbsp;I started by playing The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, which some would say could have been setting myself up for failure. I thought it could be funny if the game was a bit janky and hey, maybe it's alright! I started out this experiment by saying “I'm trying to find the good in Gollum”. Much like Gandalf, sort of. I think he just thought Frodo was going a bit hard chatting about what Bilbo should or shouldn't have done in that cave. Either way, my mission was clear, funny bugs or maybe a game I enjoy, as The Lord of the Rings is a series I love!<div style='margin: 4rem auto;display:block;'><img alt='The Journey so far' src='/blog/getting-back-into-streaming-part-2/the-journey.png' width='1080' height='720'/></div>Now, I'm not here to pass judgment on the game itself but, it was funny for a bit, then it just…wasn't. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that I was still thinking with a “content” mindset and I ended up not having fun. I thought, “oh, there will be some good “moments” in this. The game will do something funny, or I can riff off of it being broken or something.” That, friends, is going against what I set out to do! I was shaping my hobby in a way that I thought would mean “content people might like”. Who are these people? Whoever they are, they're probably not going to watch a person having no fun and getting frustrated over a video game.&nbsp; So, I just deleted it. Mid stream. Gone. And you know what I did next? Put an old UK Game Show on, Noel's House Party and just watched it along with my community. We also discovered some wild adverts on YouTube that were promising things we knew they couldn't deliver. I was laughing and having a bunch of fun along with my community. Someone even said this was “classic Chris” another said “we're back!”. <h2>“CONTENT” VERSUS A HOBBY</h2>That was a great turning point for me. I just said “ah you know what would be a laugh” and went with it. Plus, it felt like I went on a little journey with all the people I was watching with. We didn't know where it was going but we were all laughing together and creating moments we now reference. Maybe there's something to following the fun? But just when you thought I'd learned my lesson, I went back and did something else with a mind to “my community will like this”. Don't get me wrong, this is a much more noble, and sensible idea than making things for nobody, but it still had the same problem. Next stream, I played LA Noire, which is a game I have never finished but years ago I played it and as a challenge someone asked me to drive backwards for the whole game. This became a fun series titled The Backwards Detective. Now, this can be very fun, and funny, but I'm&nbsp;falling into the same trap again! “Content” over what is really fun about a stream for me, spontaneity. So maybe I change things up again? Next stream, I came in and went with pure TV shows. Noel's House Party was the order of the day, and if you don't know what that is, well, it's a 90s UK variety show. It was bad, but we had fun, we had a laugh. We even got a new emote out of it! <div style='margin: 4rem auto;display:block;'><img alt='Content vs Hobby' src='/blog/getting-back-into-streaming-part-2/content-vs-hobby.png' width='1080' height='720'/></div>This seemed to be the way forward, and a viewer suggested a TV show they think we'd all enjoy. Another old 90s UK TV show that's readily available on YouTube called Knightmare! It looks like it's full of things to enjoy, feel nostalgic about and as I said before, having a laugh! <h2>FOLLOW THE FUN</h2>I learned a lot here, and that is not to chase what I think will be successful. I even talked about that in my last blog post but, turns out, it's a very simple trap to fall into! Once you have a content, hustle culture mindset, it's tough to turn that off and not slip into old habits! Follow the fun! That's where the good times will roll, and more importantly, the desire to continue your hobby. One thing I have learned is that consistency is possible for me. I can do a Friday afternoon but anything more than that seems like an outlier at the moment. I'm currently working on a bunch of different small projects with different people. I'm very lucky to do so but it doesn't leave me, as a 37 year old with other responsibilities, lots of time. So, let's stick with what we can do, and move on from there! I hope that when I check in next month we've found the fun! How's it going for you? Let us know in the comments here, I'd love to chat about what everyone has been up to!&nbsp;

/blog/getting-back-into-streaming-part-2/content-vs-hobby.png

 In the last post I discussed how I fell out of love with streaming and how I intended to get back into it but focus on having fun. This time, we're going to take a look at how a month of streaming went and what I've learned on this journey!

Getting Back Into Streaming Part 2

Hello there! It's been a while since I have written any blog posts here on the XSplit website, so what brings me back? Well, it's a whole theme of coming back for myself and the company as a whole. I suppose coming back is the wrong term, more of a refocus. I'm getting back into streaming, and XSplit are putting more focus on gamers and content creators. Seems like a great match!It's something I've been thinking about for some time now. I used to stream pretty often, in fact for a while I had a schedule where I'd stream three times a week for hours on end. I used to really enjoy it but then something started to change. It wasn't a fast change, there was no real event that made the act of streaming less enjoyable. It was a gradual process brought on by “hustle culture”, which is a term given to the idea that you could always be doing more.<div style='margin: 4rem auto;display:block;'><img alt='Indie[dot]XSplit Event' src='/blog/getting-back-into-streaming-part-1/indie.png' width='1080' height='720'/></div>When it comes to streaming, hustle culture took a strong hold, and some would argue it still does. You should stream for the optimum amount of hours! Make sure you're streaming the right game for your audience and a broader audience as well! Make sure your alerts are right! Are you optimizing your content to be usable on different platforms? Have you been using TikTok?! All of these questions and more would swirl around my head and I'll be honest, it made my fun hobby less fun. It made it work, something I should dedicate my brain to, not something I should unwind it into. So I ended up stopping, life also got in the way, but whenever I thought of getting back into streaming, those questions would run around my head and I'd wear myself out. That is, until recently. I was talking to the people here at XSplit and they mentioned refocusing back on content creators and how they'd like it to be a more focused but natural approach. This clicked something in my brain, that's what I want to do! I want to stream again but have it just done, for fun! We could work together on this! So, here I am!<div style='margin: 4rem auto;display:block;'><img alt='Streaming at Twitch' src='/blog/getting-back-into-streaming-part-1/twitch.png' width='1080' height='720'/></div>I'm lucky in that I have still managed to keep a few people who watched my stuff back then around, so as I've trialed streaming again, a few folks have turned up. Just those tests were incredibly fun, talking, laughing and going off on tangents. I've already got ideas rolling around in my head but I intend to keep them grounded, focused and intentional. What does that mean? Well, I'm not going to worry about making streaming my full time job. It's a rare and lucky few who manage that, discoverability isn't the best on the big platforms so it does take a lot of work. I mentioned hustle culture earlier, and no doubt that does work for some people. There are people whose brains can operate on that level and have seen success. I'm not one of them, sadly. And now, at the shocking age of 38, I'm less ready than ever to dedicate my free time to another job.<div style='margin: 4rem auto;display:block;'><img alt='Streaming at Twitch' src='/blog/getting-back-into-streaming-part-1/twitch-2.png' width='1080' height='720'/></div>This will be a journey, and one I intend to document both here and on the XSplit YouTube channel. You can find me streaming on my Twitch channel every Friday at 3pm GMT, but I'll also be popping up on the XSplit channels as we progress to hang out and answer questions. Mostly, I just want to hang out on the internet, be silly and play video games I like.I look forward to going on this journey together! Let me know if you're thinking about doing the same! It'd be fun to track how much we're all enjoying it!See you on the internet!

I'm getting back into streaming, and XSplit are putting more focus on gamers and content creators. Seems like a great match!

Getting Back Into Streaming Part 1

Hey everyone! I'm thrilled to announce a game-changer in the world of screen recording and content creation. As XSplit's Business Development Head, I've seen my fair share of cool tools, but this one's special. Today, we're celebrating the open beta launch of <a href='https://www.canvid.com?utm_source=xsplit&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=launch' target='_blank' rel='dofollow'>Canvid</a>, a revolutionary screen recording software for Windows developed by our amazing friends and former colleagues. Canvid, founded by the same visionary behind XSplit, has been a labor of love and innovation. Canvid isn't just another screen recorder – it's a whole new way to capture your screen. You don't need to be a tech whiz to create professional-looking videos with Canvid. Features like super-smart AI voice transcription and sound enhancement take things to a whole new level, setting a new standard for screen recording. <video controls src="/blog/screen-recording-revolution-canvid-for-windows-beta-launch/static/Record, Transform, Share.mp4" alt='Canvid: Record your screen, use AI-enhanced audio clarity, and automatic captioning features.'></video><h2>Why Canvid Rocks</h2> Canvid is all about making powerful tools simple to use. Whether you want to record your entire screen, a specific window, or some ultra-detailed content with stunning auto-zooms, Canvid makes it a breeze. It's like having a built-in video editor at your fingertips. Crop, change layouts, and boost the quality of your videos with just a few clicks. But Canvid doesn't stop there. The built-in AI makes sure your audio sounds crystal clear, and automatically transcribes your voice for extra accessibility. <h2>Canvid: For Anyone Who Creates</h2> Creating tutorials, showcasing new features, or crafting killer product demos – Canvid's got your back. Its ability to produce immediately shareable and professional-grade videos is especially useful in today's fast-paced digital environment where content is king.<h2>Join the Canvid Revolution (It's free during the beta!)</h2> The open beta means Canvid is ready for a wider audience – and that includes you! Your feedback is like gold. By downloading Canvid and experiencing it firsthand, you'll help the developers make it the absolute best. See how Canvid can transform your content creation workflow, and share your thoughts! Their goal is to build a final version that meets everyone's needs, and your insights are crucial to achieving that.<div style='display:flex; gap:10px;margin:10px auto;'><img alt='Canvid: Make your videos accessible to everyone with automatic subtitles generated by AI.' src='/blog/screen-recording-revolution-canvid-for-windows-beta-launch/static/Canvid - AI-enhanced transcription and subtitles.png' style='width:45%'><img alt='Canvid: Boost your recording's sound quality with AI-powered voice clarity tools.' src='/blog/screen-recording-revolution-canvid-for-windows-beta-launch/static/Canvid, Ai-enhanced Voice Clarity.png' style='width:45%'></div><h2>The Future is Bright</h2> Canvid is rocking Windows right now, but that's just the beginning. Canvid is set to conquer new frontiers – macOS and potentially even Linux. Imagine – creators everywhere wielding the power of Canvid's screen recording magic, no matter their platform! The Canvid open beta isn't just a software launch – it's a leap forward in screen recording. The Canvid team, (full disclosure, they're part of the XSplit family and I'm a huge fan!), has created something truly special. Canvid's open beta lets you unlock your creative potential and explore the future of screen recording. What incredible content will YOU bring to life? Ready to unlock the power of Canvid? Join the beta today and explore the possibilities! <a href='https://www.canvid.com?utm_source=xsplit&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=launch' target='_blank' rel='dofollow'>Visit Canvid's website</a> for more details.

/blog/screen-recording-revolution-canvid-for-windows-beta-launch/static/Canvid - AI-enhanced transcription and subtitles.png

Canvid isn't just another screen recorder – it's a whole new way to capture your screen. 

Screen Recording Revolution: Canvid for Windows Beta Launch!

This is the first article in a series that take a closer look at the underlying technologies that power the world of live streaming and content creation It may seem like live streaming has been done the exact same way for the past many years. However, under the hood, new hardware capabilities, encoding technologies, and technical innovations have been constantly shifting the underlying landscape. When I joined XSplit back in 2012, live streaming was just starting to gain traction. Since then, I've had a front-row seat to the incredible technological advancements that have transformed and are continuing to transform the industry. One of the most significant shifts we've seen is the move from CPU-based encoding to hardware encoding on the GPU. This change wasn't just a minor upgrade; it was a revolution as it made streaming accessible to the masses by no longer requiring a prohibitively expensive streaming rig with a beefy CPU to produce a high-quality HD live stream. Big players like Intel, Nvidia, and AMD all rolled out their own dedicated encoders, recognizing the profound impact live content creation was beginning to have on our digital world. A new piece of chip architecture is now changing the landscape yet again, with the advent of NPUs (Neural Processing Units). These chips are game changers for AI-driven tasks, which can now run more smoothly without bogging down your CPU or GPU. Intel is a driving force for this shift, as they are integrating NPUs into all new laptop CPUs and most desktop CPUs to bring their AI PC vision to life. For content creators, this will make it even more accessible in the future to take advantage of AI-based enhancements to the creator experience, such as AI-driven background removal, audio enhancements, gaming highlights recognition, subtitles, automated reactions and much more, without negatively impacting the gaming or the streaming quality. At XSplit, we've leveraged the power of NPUs in exciting ways. We teamed up with Intel to enhance our VCam software, which uses our own patented AI technology for webcam background removal. When running on a machine with an NPU, e.g. any machine with the new Intel Core Ultra processor, VCam now offers a more powerful model that delivers noticeably better results—particularly with tricky details like chair edges, headsets or when someone else suddenly moves in the background.<div style='display: flex; flex-flow:row; gap: 10px;'><img alt='VCam Camera Settings' style='width:45%;' src='/blog/live-streaming-technology-past-present-and-future/static/image4.png'/><img alt='VCam Performance Settings' style='width:45%;' src='/blog/live-streaming-technology-past-present-and-future/static/image1.png'/></div> The performance boost is clear: when measured against a perfect removal of all background elements, our previous best AI model has an average inaccuracy rate of 2.5 percent, but with the new NPU-optimized model, that drops to just 1.5 percent - a 40% reduction of inaccuracies. While the inaccuracy rate may sound negligible in either case, this improvement makes a real difference in live streaming, where clarity and visual quality can make or break viewer engagement. Examples:<div style='margin:0 auto;width:80%;display:flex; flex-flow:column;justify-content:center;align-items:center;gap:30px;'><div style='display:flex;flex-flow:column;gap:10px;width:100%;justify-content:center;align-items:center;'><div style='display: flex; flex-flow:row; justify-content:space-evenly; gap: 10px;width:80%; margin: 0 auto;'>New Highest (NPU-optimized) modelPrevious Highest Model</div><img alt='Sample image 1' src='/blog/live-streaming-technology-past-present-and-future/static/image3.png' style='width:100%;'/></div><div style='display:flex;flex-flow:column;gap:10px;width:100%;justify-content:center;align-items:center;'><img alt='Sample image 2' src='/blog/live-streaming-technology-past-present-and-future/static/image2.png' style='width:100%;'/>Higher level of precision when segmenting edge elements like chair and headphones</div><div style='display:flex;flex-flow:column;gap:10px;width:100%;justify-content:center;align-items:center;'><img alt='Sample image 3' src='/blog/live-streaming-technology-past-present-and-future/static/image5.png'/style='width:100%;'>Significantly reduced risk of model confusion when a person moves in the background</div></div> Here's how it plays out in real life: We ran a series of live tests on an ASUS Zenbook with an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor with NPU and an Intel Arc graphics card. We benchmarked the impact on FPS when playing popular games like Cyberpunk 2077, Sims 4 and Fortnite while encoding the gameplay in 720p in XSplit Broadcaster, at the same time as running the highest-tier background removal models on both the CPU and NPU. The results were impressive. The games ran smoothly, with only a minimal impact on frame rates when the NPU took on the heavy lifting for background processing. In these scenarios, when running the previous best background removal model on the NPU, we saw an average of ~13% higher FPS in the games compared to running the model on the CPU. Conversely, when running the new higher NPU-optimized performance model on the CPU, it would bring the game to a constant stutter - while running the new model on the NPU would give a smooth experience with 7.5% higher average FPS than running the previous best model on the CPU.<table style='width:80%;margin:10px auto;'><thead style='background-color:#f1f1f1;font-weight:600;text-align:center;'><tr><td>Background removal model</td><td>Processor</td><td>Average FPS</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Previous Best</td><td>CPU</td><td>95.2</td></tr><tr><td>Previous Best</td><td>NPU</td><td>107.5</td></tr><tr><td>New Best (NPU-optimized)</td><td>CPU</td><td>N/A (constant stutter)</td></tr><tr><td>New Best (NPU-optimized)</td><td>NPU</td><td>102.3</td></tr></tbody></table> We also saw significant power savings and battery life improvements to be gained when running any of the background removal AI models on the NPU. VCam uses Intel's <a href='https://docs.openvino.ai/2024/home.html'>OpenVINO</a> API for inference on CPU and NPU. By default, inference in VCam uses FP16 precision on NPU and GPU, and Int8 quantization on CPU. In a future update, VCam may switch to use Int8 also on NPU for even lower power usage. VCam optimizes inference cycles when the camera has little or no movement, but by using our in-house model testing tool we were able to measure worst case power consumption used by the background removal model by forcing inference on every frame and testing different models with different precisions.<table style='width:80%;margin:10px auto;'><thead style='background-color:#f1f1f1;font-weight:600;text-align:center;'><tr><td>Previous Best Model</td><td>*Package Power (in Watts)</td><td>New Best Model (NPU-optimized)</td><td>*Package Power (in Watts)</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>CPU (Int8)</td><td>22.90</td><td>CPU (Int8)</td><td>28.19</td></tr><tr><td>GPU (FP16)</td><td>16.23</td><td>GPU (FP16)</td><td>20.72</td></tr><tr><td>NPU (FP16)</td><td>13.05</td><td>NPU (FP16)</td><td>14.21</td></tr><tr><td>NPU (Int8)</td><td>11.24</td><td>NPU (Int8)</td><td>12.23</td></tr></tbody></table>*Tests were run using an in-house model testing tool (smdnnTestBench), without running any apps in the background. Power consumption was measured using HWiNFO In conclusion, using the NPU for background inference reduced the battery consumption by up to 60% compared to inferencing on the CPU/GPU, and running the new higher model on the NPU only increases power consumption by ~8% compared to running the previous best model on the NPU. Overall, this means both longer battery life and lower energy bills—a win-win for streamers and the planet. Looking forward, the potential of NPUs in content creation is enormous. We're just scratching the surface of what's possible in terms of real-time video analytics, automated moderation, and personalized interactions. Imagine a live stream that adapts on the fly to viewer reactions and comments, creating a truly interactive experience. In this series, we'll continue exploring the technologies shaping the past, present and future of live streaming. Stay tuned for more insights into how these innovations are redefining not just how we create content, but how we connect with the world.<iframe loading='lazy' width='1280' height='720' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/WsL5F_Jm0V0?si=iAn8MKnQygt_Z-vO&amp;controls=0' title='YouTube video player' frameborder='0' allow='accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share' referrerpolicy='strict-origin-when-cross-origin' allowfullscreen/>

This is the first article in a series that take a closer look at the underlying technologies that power the world of live streaming and content creation