Broadcasting your computer's desktop is a great way to provide remote software demonstrations.
Live streaming is the process of broadcasting your computer activities live to an audience, either public or private. Live streaming your desktop does not require a webcam, but you can add one to your video if you choose to. Additionally, you can broadcast your voice with your microphone to help inform your audience. You can use a live stream to broadcast anything from software sales demonstrations to video game footage to an audience anywhere in the world.
Instructions
Get a Streaming Service
1. Sign up for a popular streaming service, such as Justin.tv or Livestream.com. Though these sites primarily cater to gamers, you can actually use the service for any kind of stream you wish.
2. Set your account to private if you wish to only share the stream with a specific audience, such as a business meeting. Alternatively, if you wish to broadcast to anyone, you can set your stream to public.
3. Share your unique URL with whomever you want to watch your stream. If you are using Justin.tv, it should be in the format "http://www.justin.tv/youraccountname".
Using XSplit
4. Download XSplit, a free live streaming program, and sign up for an account. It is designed to interface with popular streaming services, such as Justin.tv.
5. Add your live streaming channel to XSplit. You can find the channel menu by navigating to the Broadcast menu and selecting Edit Channels. Click the Add button.
6. Enter your live stream information. In the case of Justin.tv, most of the information will populate automatically after you enter your username and password.
7. Leave the quality settings alone for now; you can always tweak them later if you wish. Increasing the quality and bitrate uses more bandwidth, so your best possible quality will vary depending on the strength of your Internet connection.
Screen Region
8. Select "Scene 1" in the bottom right corner. The various "scenes" refer to your video source. If you master the art of configuring scenes, you can put together very sophisticated streams from multiple sources, cameras and even other computers. At first, it's best to just start with one scene.
9. Click "Add" in the bottom left corner of the screen, and select "Screen Region" from the menu. This option allows you to tell XSplit what part of your screen you intend to broadcast.
10. Click the very top left, and then the very bottom right, of your screen. This will broadcast your entire desktop. Alternatively, you can select a small region and only broadcast that part. Showing the whole screen is generally the easiest way, however, and is necessary if you are trying to broadcast a full screen presentation or software demonstration.
Broadcast Resolution
11. Go to the View menu at the top, and select the Resolution item. This selection allows you to determine the resolution of your broadcast. This information may not necessarily match your desktop resolution.
12. Click the Edit Resolutions menu item to configure what resolutions you want to appear on the menu.
13. Pick a resolution that matches the ratio of your desktop resolution. If you are unsure what ratio your computer is set to, use either 1280x720 for a widescreen monitor, or 1280x1024 for an older CRT monitor. These are very standard resolutions that should work with most computers.
Start the Broadcast
14. Select the Broadcast drop down menu. Your streaming service should appear in the list.
15. Click on the streaming service you wish to use from the list. After a few seconds, XSplit's title bar should turn red and start displaying statistics of your stream.
16. Verify your stream is working by bringing it up in your web browser. This will create an obnoxious feedback effect, but you only need to look at it for a few seconds to verify it is working. Most streaming services will make you watch an advertisement before the stream loads.
17.Lower your resolution if you find that your Internet connection cannot handle the broadcast. You may need to drop to a smaller resolution such as 640x360 for widescreen, or 640x480 for a CRT monitor.
18. Double check previous sections of this article if something is not working. You may need to try removing and re-populating the screen region or channel information.
Tags: your stream, streaming service, your computer, your desktop, bottom right, broadcast your
