The first part of any streaming setup is of course the gear and software necessary for the production and collection of footage and audio, and a means to broadcast or record. My philosophy, both due to budget limitations and practicality, has always been to do as much as possible with as little as possible. Many people believe you have to spend thousands of dollars to have decent material – that simply isn’t true. For reference, consider that the expensive top of the line gear today will be tomorrow’s discards. Used equipment only a few years old can be just as good with a little work as the latest items. Can you get 4k or 8k Hollywood level productions with second hand or inexpensive gear? Likely not, but then we are novices, and any such dreams are unrealistic to begin with. For my current configuration, I am quite happy with a steady 1920×1280 FHD resolution and solid audio, anything beyond that is unnecessary (and overly expensive).
The gear I use, which is set up semi-permanently in our gaming area, consists of the following. Except as noted, everything was discount, used, or otherwise the least expensive solution. For some, I experimented with higher end options, but decided it just wasn’t worth the cost. As these items worth upgrading? Likely yes, eventually, but for now they easily accomplish all my goals.
- Microphones and Audio
- 4x AmazonBasics Dynamic Vocal Microphones (Cardioid) – very solid, decent and inexpensive microphones. I believe they are generic versions of much more expensive models, the fit easily into the table layout and are optionally powered with phantom power. I have 4, due to the size of our gaming area, and the number of players. This gives me 4 separate zones, so that I can tune the volume for quieter or louder voices. They each use XLR connectors and wires running under the table to my Audio recorder
- 1x PoP Voice Lavalier Lapel Microphone – a very simple and cheap option for a lavalier mic, with a very long wire and a 3.5mm jack to connect to the audio recorder. I use this for my own voice, since I rarely get up from the table, and don’t mind the extra wire. Originally I experimented with a lavalier for every player, but with 10 players, that isnt practical and would have required a far more expensive audio system.
- Zoom H6 Portable Audio Recorder – this is easily my most expensive piece of kit, it was purchased new, but because I needed a way to import 5 audio channels. The device is a workhorse, never having an issue. It can be powered by battery, or more commonly for me, with a USB battery brick or a direct connection thru USB to power. I tend to use direct power, since it otherwise has lost power on occasion, but for short use, batteries work well too. For the longest time, I had an issue when it was plugged into a computer USB port, causing a hum in the recording. That was recently resolved when I tuned my audio and realized that my gain was set far too high (article coming in the future).
- Cameras and Video
- 3x Canon Vixia HF R800 Camcorders (technically 1 is a R80, but that just adds WiFi connectivity, which I don’t use). These were purchased separately, when they were on clearance sales and used, or in one case off Facebook Marketplace as used. They all have batteries, but I keep them plugged in at all times. With a decent memory card, they can record 16+ hours in 1920×1280 resolution at 30 frames per second, which is plenty for my efforts. They do have some basic color correction and adjustments, but really I just set the basic zoom and let it auto focus – since our setup is static, that is almost always sufficient. Any adjustments, if needed, I do during the edit stage, though I definitely do not know what I am doing there, so tend to just leave it as the default.
- Various USB webcams – I have a collection of miscellaneous webcams, which at one time or another I have added to the mix, mainly to highlight the dice tray, or a portion of the play surface. Currently, the configuration does not use these.
- GoPro Hero White 7 – an old GoPro, this was purchased for our prior configuration. At the time, I was directly recording the session, then editing it before publishing. With our current streaming setup, this model doesn’t actually work – only the Black models are functional for live streaming, White models are record only. It hasn’t been enough of a part of our mix for me to replace it, but I may do so with a used model at some point.
- 2x Neewer Bi-color LED Video Lights – I purchased these during a Black Friday clearance sale, and they have been helpful, if overly large. They sit on either side of our table, as a highlight for myself – the end where I sit is a bit darker and the camera accentuates that. With these lights, it brightens it up a lot, and they are out of the way enough not to interfere with anything else. Eventually, I do want to get something smaller or more focused from the front, but with our game space, there hasn’t been any good solutions for that figured out yet.
- Computers and Accessories
- 3 Laptops – the real heart of my system is a set of 3 old laptops. These are definitely not current – the newest is still 3+ years old. One has a screen that is delaminating, and another has a trackpad that is nearly useless. But all run well enough.
- The first one is my GM/Control screen, I use it to run the various games, with Acrobat and Chrome as the main applications. Acrobat gives me the PDF reference books, Chrome is my interface into the GM view of Foundry.
- The second laptop is the weakest, so I reconfigured it to run Ubuntu desktop. This helps give it a little bit of a boost, although it only runs Chrome normally. This system is plugged into our table top display as a second monitor, and we use it to display Foundry and digital map tools for the players. Recently I also added Syrinscape Online client to it, while we experiment with sound effects and music.
- The last one is the newest, it was previously the spouse’s system. It has been updated to Windows 11, but otherwise cleaned of any excess software. This works as another Foundry view, specific to the live stream, as well as an OBS server. All of the video cameras and audio feed into this system, then it renders and streams the footage to Twitch. At the same time, it records the session live, for me to later trim and publish to YouTube. It does tend to run a little hot, but otherwise manages without much issue.
- 50″ Flat Screen TV – this is out virtual table top and game surface, and consists of a old TV screen. When we moved into our home a couple years ago, we purchased several new TVs. This left one unused, with no where to go with it, so rather than tossing it in the dump, it was repurposed as a tabletop. I build a simple containment box, added some support, and now it runs as a second screen for our Player-view laptop. With a wireless mouse and keyboard, it can operate independently by one of the players, and have been a lot help in the games (no longer needing to draw out room or dungeons). It does suffer a bit from visibility if you are off to the side of the screen, but we tend to accommodate that with physical figures to help orient the player view.
- iPad Tablet – For the times we have Discord players remote, I have a tablet set up for their connection. I run Discord on the Streaming laptop as well (to record the audio), but the Tablet gives me a view of the player themselves on the camera. That way I can be aware when they are trying to get our attention, as well as read their body language and responses.
- Oontz Angle 3 portable Bluetooth speaker – this is our audio system for the table, for any players speaking on Discord. The audio quality is excellent and it can be more than loud enough for our group. It is connected with Bluetooth to the Streaming laptop, but kept plugged in continuously to power to avoid it dying mid-game.
- 3 Laptops – the real heart of my system is a set of 3 old laptops. These are definitely not current – the newest is still 3+ years old. One has a screen that is delaminating, and another has a trackpad that is nearly useless. But all run well enough.
Other than some other miscellaneous pieces (lots of power cables, usb cables, a network switch, etc), that is really the entirety of our setup, and everything that is really necessary for our stream. As I mentioned, it isn’t Professional level production, and it doesn’t need to be. It’s just a group of friends having fun, and perhaps trying to entertain viewers.
In my next writeup, I will detail our layout and approach to capture the group in our specific location. This may give you some hints, or you might have a few ideas on how we can improve.
