BUT...for this article, I will attempt to approach this from a non-bias point of view.
What are your options?
I am going to assume that most of you are using Twitch.tv/Justin.tv for your streams, let's refer to the Twitch page to see what options they suggest:
Now there are a few interesting things to note here:
1-Twitch is a business, they are trying to make money, there is nothing wrong with that! But it is important to realize this when you are starting your stream. Twitch makes the most amount on XSplit, it is more affordable than Wirecast and far easier to use than Flash Media encoder(and Wirecast actually). Note that they actually put the price tag on Wirecast, it's like...they...want you....to use XSplit! Anything with a nearly $500 price tag will certainly discourage people from going in that direction, obviously Twitch has a deal set up with Xplit and Wirecast.
2-Wirecast is certainly a professional option, but it is lacking many of the features that cheaper competitors offer. Another interesting note is that this program is about 38mb to install, and then is quite taxing on your processor. I feel like asking almost $500 for this program is a bit much, it is understandable that twitch steers people in the direction of XSplit!
3-THESE ARE NOT YOUR ONLY OPTIONS!
There are actually a few more options available, and some are pretty good. I am not going to list them all, instead I will suggest one, Open Broadcaster Software.
Ok, seriously, what are your options?
Despite having lots of options available to you, in all honesty and in my opinion, there are actually really only two options(currently) that I would even touch:XSplit and Open Broadcaster Software
I say that these are the only options because they meet the following criteria:
-They are free or have a free option.
Anyone who is looking to get into streaming isn't going to spend a ton of money on it!
-They are easy to use
-They were both designed for gaming streams
-Both offer support and updates.
You don't want a dead program.
How do they stack up to each other?
(NOTE: I am not going to be including ALL of my findings, this article will summarize my findings, if you want to know my information sources, just shoot me a message and I can send you all the info)Ease of Use
Both OBS and XSplit are very easy to use, XSplit is a bit easier to get into, but once to know where all the buttons and menus are on OBS, OBS is just as easy. But since XSplit is a little easier at first, this point goes to XSplit. (+1 XSplit)
Options
As things currently stand(Sept. 2013) XSplit has more options available to the streamer, these options mainly have to do with the asthetics of your stream, or in other words, how it looks. But I would not be suprised if that changed soon(see my Updates and Extra Points section on why). (+1 XSplit)
Support
Both have support available and a community that tries to answer questions, but the general consensus is that the XSplit support team are often short, impatient, and rude to users. This is disappointing since they have such a great program! I have been involved in both communities and have always been impressed with the support that the OBS community and developers provide. (+1 OBS)
Updates
Hands down, without a question, this one goes to OBS! The frequency and substance of the updates pushed out by the OBS team is phenomenal. Hardly a week or two will pass that I have not been asked to update my OBS, some might consider this bothersome, but the updates don't take long and, in most cases, make an obvious difference/change. (+1 OBS)
CPU Usage
For the streamer with a beast mode computer, this is not going to be a big issue. The reality of this though, is that most streamers have computers that just barely run their games in the first place! After testing this myself and seeing results from other streamers, it becomes apparent that OBS uses far less resources than XSplit. (+1 OBS)
Extra Points
-Prettiness-XSplit is just a prettier program, it looks nicer. OBS, looks a bit like something from Windows 98. (+1 XSplit)
-Freeness- Despite having a free option, XSplit does make you go Pro if you want access to ALL of the features, because of this I think it would almost be fair to take the "Options" section away from them. (+1 OBS)
-Community Development- OBS did something right when it provided the option for viewers to create plugins. And there have been some amazing plugins created, providing options that XSplit will probably never have. (+1 OBS)
Bottom Line and Final Score
Final Score:
XSplit- 3 Points
OBS- 5 Points
Bottom Line
Both are great programs that will certainly offer all of the 'nessessities' to streamers, but the bottom line is that despite actually being paid for the program(for the pro part at least), despite having(slightly) more options, and despite having support from Twitch, XSplit just doesn't stack up against OBS. Superior CPU and RAM management, community/dev support, the lack of a price tag, and community made plugins clearly puts OBS on top.
Worth Mentioning
There is another program that is not ready to be brought into the ring against these two, but is worth mentioning since it could really put these two out of business if they get it working.Raptr
www.raptr.com
This company has put out a little program that is supposed to be your 'everything'! It, much like steam, offers an in game overlay activated by hitting Ctl+Tab, It will automatically post on your Facebook, Twitter, and the Raptr community pages whenever you start streaming. It will automatically update what game you are playing on your stream, you can even update the name of your stream from the in game overlay. Did I mention that when you open the in game overlay, it shows your twitch chat? Yup, it does that. It is the perfect solution for the many streamers that only have one monitor. As of right now many people are having issues with getting it to actually stream your game, but in the mean time, it does still does all of the other things I mentioned. I use it for those other features and I love it. I would like to see the actual streaming part work, I would also like to see more customization options for streaming(webcam support, image overlays, etc...) I think it would be amazing if OBS got together with Raptr! Anyway, I DO NOT recommend this for streaming, but for in game twitch chat, updating your stream name, and other features, USE IT!
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