Nothing Ever Works - Streaming Edition

I feel like I've been attempting to stream video games for over 10 years and have never figured out how to do it reliably.

By the way, this is strictly for fun and goofs. I have no desire to make a career out of dying in Fortnite at the hands of 12 year olds scrolling TikTok while I throw medkits at them by mistake instead of shooting back. I just want it to work reliably so I can have fun playing the games instead of troubleshooting tech.

Current Gear and Software Stack

To connect my Xbox X console to my Mac Studio computer, I've got an aging Elgato HD60 S+ which plugs in to my Mac Studio via a USB C cable.

Which all works just fine, by the way!

I can open up OBS, an incredible feat of open source free to use capture + streaming software, and see / hear everything happening on my Xbox in OBS.

You don't need to hear it to know it's working - the little meter in the bottom-middle of the GIF is moving as Rumi, Mira, and Zoey drop in to the island.

I've also tried this same set up with Ecamm Live, so I know it's the Xbox and or an OBS setting as far as I can tell.

That's what it looks like when I've got a headset turned on. No nice sound bars moving as Gorillaz get launched into the game.

Plus the game audio works if I don't turn on the headset.

So why the blog post?

I Bought a New Headset

Like I said, everything works fine right up until I turn on my gaming headset, a very nice Arctis Nova 7X wireless headset, and then OBS only picks up Xbox menu navigation sounds. Game audio is non existent. If I turn off my headphones, the game audio comes back immediately.

As you can imagine, streaming a game without any game sound other than me crying into my microphone after getting destroyed by 3 teenagers making 6, 7 jokes isn't a great experience for anyone involved.

What seems to be happening is that when a headset is engaged, the Xbox turns off audio through the HDMI output. Which kind of makes sense, because if you have a headset on you don't need audio going to your TV and annoying your family.

Except that when I have my Xbox X connected to our TV and not using any sort of capture card, it does still send audio down the HDMI cable to our TV when I turn on my headset.

Something is happening with how the Elgato HD60 S+ identifies itself to the Xbox that's different than my TV.

Voice Chat can be toxic, but also a lot of fun

I can hear some of the smart tech folks wondering why I don't just use my fancy podcasting microphone and headset when gaming + streaming?

The main reason I don't want to do that is because then I can't talk with anyone in my party in game. Not that I always want to be able to hear or talk to "BarbieGirl203" or "Transformer203" while they're reviving me again. But every so often it's fun to join in the conversation about the game.

Plus I do have my #FortniteDad pickle squad that hangs out every so often that I want to be able to chat with. For people I do actually know, we can always hop on Discord to chat while we play so that's not as big a deal.

But there's also a lag from the HD60 S+ capture card to what I'm seeing on screen that I don't trust is the real reason I'm not able to hit "MarkyMarkandtheFortniteBunch" while they're running across my screen.

Solutions

One possible fix is buying a newer capture device. The Elgato 4K X would be pretty sweet for sending 4K video everywhere. Oh and would you look at that! It's on sale this week. And I just saved $60 on my headset! It might also fix my lag issues?

Another fix might be buying the official Microsoft Xbox Wireless headset which uses Microsoft's built in bluetooth signal to send audio back and forth, unlike the Arctis Nova 7X which comes with a proprietary USB dongle that I plug into the Xbox X which then sends the signal to the headset wirelessly.

Or I could just stop trying to make streaming happen. It's been 10 years. Maybe I should move on to something else like starting a podcast?