You’ll no doubt have noticed that live streaming has become a big business in recent years. Look through the top content creators, developers, and operators in any part of the entertainment industry, and you’ll see they have a live-streaming element. Twitch is, of course, the obvious example. The live-streaming platform has turned gaming into a form of passive entertainment. Twitch officially launched in 2011, but it emerged from Justin.tv which went live four years earlier.
The Advent of Live Streaming
Had someone said that gaming, an active form of entertainment, would become just as popular as a passive form of entertainment prior to 2007, they’d have laughed. The ones laughing now are those who have embraced the live-streaming revolution. Twitch hit 3.2 million active monthly users within its first year. As of 2023, the number of active monthly users was in excess of 140 million. This alone shows that live streaming is now an integral part of the online entertainment industry.
This is very clear within the casino gaming sector. Thanks to studios such as Evolution Gaming, players can now interact with live dealers via their computer or mobile device. For example, consider the innovation behind modern-day iterations of classic card games like poker and baccarat, as well as other casino favorites like roulette. Nowadays, when you play roulette online, you can opt between solo experiences in titles like Double Ball and Roulette Platinum or live dealer games like Lightning Roulette. The contrast is vast!
Live dealer games feature RFID technology (Optical Character Recognition software) and webcams. The end result is a game that players can watch in real-time while sensors track the result to ensure all online bets are paid out accordingly. Not only this, but certain live games also facilitate chat rooms and chat functions with the real-time croupier.
Evidently, live streaming has added a new dimension to online roulette and other casino games.
How to Stream Like a Pro
The point here is that live streaming is now an integral part of the online entertainment ecosystem. As such, you need a system that’s capable of getting the most from any live streams you want to access. Naturally, almost all modern systems will be capable of running live streams.
What’s more, the internet connection you have will be as much of a factor in determining a stream’s quality as the device you’re using. However, we’re not in the business of average. We want you to have an optimal experience. With this in mind, here are the minimum system requirements for anyone wanting to stream live games without a break in quality:
- Processor = at least a 2.5 GHz CPU Octa Core processor
- RAM = 8 GB+
- Video Card = NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or better
- Free Disk Space = 128 GB+
- Dedicated Video RAM = at least 2048 MB
Those statistics are obviously subject to change as live-streaming content evolves. However, they’re over the minimum requirements, which means you should get a smooth experience, regardless of what you’re streaming. If you’re intended to host your own stream, you’ll need something a bit more powerful. You should have a system that supports hardware encoding and decoding to reduce stress on the CPU.
In addition to these features, your system should have a Quick Sync-enabled CPU or NVIDIA NVENC-enabled GPU and storage of at least 512 GB (with an SSD). Finally, you’ll need multiple HD inputs and outputs to support more than one camera. Get these things in place, and you can start streaming with the best of them. However, if you’re content to consume the wealth of live content out there right now, just make sure you have the suggested hardware in place, and you’ll be able to enjoy the latest trend in online entertainment.
