Streaming mixer

Microsoft’s surprise closure of Mixer sees the company working with Facebook Gaming to transition streaming partners over to Facebook. It sounds like an easy win for Facebook Gaming, letting it obtain streamers who will help boost its streaming service, but it’s difficult to find many Mixer streamers who are willing to move to Facebook instead of Amazon-owned Twitch.I spent three hours last night hopping into a variety of Mixer partners’ streams, from ones broadcasting to thousands to those who have just started out streaming to a handful of loyal fans. After speaking with at least 30 Mixer partners, I only found a single person who has committed to switching to Facebook Gaming.The vast majority of Mixer streamers I spoke to are planning to switch to Twitch, and they were unhappy with the way Microsoft handled the announcement. “I found out about this happening literally when I was live,” says PumpkinKitty, who was streaming live to hundreds of people while trying to understand the news. A viewer alerted him to the Mixer closure. He said he was “leaning towards Twitch” before making it official hours later. Mixer’s biggest streamer, Ninja, even stopped by PumpkinKitty’s chat to donate $250 and briefly hosted his stream to boost viewers.Ninja hosting PumpkinKitty’s stream.Microsoft’s Mixer announcement caught the majority of partners by surprise, with many finding out through Twitter or in their own live streams about the fate of their channels. That surprise has morphed into both anger and despair from Mixer streamers.Lindsy Wood, a Mixer partner from Minneapolis, Minnesota, was visibly distraught during a stream last night. “All of the amazing things that Mixer has allowed me to do and participate in, I’m not going to have that anymore,” said Wood, while crying at the news of the Mixer shutdown. In a message to The Verge, Wood says she isn’t considering Twitch and isn’t sure what she’s going to do. “My life feels like it’s shattered.”That sadness is mirrored across the Mixer community. “I’m trying to pick up the pieces and move on with some positivity,” says ConcealedBones, a Mixer and Discord partner. “It sucks. I’m upset, it’s pretty devastating, but it’ll take a couple of days to figure out where I’m going to go.”Facebook’s legacy of privacy issues is one of the big turnoffs that seems to be keeping many Mixer streamers away.“Facebook is archaic,” says Mixer partner DM21Constellation. “Their desire for all the data from their users is absolutely absurd. A lot of people don’t want to have to create a brand new page just so they can chat on a stream. The interface is absolutely terrible. It’s kind of like the same thing when it comes to YouTube, they don’t care about their streaming platform and I really don’t get the feeling Facebook cares about their streaming platform at all.”Most Mixer partners I spoke to had decided to move to Twitch or were leaning that way, despite Facebook reportedly offering a one-time $2,500 sign-up bonus to Mixer partners who choose to move.

Starting today, Beam.pro will be no more. Beam will now be known as "Mixer," or "Mixer.com," as Microsoft asserts its intentions to take on Amazon's Twitch.tv at a global level.The intent behind the Mixer brand is to emphasize the community aspects of the service across Xbox Live and Windows 10. Soon you will also be "mix" your stream with up to three friends, according to Microsoft, combining four feeds, and four chat channels into a single stream. But wait, that's not all!Co-streaming, Xbox One dashboard pageLeveraging Mixer's industry-leading low latency, co-streams utilizing Mixer's faster than light (FTL) stream protocol will display in near-real time to viewers, providing a brand new perspective on cooperative streaming. Naturally, the implications for collaborative play and eSports spectating is huge, and because Mixer is connected directly to Xbox Live and Windows 10, it gives Microsoft a unique opportunity to get a leg up on Twitch.Additionally, Mixer will soon be directly integrated into the Xbox One dashboard, under a new page to the right of the home screen. Here, Microsoft will display content and coverage from across the service, whether it's popular and trending streamers, or eSports channels featuring Gears of War, Forza, and Halo.In the future, you should expect Xbox (and maybe even Windows and Surface) to begin using Mixer as the exclusive location of its future live streams.New apps for iOS and Android (and maybe Windows?)Mixer will also debut a new app, called "Mixer Create," which is the service's take on mobile screen streaming and live feed streaming. Users will be able to stream their camera directly to Mixer, similar to Twitter's Periscope service, broadcasting live across Xbox, the respective Mixer apps, and the Mixer website. It will also leverage Mixer's FTL codec, making it far faster than competing services.We asked about the possibility of Mixer Create hitting Windows 10 phones in the future, but as you might expect, it's not in the company's immediate plans. Xbox is going where the users are first, which sadly, isn't Windows 10 Mobile.All the latest news, reviews, and guides for Windows and Xbox diehards.E3 2017 and the futureCo-streaming might require FTL, but Beam told us that the upload speed needed to achieve FTL is decreasing all the time. The service is activating new servers on a routine basis, as demand swells from users across Windows 10 and Xbox Live. (Let's not forget that Project Scorpio will also

After starting as a niche beloved only by the most hardcore geeks and gamers, broadcasting video games has finally hit the mainstream—so mainstream, in fact, that it’s now baked directly into Windows itself.But while the Windows 10 Creators Update embraces the streaming craze, you won’t find support for Twitch or YouTube. Instead, the operating system offers native broadcasting support for Mixer, the streaming service Microsoft acquired in late 2016. That may bum out streamers with audiences on established platforms, but what Mixer lacks in users and features, it makes up for in sheer ease of use—something sorely lacking elsewhere.But we’ll talk about that later! Here’s how to start streaming your PC games with Mixer in the Windows 10 Creators Update.Before you Mixer streamMixer makes it easy to hop into a broadcast in mere seconds, defaulting to basic settings that work well for the masses. If you want to tinker with the technical aspects of your stream, though, it’s best to take a few minutes to adjust Mixer’s stream quality settings before you fire up your game. (It’s not necessary, though, so feel free to skip this section entirely if you want to just start streaming right now.) Brad Chacos/IDGTo do so, head to Start > Settings > Gaming, where you’ll find one of the Windows 10 Creators Update’s best new features: a hub dedicated to gaming options. Select the Broadcasting tab in the left-hand options to bring up Mixer’s settings. Brad Chacos/IDG Windows 10’s native Mixer broadcasting options.You, well, won’t find much. It’s incredibly, uh, streamlined compared to OBS and other popular PC broadcasting software. You can’t change the codec used to encode the stream, or the bitrate quality, or anything else about the stream’s visuals. There are only a handful of audio quality settings. It’s awfully console-like, which makes sense as Mixer is designed to work on the Xbox One as well, but the service’s bare-bones nature might be a turn-off to some PC users.That said, the extreme simplicity and ease of use may appeal to virgin broadcasters who are just dipping their toes into streaming, or folks who loathe the idea of wading through technical details. Brad Chacos/IDG When you activate your webcam, a preview appears.Mixer streaming does not show you on-camera or broadcast the audio feed of your microphone by default. That interactivity’s the core conceit of game streaming, so I’d suggest activating your mic at the very least. You can also tinker with the audio quality to improve or decrease the fidelity of your words (at the expense of system resources and data needs). I’d suggest leaving the default settings for microphone and system volume alone unless you discover a concrete reason to change them. If you wind up wanting to tweak those, however, you’ll have to return to the Gaming settings; there’s no way to change them mid-game or with the Game Bar.But enough about options. Let’s start streaming!Start your Mixer streamStarting a Mixer stream is easy-peasy, and it works with any game—not just Windows

Support native 4K streaming.)We were told that today marks the beginning of a massive marketing push for Mixer. Microsoft is aiming to make Mixer the ultimate place to view E3 2017 coverage, with exclusive reveals and interviews, huge giveaways, and more. Mixer will also have its own booth at E3 in Los Angeles next month for the first time, introducing itself to the world as a standalone entity, rather than a simple Xbox Live feature.Mixer is going to stream for six hours to celebrate the relaunch of the service starting at 11 am PT (2 pm EST/7 pm BST) and culminating in a special interactive firework display at around 9.30 pm PT (12.30 am EST/ 5:30 am BST).Huge potential for MixerMixer is, in my opinion, one of Microsoft's most exciting ventures to date. The raw potential is palpable, thanks to the direct integration into Windows 10 and Xbox One, allowing for easy streaming setups, 4K on Scorpio, making expensive capture cards unnecessary, and unique co-streaming features, which will enable new experiences.Taking on Twitch, and perhaps one day, YouTube, will be an insurmountable task. If Microsoft can actually make it work, it would be an incredibly impressive feat. But Twitch is already responding. Amazon's streaming service debuted its own interactive SDK recently, which is very obviously a direct response to Mixer's interactive SDK, allowing viewers to affect a game directly.The competition in the streaming space just got incredibly interesting. It remains to be seen whether or not Mixer can make a dent in Twitch's utter dominance of the sector, but considering Mixer's service appears to be objectively superior in various ways, Microsoft is certainly off to a good start.Follow the Windows Central Mixer channelJez Corden is the Executive Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by tea. Follow on Twitter (X) and Threads, and listen to his XB2 Podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!

Store games. Brad Chacos/IDG Before you start Mixer streaming from the Game Bar, you can tinker with your audio broadcast settings for the game you’re playing.To start a stream, summon Windows 10’s Game Bar by pressing Windows + G or the Xbox button on your Xbox controller. If you didn’t bother configuring your default options in the Gaming section, you can adjust some of them from right inside the Game Bar by clicking the Settings cog and navigating to the Broadcast and Audio tabs.Kick off a stream by clicking the new-to-the-Creators-Update Broadcast button on the Game Bar. You’ll need to agree to Mixer’s terms of use before you’re dumped into the broadcast setup. Brad Chacos/IDG Mixer’s broadcast setup process is just as streamlined as its settings.Again, everything’s pretty streamlined here. The setup allows you to manually select to activate your microphone or camera. If you decide to show yourself to the world, you can cycle through various on-screen positions for the camera output. You can also opt to stream just the game, or your entire Windows desktop if you plan on hopping between programs mid-stream. You stream broadcasts to your Mixer channel (which is created automatically under your Xbox Live handle the first time you stream) as well as your Xbox Live activity feed, where your Xbox friends will see it and be able to join in.That’s it. Click Start broadcast and you’re live to the masses. I said it was simple! Brad Chacos/IDG For the Horde! Wait, wrong game…Once you’re streaming, a thin Mixer options bar will appear onscreen where you chose to overlay the camera position, even if you’re not streaming your webcam. The options on the bar are basic—you can pause or stop the stream, disable or enable your camera and mic on the fly, or click the icon of two overlapping rectangles to cycle through a visual of your running stream, a chat screen, or neither. Clicking and holding the icon of two horizontal bars, on the right edge of the Mixer options bar, lets you manually reposition the overlay anywhere you want onscreen. Finally, the tool also displays how long your stream’s been live, and how many people are currently watching it.That’s about all there is to broadcasting games with the Windows 10 Creators Update’s native Mixer support.There are just three minor quibbles to mention. First, you’ll see a small gaming performance hit while you’re streaming, as encoding the video and sending it out to the world takes system resources. Second, you shouldn’t use Windows 10’s Game Mode while you’re streaming. Game Mode improves game performance by limiting how much CPU and GPU power Windows grants to other applications and processes, and Mixer streaming needs those. You don’t want to choke it. Microsoft Don’t use Windows 10’s Game Mode while you’re streaming with Mixer.Finally, Mixer won’t work if Skype is active on your system. Not even mid-call, just open. I thought it was a bug, but a quick Google search revealed that it’s intentional behavior.

Microsoft makes software and hardware, and recently, the company has arguably become equally skilled at both. But Microsoft’s software still shines brightest, especially in gaming. Inconsistent sales and hardware failures have plagued Xbox consoles, but the online multiplayer revolution brought on by Xbox Live is one of the most important contributions to the medium. With Mixer (the service once known as Beam), Microsoft brings its software strength to the promising world of video game live streaming. Mixer’s clever interactive features turn the act of watching someone play a game into a game in and of itself. However, Mixer’s lack of other, more basic broadcasting features makes it a runner-up to our Editors’ Choice, Twitch.Note that on July 22 Microsoft shut down Mixer and encouraged its users to migrate to Facebook Gaming.Getting Started With MixerSign up for Mixer using whatever Microsoft account you already use for Windows or Xbox. You can use Mixer on the web or download mobile apps for Android and iOS. All these platforms are all fine ways to view streams and chats, with layouts full of videos to watch, personalities to follow, and lists of live channels to browse. The interface is pleasant and well-organized, with little of the obnoxious gamer aesthetic from the early days of the Xbox. I experienced no crashes during mobile or web viewing sessions.Broadcasting is a little trickier, however. Previously, the Mixer Create mobile app let you broadcast from your phone the way Facebook Gaming, Mobcrush, and Twitch do. Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case. The app is now just for viewing streams and turning your archived streams into clips. Mixer also used to offer native streaming in the Windows 10 Xbox Game Bar, but that feature has been removed. To stream from a PC or Mac, you need additional software such as OBS, Streamlabs, or XSplit. While it’s only in beta, Twitch offers built-in desktop streaming with Twitch Studio. The Mixer app for Xbox One has built-in streaming at least. Just don’t expect to find that app on rival consoles and set-top boxes such as the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, or Apple TV. You may need to invest in capture equipment (such as a capture card and audio mixer) as well depending on the games you want to broadcast. Similar Products Mixer is free to use, but for $7.99 per month, you can subscribe to Mixer Pro. This premium subscription gives you ad-free viewing, grants early access to new features, highlights your posts so they stand out more in chats, and doubles the amount of experience you earn. I'll explain the purpose of experience points a bit later. These are all fine optional bonuses, but, considering Microsoft’s status as a major video game publisher, some free cross-play PC and Xbox games would sweeten the deal—even if it meant raising the price.Twitch gives you free (mostly indie) games every month with a Twitch Prime subscription, costing $12.99 per month through Amazon Prime or $8.99 per month through Prime Video. At least if