Trying to stream/capture GroovyMame - Ideas?

[Chase]

Hey Everyone,
First off a big THANK YOU to all you who have worked on GroovyMAME and the CRT driver.  Both are working great with my WG 9400 and Windows 10 MAME Computer 

I tried using the search function, but I was getting errors, so apologies if this has been covered before, but I could not find anything on this.

I'm using a ATI Radeon 5850 with the Super Resolutions (per the default setup procedure), using a DVI to VGA adapter and then running that to the monitor.  (Like I said working great)

What I would like to do is have the ability to stream my MAME gameplay to Twitch/YouTube without having to literally take a camera and aim it at the screen.  Ideally, I would love a direct capture that I could take into a capture card on a second PC.

Is this even possible?  I do have the ability to say take HDMI out from the ATI 5850 and send it to a capture device, but does GroovyMAME have the ability to "duplicate" the video on both outputs? 

And if so - can they be a different resolution on each so I can still play on the "native resolutions" via the WG9400, while getting a more compatible signal on the HDMI out that could be sent to a capture card.?

Or is there a different way of doing this that I haven't considered?

Thanks for any thoughts or ideas!

Chase

[Sereosh]

I have a working setup without a capture card, and two PCs like you.

You need to install the NDI Tools on both of your PCs, and OBS on your streaming PC (which you probably already have ). You also need the obs ndi plugin you can find on github. Both PCs should be on the same network. Launch NDI Scan converter on your MAME machine and OBS on your streaming PC. In OBS, you should be able to add an NDI Source to your scene, and your MAME machine should appear. Then you can use filters for scaling and cropping. It's a bit simplified but it works! Here's a short clip as proof: https://streamable.com/umqijg

If you decide to try it out and have issues I can probably help.

[Chase]

Thank you for the suggestion!  I tried this and got odd results and I'm wondering if it relates to the modified video driver on the MAME machine. (CRT emu driver with ATI 5850)

When I use NDI 3.8 Scan Converter, it works however due to the "Super resolutions", when it goes into game it's running like at 2400x265 (or something like that 😉) and so the image is all squashed on the capture computer.  I can't unstretch it either.  It's unusable 😒

If I use the current version of NDI tools on MAME PC  as soon as I attempt to connect from the Stream PC, it crashes the Scan Converter immediately.  Even worse.

I did try some experimental tests with plugging into the HDMI port from the card direct to the capture PC and just enabling the second monitor in the name.ini and so far it seems to work while I maintain the native resolution on the MAME machine.  So I'm hopeful this will work.   

However it is a bit concerning that NDI is acting weird.  I've used it perfectly before but like I said I think this might be a driver problem?? Hard to say.

[Sereosh]

When I use NDI 3.8 Scan Converter, it works however due to the "Super resolutions", when it goes into game it's running like at 2400x265 (or something like that 😉) and so the image is all squashed on the capture computer.  I can't unstretch it either.  It's unusable 😒

Have you tried the "Scaling/Aspect Ratio" filter on your NDI source and selecting "4:3" in "Resolution"?

[b4nd1t0]

i've made some tests, the best solution for me is to add the original resolution of the game you want to stream (you can remove it after) and use OBS to capture mame, this is the results, good for me.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/598477335

[Phreakwars]

OK, question. Are you talking about playing mame on your PC and streaming, or do you mean connecting your arcade cabinet to a stream and capturing it on your PC?? Myself I use a MiraBox Video capture device from whatever computer (arcade game if I want), to my own PC's USB 3.0 port and record in OBS. Otherwise, just use OBS. No need for a separate device if you want to record onto the PC/Arcade machine you are at... Hope that wasn't confusing, sorry. Probably doesn't even apply, resolution is the issue I take it?

[Phreakwars]

i've made some tests, the best solution for me is to add the original resolution of the game you want to stream (you can remove it after) and use OBS to capture mame, this is the results, good for me.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/598477335

Nice stream, Love Ghosts and Goblins.. or is that Ghoul's and Ghosts?? Haven't played it in years, I should go fire that one up for an hour or so.

[Chase]

i've made some tests, the best solution for me is to add the original resolution of the game you want to stream (you can remove it after) and use OBS to capture mame, this is the results, good for me.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/598477335

Can you expand on this?  Where do I add it?

Additionally - Would this change the resolution on the MAME machine as well?  That's something I don't really want to do as I'm trying to stay native on the cabinet when I play.

[Chase]

OK, question. Are you talking about playing mame on your PC and streaming, or do you mean connecting your arcade cabinet to a stream and capturing it on your PC?? Myself I use a MiraBox Video capture device from whatever computer (arcade game if I want), to my own PC's USB 3.0 port and record in OBS. Otherwise, just use OBS. No need for a separate device if you want to record onto the PC/Arcade machine you are at... Hope that wasn't confusing, sorry. Probably doesn't even apply, resolution is the issue I take it?

Connecting my MAME Cabinet PC to my Streaming PC. 

MAME PC running GroovyMame with CRTEmudriver -----> Streaming PC

The hiccup I'm having is trying to get that video over to the Streaming PC.  If I use NDI, it doesn't work because of the "super resoultions" that I'm using for the CRT Driver and WG 9400 Monitor.    However like I said above, I might be going with using the HDMI out on the video card and then enabling two monitor support in the mame.ini file on GroovyMame.  It requires some little tinkering but it seems to work for most games.

[Chase]

When I use NDI 3.8 Scan Converter, it works however due to the "Super resolutions", when it goes into game it's running like at 2400x265 (or something like that 😉) and so the image is all squashed on the capture computer.  I can't unstretch it either.  It's unusable 😒

Have you tried the "Scaling/Aspect Ratio" filter on your NDI source and selecting "4:3" in "Resolution"?

I'll give that a go and let ya know.

[b4nd1t0]

Can you expand on this?  Where do I add it?

Additionally - Would this change the resolution on the MAME machine as well?  That's something I don't really want to do as I'm trying to stay native on the cabinet when I play.

the resolution is the original 256×224 of Ghosts'n Goblins, as you can see on the TV, i like to play in lowres  but to stream in decent quality you need a minimum of 1280x720, you can prepare the layout in other pc and import in the mame machine.

I've made other test directly from the cab to stream for a live competition on facebook at original-res to 640x480, obtaining good results also in this case.