Available for a variety of platforms, broadcasting software enables you to create and transmit video presentations via the Internet or a private computer network. The software includes the ability to record not only video, but also audio, and incorporate still photographs into broadcast presentations. Like other software, your computer must meet specific requirements before you can install and use broadcasting programs. The system requirements for broadcasting software is the bare minimum requirements needed to run the software. If your computer doesn’t meet the system requirements, the software will not run properly on your computer.
Operating system requirements
Your computer system needs to be running Windows 10, 8 (64-bit version) or 7 (32- and 64-bit versions). Broadcasting software may or may not be compatible with computers running older operating systems including Windows Vista, XP and older versions of Windows. Broadcasting software is also available for other platforms, including Mac and Linux. If using a Mac, the software is compatible with OS X 10.9 Maverick and later versions of the Mac operating system, including OS X 10.11 EI Capitan. Like Windows versions, broadcasting software may or may not be compatible with Mac OS X versions older than OS X 10.11. If using a Linux system, broadcasting software is compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Release 5, OpenSUSE 11 and Ubuntu 8.04 and 7.10 or later.
Processor requirements
Broadcasting software requires a system running an Intel “Sandy Bridge” or higher processor, including Intel i3, i5 and i7 processors. This processor requirement is for all platforms, including Windows, Mac and Linux. The software requires faster processors due to the amount of functions that must run at the same time – rendering, streaming and saving videos and presentations.
Memory requirements
Your computer system needs a minimum of 2 Gigabytes of RAM to use broadcasting software, but 4 GB of RAM is recommended for processing and streaming of content. Additional RAM prevents system slowdowns and errors, especially if you are broadcasting video content that is high definition, including 1080p and 720p HD content.
Storage requirements
Like other software on your computer, broadcasting software requires not only hard drive space to store the application, but also space to store files generated by the software. Broadcasting software requires at least 200 Megabytes of free hard space for the application itself. Your system also needs hard drive space for storing and processing video content – at least 1 Terabyte or higher of free hard drive space. The more free hard drive space, the better.
Video requirements
For displaying and processing videos, your computer system, Windows, Mac or Linux, needs a 512MB or higher PCI-Express graphics card with 3D acceleration. The graphics card needs to be a GeForce, Radeon or similar class graphics card. Your system should contain the latest version of DirectX, Codec H.264 (x264) and be capable of processing video with a keyframe interval of 2 seconds and a maximum bitrate of 3500.
Audio requirements
For audio processing, broadcasting software requires a system that contains AAC-LC (Advanced AudioCoding) or MP3 (MPEG-3), stereo or mono Codecs with a maximum bit rate of 160 kbps for AAC or 128 kbps for MP3. Your system should be able to process audio at a sampling frequency of any rate for AAC or 44.1 KHz for MP3 audio. The majority of broadcasting software is only compatible with AAC, stereo, mono and MP3 Codecs. Other Codecs may not operate properly within some broadcasting software.
Internet requirements
For broadcasting/streaming, broadcasting software requires a broadband or similar high-speed Internet connection, the latest version of your system’s Internet browser and the latest version of Adobe Flash. Your Internet service’s upload speed should be fast enough to provide continuous streaming of video – greater than 35 Mbps. The higher the upload speed, the better.