I've been meaning to make a post about this for awhile, but it was brought to my attention again at two recent major tournaments. Now to be fair, as a TO, you have a million things to worry about come tourney day. However, since the core focus of any event is the actual match play, that means that it should probably be close to a top priority to straighten these things out.
So issues are the following:
1) Monitors not set to the correct settings. This is easily correctable, and simply requires an extra 10 seconds once each monitor is plugged in, to make sure that it's set to optimal settings for latency. There should be a list of standard settings for both Asus and BenQ to make this easier on everyone, but no one should have to play on an incorrect setup ever again if this simple step is taken. (720p? 'Game' mode?)
2) Latency of various components of stream equipment, namely splitters (and potentially long cables as well). This is a trickier issue, as streamers are not always affiliated with the TOs or tourney staff, and thus they can really bring and install any equipment they want. The problem is that this can negatively affect the experience for everyone, without any sort of oversight.
The only thing that seems fair to recommend is that A) we compile a list of a few known HDMI splitters that do not lag (I know GGA has been working on contributing to this), as well as some to avoid. If we all came together collaboratively to figure this out, it shouldn't take long at all. But there's no reason for it to be a guessing game.
Also, B) if I were a TO, I would purchase a couple of extra 'safe' splitters that could be used in case there's an issue with something a streamer brings in. Obviously TOs can not be expected to provide equipment for every single streamer at an event, but having a couple of backup splitters per venue is a relatively minor expense that can solve otherwise unfixable issues.
Soonk also brought to my attention that some very long HDMI cables (around 30-50 feet) might lag as well.
In any case, while I have my own set of stream equipment and it checks out, I think it's time that we opened this up and had a community discussion between players, TOs, and streamers about standardizing things to eliminate these wholly preventable issues.
NeoRussell GGA 16 Bit Tom Brady SweetJohnnyCage 9.95 TenZeRo7 GamerBlake90 Sabin AU_IM_DIGIMON PLAYING TO W1N
So issues are the following:
1) Monitors not set to the correct settings. This is easily correctable, and simply requires an extra 10 seconds once each monitor is plugged in, to make sure that it's set to optimal settings for latency. There should be a list of standard settings for both Asus and BenQ to make this easier on everyone, but no one should have to play on an incorrect setup ever again if this simple step is taken. (720p? 'Game' mode?)
2) Latency of various components of stream equipment, namely splitters (and potentially long cables as well). This is a trickier issue, as streamers are not always affiliated with the TOs or tourney staff, and thus they can really bring and install any equipment they want. The problem is that this can negatively affect the experience for everyone, without any sort of oversight.
The only thing that seems fair to recommend is that A) we compile a list of a few known HDMI splitters that do not lag (I know GGA has been working on contributing to this), as well as some to avoid. If we all came together collaboratively to figure this out, it shouldn't take long at all. But there's no reason for it to be a guessing game.
Also, B) if I were a TO, I would purchase a couple of extra 'safe' splitters that could be used in case there's an issue with something a streamer brings in. Obviously TOs can not be expected to provide equipment for every single streamer at an event, but having a couple of backup splitters per venue is a relatively minor expense that can solve otherwise unfixable issues.
Soonk also brought to my attention that some very long HDMI cables (around 30-50 feet) might lag as well.
In any case, while I have my own set of stream equipment and it checks out, I think it's time that we opened this up and had a community discussion between players, TOs, and streamers about standardizing things to eliminate these wholly preventable issues.
NeoRussell GGA 16 Bit Tom Brady SweetJohnnyCage 9.95 TenZeRo7 GamerBlake90 Sabin AU_IM_DIGIMON PLAYING TO W1N
