Tech Talk

I have a whole bunch of questions about what equipment I'm using for my webcasting videos. It's the same PC through which I do most everything else in my life and it happens to have a pretty good Internet connection.

I use a Logitech C920 webcam which I bought from Amazon in April of 2018 for $50.99. Logitech no longer makes it, offering instead the C920S which is said to be better…but it's about as hard to find these days as a case of hand sanitizer. It listed for $79.something when places like Amazon and Best Buy had 'em but they don't. Folks are selling alleged new ones on eBay for around $120 and May the Buyer Beware.

The headset I use is also a Logitech. It's this one — a combo headset and microphone which plus into a USB port. A friend is sending me Logitech's wireless, lightweight version and I'll be experimenting with that.

Most of the voice actors I'm interviewing on those Cartoon Voices panels are in their home studios working with professional-grade (sometimes, very expensive) microphones and then they use Apple-style ear-buds or some sort of headset. You can webcast with just the microphone and speakers built into most webcams but there's the danger that your microphones will pick up the sound of others speaking through your speakers and feed it back, muddying up the audio. That doesn't happen when you use ear-buds or a headset.

The conferencing is done via Streamyard, which seemed to me the best choice of about six I looked at. There are dozens of other options with new ones debuting every day so there may be something better but I'm happy with Streamyard. And that's about everything.