http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/capture-convert/GameCaptureHD.en.html

I've heard good things about it too, but I haven't used it myself. I think it's compatible with OBS so it should work well.

To talk while live streaming, is a fancy audio mixer required? 

I don't have one. I just choose my soundcard for input into Open Broadcaster and people can hear me in the stream.

Is that just for PC though?

Yeah. I forgot you'd be streaming via a capture card on console.

It depends what you are using. Supported capture cards can have their audio captured directly through OBS. So then you can use your mic port for voice.

http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/capture-convert.en.html

 

Looking through there a bit...what do you make of those? I'm a bit of a noob as far as telling which specific features each has.

 

And yeah PK...I'm planning on fiddling with both PC and console. Just trying to get my bearings as far as the capture card.

The game capture HD is suppose to be compatible with both OBS and XSplit. From all I've read it's a really good capture card. Should natively capture game audio too. So you will have the mic port free to use.

I don't know if it's all one Elgato software program or not, but a buddy of mine uses it and the hardware to cast to Twitch. One downside I've seen so far is, the software will not track frame loss. Pretty big thing to passover, too. That is what tells the caster their cast isn't going as planned.

It works with XSplit directly now and I think OBS. You don't have to use their software to stream. Though, I'm not 100% sure if the hardware encoding works with both or not.

Okay...what's OBS? You lost me with that term and it isn't Googling well. lol

Open Broadcaster.

What's different between using OBS and say XSplit?

OBS is free. XSplit isn't. If the Elgato works with OBS, which I'm pretty sure it does, I'd go that route.

Is there a specific download I can use to get it?

http://obsproject.com/download

Thanks. Hopefully getting this set up soon. Sorry for all the annoying questions, thanks for being patient and helping me.

Couple more things (if you don't mind),

 

Is there a big difference between OBS and XSplit? Would it be more worth it to pay for XSplit personal or does OBS offer the same or similar features?

 

And also if you have any recommendations for a decent microphone. I don't need anything top of the line but also not something completely dinky. Also, I'm not sure if it's possible, but are there options for a mic that would work for both live streaming on a PC and with a console, and/or recording over recorded gameplay.

 

Thanks

I would start with OBS. There are a few differences, but as long as OBS works for you it's not worth paying for XSplit. Especially since it's subscription based.  Here's a mic that should work for both:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Zm-Mic1-Sensitivity-Headphone-Microphone/dp/B00029MTMQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364305680&sr=8-1&keywords=clip+on+mic

Thanks

 

For that mic...is it a standalone mic or do I need a headset. Like if I had headphones, plug that into my headphones jack, and the mic into the mic jack, is that how it's supposed to work?

It clips onto a headset, but you could also clip it onto a shirt for example. And yeah, plugs right into the mic jack.

Just placed an order for that mic. Do you think it would be fairly simple to stream from PC using that mic and OBS (which I downloaded the other day as well)?

 

Been tinkering with OBS. I've managed to get it set up to the point where the PC window I want to capture appears perfectly. What I'm tryig to figure out is...how can I set it up so that for the game audio I could use the sound from the game itself (which would be the stereo mix I believe) and capture my audio from the mic. Stereo mix and the mic both appear as microphones/auxiliary devices and it only lets you select one. 

If you have vista or 7 or 8 then you won't need stereo mix. Set your mic device as the mic and OBS will capture the game sound straight from windows.

Awesome, thanks. By the time my mic comes in this week, and I have an evening off, hopefully I can set up a test stream at least, and if it works possibly stream for a bit.