Greetings,

I am looking for some suggestions for a hardware setup that would be ideal for the following live online show.

I need to accept from 4 to 10 incoming RTMP streams from a Wowza Media Server.
I need to be able to switch between streams and do overlays, etc.
I need to be able to output the final product in 1080p, 30fps, via an RTMP stream to twitch.tv
I need to be able to record the final product in 1080p, 30fps.

Due to the nature of twitch.tv, I have to use xSplit as the encoder and send the stream to them via that (requires CBR and various other options in key frames, etc) and using External options in vMix.

I currently do it all on one pc that is a core i7 extreme processor with a GTX 680 and a NVS 450. I am unable to get above 4 incoming RTMP streams before FPS becomes an issue. I am also unable to record the final product as it lowers my FPS way to much, even thou I am on SSDs. Note that bandwidth is not an issue here and not part of the problem. The problem I am having is FPS on the final product.

So, how would you guys do this? Would you use additional machines and capture cards? Would you break out the external part and xSplit onto another machine with a capture card? I guess what I am asking for is the "ideal" setup for those requirements if I want to maximize the quality of the final product.

Thanks in advance for your help!

The problem is that the capture cards (as far as I know) will not encode RTMP streams. Yes, I can use one of them on another machine for the external solution in sending to twitch, but not the incoming solution for RTMP switching. That is my real problem... How do handle that.

That is what I currently do now, and with my hardware I can only get: 4x720p or 2x1080p. My hardware is not chimp either, but it is one machine. The FPS jumps from 10-140 after I hit the external button, and is 25-200 without the external button. Some of it can be solved with a capture card and another pc; but I am wondering if there is a better solution for importing the steam then doing it with the RTMP input.

For instance, would I get better performance if I had, lets say a decklink card and 1 PC for each RTMP. Doing a capture from each PC as a input. Would that stabilize the FPS? Is there some hardware solution similar to video switchers for cameras that can do this?

It doesn't seem that increasing the processor on a pretty much maxed out 6 core machine would help. Memory is never full and doesn't seem to be an issue. I am using a 680 GTX card with a NVS 450 (to power other monitors); is that enough? I have SSD's in a raid so that doesn't seem to be an issue. It is not bandwidth. So, as you can see, I am kinda stuck unless I spend a bunch of money to even troubleshoot it.

Hope that helps clarify my issue, and of course any suggestions would be great!