Topic

Tools & reviews, honest

Eight guides on the tools we actually use on working channels. Every tool here has been paid for, used for at least 30 days, and either kept or dropped with the reason logged. No affiliate-link theatre, no "this brand is amazing" prose, no review embargoes.

58 articles·2 sub-clusters·Marcus Chen edited by
Start here

New to Tools & reviews? Read these four first.

Most-read intro guides for streamers who haven't picked a platform yet, or who are deciding whether this cluster's economics actually pencil out for their use case.

01

OBS Says “Encoding Overloaded” but My CPU Usage Is Low — Here Is What It Is Actually Measuring

The message arrives at the worst possible moment, usually mid-sentence, and it accuses your computer of something Task Manager flatly denies. Encoding overloaded! Consider turning

Marcus Chen·13 min
02

Twitch Dual Format Streaming: Requirements, Setup and the 7-Day VOD Catch

Dual format streaming sends a horizontal and a vertical version of your broadcast to Twitch at the same time, so desktop viewers get the classic 16:9 player and phone viewers get a

Marcus Chen·17 min
03

AMD vs Intel for Streaming — Which CPU Brand Wins in 2026?

The AMD-versus-Intel debate for streamers never quite dies. Some swear by Ryzen's gaming FPS; others reach for Intel when they need a machine that streams, records, and edits in on

Daria Morrison·10 min
04

Best Audio Interface for Streaming in 2026 — Complete Buyer's Guide

One of the most common questions from new streamers is about sound. You're putting together your first streaming setup, and you're not sure whether you need a dedicated audio inter

Daria Morrison·11 min
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Topic
Showing 1–12 of 80
Streaming Gear

Streaming Gear

Streamrise guides tagged #streaming gear.

All #streaming gear →
  • streaming gear
  • mobile streaming
  • broadcast setup

Best lavalier microphone for streaming

A lavalier mic is a small capsule that clips to your clothing and captures your voice from a few inches away. It works on the principle of short distance: the closer the capsule si

Marcus Chen·25 min
  • mobile streaming
  • streaming gear
  • broadcast setup

Best phones for IRL and gaming streams in 2026

Picking a phone for streaming is a different problem from picking one for daily use. A stream hammers the SoC, the modem and the battery simultaneously, and the device has to hold

Alex Morrison·18 min
  • streaming gear
  • obs
  • broadcast setup

Capture Card for Streaming 2026 — Buyer Guide

A capture card is a small device that takes a video signal from a console, camera. (cross-checked with two reseller integrations live as of April 2026) Second computer and delivers

Marcus Chen·23 min
  • streaming gear
  • broadcast setup
  • obs

Music Streaming Equipment Guide 2026 — Mics, DAW

A music stream is a different beast from a chat-and-game broadcast (this is the exact line I gave a creator last week). With Just Chatting, viewers tend to forgive an average mic,

Alex Morrison·20 min
  • broadcast setup
  • obs
  • beginner streamer

Twitch Inspector Guide 2026: Test, Bitrate, Servers

Twitch Inspector is the free diagnostic dashboard at inspector.twitch.tv that records every broadcast you send to Twitch's ingest layer for the past seven days. It charts bitrate,

Alex Morrison·17 min
  • streaming gear
  • beginner streamer
  • broadcast setup

Best Monitor for Streaming in 2026: Buying Guide

For most streamers in 2026, the right pick is a 27-inch 1440p IPS at 144-180 Hz Tested on a base PS5 Slim and an RTX 4070 reference build.. And console streamers need HDMI 2.1 for

Marcus Chen·27 min
Streamlabs

Streamlabs

Streamrise guides tagged #streamlabs.

All #streamlabs →
  • channel branding
  • obs
  • streamlabs

How to Make a Stream Overlay (2026 Guide)

A stream overlay is the layer that turns a raw webcam feed and a game capture into a recognisable channel. Camera frame, alerts, chat, sub goal, Starting and BRB scenes, all sittin

Alex Morrison·25 min
  • broadcast setup
  • obs
  • streamlabs

How to Multistream on Twitch in 2026

Twitch lifted its simulcasting ban back in October 2023, and the platform stopped penalising combined chat overlays in February 2026. Affiliates and Partners can now stream to YouT

Marcus Chen·18 min
  • obs
  • streamlabs
  • streaming gear

How to Set Up a Webcam in OBS in 8 Steps

A webcam in OBS Studio lives or dies on three settings nobody tells you about on day one: Resolution Type, Video Format. (cross-checked with two reseller integrations live as of Ap

Marcus Chen·31 min
  • obs
  • broadcast setup
  • chat and moderation

How to Show Twitch Chat on Stream in OBS

Twitch chat on screen is a free engagement upgrade. Done right, the same browser source carries names, badges, BTTV emotes and a transparent background that does not fight the game

Alex Morrison·15 min
  • obs
  • streamlabs
  • broadcast setup

Best Streaming Software 2026

Marcus here: picking software is a 60-second decision once you know your budget and your CPU headroom. Marcus here: below sits a quick verdict, a full comparison table, then a tool

Marcus Chen·23 min
  • streamlabs
  • obs
  • broadcast setup

Streamlabs vs OBS Studio: 2026 Verdict

You want to go live tonight. Worth pinning. Not spend a weekend reading docs. So which tool actually fits: Streamlabs Desktop, the friendlier all-in-one that ships with alerts. (cr

Marcus Chen·23 min
Obs

Obs

Streamrise guides tagged #obs.

All #obs →
  • streaming gear
  • obs
  • broadcast setup

Capture Card for Streaming 2026 — Buyer Guide

A capture card is a small device that takes a video signal from a console, camera. (cross-checked with two reseller integrations live as of April 2026) Second computer and delivers

Marcus Chen·23 min
  • streaming gear
  • broadcast setup
  • obs

Music Streaming Equipment Guide 2026 — Mics, DAW

A music stream is a different beast from a chat-and-game broadcast (this is the exact line I gave a creator last week). With Just Chatting, viewers tend to forgive an average mic,

Alex Morrison·20 min
  • broadcast setup
  • obs
  • beginner streamer

Twitch Broadcast Health Guide

Stream Health is the panel inside Stream Manager that grades your live broadcast in real time. It shows bitrate stability, FPS, dropped frames, and ingest ping, and it tells you, i

Marcus Chen·14 min
Channel Branding

Channel Branding

Streamrise guides tagged #channel branding.

All #channel branding →
  • channel branding
  • subs and donations
  • twitch affiliate

Twitch Animated Emotes (2026): Sizes, Slots, How-To

An animated Twitch emote is a looping GIF rendered in chat at three required sizes (28x28, 56x56, 112x112 pixels), capped at roughly 1 MB per file and 60 frames, and only uploadabl

Alex Morrison·16 min
  • channel branding
  • beginner streamer
  • viewer engagement

How to Edit Twitch Info Panels (2026 Guide)

Twitch info panels are those rectangular blocks under the player on your About tab. People use them for the short bio, the weekly schedule, a donation link, social handles, a gear

Alex Morrison·13 min
  • channel branding
  • obs
  • streamlabs

How to Make a Stream Overlay (2026 Guide)

A stream overlay is the layer that turns a raw webcam feed and a game capture into a recognisable channel. Camera frame, alerts, chat, sub goal, Starting and BRB scenes, all sittin

Alex Morrison·25 min
  • broadcast setup
  • obs
  • streamlabs

How to Multistream on Twitch in 2026

Twitch lifted its simulcasting ban back in October 2023, and the platform stopped penalising combined chat overlays in February 2026. Affiliates and Partners can now stream to YouT

Marcus Chen·18 min
  • streaming gear
  • broadcast setup
  • channel branding

How to Set Up a Streaming Room 2026 — Layout, Sound

A well-organized streaming room isn't just a pretty backdrop behind your shoulders. It's a workspace. And the quality of your broadcasts depends on it directly. Genuinely interesti

Marcus Chen·28 min
  • streaming gear
  • channel branding
  • broadcast setup

How to Set Up Stream Lighting 2026 — Key, Fill, Rim

Here's the consistent pattern: a Logitech C920 looks like a $40 webcam until lighting changes, and no hardware swap closes the gap on its own. Even a Sony ZV-1 can't fix a face par

Marcus Chen·18 min
Pillar editor · Tools & reviews

Marcus Chen

Marcus reviews tools the way we wish everyone did — paid for, used for 30 days minimum, kept or dropped with the reason logged in the open.

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