How to Live Stream Without a Capture Card? (2023 Updated)

how to live stream without a capture card

If you are here, then you want to stream from your console, but you don’t want to spend extra money on a capture card. Let me tell you that if it’s your case, I got you. Capture cards are super expensive especially good ones like the legato.

Now, you can buy a pretty cheap one and they do the job, but obviously, the more money you spend on the card, the better right, but that’s not what this video is about. In this video, I am going to show you, how to live stream without a capture card.

You can just skip the capture card and stream directly to your PC from your console, saving you a ton of money. So, stay with us till the end.

How to Live Stream Without a Capture Card?

You can live stream from your camera or a PS4 or an Xbox console without a capture card by simply connecting your camera to your PC with a micro-USB cable or connecting your PS4 to your PC with a PS Remote Play or connecting Xbox via an Xbox Console Companion and start your streaming.

What is a Capture Card?

A capture card is a device that receives video signals from your camera or a streaming console and turns them into digital signals so that when connected to the computer, you can easily recognize the signals and decode the signals.

Capture cards make it easy to live stream in higher quality and reduce the load on your PC. Also, capture cards are necessary when you want dual-streaming. These devices can do the frenetic job for you and you can keep recording very easily without any disturbance.

Accessories Needed to Live Stream Without a Capture Card?

What you are going to need to pull this off is a console to stream from either PS4, PS5, X-BOX series. You can’t do this with a Nintendo switch or any older generation consoles and unfortunately, but we are going to cover the PS4/5 or X-BOX which is the most used consoles.

You are going to need a Windows 10 PC or a Mac and a good internet connection. Now I am assuming that if you are a streamer, you have a pretty decent connection because one, you wouldn’t be able to stream. So, to get better quality, you are going to need at least 5MB upload speed which I assume you have if you are a streamer.

Now you can have your console and computer set up to your network wirelessly, but you won’t get the best quality output for your stream. So, I think connecting your console and your PC directly to your router via ethernet cable.

How to Live Stream without a Capture Card with a PlayStation

Follow the steps below to live stream without a capture card on your PlayStation:

  1. Right, for PS, first turn on your console, and then what you are going to do is to go up into your settings and then go down to where it says system.
  2. Go down to where it says remote play and make sure that you enable it. Once this is enabled, your PS5 is ready for remote play.
  3. Then ON your computer, just type into Google PS5 Remote Play and then click on the first link or just click here.
  4. Once you are on this page, scroll down to where you see the Download button. Make sure that you click on “I Agree” and then download the PS Remote Play App for your computer.
  5. Once the app is downloaded, it’s going to ask you to sign in to your PlayStation Network account, so once you do that, it’s going to search for your PlayStation on your network. Make sure that your PS console is connected to the same network as your computer.
  6. Once you have that situated, it’s going to ask you, which console you want to connect to depending on which ones you are using. Click on the one you are using and then it’s going to connect to your system.
  7. After this, a display with appear and your controller will be disconnected. Now, you would need a dual shock to be connected to your PC with a USB cable and once it’s connected to your PC, you can now use your PlayStation via Remote Play on your PC.
  8. In OBS, you are going to add a new source and in this instance is going to be display captured. Now what you need to do is to click on the plus sign and then go down where it says Display Capture.
  9. It’s going to come up with a window and you will be going to select your display. So, whichever display you have your Remote Play app on, that’s the one you are going to want.
  10. All you have to do now is in your PlayStation remote app, just click on the bottom right, make it full screen, and there you go.

I don’t have my PlayStation console currently but to set that one up, you are just going to follow these steps on Sony PlayStation.

How to Livestream Without a Capture Card with an Xbox

Streaming on Xbox without a capture card is just as easy. Whether you’re using Xbox One or Xbox 360, you can easily live stream using the following settings:

  1. Go to your settings. Once you are in your settings, go down to where it says, “Devices and Connections”, then click on remote features.
  2. Make sure that you enable remote features, make sure you have this box checked.
  3. Once you have this setup, we are going to head back to our computer and download everything we need to connect everything.
  4. If you are using a Windows 10 PC, this app is probably already installed. It’s called the Xbox Console companion and you can search for it by going to the Start Search and typing in the box and then you can see the Xbox companion. Click on that and open it up.
  5. From here you will go up left, click on the hamburger menu, and then go down to where it says connection.
  6. Click on the connection and then it’s going to ask you to search for a console on your network. So, again make sure that your console is connected to the same network as your PC.
  7. Once it finds your Xbox, go ahead and click on it and once the app connects to your console, you can go ahead and click on stream.
  8. And then you are going to connect your Xbox controller to your actual computer and unsynchronized it from your Xbox console and sync it to your PC.

Once the controller is connected to your PC, you can now control your Xbox on your computer.

How to Live Stream Without a Capture Card with a Camera?

You can live stream from your camera directly to your channel if you are having a canon or any other camera. Follow the steps below to know-how:

  1. You will need a camera that might be a canon or any brand.
  2. You are going to need a micro-USB cable.
  3. With the cable, connect your camera to your PC, laptop, or any other smart device.
  4. Use high-quality software for video recording. You can use OBS Studio which is a free open-source software for high-quality video recording without needing a capture card.
  5. And that’s it, you’re Live.

Is a Capture Card Better for Live Streaming?

Well, the answer may be Yes or a No, depending upon your situation and your type of streaming. You might need a capture card if you are streaming with a smartphone or a tablet etc. But if you are using a PC, it will work without a capture card.

With a 4k capture card, you will get better video quality than recording without one. I will also recommend capture cards for PCs too if you can afford them. But if you’re a beginner and don’t have much budget, then you can follow the steps above to stream without a capture card.

Final Verdict

Alright, so after that, you should be able to stream or your PlayStation to your computer, have it set up in OBS, and stream your gameplay to Twitch or anything without using a capture card.

Now again, I would highly recommend a capture card in the future when you can afford it but when you’re first starting off and you don’t have that much money to spend on equipment, this is a great alternative to stream your gameplay.

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