Given my set-up, what is good for producing a gaming channel with it?

[Jack Decker]

The great news is that I have a potential sponsor for my YouTube game show.

The not-so-great news is the backer wants me to first start up another YouTube channel and cut my teeth on it before starting up the game show. Okay. Fine. If that is what will take to make the game show happen, I'm all for it.

Now I have pondered what this new channel should be and have narrowed it down to a combination channel: a gaming channel with political/social commentary. The gaming part is to be almost like wallpaper. A background visual. Eye candy.

The game itself will be play-money No-Limit Texas Hold'em poker tournaments on PokerStars. The poker table will take up the majority of the screen. A webcam shot of me in the upper right corner and a text box underneath. The text box is mainly for giving the reason why I fold a hand without having to audibly say so, such as "garbage" (e.g., 7-2 off-suit). As I am a tight-aggressive in poker, the VAST majority of hands I fold. To shorten the video, I will fast forward the game play when folding hands. When I am ranting about politics and such, the webcam box will show me doing so. It filmed separately. When I don't fold a hand and instead play it, the webcam will switch to me talking about what I'm doing as I play the game. A pause in my rant. Naturally, the game will have to be recorded first and the rant footage added later. While doing the game, I do want to see myself in the webcam box. I plan to record and edit several tournament videos so they're ready to go for my rants so I can quickly pump them out while a news item is still hot and riding the Google search wave.

Now here's my hardware and software:
Processor: AMD A8-3500 APU with Radeon HD Graphics 1.50 GHz
RAM: 6.00 GB (5.45 usable)
System: 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor
Operating System: Windows 10

No webcam.
23" External monitor and speakers, if that matters.

What game capture and video editing software would you recommend for the above to do what I want to do? Or is the hardware too little? If so, what is the minimum I'd need? My computer is a HP laptop so it is not upgradeable so I would have to buy a new one if need be. If buying a new one, I would go for a desktop this time.

What webcam would you recommend? Cheap but good looking.

What microphone would you recommend? A webcam with one included? I'm thinking separate microphone with a USB jack and a pop filter. If agree, what would you recommend? Again, cheap and good.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Lrulesok]

Sony vegas but you may need a faster processor. I would recommend at least 2 ghz for video editing. I personally have a 2.7ghz processor.

 

[Super Pawsitive]

Oy!

First off, congrats on managing to get a sponsor. Unfortunately those hoops sound annoying, but whatever! It can work. Next thing. Your computer might be able to run/edit the videos, but it will probably be painstakingly slow in doing so. Therefore, I'd recommend you go out and build a new computer entirely. Probably changing it to an Intel based processor. Are you an avid gamer? I'm asking so I know what type of GPU I should recommend you if you were to build a computer.

If you want, I can hop into a Skype call and help you through the process of setting yourself up with both a nice computer, and programs that you'll need.

Let me know if you're interested!

 

[MemoGaming]

For some reason, by the stuff you listed, this is what I imagined your setup would look like. Enjoy. xD

Anyway, as for something helpful, you can pretty much edit on anything however a better processor and a graphics card will allow for quicker editing and rendering (also from experience, less crashes). As for recording it will be very clunky on this kinda thing so I would probably recommend upgrading it in all honesty. Yes, an external mic is good.

Editing software I recommend is Sony movie studio platinum suite 12. Its cheap (compared to other software) and pretty much exactly the same as sony vegas with a few less features (which you probably wont need anyway)

Hope some of this is helpful. c:

 

[Jack Decker]

UPDATE: After a lot of discussion with others, I am dropping the poker tournament background. The problem is what happens when my rant is shorter than gameplay or vice versa. It also adds a level of complexity that really isn't needed. Instead I will simply do a walk-n-talk political/social commentary vlog using a selfie stick gimbal (hand stabilizer) and walking and talking in local parks that are quiet. The nature trails providing a nice background for my commentary. It being a react-to-news show. Something happens in the news that I think I can make a good video reacting to, I hop in my car, ponder my reply as I drive to a park, walk-n-talk about it using a smartphone on a selfie-stick gimbal, drive back home, edit, and slap it up on the channel. No video capturing needed of an online game.

Right now I have a dumbphone with a horrible built-in camera (LG Rumor Reflex) but have a friend who has a brand-new smartphone (Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime) who is wiling to let me use it. If this turns out to be "THE" way to do it, I will upgrade my phone to a smartphone. I will do test shoots tomorrow using just my long arm. If that goes well, I think I will start up two new threads. One about what's the best smartphone to use for vlogs and the other about which is the best selfie stick gimbal.