Manu (MBT3K/I Rod) and George Fisher host the first episode of 'Silver Balls Streaming' (SSS), a new podcast/screencast series about pinball streaming infrastructure and setup. They discuss their motivations for streaming (social connection, late-night play, solving venue streaming problems), explain the differences between tournament and home streaming rigs, and provide detailed technical walkthroughs of George's custom camera rig built from a modified Amazon clothing rack with small rig clamps and USB power distribution. The episode is conversational and field-driven, with chat participation and tangential discussions about Freegal Watch (a San Francisco pinball venue) and specific camera equipment choices.
Key Claims
Tournament streaming failure is more high-stakes than home streaming failure due to accountability differences
high confidence · Manu explaining conceptual differences between tournament and home streaming
Pinball streaming requires both tethered (home) and non-tethered (tournament field) equipment configurations
high confidence · Manu describing 'tethered vs non-tethered' equipment distinctions
Freegal Watch is a t-shirt printing facility that became the San Francisco pinball community hub, now housing ~55 machines
high confidence · George explaining Freegal Watch's origins and current machine count
George's custom camera rig uses a modified Amazon Sonic Song double rod clothing rack (extendable to 65 inches) as the base structure
high confidence · George showing and detailing the specific Amazon product and modifications made
Small rig clamps that Jack Danger recommends tend to break frequently (Manu has gone through ~8 clamps, with 3 active and 3+ broken)
high confidence · Manu directly stating his experience with clamp failures and criticizing Jack Danger's recommendation
George's home streaming setup uses USB power distribution with an extension cord plugged into a wall outlet
high confidence · George demonstrating and explaining the power system for his home rig
Pinball playfield widths vary significantly across manufacturers (Jersey Jack games like Pirates and Hobbit are wider than some Stern games)
high confidence · Manu discussing how different games require rig width adjustments
The series was inspired by Scott at Pin Stadium encouraging Manu to start a podcast about pinball streaming
medium confidence · Manu mentioning Pin Stadium's suggestion during a Freegal Watch stream
George got into streaming to find late-night social company due to his software job's odd schedule (typically off work ~10 PM) and family sleep schedules
Notable Quotes
“this is really Scott at pin stadium's fault and if he was on I'm sure he would appreciate that... he said why don't you guys start a podcast so here we are”
Manu (MBT3K)@ 1:26 — Origin story of the series; credits Pin Stadium as inspiration
“failure in the field of a tournament is really bad failure at home you is gonna understand”
Manu@ 3:32 — Core distinction between tournament and home streaming dynamics
“I don't like people so it wasn't about that... our approaches are different”
Manu@ 11:18 — Contrasts motivation with George's social focus; light humor about personality differences
“I highly suggest I think George is too we highly suggest you read that... dead flip comm ford slash how to stream pinball... we're standing on the shoulders of that giant right there”
Manu@ 19:37 — Acknowledges Jack Danger's streaming guide as foundational reference material
“this looks like a clothes rack so how how are you getting over the playfield when you shove it between... do you have like a big arm on top that's then reaching over the side”
George@ 23:09 — Clarifying technical question about camera positioning over playfield
“I don't limit the last second you need to cut a zip tie and you don't have a pair of scissors well yeah... well just good thing about zip ties the tabs are very super permanent”
Manu and George exchanging@ 31:36 — Practical equipment trade-off discussion (zip ties vs. bongo ties)
content_signal: New pinball streaming podcast 'Silver Balls Streaming' (SSS) launched with episode 1, planned for monthly releases and YouTube uploads
high · Manu and George announce 'Silver Balls' series, plan for monthly episodes, upload to YouTube after broadcast
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content_signal: Collaboration between established streamer George Fisher (Don't Panic Flip) and Manu (Mystery Pinball Theater) on educational streaming content
high · Two prominent streamers co-hosting series; George noted for professional setup, Manu for content creation
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design_innovation: Custom pinball camera rig designed using modified Amazon clothing rack as base structure with small rig clamps, enabling portability and venue-specific adaptation
high · Detailed technical walkthrough of rig design, modifications, and rationale for using clothing rack over conduit or tripods
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operational_signal: Freegal Watch venue has acquired streaming infrastructure and is now capable of hosting streamed tournaments and events
high · George developed custom rig specifically for Freegal Watch in collaboration with owner Matt Henry; streamed City Champ tournament
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product_concern: Small rig clamps recommended by Jack Danger are experiencing high failure rates; Manu has gone through approximately 8 units with 3+ broken units
high · Manu explicitly criticizing Jack Danger's clamp recommendations, stating 'I've gone through almost eight of those now I have I have three active ones I have three that are broken'
Topics
Pinball streaming infrastructure and technical setupprimaryTournament vs. home streaming differencesprimaryCustom camera rig design and modificationsprimaryCable management and equipment fasteningprimaryFreegal Watch venue and San Francisco pinball communityprimaryEquipment recommendations and gear reviewssecondaryStreamer motivation and audience engagementsecondaryCompetitive pinball players and tournamentsmentioned
Sentiment
positive(0.82)— Hosts are enthusiastic about streaming, supportive of each other's approaches, and excited to share knowledge. Minor criticism of Jack Danger's clamp recommendations (due to quality issues) but overall respectful tone. Casual humor and friendly banter throughout. No significant negativity or conflict.
[Music] hey hey hello alright this is the first we look it's me and don't panic lip welcome everyone to silver balls what is it cool second-string great start I am fpt3 Kay and I'm don't panic flip and we are created this podcast or
and we are created this podcast or screencast whatever to talk about how to stream and or how we are doing him all screaming because combust ringing is not it's not rocket science but there are some things that are very unique to what we do and if you've watched don't panic clips channel you can see it's very professional very well well setup and design at BT 3 KS yeah somewhat and I think we come from different angles on
think we come from different angles on how to approach it in which we'll talk about but I was I was telling don't panic flip earlier this is really Scott at pin stadium's fault and if he was on I'm sure he would appreciate that we we I was doing a stream i remembers at free go watch and some what we were chatting about batteries and stuff like that really really got into like deep woods of like pinball screaming and he said why don't you guys start a podcast so
why don't you guys start a podcast so here we are there we go and that's it I am curious only because I've got desktop audio and a microphone and dirty toes is on watching right now but are you getting any kind of echo is the sound quality coming through okay because the the video looks awesome to me at least I'm not getting in if you're getting it in a chat let us know because uh we kind of set this up really quick we really want to focus on thanks Larry don't assume hey I haven't seen her in a while
high confidence · George explaining personal motivation for streaming
Manu wanted to solve streaming problems at Freegal Watch after observing inadequate tournament stream quality, leading to custom rig development
high confidence · Manu describing his entry into streaming and rig development motivation
“so I plug into this I'm an extension cord I bring I just plug this in like that on the wall and then this whole thing is powered and that's it”
George@ 31:16 — Home streaming power solution simplicity
“Freegal watch reference... feeds lead... because there's a bomb and on that bomb is a gold watch”
Manu@ 18:29 — Pop culture reference explaining the venue name's origin (likely referencing Pulp Fiction)
“you can definitely do it with all conduit but you don't get these little niceties that already show up on a clothing rack”
Manu@ 28:35 — Explains why modified clothing rack is superior to pure DIY conduit solutions
“so I just have all the things I need on here... I just have all the things I need on here there's my USB and these are bongo ties... they're a great way to mechanically fastened your stuff to pipes”
Manu@ 30:30 — Introduces bongo ties as superior cable management solution
community_signal: Established streamers creating educational content about streaming infrastructure to lower barriers to entry for new streamers in the community
high · George and Manu explicit goal to help others avoid hurdles they went through; offering tangible equipment lists and technical guidance
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venue_signal: Freegal Watch has evolved into central pinball venue for San Francisco community with ~55 machines, hosting competitive tournaments and streaming events
high · George describes Freegal Watch as 'home base of the San Francisco pin Malik'; detailed origin story and current machine count
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technology_signal: Shift toward practical, affordable streaming solutions using modified commercial equipment rather than custom-built or professional-grade setups
high · George's rig built from $30 Amazon clothing rack with simple USB power distribution; described as 'low-tech solution to a high-tech problem'
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operational_signal: Best practices emerging around rig portability, cable management, equipment protection, and venue-specific adaptations for pinball streaming
medium · Discussion of bongo ties vs. zip ties, black vinyl protection sheets, collapsible design for vehicle transport, machine width variations
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personnel_signal: Manu established as prominent pinball content creator and streamer with Mystery Pinball Theater channel; now co-hosting educational series
high · Manu hosting multiple streaming channels and now launching educational podcast with established streamer George Fisher
assume hey I haven't seen her in a while m83 kit goes a bit but not much I'm echoing it's not you it's gonna be me it's the its this picking up I can fix that with some headphones yeah that's I do I do in the phones but if it's if it's not too bad yeah you might you might want to go headphones just I'm going headphones I'm going do it live so what are we talking about today today we're gonna we're not gonna go into everything we our plan is to do one
into everything we our plan is to do one of these is it okay if I mentioned the plan the plan is kind of do you I'm switching over some microphone stuff okay one of these maybe once a month and to feel out how you know how you guys feel about it we're gonna upload this to I think my youtube channel after while after it's done you know in a couple of days so that people can watch it and kind of get it just we're gonna talk about what the goal of this series is we're gonna talk about how we got into streaming pinball so the difference
streaming pinball so the difference between tournaments dreaming and home streaming one of the important things is the it's kind of the accountability is less at home that's just conceptually right there failure in the field of a tournament is really bad failure at home you're you is gonna understand and there also is a an equipment difference we're gonna say I'll use it a term tethered versus non tether right so at home both George and I have tethered equipment which means all of our cameras fall into a computer
all of our cameras fall into a computer and Jack danger does the same thing all his camera is equipment goes to a computer on the field in the tournament if you have one mobile rig nope no wires can you test them so we'll leave it at that you know you have to understand that there's a main area where all your computer processing happens and then there's an area of transmission of all your cameras so we'll get into that later because that is okay right right and since I've been doing a lot of the
and since I've been doing a lot of the talking George why don't you talk about a little bit maybe what what the goal in the series is okay so I you know for me I see it as a great way to once again kind of connect with other people that that are interested in potentially streaming pinball or have talked about it have seen others you know for for me I loved the idea of being able to play pinball on my pinball machines late at night when the family
machines late at night when the family went to bed but be able to talk with people like most of the places around here are you know close around midnight or 11:00 but I'm typically up a little bit later than that and I don't want her I'm sorry because you're a coder yeah exactly I'm up late and and I don't know why I don't like sleep and I I feel like there was an opportunity to and for lack of a better way of putting it maybe it seemed less like a lush or a drunk because I'd be drinking with people on
because I'd be drinking with people on weeknights while playing while playing pinball or more so just because it's enjoyable to chat with people and so I saw that as a really cool reason to get in and start streaming it was a way to just connect with other people who were into pinball and and maybe get some hints on how to do things better or offer other people some feedback and some of the things I learned on my own machines awesome so yeah I think yeah I think the the my goal out of this would be consistent with that just more more
be consistent with that just more more feedback having fun getting to chat with MPT 3k is always a good time cool yeah one thing I do want to mention you know this this stuff is technically difficult but it's also difficult to be a good host and we might do a show about how to engage your audience and how to be entertaining as well as technically on point because it really is like a three-ring circus that you're running when you're screaming pinball anyone who's ever tried it knows someone who's as engaging as jack danger he's been
as engaging as jack danger he's been doing it for like five or six years and he could literally stand up in front of an audience and entertain them so that scale combined with his technical skill and that that's something that works with so dirty tools put in a message about um you know once if I when the series is done will I be a streaming God you could technically be a stink um but there's a lot of other things behind it uh and I met you you have a
behind it uh and I met you you have a great personality so right I would I would maybe target something a little bit more realistic like if you wanted to get into streaming you maybe wouldn't have to go through as many of the hurdles as other people who who went through it and found what worked and what didn't work worked what didn't work and maybe know a little bit about the things that you should probably a streaming demigod exactly ya dirty toes and a little bit more about maybe what things you need to work on before you try streaming or even
on before you try streaming or even while you are streaming the things that you should be looking to try and improve upon in order to create a more engaging I guess form of entertainment for people yeah yeah so let's get started actually so uh if you do we have the chat wide-open we can both see the chat if you have any questions at a point just fire it into the chat we'll be more than happy to take a tangent and talk about that question and answer as as as best as we can if it's not gonna be Georgia both IP me by the way I don't think I
both IP me by the way I don't think I was very clear in any my screams my name is Manu ma nu and because I'm always calling George out on his phone because I heard someone calling Jewish so I just latched on and he's saying that because I realized as we are chatting I had no idea what MPT 3ks first name was or Manu until just a day ago two days ago yeah yeah which is funny because I feel like we've been chatting for about six months or so on discord yeah oh yeah I love
or so on discord yeah oh yeah I love that so let's start George why don't you get it started off how did you get into I think he said a little bit about it but how'd you get into streaming does it help to help other players on the screen that's a really good question a pity and yes and no sometimes yes I feel like I'm blessed with some really good friends who helped me be mindful of keeping an eye on chat and also doing a good job of
eye on chat and also doing a good job of interacting so maybe when I'm doing something some of the people that I play with will actually read the chat for me so that way I can respond to things or they can respond to things and also happen to be engaging while at the same time understanding that you know you're playing pinball but you're playing pinball in a in a in a way that where other people are watching you right it's really easy sometimes to kind of forget and just not talk but that's not that's not fun for anybody I - just watch somebody play pinball without that chat about something and it doesn't even have
about something and it doesn't even have to be related to pinball you just that there you got to remember that you got to try and keep the conversation going and and if you're gonna stream with other people it really helps to kind of let them know beforehand I think that that's kind of the goal is is is a form of entertainment and whatever those people can do to help you maintain some consistency is great and so everybody wants to know how to play dialed in we can do a follow up behind dialed in I
can do a follow up behind dialed in I should do a follow up on Dyle then I got my butt kicked on it at the league on Wednesday night and I kind of okay the speaking of the organic tangents and stuff like that I kind of spaced where we were going before you were talking about how you gotta - oh yeah so it was kind of a really quick summary but I was just looking for company I would say late at night while while I got the opportunity to find the play because I am I have a a software job and and I've
am I have a a software job and and I've kind of an odd schedule and we had a newborn five six years ago just a few days ago and in between her sleeping schedule my my wife's sleeping schedule and then my really weird work schedule I don't typically get off a work until right around 10:00 o'clock p.m. most nights so that's when you know I take a break to put everybody to bed and come back downstairs finish up work finally relax and go play some pinball and and I was just looking for for company I guess consistent company at least three days a
consistent company at least three days a week and how about you I don't like people so it wasn't about that I'm just kidding yeah our approaches are different I got into streaming basically because I I frequent Freegal watch which is about five minute walk away from me they have 60 pinball machines and they and they didn't seem to be streaming at all and which is not true because they did stream a couple of their tournaments the city champ which is one of those turn pro circuits one of the big ones in the
pro circuits one of the big ones in the in the year they stream that one but I watch their streams on Twitch and they weren't good enough for me they weren't reaching the the level of somebody just streaming at home or you know Papa I have huge aspirations when I you know when I get my head on something on them and so I spoke to Matt Henry who's the owner of Freegal watch and we both were brainstorming about a rig that would suit free go watch as a specific
would suit free go watch as a specific free use case for free go watch the pinball machines are very close together there's a lot of them they're pin gulps if you guys know what those things are that the cup holders are right next to that so there's there's no it's really hard so long story short my entry into streaming was because I wanted to solve a problem that I thought at SRI low watch and my whole path of creating something to work with that came from there what I have done here was a test
there what I have done here was a test bed for there so and they had already bought a bunch of equipment and I bought I bought a laptop we gotta get into technical stuff while I have that was so but you're really powerful enough to do what I want to do but um yeah that's basically it I just did it because I wanted I wanted my home pinball place to just have awesome streams personally I come from a background I want a video production company and I have done in
production company and I have done in the past live streams of huge events they're mostly dance events competitions and we've used good equipment like TriCaster by new tech I'll tell you what the rig is in a minute it's a low-tech situation a low-tech solution to a high-tech problem dressed woman well I've done live-streaming and we've done you know remote cameras and try casters and talent and commentators and whatever
and talent and commentators and whatever but George and I were talking earlier about the uniqueness of pinball streaming is is almost like you take everything that's complicated about a live streamed event that's you sit down and you go and you make it mobile and you make it not break and I was like oh so it was a really unique challenge for me to figure out how to make that happen and did you hack it did did you get there with the with the not breaking
mostly right we it was in two week we made the thing that broke the least important thing that would break look at it that way go and we'll talk about that pin samyak wants to know what my rig is like wait before you jump into that I got it ask you've got three you mentioned free gold watch and I know you've explained it to me before but I imagine anyone else who didn't get your explanation of what free gold watches or who doesn't live in your area has no idea what you're talking about can you give like a minute to just explain what that is yeah it's just it's a it's it's
that is yeah it's just it's a it's it's a great name and a stupid name at the same time let me show you something this is a free gold watch I think the origin of the name is very unique and I'll sum it up in two seconds the owner it's a t-shirt it's a t-shirt printing facility when you go to free go watch the first thing you see are like 30 pinball machines but then if you go to the back you see the t-shirt printing facility they have you know this is
facility they have you know this is silk-screening like so they do silicone the owner Matt Henry he's a designer he's a silkscreen ER and he just happened to get into pinball they had the space had tons of space they it used to be am a retail shop where they sold the t-shirts and then they got into pinball and then he started he put one in then he put two he put 10 and then other operators started putting their machines in there and it became the home base of the San Francisco pin Malik okay so it
the San Francisco pin Malik okay so it is actually a apprentice facility and this this was a unique idea that Mac came up with he said I'm gonna give away something cool they made hoodies and they made hoodies with like you can open the side any any any you would you would open the side of the hoodie and then there would be these silk screenings of watches inside the jacket say goodbye hey hey hey want to watch Mego Oh where'd you get that I got it from free go watch and that was their marketing plan later instead of marketing it like
plan later instead of marketing it like that they would make they would print the t-shirts but they would put this like in the collar no go put one of these and you would use scissors and cut it and then you would with your t-shirt and then you would put it over a lot of you young uns don't know what a free go watch really means but I went back in the day in the corporate world if you worked for 50 years or something or 30 years and company they gave you a gold watch and so okay all that said they have about 55 pinball
all that said they have about 55 pinball machines there now they include using new attack from Mars right they have the latest one is the brand that well I mean that brand new but the Chicago gaming company um attack from Mars is it the latest one well the latest one instant there's swords of fury sort of fury and I made it my home base because we just I just moved his neighborhood a year ago and I was like that's it that's it I'm gonna be there for forever that's what
gonna be there for forever that's what free gold watches if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area look up just type free go watch into the lyft or uber and it'll take you there that's awesome they don't even give commemorative pins out anymore no they don't you won't get up you don't even get a pension and my mom has a pension believe it what the hell's a pinch right we're gonna talk rigs yes sorry I distracted you with what's free gold watch but yeah no that's your sorry I just throw free
no that's your sorry I just throw free girl watch out thinking everyone knows but no they don't know it's the stupidest it's not called like pin balls or Oh or anything related or anything related to free go watch reference a pretty girl watch reference feeds lead that's immediately where I go when you talk about it by the way because there's a bomb and on that bomb is a gold watch and it has to do with being fifty years on the force or something like that and that's all he got or he didn't get it or something like that because he got let
something like that because he got let go just before retirement which is what was what was pissing off the main bad guy in that movie yep yeah okay so I get I'll get into my rig make sure you just throw the throw the questions in the thing my rig is very simple we so the here's here's the reason why I came up with the design of my array is based on other rigs that we've seen on the field I think it's called delicti Angelo he I
I think it's called delicti Angelo he I think it was him he and or some other people came up with a giant structure that looks like a door frame okay now typically if you go to Jack danger I do want to mention this I read a lot I follow Jack danger of course we all like followed ed flip I looked at his his help page how to stream pinball dead flip comm ford slash how to stream pinball I highly suggest I think George is too we highly suggest you read that go I'll sit down left and right is that
go I'll sit down left and right is that fair to say oh yeah or if you watch him just throw questions out he's super responsive on stream about about answering questions about streaming too so we're standing on the shoulders of that giant right there because he's been doing it for five years there are some things that are antiquated in his list but and I will mention a couple of things but for the most parts that's a great place to start now I did mention a car there Angela knows of the guys who got away from the
knows of the guys who got away from the tripods I immediately didn't think of tripod because I'm not thinking of home if you're at home and you use tripods you're probably okay but remember a tripod for a light stand a tripod or a light stand say my stand has legs that use this I am NOT getting this in between two pinball machines okay
between two pinball machines okay so unless I fold it down slide it in and fold it back up yes it's rough so we couldn't go that route because the machines at Regal watch are so close there were there they're back boxes are basically touching I was telling George earlier I had a guy yesterday put a danger on my machine from his nudge that's not cool but anyway I but I digress and like I said the pin gulps are in the way so we had
the pin gulps are in the way so we had to we came up with a door frame I don't know how seeable this is yeah you explain it and then I'll switch over to be to the Amazon page for it okay on Amazon we look this up we found the sonic song comics double rod clothes
sonic song comics double rod clothes clothing rack I choose this I chose this one specifically because it is adjustable up to what does it say 70 looks like extendable width 39.82 65 inches yep yep so it goes and it goes up really tall so this is just an
that's pretty much it Amazon commercial I love wags oh my god it goes up really high and the reason I needed to go already high of course it's cuz you're gonna put the player the the play field camp up there its tubular it's cheap but but it's strong I think it's aluminum those those those pipes are really easy to cut someone at a hardware store can cut it so basically modify that I got rid of the middle part got rid of the bottom part and added
got rid of the bottom part and added some support to the top and cut it and stuff like that so I modified it we could talk about the amount of cases I did at another time or I can tell everybody um I'm interested to hear about what modifications you did to it I still don't understand like for me and this is the question I had earlier this looks like a clothes rack so how how are you getting over the playfield when you shove it between I get to me I totally understand it moves between but do you have like a big arm on top that's then
have like a big arm on top that's then reaching over the side or are you catching are you touching the the playfield at an angle good question I can show you I I figured it'd be a good chance to ship to do Show and Tell this guy right here is my favorite clamp bike camera camera I think is Kam he are a are this is one of the things I also suggest don't don't listen to Jack when he says to buy those those those clamps that he has on the site they tend to break I think George
site they tend to break I think George you have one a couple it broke I've gone through almost eight of those now I have I have three active ones I have three that are broken and no longer hold its position well and then yeah so three functional three broken and I think I've thrown three out because they were no longer functioning at all wax good try I turned voice-to-text off you can no longer order things on the stream using alexa in the background that was a that
alexa in the background that was a that was an issue wax knows the way around everything been working on my design why not just use conduit you can't and I'm not saying you shouldn't and it really comes down at your ear preferences I didn't because this is 30 bucks complete everything I need is in that box I basically I really should write up a how-to on how this is modded but it really does look the way
modded but it really does look the way it's really just stripped down the feet I did have like some rubber feet do you see how easy it was for me to pick that up though I mean so some so people get nervous when they're like I'm gonna put all my equipment on that yeah yeah but what equipment are you really putting on one of these this weighs about as much as a bowl of cereal pretty light right this is not gonna weigh it down neither
this is not gonna weigh it down neither is you know a logitech camera so your equipment that's gonna be on there it's gonna be really super light anyway now one thing we did get rid of with the wheels this thing comes with wheels toss the wheels out you've probably seen some there's some stream streamers that do tournaments and they have a big giant thing that has wheels and I was like okay so you can push it around and you can roll it right between the machine right right nice and easy and you're done we can't do that if we go watch for
done we can't do that if we go watch for the reason I mentioned the ping gulps and the machines are so close together there's nowhere to roll I'm gonna bang into a Pingel so I have to be able to lift this thing and take it with me interesting so once again the use case is specific to these cameras that you can get really really super super awesome cameras that way a lot more I would not suggest heavy stuff on this rig if you're talking about three webcams right one of the 60 frames per second cams as a playfield cam and two
second cams as a playfield cam and two others there's no weight on this thing just like I asked George's question I take one of these guys and I put this here now this is that this is a clamp but this is a small rig this is smaller e clamp and this is kind of the you know the extendable arm these are these are sold separately and I do have those in the list also of what you can buy these are super great it's great to have like five or six of these they're like six bucks the boss small rig and they they clamp on they're
rig and they they clamp on they're amazing this goes here boom that's done right around the pipe it is not slipping it's not going anywhere and this goes you that's it right and then this tightens the piece that you're tightening right now is the one that keeps breaking on all the on all the versions that I purchased yeah the
versions that I purchased yeah the little tighten tab mm-hmm if it's if it's plastic send it back immediately because it's if Vince omni AK just asked how do you power yours okay that's an excellent question this is this is this is why we didn't have a lot of things to plan to talk about we're gonna field all these questions it's powered that's actually a really good question oh let me show you I have two of these rigs one at home and one if we go watch but not
at home and one if we go watch but not for tournaments after we go watch I have two rigs the one I free go watch it will change we will change what's on it depending on whether we're doing a tournament or I'm just streaming myself you're doing a tournament it's different different configurations so what I can talk about that right now see what I just did what's also nice is that this rack has its own you can you can definitely do it with all conduit but you don't get these little niceties that already show up on a clothing rack this
already show up on a clothing rack this is height adjustable so now I'm able to do that yeah that's pretty awesome that collapses down nice and easy I might invite this I modified this so that I can unscrew this this used to be one of the legs now it's part of the I hop it out this all goes down to a bag that I can just sling over my shoulder that's awesome
that's awesome every piece of this I didn't do this but this is this is how it came is removable throw it in a bag and the reason you'd want to break it down so small I mean you're traveling obviously one bag is nice use less trips back and forth and I guess also car would be another big one like imagine you don't have a suburban or something massive that you have the
or something massive that you have the ability to put a bunch of very large equipment and so being able to collapse it down makes it easy to work with like a like a Honda Civic or something like that yeah exactly and remember everything everything I'm doing is related to my own use case right but when I didn't have two of these I had to take one from home to Freegal watch home time now I have two of these one lives if we go watching but it's still nice to not have it up and sitting over a machine kind of empty I when I'm done at night I collapse it down throw it in a bag and put it in the back room he was
bag and put it in the back room he was asking how to power it I came up with my own kind of system and this once again this is not a tournament use case this is a we're gonna stream one game for the night which is generally what mr. pinball theater is all about streaming one game for a night so I just have all the things I need on here there's my USB and these are bongo ties these are called bongo ties we use them in the video industry because they're a great way to mechanically fastened your stuff to pipes and whatever try not to rely on
to pipes and whatever try not to rely on gaff tape or anything that's not called a mechanical whole mechanical holes are things that are like nails locks or velcro can be considered mechanical right this is the USB that everything goes into this is just the cube tab nice with a couple of USPS this stays at home this is a real this is super ghetto the one I have it and one I haven't realized is a little more slick looking and so I plug into this I'm an extension
and so I plug into this I'm an extension cord I bring I just plug this in like that on the wall and then this whole thing is powered and that's it and really quick I'm going to switch over so people can see those two components so here's the bongo ties that you were just talking about which I'm gonna need to pick up because that's amazing I've been using zip ties and that is a pain in the butt I don't limit the last second you need to cut a zip tie and you don't have a pair of scissors well yeah well just good thing about zip ties the tabs are very super permanent very very good if
very super permanent very very good if you can if you can use a zip tie I would use as a tie or a bongo time violet eyes are just reusable right zip ties are not terribly reusable which is what you're saying yeah well yeah but I hardly understand do it the last second yeah well you know I what I don't like is when is what I'm trying to move around on location and I've got a bunch of excess cable so I try to wrap that up but the one time for whatever reason I need that extra four feet of cable and I've got it zip tied and note and I forgot to bring scissors I'm screwed I
forgot to bring scissors I'm screwed I that's it's not coming out easily and the other item here I wanted to show was one of the other items on your list it's just that clamp yeah they have what's called I think it's a three-eighths hold they have two types of holes also so that ribbon quarter-inch thread and a three-eighths treta thread yeah quarters during a 3/8 thread which is what it's like yes they're both standard tripod kind of thingies they both cover what you're
thingies they both cover what you're probably gonna need to screw into this so it's my small rig is really really super super good so that answers the question about how do I power it I plug it in you know it's funny a Walter who maybe some of you've seen on my stream every girl want he's one of the guys that works there he saw me crawling around underneath the pinball machines because whenever I do a stream I have to plug in my extension cord that I can plug in my rig he cut a long sheet of black vinyl for
he cut a long sheet of black vinyl for me and gave it to me I go what's this for he goes this is so that you can lay it down before you crawl underneath the nasty machines so in my kit at home and my kid if real watts is the rig and this sheet of vinyl that I lay out like it's like like a red carpet I lay it out then I when I crawl underneath the nasty machines I yes there's very sweet wax I thought it was very I use it all the time so that's pretty much the hardware
time so that's pretty much the hardware that we use and I'm able to some of you seen the city champ tournament that we did you might have seen me walk past one of the cameras with this thing in my hand it's it's super great because the other players the players who were there I mean we had you know we had Carl D'Angelo there we had Raymond Davis from there we had you know a Jimenez Scott these guys not these guys are top 50 players right so I gotta move fast well you know and the guy who's running the the event he's like alright match play says that the next table is going to be for one of the next tables is
to be for one of the next tables is going to be Jersey Jack's um you know pirates which let me just say one other that my modifications allows me to change the width of the rig that little this little this thing here is the height the the width as well the width as well because you know have you have you played Paragon oh is it a much larger I have I haven't noticed but it's
larger I have I haven't noticed but it's I'm guessing it's a significantly longer yes so like games like Paragon or Stella Wars super why I think Stella wars the the play field is as wide as the back back box back Lots Jersey Jack's you know pirates or Hobbit Daryl slightly or even Twilight Zone they're slightly wider than a guardians in galaxy or or say a TNA and so this kind of rig will not it won't fall over
kind of rig will not it won't fall over but yes exactly what what's back to saying white bodies vary in size they're all over the place so if you stick with a size that will remember URI cannot touch the Machine and your rig also has to have at least a couple of inches of space between both sides because when that guy does that big move you don't want him taking the rig down with you with it you also more importantly you don't want it to interrupt him or her who's playing right now I'm guessing I'm the only one that was confused by this
the only one that was confused by this but the the rig that you showed I was imagining initially that you wouldn't have to worry about the width because you are gonna put it lengthwise alongside the pin who I think you're actually putting it over width wise which makes a lot more sense why you'd have to adjust adjust the width additionally it also makes a lot more sense I was concerned that depending on well now that I'm thinking about how that goes you're only using I guess it's the two bars all the way up to the top and you put it up high enough to where
and you put it up high enough to where you can have the camera kind of come down but do you ever have to deal with issues with some people being like six five six six and you need to move it closer to the back glass no okay no that I was trying to move the camera so you could say now just screwed up my shot I haven't fixed that is that better it's okay it looks great okay you're that amazing [Laughter]
[Laughter] yep yeah and the player playful camera gets attached to this I mean okay the reason I got it I bought this one in particular is because excuse me um it does go up higher so in a typical situation I'm gonna have it at a certain length and I've actually marked the mark the bar so I could slide it up to that length but at tournaments we actually move it up as high as it can go without being without being unstable because we have hdmi transmitters on top of it and those have
transmitters on top of it and those have to be as high as possible right so as you turn heads of other people because they're they're better with line-of-sight right yeah it never it never blocks the player's view because inherently people are always looking down at a table right so even if the camera is right here it would never be over them it will always be somewhere near the middle of play field so they're not gonna bump it and are you still grabbing the LCD / DMD and how are you grabbing those then and in that
grabbing those then and in that environment okay great so we can talk about we know about cameras now right sorry I'm more still thinking about the stand and like I can see how you're doing a top down in order to get the play field but from that from what you have set up where are you hooking up a mount and a camera in order to get the DMD each one goes on a pole right and I'm using I'm still doing similar to this but now I'm attaching it to here to the side okay yeah so the side so one
the side okay yeah so the side so one side will have the DMD pointing camera point at the MV and once I will have the player and what's also nice about this kind of rig is that I can offset the feet so that they don't have to be parallel with each other which is something I have to do a lot Oh so instead of say these are the feet I can do like this so that if I need a more space from the player I can make that the back leg and more space for the DMD I can just so you can do this kind
DMD I can just so you can do this kind of thing it doesn't matter the top bar doesn't matter because you have an adjustable thing like yes completely adjustable so this floats around even if the top bar is at an angle I can still get the square of the play fill right so hope that makes sense me let's see Utah razor yeah so wax knows the size that everything would okay I'm not necessary Hercules Hercules will
I'm not necessary Hercules Hercules will require a tripod and a bull that's the that's the big in like this right yeah Hercules is the one that plays with actual cue ball oh wow yeah if you've ever been at one of these tournaments that tournaments exposed like California extreme always has a Hercules their Stern standard is 2022 50-inch certain yesterday's standard and those just play field asides adds a
those just play field asides adds a little more exactly mm-hmm so I hope that gave kind of an overview why I set up this rig right and when I had the cameras it adds maybe a couple more pounds no wheels we got rid of the wheels the only fault is probably the feet because they are not as long as I really like I would like I would like them to be maybe a little longer but we've never had and had a situation
we've never had and had a situation where this falls over yeah where it falls towards you but that would be an opportunity for kind of what pins omni AK was mentioning earlier if you were working with conduit or something like that you could find the appropriate to being capam kind of make your own minor adjustments like that yeah I I would love to take this stuff and start to actually create my own thing from these parts or parts like these I don't know if I have that kind of ingenuity but but
if I have that kind of ingenuity but but anyway so that's that's the that's the hardware in terms of like the rig once again it's very specific to free go watch it'll work it'll work everywhere and all that stuff gets plugged into that that one pole with the USB and all I get plugged into my computer yeah and free gold watch isn't the only place that has pin gulps like that that's that's got to be a rather common common issue and space has always got to be an issue I think for your watch is the only place that has the pin gulps like almost exclusively mounted to the
like almost exclusively mounted to the side though yeah I made that change a while ago I now mount all of mine in home just in front of us so that way I don't have to bottom-left specifically because I also don't want people who may have been drinking I'm not gonna say they are drinking but you know drinking happens under the plunger because I feel like you might go to grab our plunge and you got beer instead or vice versa or yeah there's just movement let's keep all that away from the from the yeah yeah it doesn't mix very well
yeah yeah it doesn't mix very well unless you're usually a cocktail pen that is sealed we're not gonna do that so cameras as far as cameras are concerned I think I showed this one if everybody's cool I'm gonna move on move on the cameras will quit cuz we're just going through my rig I have graduated from that piece of garbage Logitech c920 - I'm sorry if I offend you and you're using the logitech I'm actually using a large 6922 right now the camera you're
large 6922 right now the camera you're looking at me is a large 6922 but it's also being powered by a desktop full desktop machine and and that has plenty of us be the 922 don't use it it's on Jack dangers list and it's not even his face tree his favorite is the 920 which doesn't do 60 frames per second they think that's nice thing about the 922 do
think that's nice thing about the 922 do we have a dude that I put that in the I have the 920 up I can pull up the 922 hold on a sec I'm gonna switch over I didn't even put the picture in my in my dock the hated self so we have the 270 and the 920 Logitech was fired years ago well I mean so the thing about the prong as you like the problem with the 922 is it's a resource hog it's a USB hog it doesn't play well with others and I
doesn't play well with others and I would even go so far as to save the 60 frames per second on the 922 is nothing compared to some of the other cameras that you'll probably end up describing here shortly yeah yeah so that's one of the things I would avoid I I now use two Logitech c920 s not for the playfield those both for the DMD and for the player those only go 30 frames per second at 1080 but that's all you really need for the DMD
that's all you really need for the DMD on the player and these are the de facto standards of cameras cheaper because consumer cameras for pinball this is kind of the lowest common denominator that I would suggest don't even I mean you could get a bravia illogic bravia but here's the thing about webcams for playfields webcams are not what kinds webcams are not built for wide let's just put it this way to get
wide let's just put it this way to get such a wide field of view and a webcam they have to have a the lens has to have such it's like a GoPro it has to have such a curvature to cover so much space it's only gonna be sharp in the middle my my shot right now is terrifically sharp right in the middle if I go all the way over here it starts to get really soft when you put that on a play field your ear your middle of your
field your ear your middle of your playful is gonna be super sharp and as it goes out it's gonna get really soft and we don't want soft on a play field so I would avoid using a webcam for for play field we use a camera that it really has a sensor this is the Sony what is this H it's in the list it turned on it is the HD RCX 405 I'm going to switch over and show that night 22
to switch over and show that night 22 night yeah 922 does not do 60 frames per second at 720 it's around 40 okay that's interesting yeah one other really explains why the quality of the 922 isn't anywhere near at least what I expected right it's another reason not to use it so this is the Sony camera that a lot of people use one thing that's great about it it's cheap wait cheap is relative George how much did you get yours for so yeah I wanted to throw that out there 194 never pay that for this camera I got mine on eBay
that for this camera I got mine on eBay for one of them for 80 and one of them I think for 85 felishj it say I think the wax is saying he sees him pop up on eBay 450 all the time yeah I would have seen those pop up at 50 but yeah I basically asked George where where should I get this camera because and he told me where to get it and I got it for 80 like 85 bucks they are because it's super lightweight they have a real sensor they're good Sony cameras they're
sensor they're good Sony cameras they're really nice they're cheap cameras but they're good cameras they don't present a sharp and a out-of-focus kind of you know thing I was talking about this the playfield is very sharp they have a lot of cool little features in here the menu is really nice and it does use HDMI mini zig mini yeah yeah so you gotta make sure and when you buy it really cheap they're probably not gonna give you a lot of stuff they probably not gonna
lot of stuff they probably not gonna give you a battery they're probably not gonna give you a cable use got to pick that stuff up on your own and it is powered via USB which is great except George you know where I'm going with this you're gonna reference the bit blocker yes so explain why we need a bit blocker for this because I'm trying to power it all of a sudden it's saying I can't power it and use the camera at the same time yeah
and use the camera at the same time yeah so and this was really interesting when I think it was all nonnamous asked me to upgrade from my 9 22 to one of these guys and go full 60 frames per second he gave me a list of items to purchase and one of them was this bit blocker thing which was like a buck 99 on Amazon it was um so I grabbed it thinking that he probably knows what he's talking about and it wasn't until I plugged in the camera and powered it up at the same time that I was trying to do stuff exactly that's the part right there and
exactly that's the part right there and I and and it wouldn't allow me to run live video at the same time that that I was powering it up because the device thinks that it's being plugged into a computer and you're accessing it for picture or I don't know exactly what that is so the bit blocker allows you to power it but still run it like you're running a camcorder or treat it like a webcam depending on the type of device you're plugging it into today and there are certain battery packs that will fool it because we have two of them at Freegal
because we have two of them at Freegal watch that it will we plug it in it doesn't it doesn't do the data thing but every battery pack that I have at home it was like there's data but you know so I had to get a bit blocker for home so your mileage may vary yeah let's see so those are cameras I used to use a 270 electric 270 that was like a 720p back over I'm gonna show that 270 go ahead in a pinch you could and you might hear my
a pinch you could and you might hear my two-year-old in the background looking at this this is $18 yeah is that right that is correct okay I was using that for my DMD for a long time in a pinch you can use it until you can save up to actually get like a 920 it's it's not terrific it's passable now wax just asked if there was a way to convert from AC adapter for power on I'm
convert from AC adapter for power on I'm guessing that's the Sony I don't think it has any other port to get power except the USB is that correct yeah it doesn't have any other port to get power except for that USB that's it well I have one right here let me double check it's 270 is ancient it's practically free yeah what do I got here I've got that mini HDMI the USB that is it there's only two ports on this thing oh
there's only two ports on this thing oh I'm holding it up to the camera but I'm not showing either of us so that was obviously worthwhile there's nothing else on here it's really really simple also super light it's one of those when you buy it and you spent you spend a few bucks you expect it to have a little bit of weight this thing is it's not it's not a pound it's a quarter of a pound it's very very light my xbox controller weighs more than it yeah so that's another reason why this
yeah so that's another reason why this rig is perfect for it because it doesn't add any weight so I forgive you if you buy it the 270 as a start for your DMD cam but try an upgrade so we don't go too long on time moving right along one thing that people are going to have different opinions about is the USB microphone I see George you have a really nice Yeti yeah this is a blue snow blue snow snowball there we go yep I actually use a 5/5 USB condenser
I actually use a 5/5 USB condenser here's the bottom line if you get and get yourself a nice condenser microphone you're okay that works over USB try and make sure you have a ability to set the game manually on the microphone and that it will possibly maybe take a windsock if you get really close to it you don't need it sorry windsock is that the circular thing that take kind of takes you back to the 1950s at podiums okay so
you back to the 1950s at podiums okay so this is one of my professional condenser mics which I actually could use what I am not using this be worried about what you're about to pull okay there we go yeah actually the same mic is as I'm talking to right now so the mic I'm talking to right now is this and don't be worried about what I'm gonna good and yeah this guy goes over that to present for prevent closest and
that to present for prevent closest and stuff like that okay so you're in video that's a windsock is the I would have called it something else but what's the thing that you attach to a microphone that's like a disc that sits in front of it use that yes what is that this is this is is a windsock edge okay so that's the windsock that's what's that some people call it popper stopper this is a I don't know what this is called this is a phone microphone whatever look on Jack's thing I can't remember and I'm this is
thing I can't remember and I'm this is my is my business I don't remember the name the damn thing but whatever the the the the the bottom line is get a condenser microphone that's powered via USB and that's lifeline microphone is how much it's pretty cheap $29.99 or if you're willing to go with magenta $27.99 prime [ __ ] I should have done to magenta who is I'm also looking at that magenta
who is I'm also looking at that magenta thinking why not but but so George your microphone is terrific I just I just say you know I have a lot of expensive microphones here I've got a $2,000 microphone here oh my gosh you don't need a recording studio in New York for three years you don't need that the blue yetis the ice yetis and this one looks serve you just fine don't use don't use an in camera mic do
don't use don't use an in camera mic do not now I'm curious there are and we're gonna get into other streaming gear that maybe we can go into with more detail at another time right tangents but there is just like the elgato people who do the the stream the stream board man I cannot can link the no sorry they do the cam link but sorry the the button-pushing thing that allows you to change scenes screamed a thank you the stream deck there we go keywords that's great is it after it's 11:30 so I I'm out of vocabulary words
11:30 so I I'm out of vocabulary words at this time but there's another product that's made for streamers Thank You axe a for agreeing on magenta and second for laughing there's another product that's out there right now that allows you to mix and do things what I'm guessing is going to be like adjust gain and volume input and handle multiple microphones is that something you could get in place of a good microphone and maybe potentially get better sound from a crappier microphone or okay and I don't think
microphone or okay and I don't think about sound so I I think I know what you're talking with thing that you're talking about have a microphone in it no it does not yeah so what they say right garbage in garbage out yes right the same as if you put a crappy camera on your play field nothing's gonna make that look better if you choose a bad mic nothing's gonna make it sound better nothing okay and the board you're talking about it it'd probably be cool for streaming video games stuff if you could sit around on your desk but
you could sit around on your desk but you might want to minimize how much equipment you take on the field even even even even on your home stream you might want to minimize because use well you as well as I both know the the hoops we have to jump through to be the hosts and the technical lead and the player and switching OBS screens and then another but for me because I I don't like playing the same machine night after night for you what's great is you can just hit a button and you could be playing a different machine it might
playing a different machine it might might takes me a half-hour of prep time every night to move from one game to another game like that is it's it's painful so I absolutely agree anything to minimize or make things easier is is hugely helpful in streaming yeah so I think the last thing we could talk about cuz there's a couple more things on there but I think the last thing we talked about in this really good segue is the capture cards and I've been talking about so George I'm gonna let you take it away with what capture cards because we're basically using the same
because we're basically using the same caps present this is not just my rig yeah so I think we're both using the cam links right yeah so let me switch over here this is the cam link and a lot of people I know when I was talking initially and in fact even what I was thinking I'm gonna switch back over to chatting high with that oh I have an HDMI port on my laptop no big deal I'm not gonna need a to cam links but not really thinking that that
links but not really thinking that that is an HDMI output I doubt there are any laptops that have built-in HDMI capture devices like built into the laptop so switching back over a really easy solution is cam Blanc it's from El Gato is the name of the company they're the same ones same company that do the stream deck and they have another product that if you were going to stream let's say an Xbox or something like that would allow HDMI pass-through but this
would allow HDMI pass-through but this turns in HDMI device I'm not sure why I'm magnifying it right now but you can see the HDMI here on one side and over on the other you have a USB 3.0 so it essentially turns any HDMI device recording device into a webcam as how your your your computer views it now your computer thinks of it as a webcam so it's just a source for video it works amazing and it's not overly expensive when compared to other devices that are
when compared to other devices that are out there it's also super small super light you just run it in line on your HDMI to USB so it's a for me at least it was it was a no-brainer and that's gonna be that's gonna be giving you your camera your sony cab that's because it's only cam you can't just plug it in your machine you have to convert this HDMI to USB there are a lot of alternatives the tried and tested ones are the cam links
tried and tested ones are the cam links but there are a lot of alternatives and pretty much well I can't I can't speak with experience on using any other thing but cam link there are some issues that I have found with cam link which we can talk about another stream but all in all for my home stream I'm using you know just like George said I'm using one of these guys if you go to buy it now you might be able to find cam link 1080 they don't make those anymore they only make cam link 4k but they have never changed
cam link 4k but they have never changed the packaging so it's wholly gonna look like this it's not even didn't even say 4k on it did just change the chips that are inside no it's really irritating too because I have one of each and I don't know which is which you have to label it like Yepez Vox on you tube labeled his 4k and also the price difference here I'm gonna switch back Gover but the 4k is 109 99 on Amazon right now which I think might be cheaper than normal or it looks like they have the 1080 s going right now 479 95 which
the 1080 s going right now 479 95 which is uh that's a that's a pretty decent price I just learned today how to update the firmware on that thing so we're not saying that they don't come with some problems because there are some glitches here and there and we'll talk about that I guess on another stream let's give it some of that we'll talk about your your rig set up on the next one that's great yeah we can focus on all the problems when we talk about mine we have similar there's a lot of them so outside of this stuff there's similar stuff to what
stuff there's similar stuff to what we're both using so we can chime in on that and I think yeah that's it I think that's it for now is we know we know how much more we have to go I mean this is this is not it this is a good start and if you go out and get a couple of these things you probably be in good shape if you want to build my rig please hit me up I should have put my email address on
up I should have put my email address on this in the notes as we're done with this so what I'll do is I'll you George gonna send me the link and I will upload it to my youtube channel which is mr. you can well Theater 3000 and I'll put all the stuff in this in the notes actually okay awesome so we're gonna put this video online hopefully do another video at some point in the the near future and we'll take a look at my rig and then talk about some of the hardships that you may come across and
hardships that you may come across and hopefully how do you make it past those yep maybe someday we'll get Jack danger to come on huh that would be fun I'm sure he has all kinds of stories he even has emote specifically for when he has issues I think that's his tech his tech MO is yet you have problems it's computers it's really weird I think you've said something really well which was there's professional-grade stuff out there where you're working with just their products
their products but you work with something like OBS which is meant to work with hundreds of pieces of equipment and it's sometimes it doesn't work perfectly not just out of the box so at but at the same time it's open source and you know we're trying to do things on a budget here we want to hear you got it so just just to plug the next show George George promises to tell us his nightmare story of screaming a tournament oh yes definitely fight was the great fall flip
definitely fight was the great fall flip out of 2018 we will go over that next time all right awesome everybody have a great night thanks for coming [Music]