Streaming: HD Camcorder or HD Webcam? (channel, USB, port)

[BahGawdKing]

I want to start adding live video to my stream while playing a game. I have a webcam, but its 7 years old and looks absolutely atrocious on playback.

I was considering investing in a HD webcam like this one, but since I plan to eventually make movies for my YouTube channel as well, I considered investing in a HD camcorder instead. During my research, I've noticed many people have issues streaming with camcorders whereas HD webcams works flawlessly.

Are HD camcorders a chore/task to get working with a livestream? Also, any specific camcorders that are proven to work?

Trying to keep it under $200, or buy a SD camcorder to save some money.

[thecoalman]

The big issue is camcorders are meant for quality, your computer would need to encode that high quality, high bitrate video on the fly into something more suitable for streaming and that requires a lot of processing power especially with HD.

If you're going to use a regular camcorder you need something that is going produce video that is already suitable for streaming. For example a lot of older DV camcorders come with a USB port in addition to a firewire port. The video coming across the USB port is suitable for streaming. The encoding for the lower quality video is done by the camcorder and your computer only needs to pass the stream on. I'm a bit out of the loop so I have no suggestions for what is currently a available.