Transparency

Starboard has support for transparency, but transparency has it's drawbacks in terms of streaming.

1. Transparent windows are not visible when Windows Aero is disabled

In particular, on Windows 7, you should be aware of whether Windows Aero is enabled or disabled. You can tell this by whether your Start-bar is transparent (Aero is enabled), or in "Basic Mode" (Aero is disabled). This should be clarified and tested on Windows XP, as I'm not sure how this applies.

You should be aware that any windows with transparency enabled, whether they have 100% opacity or not, will not be visible using most capture drivers. VhScrCap and XSplit, the two most widely used capture devices for streaming, do not see transparent windows when Aero is disabled. Camtasia, as far as I'm aware, will capture transparent windows regardless of Aero status.

2. Transparent windows use CPU-rendering, where non-transparent windows use GPU-rendering.

This is specific to WPF and .NET. The use of transparent windows through the use of AllowsTransparent causes windows to be rendered using the CPU. However, since the scoreboard rarely animates and changes, this should not be an issue during casting. On older computers, this may or may not be noticeable.

The largest CPU strains will be when adjusting opacity of the transparent window, and when changing colors (as the animation transitions). For most users, this should not be a concern.