Push via OBS

Solution Background

Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) is an easy-to-use third-party open-source software program for producing live streaming content free of charge. It can run on OS X, Windows, and Linux to meet the needs of various live broadcasting scenarios. You can go to the OBS official website to download the latest version.
This document describes how to configure a stream on a PC in OBS Studio.

Preparations

• Log in to the LVB Console and generate a push address. For more information, see Push Configuration.
• Install OBS Studio.

Directions

How to Use OBS Studio for Push

1. Set a push address
   Open OBS Studio and click Controls > Settings at the bottom to enter the Settings page.
   
   Click Stream on the left sidebar and select "Custom Streaming Server" as stream type. Take the push address below as an example.
   
   Divide the push address into two parts to enter the URL and stream name respectively. Enter the former part of the address before Path for the URL and the latter part after StreamName for the stream name. Thus, the parameter is set as below:

   URL: rtmp://push.livetest.myqcloud.com/live/
   Stream name: StreamName?txSecret=xxxxx&txTime=5C1E5F7F

   For more information on how to get the push address, see Getting Push Address Quickly.

2. Configure a push
   Click the + icon under the "Sources" box and select the input source. If you do not need to configure bitrate, recording, and others items, click Controls > Start Streaming to push the video to the set push address.
   
   Otherwise, click Tools > Auto-Configuration Wizard at the top, configure the push as prompted, and click Controls > Start Streaming.

3. Configure other push-related items

   • Video broadcasting delay
     Click Controls > Settings > Output, select Advanced for Output Mode, and then you can configure Keyframe Interval and other items as shown below:
     
     Select Advanced on the left sidebar to configure Stream Delay:
     
   • Local LVB recording
     If you need local LVB recording, you can record live streams for local backup. The configuration is as shown below:
     
     Click Controls > Settings > Output and then click the Recording tab to configure recording. You can save recording files locally.
     Resolution determines the clarity of video shown to viewers. The higher the resolution, the clearer the video. FPS (frames per second) determines how smooth a video look. The FPS value for ordinary videos ranges from 24 to 30, and lags would appear if it is lower than 16. Video games have a higher requirement for frame rate and would often smear if the value is below 30. The resolution and frame rate settings are as shown below:
     

Related Operations

Common Operations

1. Common input sources

   • Image: Live broadcasts a single image.
   • Image Slide Show: Plays back multiple images in a loop or sequentially.
   • Scene: Achieves various fascinating effects for live broadcasting. In this case, another scene, in part or in its entirety, can be embedded into the current scene as a source.
   • Media Source: Uploads and plays back local on-demand videos to be processed for live broadcasting.
   • Text: Adds text to the live broadcasting window in real time.
   • Display Capture: Dynamically captures operations on the desktop in real time. All operations are displayed during live broadcasting.
   • Game Capture: Live broadcasts games from the specified source. It is suitable for live game broadcasting at different scales.
   • Window Capture: Captures the selected window in real time. Only the current window is displayed during live broadcasting, while other windows will not be captured.
   • Color Source: Adds a solid color to the scene as background color. Transparency of the color can be adjusted to even make the screen transparent.
   • Video Capture Device: Dynamically captures the video being recorded by a camera for live broadcasting.
   • Audio Input Capture: Live broadcasts audio (from an audio input device).
   • Audio Output Capture: Live broadcasts audio (to an audio output device).

2. Studio mode
   In Studio Mode, you can edit the content of the current live broadcast in real time and perform scene transitions during editing, minimizing the impact on user experience.
   Click Controls > Studio Mode to enter the interface as shown below and configure Scenes, Sources, and Scene Transitions. Then, you can directly edit the live broadcast in the Preview pane on the left and click Transition to switch it to the live broadcasting pane on the right.
   

Pure Audio Push

According to the discussions in the OBS forum, OBS Studio 23.2.1 and earlier versions do not support pure audio push.
To implement a similar feature, you can follow the steps below. This method works by replacing a video with a static canvas (blank screen or image). If you need to reduce bandwidth usage, you can lower video frame rate and bitrate to get closer to pure audio push, but there will still be video data in the live stream.

1. As instructed in OBS push configuration, select Audio Input Capture as input source. Do not select a video or image as video source.
   
2. Go to Controls > Settings > Video, set Output (Scaled) Resolution and Common FPS Values to the minimum value, and click OK to save the configuration.
   
3. Click Output, configure streaming as shown below, and set Bitrate to the minimum value. Click OK or Apply to save the configuration.
   
4. As instructed in Push in OBS push configuration, start the push, which will amount to pure audio push as the video content is shown as a blank screen or image. With video bitrate set to minimum, bandwidth usage is reduced significantly.

Video Looping

To loop a single video

1. Click the + icon under the Sources box, select Media Source and in the pop-up window, select the video file to be looped in Local File, select Loop, and then click OK.
   
2. As instructed in OBS push settings, click Stream on the left sidebar, and enter Server and Stream Key to start streaming, so the single video will be looped.

To loop multiple videos
OBS Studio does not support looping multiple videos itself, but you can use the loop feature of third-party video players and the Window Capture feature in OBS Studio to this end.