How to stream on YouTube & Twitch with OBS. How to set up stream on obs

Select the Add Existing radio button, and then select OK. The Video Device Properties menu opens.

Create an Azure Media Services live stream with OBS

This quickstart will help you create a Media Services live event using the Azure portal and broadcast using Open Broadcasting Studio (OBS). It is assumed that you have an Azure subscription and have created a Media Services account.

In this short introduction, we’ll cover:

• Configuring a local encoder with OBS.
• Configuring live broadcast.
• Configure live broadcast outputs.
• Starts the default streaming endpoint.
• Using Azure Media Player to view live stream and on-demand output.

Set up an on-premises encoder by using OBS

1. Download and install OBS for your operating system from the Open Broadcaster Software website.
2. Run the application and leave it open.

Select streaming endpoints in the list of multimedia services.

If the default state of the streaming endpoint is stopped, select it. This step takes you to the page for this endpoint.

Select Start.

You will see that you need to enter a username and password. These are the login and password for your Dacast live feed, available in the encoder configuration section where you found the stream url and stream key. For more information on these 2 steps, you can always check this tutorial on Connecting Dacast to OBS.

Tutorial Outline

1. Basic: Audio and Simple Application Streaming
• High performance: streaming games
1. Download and install the Visual Studio 2013 runtimes
• Download and install OBS
1. Resolution
• Transmission speed
• Coding
• Scene configuration
1. Find your stream key
• Set up OBS to connect to Twitch
1. Find your stream key
• Set up OBS to connect to YouTube

After logging into the Paperspace, create a new computer.

Please select the closest region

Select the Windows template

Choose Monthly or Hourly depending on how often you stream

Low audio and graphics intensive applications (Basic): If you are streaming less intensive applications like a code editor, online poker game or audio mix etc, standard GPU machines (Air, Standard, Advanced and Pro) work Great. In that case you will use software coding in OBS. You cannot run any high-end games at this level, and you cannot reach bit rates as high as with GPU encoding. If this sounds like your desired configuration, the Advanced plan is the most popular.

Game Streaming (High Performance): If you are running graphics rich games such as The Witcher, Overwatch etc and want to provide your viewers with high bitrate streaming then a dedicated GPU machine (GPU +, P5000 and P6000) is required. GPU + is perfect for mid-range gaming, and the P5000 and P6000 are designed for maximum performance.

Choose your storage space – you can increase your storage anytime in the future



2. Installing OBS

Step 1 – Prerequisites

To continue setup, download and run both of the required Visual Studio Runtimes:

Note: You must install both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions, even if you have a 64-bit version of Windows.

Now you are ready to install OBS Studio:

Step 2 – Install OBS Studio

Run the installer with default settings. In the last step, uncheck “Run OBS studio”



Why? By default, OBS runs in 32-bit mode which is not as fast as the 64-bit option. Click the Start menu and run the 64-bit version instead:



After running OBS, you can ignore the Auto Configuration Wizard as we will be configuring OBS manually. If you want to run the wizard at a later date, it will be available from the Tools drop-down menu:



Software encoders that support the RTMP protocol, such as OBS Studio, provide the greatest versatility and are used by most professional broadcasters. OBS Studio is a free open source broadcasting software with an integrated video encoding application.

Step 2: Create a scene

When you use OBS for streaming, you first build a “scene” out of everything you want your viewers to see. These items include the game you are playing, the webcam video feed, and the computer desktop.

Creating a scene is easy: just right-click in the Scenes box and click Add Scene from the drop-down menu. Name your new scene then click OK.

To delete a scene, right-click its name and click Delete. You can also rename, reorder and copy scenes.

You can build multiple scenes, which is handy if you’re streaming different video games. For example, one video game may have its UI in the top-right corner, so you put the webcam feed in the top-left corner, but another video game may have its UI in the top-left corner.

Step 3: Add your gaming source

The first thing you’ll want to add to your scene is the game source – the source that displays the game you’re playing. There are three different sources you can use for this: Game Capture, Window Capture, and Monitor Capture.

To add a source to your scene, make sure the scene is selected and right-click in the Sources box. Click Add and then select the type of source you want to add.

Game capture

Game Capture captures a feed from a single game. This is the only source that can capture games running in fullscreen mode, but can be unstable at times.



Select the game you want to capture to your Twitch stream here.

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal / CNET

Add Game Capture as your source, name it (your game name should be fine) and select the game you want to capture. The game must be open for OBS to see it; if you don’t see your game, make sure it’s open and click the Refresh button. Game Capture only supports DirectX 8, 9, 10, 10.1, 11, and OpenGL games.

Window Capture

Window Capture captures a feed from one window – this could be a game (running in window mode), a web browser, or any other program / application. Window Capture is more stable than Game Capture and works with all games (and windows), but does not capture a game running in full screen mode.



You can also choose to capture a specific window.

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal / CNET

Add Window Capture as a source, name it and select the window you want to capture. You can choose to capture only the inner window or the entire window (including the title bar). You can also choose if you want to capture mouse movement. In this tutorial, don’t worry about other settings.

Monitor capture

Capture Monitor captures the entire monitor. It’s not very efficient if you’re using Windows 7 or earlier, and it doesn’t capture games running in full-screen mode.



Monitor Capture allows you to capture the image of the monitor.

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal / CNET

Add Monitor Capture as source and name it. Select the monitor you want to capture (numbered) and decide if you want to capture mouse movement. In this tutorial, don’t worry about other settings.

Add Window Capture as a source, name it and select the window you want to capture. You can choose to capture only the inner window or the entire window (including the title bar). You can also choose if you want to capture mouse movement. In this tutorial, don’t worry about other settings.

Recording Presentations with OBS

With OBS, you can record your content without live streaming, which is a great way to prepare pre-recorded live presentations. Since you can also use video as a source, nothing prevents you from pre-recording your stream and then using the recorded video (edited if necessary) as your live stream source. Most online conferences that take place nowadays choose this model over a live presentation as the speaker can then join the live chat and interact / answer questions from the audience while the recorded conversation is streamed.

Recordings are saved in the output directory set in the OBS configuration. This will default to your home directory. To change this location, go to the “Settings -> Output -> Recording path” menu”.

The recording start / stop controls are located in the lower right corner of the screen. When you start recording, everything you see in the preview window will be recorded.

Live Streaming with OBS

To be able to stream via OBS, you must first configure your personal streaming key / token in your OBS setup. You can get this information on the streaming platform you will be using (Twitch, YouTube, etc).

You can set up multiple streaming profiles, this way you can easily switch between streaming platforms.

After clicking the “Start Streaming” button, OBS will begin broadcasting your scenes to the streaming service. Everything you see in the preview window will be streamed to your audience.

In the settings, you can configure OBS to automatically start recording when you start a new streaming. This is useful if you plan to edit and / or transfer the video stream to another platform later.

Step 6: After creating the stream, a preview window will appear in the control panel and tabs for the stream settings, analysis and stream status.

Stream issues

You may encounter YouTube live streaming issues due to computer or internet performance issues. OBS allows you to open the log to find a solution to your problems. You can find this log by clicking on Help and then selecting Log Files from the drop-down menu. Then, from the following menu, select Upload Current Log File or Upload Last Log File. You will see a new window with the URL of the uploaded log file. Be sure to copy the url to the clipboard before clicking OK to finish.



The log file becomes a resource used by OBS Log Analyzer to perform diagnostics on any problems that may arise in the stream that need to be resolved. Open the analyzer and paste the url in the text box. You can click the Log Analysis button for a detailed analysis of streaming activity along with suggestions on how to fix performance issues. For example, the stream may be of low quality due to the game’s FPS. Alternatively, your computer’s resolution may be too high, which will overload the GPU.

Here is a list of tools and services to help you keep the images in your stream sharp:

Set Preset to Low Latency, Low-Latency Performance or Low-Latency Quality depending on the processor speed of the local computer. Experiment with these settings to get the best balance between quality and CPU usage on your own hardware.

OBS Studio vs. Streamlabs OBS

While we’re on the topic of streaming software, let’s quickly cover Streamlabs OBS, which is software similar to OBS Studio.

Streamlabs OBS is a free and open source streaming software that is designed for stream layout editing, playback buffer, selective recording, and remote streaming control.

Users can upload to Streamlabs Prime to access premium features. This update costs $ 19 / month or $ 149 / year.

Streamlabs OBS is a better option for beginners or broadcasters with little technical knowledge as it has a graphical user interface (GUI). On the other hand, OBS Studio has a command line interface (CLI) that requires users to use hard-coded commands to execute functions.

While Streamlabs is easier to use and provides the ability to upgrade to access premium features, many broadcasters prefer OBS Studio because it’s more extensible.

Conclusion

Choosing the right encoder settings can be confusing at first. Luckily, OBS Studio is free software that will allow you to test the features without investing any money.

We believe you will have a smooth experience if you follow these recommendations for the best OBS studio setup first. After a few experiments, you will have no problem navigating the platform.

With these recommended settings as a starting point, conveniently conducting live streaming should be simple and fun.

For additional information on streaming with OBS Studio, you can always check out our tutorials on streaming with Dacast OBS for Mac or Dacast OBS for Windows .

Not yet using our streaming solutions and want to try our platform? Our video hosting and live streaming platform is feature-rich and affordable.

Take advantage of our risk-free trial and test all our features for free for 30 days (no credit card required)!

For exclusive offers and live streaming tips, you can also join our LinkedIn group. Do you still have questions, comments or opinions? Let us know in the comments section below and we’ll get in touch. We love to listen to our readers!

Thanks for reading, and good luck with your live broadcasts.

Max Wilbert

Max Wilbert is an avid writer, live streaming practitioner, and has extensive experience in the video streaming industry.

Choose whether you want to capture the entire screen or the internal screen. You have the option to choose whether the mouse cursor will be captured or not, opaque and create a smaller sub-region.

OBS Studio Video Tutorial

We recommend that you check out our OBS Studio video tutorial for a visual summary of this step-by-step guide on how to use OBS Studio.

Streamlabs OBS is another open source project that works similar to OBS Studio. Both of these tools are great for professional broadcasters, but there are some notable differences between them.

Overall, Streamlabs OBS has more automated features which makes it easier to use. However, OBS Studio does support some more advanced features.

Streamlabs OBS offers access to some premium features such as Streamlabs App Store, Naming Cloud Bot, additional storage and more. In addition, Streamlabs has multi-streaming capabilities and is one of several multi-streaming platforms that support this feature. However, access to these features is only possible with a paid Prime subscription of the software.

Like OBS Studio, Streamlabs OBS is free to download, but Streamlabs OBS Prime membership costs $ 149 per year or $ 19 per month. OBS Studio is free forever, so it’s definitely worth a try.

Conclusion

After you’ve set up your streaming software and familiarized yourself with all the features OBS Studio has to offer, run a test stream to make sure your streaming looks and sounds the way you want. If everything works as expected, you are ready to go.

Using OBS with Dacast is a great option if you want to stream live video on your site as it is fully loaded with the features you need to run a professional broadcast.

New to Dacast and want to try our proprietary streaming platform? Sign up today for a 30-day free trial to test all our features for free. A credit card is not required.

For regular livestream tips and exclusive offers, join the Dacast LinkedIn group.

Harmonie Duhamel

Harmonie is a Senior Digital Marketer with over 6 years in the tech industry. He has strong experience in marketing and sales and loves to work in multilingual environments.