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[woober]

After trying Xsplit, Flash Media Encoder Live, and a bunch of other streaming programs, I as well as many others have found Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) to be less resource intensive, easier to use, and best of all, FREE.

The software is currently in beta and can be found here: http://obsproject.com/

You can use this program to stream live to Twitch.tv, or save your file locally to upload to edit and upload to YouTube if you so please.

Teamliquid has a thorough guide on streaming that I will quote here: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=372629

First of all, download the program from the main website.
Honestly, if you are planning on streaming, you should have a 64-bit operating system installed. Therefore, there is no reason you should be using the 32-bit version of the program over the 64-bit version, unless you are still running 32-bit Windows for whatever reason.

Install/extract then run OBS. You should be approached with the main screen.

Note that unlike in XSplit, you will have to create scenes manually. To do this;
1. Right-click in the 'Scenes' box.
2. Select 'Add Scene'
3. Name your scene.

Also in this box, you can add a hotkey to quickly switch between scenes. To do this;
1. Right-click the Scene you wish to hotkey.
2. Select 'Set Hotkey'
3. Input the key(s) you wish to use (CTRL, ALT and Shift work in combination with most keys).

Now lets add some sources to the scene. You can do this one of two ways;
1. Adding sources individually to each scene.
2. Adding sources as a global function.

I'm not sure whether either makes a difference, but lets go through both options.
For individual;
1. Right-click on the 'Sources' box.
2. Select which kind of Source you wish to add. Software Capture Source is the OBS equivalent of Screen Region from XSplit, Bitmap is to add an image file (overlay) and Video Capture Device is to add a webcam or third-party screen capturing device (e.g. Dxtory, Camtasia).
3. Name your source whatever you wish.
For global, click on global sources, then click add. Repeat steps as above.

Once you have added your sources, click on 'Edit Scene' to start adjusting each source (size/placement). A rectangular, red border should come up, where you can begin to adjust the source.

Rinse and repeat for every scene and every source you need to do.
For those that use overlays/webcams, you'll have to mess around with the source priority list. To do this, click on a source, then right-click, and depending on what sources you would want on top/below, you can move them up or move them down.

To see these scenes in effect, click 'Show Preview'. You can adjust scenes while preview is both on or off (it should be on).

Now lets look at the settings menu.
General - Self-explanatory.

Encoding - Self-explanatory as well. See http://obsproject.com/estimator for a rough guide as to what to set.

Broadcast Settings - Unless you are only using OBS to locally record, the mode should be set to Live Stream. Streaming service is self-explanatory, but if you are not using Twitch/Own3d, you'll have to manually input the Channel Name/Stream Key/Server. For those on Twitch, your Stream Key can be found at here, at the bottom. For server, select the one that provides the best ping for you. A useful program for finding this out is R1CH's Jtvping, found here. Leave the rest of the settings alone unless you know what you are doing.

Video - Your base resolution should be the resolution of the main monitor you are streaming. If you wish to downscale your resolution for streaming (for example, down to 720p), you can select it with the dropdown. FPS is self-explantory. Aero should be disabled if you are planning to stream with the software capture option.

Audio - All self-explanatory.

Advanced - Do not touch unless you know what you are doing.

Please remember to check off the box that says Disable Areo at startup under video settings as Areo significantly impacts performance.

I figure I'd like to use this thread for people to post their OBS settings and internet speeds to help compile the best settings depending on your speed.

Here's mine:
http://www.speedtest.net/

Upload speed will be the key here. 8Mb/s allows me to stream 1200p at 60fps. Bitrate settings are arguable as I have changed mine multiple times, but I have found 3300kb/s to work best for me. If I set it too high, people viewing your stream may not have the speeds to watch your stream smoothly despite all your uploading.

Use this to help find settings that best fits your internet speeds: http://obsproject.com/estimator

Settings reference:

 

[kai3345]

Awesome, I'll give this a test run later today. Thanks OP

 

[Sethos]

Was just dabbling at this, everything is set up correctly and OBS is working, put in my Justin.tv key but pressing "Go Live!" gives me nothing. Never used all this before so I'm probably missing something? ( I did press "Start streaming" )

 

[SUPARSTARX]

When I'm streaming console games my screensaver still comes up. Is there a way I can set this somewhere to keep my PC awake without disabling or changing screensaver settings

 

[Ocho]

I've been using OBS for the past few weeks and works great.

 

[joshcryer]

Great piece of software. Totally replaced Cam Studio which sucks for screen casting. Shocked that it's free (and open source), really. I tried xplit but it was horrible and slow and difficult as all get out to set up. OBS is a breeze.

 

[Refyref]

I just tried using OBS today. It's so much better than XSplit, it's not even funny. Still haven't gotten the settings completely right, but it works fine. I'm using Dxtory to capture the footage, though.

 

[Spwn]

I can totally vouch for OBS. Been using it for a while and it is easy to use and works like a charm.

 

[woober]

Was just dabbling at this, everything is set up correctly and OBS is working, put in my Justin.tv key but pressing "Go Live!" gives me nothing. Never used all this before so I'm probably missing something? ( I did press "Start streaming" )

Does preview stream give you show anything?

 

[Nabs]

OBS is such an amazing little program.

 

[scitek]

I use this to stream quite often. I used it earlier to stream Crysis 3.

http://www.twitch.tv/itsdonallen/b/393845135

 

[vilmer_]

I can't figure out how to capture PS3 footage for streaming with OBS without getting an hdcp warning... With Xsplit I can just use the capture screen region function. If there is a way to do this in OBS I'd love to know as I vastly prefer it over Xsplit!

 

[Sethos]

Does preview stream give you show anything?

Yup, preview works fine, desktop and game.

No worries, made a Twitch account account instead ( My old account was a Justiv.tv and wouldn't show my Stream key on Twitch ). Now it works.

 

[LeleSocho]

Yeah call me when they do something decent for OSX

 

[woober]

I use this to stream quite often. I used it earlier to stream Crysis 3.

http://www.twitch.tv/itsdonallen/b/393845135

Damn. That is amazingly crisp with little visible artifacts. Did you stream this locally? I as well as others would be interested to know your settings/internet speed.

 

[Vexxan]

Between OBS and Xsplit I'd chose OBS any day of the week. The early versions of it didn't work that great for me but nowadays it's nothing but smooth.

 

[Metalmurphy]

Made a similar guide for this back when I made the NeoGAF Streaming Channel thread.

It's definitely the best software around, and each update just keeps getting better. Highly recommend it.

 

[ChosenPredator]

someone do a video tutorial how to set it up (more of a visual person) a recent video 2012ish or 2013ish would be good.

 

[woober]

Made a similar guide for this back when I made the NeoGAF Streaming Channel thread.

It's definitely the best software around, and each update just keeps getting better. Highly recommend it.

Didn't see this thread when I searched for OBS. Great compilation of all streaming programs you have there.

 

[LiK]

never heard of this program. will check it out if i ever wanna stream some random crap.

 

[Sethos]

Just doing a test, does this work and how's the quality?

http://www.twitch.tv/officialsethos

 

[Poyunch]

Been using OBS for a few months. It's pretty great

 

[Metalmurphy]

Just doing a test, does this work and how's the quality?

http://www.twitch.tv/officialsethos

Fit to screen, use it.

 

[scitek]

Damn. That is amazingly crisp with little visible artifacts. Did you stream this locally? I as well as others would be interested to know your settings/internet speed.

I'm streaming it from my PC as I play. It does get spotty when there's a lot of action. My net speed is 25Mbps down/9 Mbps up and I have it set to 2500kbps max bitrate and buffer.

 

[Sethos]

Fit to screen, use it.

... And where is that

 

[woober]

Just doing a test, does this work and how's the quality?

http://www.twitch.tv/officialsethos

Quality looks great, video looks cut off, and it stutters once in a while (might be that your bitrate is too high)?

If you get any dropped frames or the kb/s bar on the bottom right turns yellow or red, that's a sign that you have your bitrate set too high.

... And where is that

Just have your software capture selected for "Monitor capture." That should record your whole screen.

 

[Metalmurphy]

... And where is that

Right click source > Position/Size > Fit to screen.


Also you seem to be streaming at more than 1080p, kinda pointless since 85% will watch it on that small screen, and it was stuttering like mad.

Just have your software capture selected for "Monitor capture." That should record your whole screen.

You should use Game Capture instead imo.

 

[Sethos]

Ah found it, thanks. I was just messing around, thanks for the quick feedback.

 

[CountAntonius]

I'd love ti stream but I have abysmal upload speed.

 

[Metalmurphy]

Streaming some Dishonored at 60FPS with OBS:

http://www.twitch.tv/steamgaf

 

[woober]

Streaming some Dishonored at 60FPS with OBS:

http://www.twitch.tv/steamgaf

I'd watch, but I'm only an hour into dishonored.

 

[Bleeether]

Awesome thread Woober.

I am going to give this software a try. I've built a pretty beefy computer not to long ago so i wanted to stream some of my games.

I have a fairly low upload speed, 980kbs. Do you think there will be a long delay from my livecast to the people watching my stream?

 

[Sibylus]

Is there any means to get a subregion to move with the mouse cursor? Have a really weak upload rate on this connection, wouldn't mind 480p as much if it actually followed what I was doing.

 

[PaulLFC]

OBS is awesome so far. Really easy to set up and I've managed to get a stream working in a few minutes (spent longer tweaking info text etc).

One problem, which isn't the fault of OBS, rather my ISP - the stream can get laggy and/or blocky at times. I assume this is because my upload speed is garbage (600kbps, if that).

Is there anything I can do to fix this, or at least make the stream look less blocky? I have it set to 500kbps max and have tried both 7 and 9 as quality presets in OBS, which doesn't seem to make much difference.

Is it the stream resolution that's affecting things? I have it set to 720p, maybe it's more than my shitty connection can handle?

 

[Nabs]

You could try lowering it to something like 432p. Twitch.tv/TeamSp00ky will usually stream at that res when he doesn't have a great connection and it looks pretty smooth. He also has some sort of magic, so ymmv.

 

[Azure Phoenix]

Is it the stream resolution that's affecting things? I have it set to 720p, maybe it's more than my shitty connection can handle?

Yeah, on such a low upload speed you really need to crank that down to about 480p or lower, but even then games that have a lot of movement will look terrible in motion. Unfortunately at such a low upload speed streaming pretty much anything but retro games is an uphill battle.

What I would suggest is doing a bunch of test streams and seeing just how far you can push your upload speed, every few kb that you can increase it by is going to offer noticeable improvements. Lower the audio bitrate as well.

 

[Slightly Live]

OBS is awesome so far. Really easy to set up and I've managed to get a stream working in a few minutes (spent longer tweaking info text etc).

One problem, which isn't the fault of OBS, rather my ISP - the stream can get laggy and/or blocky at times. I assume this is because my upload speed is garbage (600kbps, if that).

Is there anything I can do to fix this, or at least make the stream look less blocky? I have it set to 500kbps max and have tried both 7 and 9 as quality presets in OBS, which doesn't seem to make much difference.

Is it the stream resolution that's affecting things? I have it set to 720p, maybe it's more than my shitty connection can handle?

It's your connection. The better your upload quality and speed, the better end visual result you can get.

 

[Camp Lo]

Wow I might try this tonight. Looks like fun.

 

[Slightly Live]

Some things in the OP I don't like or have found to be differant for my own specific streaming

30 FPS over 60 FPS for most if not all streaming needs
60 FPS streaming is silly and most folks won't be seeing a difference and it essentially doubles the bandwidth needed to output it and watch it. Not worth it.

Always leave a few extra mb spare with your upload/bitrate
My upload is varies, but its usually around 12-13mb. So I set my bitrate to 10000, so lesser connections, you can decrease how much spare you can give, but be warned, anything else that uses upload with have negative effects and you might get choppy results.

To make lossless local recording use crf=1
Go to settings, advanced, and look for custom x264 parameters and there should be an input box, just type in the above. You can go higher than 1 for lesser quality, 1 should be lossless. The closer to 1 you go, the higher the file size.

I might write up a quick tutorial or two or how on to run a a fully automatic "radio" stream and integrate twitch's chat into the video stream if there's any demand here for that stuff.

 

[inm8num2]

I tried out OBS and it was pretty straightforward.

 

[PaulLFC]

You could try lowering it to something like 432p. Twitch.tv/TeamSp00ky will usually stream at that res when he doesn't have a great connection and it looks pretty smooth. He also has some sort of magic, so ymmv.

Yeah, on such a low upload speed you really need to crank that down to about 480p or lower, but even then games that have a lot of movement will look terrible in motion. Unfortunately at such a low upload speed streaming pretty much anything but retro games is an uphill battle.

What I would suggest is doing a bunch of test streams and seeing just how far you can push your upload speed, every few kb that you can increase it by is going to offer noticeable improvements. Lower the audio bitrate as well.

It's your connection. The better your upload quality and speed, the better end visual result you can get.

Thanks everyone. I'll experiment with different bitrates and such and see how far I can push it. Haven't tried dropping it down to 480p yet so I'll try that, see if it makes it any more watchable. Also dropping the audio bitrate as I haven't tried that yet either.

It probably doesn't help that I'm trying to stream FIFA which is fairly fast moving. May have to move to some slower paced games I think.

 

[pestul]

Thanks so much for this fascinating thread. I really need to make better use of my 30Mbps upload speed.

 

[JustinBB7]

I'm trying to use this for Dota 2 but when I add game window, it's stuck and won't move. When I do window screen, it works but makes the game laggy like they tell you it will. Any reason it might be stuck?

Works a lot better than Xsplit btw, launches straight away, can do 60fps if you want/can. And 1080p etc without having to buy anything. Very nice.

 

[gillty]

You could try lowering it to something like 432p. Twitch.tv/TeamSp00ky will usually stream at that res when he doesn't have a great connection and it looks pretty smooth. He also has some sort of magic, so ymmv.

While its only 432p, Spooky streams at 60FPS, so it will always look better than your average 30fps 720p stream imo.

 

[Drkirby]

I'm trying to use this for Dota 2 but when I add game window, it's stuck and won't move. When I do window screen, it works but makes the game laggy like they tell you it will. Any reason it might be stuck?

Works a lot better than Xsplit btw, launches straight away, can do 60fps if you want/can. And 1080p etc without having to buy anything. Very nice.

You have tried Boardless Window, Right?

Program works very well, Streamed a good amount of FO:NV with it just to test it out. Seems my internet isn't good enough to stream online games like Dota though, which disappointed me.

 

[JustinBB7]

You have tried Boardless Window, Right?

Program works very well, Streamed a good amount of FO:NV with it just to test it out. Seems my internet isn't good enough to stream online games like Dota though, which disappointed me.

Yea it's always on borderless window.

 

[TheD]

OBS is awesome so far. Really easy to set up and I've managed to get a stream working in a few minutes (spent longer tweaking info text etc).

One problem, which isn't the fault of OBS, rather my ISP - the stream can get laggy and/or blocky at times. I assume this is because my upload speed is garbage (600kbps, if that).

Is there anything I can do to fix this, or at least make the stream look less blocky? I have it set to 500kbps max and have tried both 7 and 9 as quality presets in OBS, which doesn't seem to make much difference.

Is it the stream resolution that's affecting things? I have it set to 720p, maybe it's more than my shitty connection can handle?

High the res = the higher the bitrate need to look good, higher bitrate = higher needed upload.

You should also try changing the x264 preset under advanced in the menu to a slower preset.

Some things in the OP I don't like or have found to be differant for my own specific streaming

30 FPS over 60 FPS for most if not all streaming needs
60 FPS streaming is silly and most folks won't be seeing a difference and it essentially doubles the bandwidth needed to output it and watch it. Not worth it.

No, 60FPS streaming is a good idea if you have the bandwidth.
It is an easy to see difference, just as big or bigger as a jump in res.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Love OBS. Works extremely well.

 

[Lettuce]

To make lossless local recording use crf=1
Go to settings, advanced, and look for custom x264 parameters and there should be an input box, just type in the above. You can go higher than 1 for lesser quality, 1 should be lossless. The closer to 1 you go, the higher the file size.

Does setting crf=1 effect the actual stream itself or is it just for locally stored files?

I might write up a quick tutorial or two or how on to run a a fully automatic "radio" stream and integrate twitch's chat into the video stream if there's any demand here for that stuff.

Yeah that would be great!

 

[Diablohead]

I started using OBS about 2 weeks back after using xsplit for over a year with my capture card, I find that OBS uses about 10-15% less cpu on my core2duo and that's a big improvement in quality on my older system.