How to stream from OBS to SpotMe

OBS Studio is a free and open source video recording and live streaming software that is powerful, safe, and easy to use.

OBS can connect to a SpotMe stream via RTMPS, in order to:

• Produce and broadcast a live stream with speakers, which we will explain in detail in this article.
• Broadcast pre-recorded videos as "simulive": where the broadcast is fully pre-recorded and there are no speakers intervening live.
  

You can download OBS and use it on Windows, Mac, or Linux.

Note: If you are looking for how to broadcast prerecorded videos between speakers in a live stream, read the How to play pre-recorded videos in live streams article.

When live streaming from OBS to SpotMe, we recommend that you set-up and rehearse this in advance of the event day, following the below instructions. If you need help with this, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Live streaming to SpotMe with OBS

1. Start by opening OBS, and producing your live stream content based on what you want to broadcast (using the sources and scenes menus).
   
   
2. Open your workspace on Backstage, and create a live stream in your workspace.
   
   
3. Generate the stream credentials in the SpotMe workspace live stream.
   
   
4. In OBS, add the stream credentials generated in the workspace in step 3:
   To do so, go to Settings (1) > Stream (2) > Service - Custom (3):
   
   Add the RTMP endpoint and Stream key from the SpotMe stream credentials to the Server field (4) and the Stream key (5), and click on OK (6):
   
   
   
5. Check that you are using the Recommended streaming settings in OBS and following the best practices, as detailed below.
   
   
6. Once you are ready to start streaming to the SpotMe platform, click on Start streaming in OBS:
   
   
7. Now go to the stream in Backstage, you will see the preview of the live stream coming in from OBS in the Studio. It may take up to 30 seconds for the preview to appear in Backstage:
   
   
8. When you are ready, click on Go live to start broadcasting the stream to your audience via SpotMe RTMPS:
   
   At this point, what your audience sees is exactly what is being broadcasted from OBS.
   
   
9. To end the live stream, click on End stream in the SpotMe stream and then stop streaming in OBS.
   The on-demand version of the stream is created automatically, and you can choose when to publish it by clicking Publish.

Recommended OBS streaming settings

Below are instructions on the recommended settings for streaming with OBS:

To access the streaming settings, click on the Settings button in OBS.

In the Output settings:

1. Select Output mode: Advanced
2. Make sure that the Encoder is set to x264.
3. Make sure the Enforced streaming service encoder settings checkbox is ticked.
4. You can set the Rescale output to 1280x720 or 1920x1080 depending on your needs.
5. Make sure the Rate control is set to CBR.
6. This is the upstream bitrate as explained in the best practices section.
   Set the Bitrate to 2500 Kbps if you are streaming at 1280x720 (see point 4 above)
   Set the Bitrate to 5000 Kbps if you are streaming at 1920x1080 (see point 4 above)
7. Set the Keyframe interval to 2.
8. Set the CPU usage preset to superfast.
9. Set the Profile to main.
10. Set the following options in the X264 Options:
    aq-mode=0 / subme=0 / no-deblock sync-lookahead=3

In the Audio settings:

1. Make sure the Sample rate setting is set to 48 kHz.
2. Make sure the Channels setting is set to Stereo.
3. Set the Desktop dropdown to your speaker output (for example: “Speakers (Synaptics Audio)”).

In the Video settings:

1. Set Base (canvas) resolution to 1280x720.
2. Set Common FPS Values to 30.

In the Advanced settings, set Recording to Automatically remix to mp4.

Once the above settings have all been selected and saved, go to your stream in Backstage, and wait until you see a preview of the live stream there. When you see the preview, you are ready to start broadcasting via your stream in Backstage.

Best practices

Monitor the connectivity tracker

Located at the bottom right of the window while streaming, it gives you the realtime upstream bit rate (= how quickly it is uploading data) to the live stream:

If you set the bitrate to 2000 kbps as per our recommendations above, you should always be upstreaming at around 2000 kbps.

If your system is frequently upstreaming at less than 1800 kbps, it can mean two things:

• you have an Internet connection issue.
• you have a computer performance issue.