OBS Studio Installation / Settings To setup live streaming of your event requires a video camera, a video capture card or external device such as the recommended Blackmagic Design Intensity Shuttle which cost approximately $200.00 and a relatively powerful PC or Macintosh desktop or notebook computer. Now that you have a video camera and either a video capture card or Blackmagic Design Intensity Shuttle, you will need a way to connect to BRN Network's streaming service. You will need a software encoder software program loaded on your computer in order to convert the video and audio signal from your camera into the correct format for video streaming. This software also connects you to your live streaming channel on BRN Network. Once you have your channel setup at BRN Network, you will be provided an encoder setup which will include a Login, Password, Stream URL and Stream Name which you will enter into your encoder. The software encoder that BRN Network recommends is the free OBS Studio from Open Broadcaster Software located at the following link: https://obsproject.com/download You will click on the operating system which will turn blue and click Download Installer.
When you open OBS Studio you will see this screen. It will open with Scene at the bottom left side of the screen but the Sources window will be empty. Click on the + sign under Sources and select Video Capture Device. It should locate the video capture device which could be an Integrated Webcam in this instance or it will be your video capture card or device. Under that setting select under Resolution/FPS Type as Custom and then select Resolution of 1280 x 720. On FPS, select Match Output FPS and click OK.
You should now see a video picture in the top display but it may be smaller than the full screen. You will see a red outline of your video from your camera. You can click on any of the corners and stretch and position the image with your mouse until the video covers the entire screen background.
Now that you are displaying your video in OBS Studio, you now need go to the top left menu bar and click File and select Settings.
As shown in the picture above you have settings for General, Stream, Output, Audio, Video, Hotkeys and Advanced. The good news is that you can leave most of the settings as default. Leave settings in General to Default. Settings for Live Stream Above Stream is where you put in your URL and Stream Key which will be provided to you. You will need to check the box Use Authentication and enter the Username and Password also provided to you. Under Output, you need only to set Recording Format to mp4. OBS Studio provides buttons to not only start streaming but you can also start recording. BRN Network will automatically set your stream to record a MP4 video of your live stream which can be setup later for an optional Video On Demand channel. Under Audio leave everything as Default.
Under Video make sure the Base (Canvas) Resolution is 1280x720 and the Output 1280x720. Finally leave the Common FPS Values as 30. Under Controls at the bottom right this is where you can Start and Stop Streaming and Start and Stop Recording.
This is the live stream from a laptop computer. This is the live stream on BRN Network.
Troubleshooting Black Screen Issue with OBS Studio If you open OBS Studio and you get a black screen perform these steps and it should bring it back. 1. Under Sources click on Video Capture Device and click the and delete your Video Capture Device. 2. Click + and add back the Video Capture Device and select your video camera. 3. Under Resolution/FPS Type enter Custom and select resolution 1280x720. 4. Your video will most likely be a small box inside the frame so you will need to grab the corners of the video and expand the box back to the size of the frame. You can also grab the box and move it around the frame in order to center the video within the frame.