Screen capture of Multiview in OBS, which allows the monitoring of up to eight separate scenes that can be cued and transitioned to with a simple click Use Cases For the purpose of this series, we’ll be using the original OBS. Note that there is a slightly different “flavor” of OBS available - Streamlabs OBS (AKA “SLOBS”), which is based on the Open Source code of OBS but with a more refined user interface and additional features. For non-profits or companies that are counting every penny, OBS can make creating an online video presence much more affordable. Similar commercial applications start at around $580 and can cost as much as $200 per month. The biggest reason for considering OBS? It’s free. That means that the person creating the stream is using OBS or another commercial application like Wirecast, Ecamm Live, or MIMOLive to capture video and audio, compose scenes, encode the stream for broadcast, and optionally record the video for future editing and distribution. What’s the difference? For those streams that look professional, there’s been time and effort put into making the stream as slick as possible. This familiarity with streaming video has pointed out one glaring difference to many viewers: some live video is professional-looking, with multiple camera angles, titling, social media tickers, and crisp audio, while other video streams consist of one or more talking heads with unintelligible sound. Social distancing and stay-at-home restrictions have made services like Zoom and GoToMeeting household names, while many are finding YouTube and Facebook Live useful for entertainment. Why Use OBS?ĭuring the past several months, just about everyone has become familiar with streaming video as they work from home (WFH). In future articles, we’ll walk through system requirements, installation, and basic configuration of OBS, then go into detail on the powerful features of the app and how to use them. To start, let’s take a look at what OBS is all about and some uses for it. This app is called OBS - Open Broadcaster Software - and for many Mac users who wish to learn how to capture and mix live video and audio to create a professional-looking video stream or recording, it’s a solid alternative to pricy commercially available software.

Over the next few weeks, The Rocket Yard is treating you to a series on a free, open-source Mac application for video streaming and recording.

Obs studio app