Collaboration support?

druid2099

New Member
Newer to streaming/podcast recording. Used this software for a video thesis a few years back. I was wondering if this supports something like the following:
  • Two people in remote location with collaborative recording
  • One on Windows (me) and the other on MAC.

Thanks in advance for any guidance/responses.
 
Does OBS Studio have such remote audio/video input capabilities natively... not really (presuming VPN, and other means of connecting aren't what you are looking for)
Are there plugins and other options for video compositing including remote and local sources? Yes
  • Two people in remote location with collaborative recording
  • One on Windows (me) and the other on MAC.
You'll need to be more specific as to what you mean by "Two people in remote location with collaborative recording"
Typically, one person runs OBS Studio (location with most appropriate computer, adequate and reliable Internet connectivity ... though cellular maybe an option ... depending.) The person running OBS Studio controls recording, presentation, overlays, etc. And would typically be considered 'local'. All others would be remote, and typically would only be providing content (audio and/or video)
Assuming what you are after is as I described above, then yes, lots of options
- obs.ninja was an attempt at beginning of COVID-19 lockdown. but had issues then, not sure if that plugin still around/stable/working?
- There or multiple streaming protocols, each with their own Pro's & Con's. The higher the quality resolution desired, when combined with desired low latency and consistent jitter, etc tends to require a patented algorithm ... but it depends
one example would be NewTek's NDI 5 with Bridge
but there are other options. It gets into how sophisticated one is technically, especially with networking (VPNs, TCP vs UDP etc). There are DIY approaches that can work fine. But like most things DIY, are more involved, so time and budget come into play.

If participants are a set group, then spending some time, free DIY may make sense. If 'guests' will vary over time, different equipment, device OS, network connectivity, etc... then a more flexible, ease-of-use and reliability of guest connection may be more important.... it depends.

Assuming, only 1 person running OBS Studio, different Operating Systems isn't really much of an issue, if at all. If both on MacOS, then certain Mac-specific approaches would be an option, but there are plenty of equivalent cross-OS approaches.
 
Does OBS Studio have such remote audio/video input capabilities natively... not really (presuming VPN, and other means of connecting aren't what you are looking for)
Are there plugins and other options for video compositing including remote and local sources? Yes

You'll need to be more specific as to what you mean by "Two people in remote location with collaborative recording"
Typically, one person runs OBS Studio (location with most appropriate computer, adequate and reliable Internet connectivity ... though cellular maybe an option ... depending.) The person running OBS Studio controls recording, presentation, overlays, etc. And would typically be considered 'local'. All others would be remote, and typically would only be providing content (audio and/or video)
Assuming what you are after is as I described above, then yes, lots of options
- obs.ninja was an attempt at beginning of COVID-19 lockdown. but had issues then, not sure if that plugin still around/stable/working?
- There or multiple streaming protocols, each with their own Pro's & Con's. The higher the quality resolution desired, when combined with desired low latency and consistent jitter, etc tends to require a patented algorithm ... but it depends
one example would be NewTek's NDI 5 with Bridge
but there are other options. It gets into how sophisticated one is technically, especially with networking (VPNs, TCP vs UDP etc). There are DIY approaches that can work fine. But like most things DIY, are more involved, so time and budget come into play.

If participants are a set group, then spending some time, free DIY may make sense. If 'guests' will vary over time, different equipment, device OS, network connectivity, etc... then a more flexible, ease-of-use and reliability of guest connection may be more important.... it depends.

Assuming, only 1 person running OBS Studio, different Operating Systems isn't really much of an issue, if at all. If both on MacOS, then certain Mac-specific approaches would be an option, but there are plenty of equivalent cross-OS approaches.
OK, so a friend and I want to do a video podcast together.. We live 800 miles apart. Looking for options where we can record together (likely the plugin options you were mentioning). In short, if I'm the one running OBS, how do I remotely capture their video feed? Thanks again in advance.
 
Good luck getting decent latency over 800 miles worth of open internet! If you're okay with a second or two, then you're probably fine. Otherwise you need to be in the same room or at least the same building, or record each of your parts separately and edit them together, which may not work with your flow.

There's a tradeoff between latency and resilience. If you need to re-send a packet, then you want the stream to be delayed enough for the replacement to "fill the hole" before you need it. A local network is pretty low risk of that, so you can get the latency down to what feels like live. Open internet drops things all over the place!
 
In the corporate world, that is done with monitored dedicated lines. As Aaron mentions, doing that over open, consumer Internet, with consumer hardware, etc involved... yea.. latency will be noticeable, and not always consistent.
Patented software has proprietary methods to try and minimize that latency impact. With free, open-source software (like OBS Studio), you tend to be expected to solve for such yourself

Is you idea doable - yes? Have others, especially when COVID-19 lockdowns went into effect 3.5 yrs ago, done the same? yes [lots of threads on this sort of question in these forums. Are you going to have to put effort into when using a free tool like OBS Studio? yup
 
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