[feature request] Stream Delay Censor Hotkey

[Octapoo]

A stream I watch accepts telephone calls, with many of the calls predictably involving content that the streamer does not wish to stream. In real-life call-in shows, this problem is managed with a broadcast delay, allowing someone to hit a button when a call turns sour, which wipes the audio out of the buffer so that it is not broadcast.

I see that OBS already has a stream delay feature, but I don't see any way to wipe the audio in the buffer. I assume the feature is aimed at streamers who want to stop cheaters in online games from gaining an advantage by watching their stream, and thus there is no way to wipe anything from the buffer.

Also, the ability to toggle the stream delay on and off would be very useful. The 7 seconds of lag between chat and stream on Twitch is bothersome enough as it is, so it would be very nice to be able to disable the additional delay when it is not needed.

FWIW, in trying to research a way to do this, I found one person wanting such a feature in order to censor bad language out of video games they are playing, and another wanting such a feature for just any sort of accident that might occur on stream that they don't want to broadcast (and thus wanting it to wipe both audio and video). So at least 3 people would find such a feature useful.

 

[L333333t]

Here's an example how a dump button works in radio.
Assume the listeners are 7-20 seconds behind.
When the dump button is toggled, 7 seconds of audio in the buffer is replaced with silence.
Silence continues as long as the button is pressed or toggled (simply a global mute?)

Dump buttons save radio stations from FCC fines all of the time. Not even the first few syllables "Fu-" reach the listeners. Howard Stern said he decided to use a dump button on "uncensored" satellite radio to stop guests from libeling themselves. A dump button for streams could censor libelous statements, doxxing and unintentional racism.

A video dump button could work in the same way and prevent visual nudity and doxxing.

 

[dodgepong]

This seems like an interesting feature, though possibly more difficult to implement than you may expect. The existing delay feature works by buffering already-encoded video, whereas this would both require performing the encoding later than real-time, and buffering unencoded data in the meantime. Obviously it's possible, but not an easy feat given the current architecture.

 

[L333333t]

Yea that would be the ideal implementation.

Alternatively, maybe packets of encoded video could be replaced with pre-generated blank frames with the same encoder settings, but with less accuracy where the dump starts and ends.

 

[dodgepong]

That is one idea, but the pre-generated silence has to match your current encoding settings, which means they need to be generated on the fly when the stream starts.

 

[Garaman]

I was interested in a similar feature. Would it be possible to mux a second buffer with a silent audio track, and switch on the fly when the mute button is pressed? I'm not familiar with how the encoder is set up, but in theory you would only have to encode the video once, and the expense would be 2x the memory usage and a little extra processing cost for the additional muxing.

 

[Matt Franklin]

Bump for this feature (or a reliable plugin, if anyone can build it). I run a LOT of broadcasts throughout the year for a non-profit with a Teen-rated channel and not-always-teen-rated quests and QA. A dump button would be a GREAT way to save me from editing junk out in post.

 

[MrDevanWright]

Is this possible yet? Any work arounds?

 

[Mudokin]

So with all that has happend in the past on twitch with streamers getting banned for accidental or trolled content, this feature would be more important than ever.

Germany is more an more policing the streaming world and holding is up to the standard that television has, that means more regulations on what when and where things can be streamed.

This feature would make things alot more comfortable and also streamers could prevent banning and uphold regulations, because they have a possibilty to clean up their problem before it hits the air. I could imagine this feature be a requirement for streaming at some point.

I know it's already possible to dump the rest of the bufferd material by quitting the stream immediately, but I don't want to always cut the stream when something happens, even though there are some situations when it has been done.

 

[Bazoogle]

I imagine this would be a very difficult thing to implement, but something I've been wanting for a long time. This would be a life saver in many situations