How can I monitor what I'm doing while I'm streaming?

[RocketN00b]

After messing with settings and doing test streams for a week, I finally did my first successful live stream Sunday with no lag or buffering. It went pretty well. But since I can't look at what I'm doing while I'm doing it, I messed up my scenes a few times, and I'd like to know how to monitor what I'm doing.

I'll try not to ramble. I have a few scenes: just my face on camera, plus my display with a face overlay in the corner, and a few images. I have my hotkeys set so I can flip back and forth between these when I need to.

Problem is since I'm screen casting and doing stuff on my computer, I can't look at OBS while I'm doing that. A few times I forgot to switch to a scene, and while I meant to have my display on, it was just my face. And if I look at OBS to check, and the display scene is on, well then the viewers see OBS which looks amateurish. I tried using Window view instead of Display, but that cuts off the menus and drop downs of some of the apps I'm trying to show.

Do I need a second monitor so I can keep OBS up in the corner of my eye? I'm not sure how else I am supposed to monitor what's showing, and I can't seem to find a tutorial on YouTube.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[from1975]

Use your phone as second monitor (ie. with free Spacedesk app).

 

[AaronD]

Do I need a second monitor so I can keep OBS up in the corner of my eye?

That would be the best way. Monitors are pretty cheap now.

Experiment too, with having OBS's control screen over there, or with having OBS's projector over there. The projector is just the content, without the controls. Right-click on the thing you want to project, whether it's a scene, or the main output, or whatever...

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Size the monitor so you can see it easily, and put it where you can look at it without the glance being obvious to the camera. I made a custom VESA mount for mine (4 screws on the back, in a square pattern, ditch the stand or use it for something else), and tied it to the tripod so the camera just barely looks over it.

Having used it for a while, I really like the location, but I think I made it a bit too big. Only the top center, right next to the camera, is comfortable enough to use. A phone would definitely be too small, though! And the hassle of setting up the signal to the phone, plus the probable latency on the phone, compared to just a single wire for the monitor, still makes a dedicated monitor worth the cost, IMO.

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You could also make a DIY teleprompter, with a 45-degree pane of glass (more likely clear plastic, for weight and safety) in a matte black box that surrounds both the camera and the monitor. (mics are outside the box, which means you can't use the camera mic) The camera looks directly out of the box, through the glass/plastic, and the monitor reflects off of it so that you see it centered on where the camera is.

The glass/plastic also works the other way for both things, hence the matte black surrounding the whole works, so that the intended thing is mixed with "nothing", instead of whatever happens to be that direction. And you'll have to mirror the monitor so that it appears correctly in the physical mirror, which should just be a setting on the PC or on the monitor.

Or, you could have the monitor come through directly and have the camera look in the mirror, but I think you can tolerate a slight double-image for the monitor more than you can for the camera, because *both* sides of cheap glass/plastic reflect light.

Of course, you don't have to limit that monitor to just text. It's a fully-functional computer screen like any other...