Live output, but not via a "Projector"?

[dustball]

We have OBS outputting to a public access Cable TV station.

Currently, OBS is using a "fullscreen projector" to output the program monitor that gets converted through various adaptors to SDI to analog video and out the door via fiber to three different Cable TV networks.

The problem is this does not seem like a very professional approach. If OBS crashes, the fullscreen projector stops and the Windows UI gets broadcast on the TV station instead. Or if you move the mouse cursor to the 2nd display accidentally, then everybody watching the station sees the mouse cursor. Etc.

Is there a way to tell Windows to NEVER touch a certain video card output? And have OBS always output the program monitor to this output?

Fullscreen Projectors seem unreliable, even the "Save projectors on exit" does not seem to always take, so OBS sometimes starts up and simply doesn't start the projector.

 

[Harold]

For an SDI signal workflow like the one you're using, the decklink output option with a blackmagic design decklink model card would be the more reliable way to not have the windows UI show up in the channel feed, as you're sending the OBS program signal directly out to the decklink card's sdi output and not actually using that output as a regular monitor.

Aja brand cards may also support a direct output from OBS in the same way and would also be an option.

Fullscreen projectors cannot be set to be active automatically on launch at this time.

 

[AaronD]

Fullscreen projectors cannot be set to be active automatically on launch at this time.

No? This option is rock-solid reliable for me:

Or does Windows actually not do this while Linux does? I gave up entirely on Windows a few months ago for my daily driver when it refused to update, so my dual-boot went back to single-boot. All of my other OBS rigs are Linux too, except one, and I hate it.

IMO, Windoze is too stoopid to use for anything beyond casual (and overspec'ed) home or office. It seems to insist that the user is an idiot, and then fails miserably in its attempts to "help". Linux just does what I tell it. Period.

---

Anyway:

Maybe if you arrange the displays so that you have to go through the corner to get there (good luck hitting that exact one pixel!), you can keep the pointer off of it.

And make the desktop background solid black with no icons or taskbar on that monitor. All of my machines are like that, for that exact reason. Just in case something goes horribly wrong and that's what ends up showing. The control screen alone, has the icons (if any) and taskbar.

 

[Harold]

As was mentioned above, that setting proves unreliable in their configuration.

The above mentioned SDI output through either an AJA or Blackmagic Decklink card will prove to be more reliable overall for their use case.

 

[dustball]

For an SDI signal workflow like the one you're using, the decklink output option with a blackmagic design decklink model card would be the more reliable way to not have the windows UI show up in the channel feed, as you're sending the OBS program signal directly out to the decklink card's sdi output and not actually using that output as a regular monitor.

Nod. This is what I thought.

Related. Would we be able to pass CEA-709 captions embedded in one of the scene's sources (and NDI video feed) and pass that out to the Decklink's SDI? (I know there is a feature called "Decklink captions" but as far as I know that takes captions from a Decklink SDI input and passes those on to a Twitch stream (or similar). Very different.)

 

[Harold]

It does not appear that it is currently possible to directly feed 709-standard captions directly into the feed as an SDI subtitle track from obs. You may need external tools for that part at this time.