New Multi Livestream Setup

[FOALiverpool]

Hello,

I am new to this so please forgive my ignorance if I get anything wrong, or make incorrect assumptions. I will try to explain what I am trying to achieve as best as I can.

I am in the UK from a sports club. We want to create a livestream for each sports pitch we have - 3 in total. The end goal we want is to livestream each individual camera/pitch on a different youtube stream/video, so 3 different videos from the same account/channel each streaming for 24 hours a day 365 days a year - I think this is possible?

I am looking to get a 5G router (D-Link DWR-978 5G) as we don't have broadband to provide the internet connection - though I know that may be an issue due to the speeds but we don't have much choice. Then I was looking to get a POE switch (TL-SG1005P) plugged into the router; to connect and power the three IP cameras (unsure which IP cameras to buy yet) via the ethernet cables. Then I am a bit unsure hot to proceed to get them livestreaming... I see there are a few streaming websites with monthly subscriptions but that seems too expensive for us. So that is why I think the Youtube Live streaming route may work for the livestream and then you could still rewind the past 12 hours as that is free? Also, I could embed the youtube videos onto the club website as well? I have looked into using OBS and getting the key for youtube for the stream and it seems like that is possible for all of the different cameras and videos?

The only roadblock at the moment I can see (unless you can see any other problems) is that OBS requires a PC to be continuously powered on and running OBS for the Youtube livestream? How could this be navigated? Is a Mini PC the right route to go down, if so can somebody please recommend one I could purchase that would be able to handle 3-5 cameras (possibility of adding two more cameras/streams in the future) linking to their own livestream on Youtube via OBS? Obviously budget is a factor, but I know that has to be balanced by the output required.

Thank you for your help in advance, it is appreciated. Jack.

 

[AaronD]

Encoding video is computationally intensive. I don't think a mini PC would do it. A semi-modern laptop might have the processing power, but not the cooling to do that for more than about a minute. If it must be portable, then you should look at the "mobile workstation" class of laptops, which tend to be thick and heavy because of their cooling systems. Otherwise, you're probably looking at a full-size desktop tower.

But, if you're not doing any processing, there are cameras that can stream directly to YouTube from the camera. They're more expensive of course, than if they only feed a computer, but if you combine your computer and camera budgets, that might be the way to go.

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OBS doesn't like to run 24/7 either. There are people that do it - maybe approximately because of an occasional reboot, whether proactively or forced - but there's a whole 'nother class of problems that come from complex software running continuously for that long.

The most common long-running problem is a "memory leak", where something asks for an amount of memory to use temporarily, and then forgets to give it back. Then it asks for that amount of memory again, and the system doesn't know that the previous chunk is orphaned, so it assigns a new one. Let that play out for a while, and this one process ends up owning all of the system's memory and still asking for more. Then something gets its memory request denied because there isn't any, or the system slows way down because it's using the slow hard drive as more memory. When that happens, you're probably not streaming anymore.

I think OBS itself - the core program - is stable, but some of the plugins are known to be "leaky" or otherwise problematic. A slow leak is fine if you're only on for a few hours at most, but any leak at all is a problem for 24/7. Even if OBS is fine, something else can still kill it.