OBS and Facebook stream key

Lawrence_SoCal

Active Member
Ouch, livestreaming House of Worship service using WiFi... lots of potential for issues.
Log shows network issues
18:51:30.830: Output 'multi-output': Number of dropped frames due to insufficient bandwidth/connection stalls: 549 (66.0%)

quick fix - use Wired Ethernet (not WiFi) and remove all other devices from using Internet connection while streaming. No, I'm not kidding. Once you have monitoring in place to identify and correct in real-time problem devices (like forcibly disconnecting problem attendees device use of WiFi), or have sperate WiFi frequency(ies) and VLAN, and QoS to guarantee bandwidth to streaming PC. If your congregation assume/expects Internet while in service (I'm shaking my head... but unless doing Service Bulletin electronically vs paper.... seems like a terrible idea... but whatever), then either QoS setup or separate Internet connection may be required (or a lot more bandwidth, if available.. depends on your ISP)

Most likely, OBS update and your issues are coincidental. Or you were having issues all along, but just didn't notice, and something small changed, but now you do notice. Then again, ISP link may be having an issue?? [probably not, but it is a possibility]
 

Lifendason

New Member
Thank you Lawrence for the response. We are in the process of re-arranging the sound booth so direct connection can be made. There may be only one or two people with the wifi info so I want to say that multiple connections would not be the issue. Until the re-arranging is complete I'll just keep going to FB and get the stream each time.

Again, thank you for the reply.
 

Lawrence_SoCal

Active Member
Note that using a persistent stream key is a bad security approach.
Our Sunday service standard is to schedule live video using a non-persistent key
- the day of the service, we boot up streaming computer 1-2 hours before the service, and download service bulletin
- we log into fb/live/producer, copy stream key into OBS, and test streaming (once confirmed we stop streaming)
- go through Service Bulletin and correct errors, and adjust for visuals (sometimes adjust line width, etc)
- train new folks on OBS and PTZ camera controls during service, and various OBS scenes I've configured
- Then (re-)start stream 15 minutes before schedule start
- We leave the /Live/Producer page up the entire time and monitor comments during livestream (acting as digital usher, and looking for tech comments like lost audio, or what have you)

As such, connecting to FB/live/producer to get a stream key is a non-issue as we go there anyway to monitor livestream

The above works using a dual monitor setup, with keyboard, monitor and mouse up in choir/pipe organ loft, and streaming PC in sound closet with mixer (closet in only large enough for mixer, not a person). we don't have/need a sound booth for our style of worship. I use a single 50ft fiber optic DisplayPort cable to drive both monitors, and a 50ft high quality active USB cable for the keyboard and mouse.
The streaming PC is behind its own router, separate from the rest of the local network. have my own dedicated WiFi in case we want to use a portable device (phone/tablet) using NDI to stream video from outside (ex Palm Sunday procession). The office PCs are all turned off and any office laptops are put in airplane mode during livestream service. Depending on exactly what a device is doing (and most people don't know), a single device can easily interfere with a livestream (and then again dozens of devices, not doing anything with upstream traffic could have no impact [assuming TCP reply traffic manageable]
 

Lifendason

New Member
Thank you Lawrence for the extra info. We only started streaming last year from everything was locked down. We currently only use one camera, which is a camcorder. The sound mixer is an old analog mixer that we plan to replace hopefully soon. We also plan on getting two PTZ cameras with the control deck eventually. I'm currently running everything off my laptop so only have one monitor right now. The stream is working right now and the message is getting out, which is the main thing. I hope to get a dedicated desktop on a black Friday sell with dual monitors.
 

Lawrence_SoCal

Active Member
usually you can add a 2nd external monitor to a laptop, which I found very helpful for our setup
I started using a laptop, and we got a dedicated streaming PC about a year ago (and I was using dual screen the entire time)
As much as I'd like/prefer a PTZ control panel, using a software control panel on its own monitor has worked out fine for us (with 2nd monitor being WAY cheaper than a NDI PTZ control panel)
 
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