OBS connecting to offline LED sign

[dyde]

Hi there,

I am new to the forum and I could not find anything to my topic (maybe I did not use the correct search terms, sry for that).

I am streaming regularly no twitch and I am also recording many videos with OBS. Sometimes it happens that I forget to press the record button which is very annoying because content is lost, that would otherwise be recorded. Because I use only one window I cannot look at OBS at the same time when recording.

Therefore I had the idea to have a LED-based sign beside my screen which is e.g. connected via USB and which turns on as soon as OBS is actively recording. Can such things be done? If so, how?

Thanks for any help and ideas.

Regards
Florian

 

[deFrisselle]

There is also this resource that can put on-screen indicators for something like Recording / Not Recording

Free - OBS-HUD

OBS-HUD is a standalone software utility that provides customizable, on-screen status icons to indicate OBS streaming and recording activity. Monitoring these OBS functions no longer requires looking to the system tray icon or main window...

obsproject.com

 

[PaulCroft]

Hi there,

I am new to the forum and I could not find anything to my topic (maybe I did not use the correct search terms, sry for that).

I am streaming regularly no twitch and I am also recording many videos with OBS. Sometimes it happens that I forget to press the record button which is very annoying because content is lost, that would otherwise be recorded. Because I use only one window I cannot look at OBS at the same time when recording.

Therefore I had the idea to have a LED-based sign beside my screen which is e.g. connected via USB and which turns on as soon as OBS is actively recording. Can such things be done? If so, how?

Thanks for any help and ideas.

Regards
Florian

One of the options when setting up a broadcast is to have the stream automatically recorded when you start streaming. I've found that very useful as I didn't do that on my first couple of streaming attempts.

 

[CobaltDragon]

Hi there,

I am new to the forum and I could not find anything to my topic (maybe I did not use the correct search terms, sry for that).

I am streaming regularly no twitch and I am also recording many videos with OBS. Sometimes it happens that I forget to press the record button which is very annoying because content is lost, that would otherwise be recorded. Because I use only one window I cannot look at OBS at the same time when recording.

Therefore I had the idea to have a LED-based sign beside my screen which is e.g. connected via USB and which turns on as soon as OBS is actively recording. Can such things be done? If so, how?

Thanks for any help and ideas.

Regards
Florian

If you decide to try OBS-HUD I would be happy to hear your feedback.

 

[dyde]

If you decide to try OBS-HUD I would be happy to hear your feedback.

I will definitely try it out, although my question was even going further. I wanted to have like a "streaming-LED" on my wall which is connected e.g. via USB with the PC and OBS should lighten up that LED as long as it is recording...

Regards

 

[AaronD]

I wanted to have like a "streaming-LED" on my wall which is connected e.g. via USB with the PC and OBS should lighten up that LED as long as it is recording...

There are USB GPIO boards that give you similar functions to a Raspberry Pi, but on a regular PC. I'd be surprised if they didn't have scripting tools to go with them.

Then you could write a script for that board to turn the sign on or off, and then run that script from here:

Advanced Scene Switcher

This plugin will allow you to automate various tasks using "Macros". Macros consist of a list of conditions under which a list of actions will be performed. Examples and guides can be found in the wiki. Feel free to contribute! If you run...

obsproject.com

I've only shown the Start one, but I think you get the idea. Stopping uses another macro with similar logic.

Or, instead of the GPIO board, you *might*, maybe, on a slightly older machine (mine does, on the dock of a mobile workstation from 2015), still have a 25-pin parallel port. You can use that as a GPIO port too. It's more limited than the USB version or a Pi, but it's easily enough to turn on a sign and back off again. Same structure as before, except instead of the modern GPIO script, you'd run a small utility program that controls the parallel port. Surely there's a free one of those to be had. :-)

Either way, you'll probably need at least a single-transistor amplifier to take the actual load of the sign itself. Neither the GPIO board nor the parallel port will do that by itself. So the software-controlled output drives the transistor, which doesn't take much juice, and then the transistor handles the load. Make sure to wire it correctly, with the right supporting parts around it, so that you don't blow up the GPIO anyway. Lots of tutorials on that, and a USB GPIO board might even come with one.