ok, I work for a City and we are using one of the legal broadcasters (which is horrible) and looking to send a direct feed to Meta Business suite. I am going to be sending from live mics>mixer board>BMD Audio to SDI>BMD Web Presenter. What settings do I select in the setup menu to get this to work? I am by trade an IT person, but we have no AV person and our live feed is not working correctly. Any assist would be greatly appreciated.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Lawrence_SoCal
Active Member
Ah the joy of learning OBS Studio... been there done that (as an IT person) 3 years ago
First, if you want a good understanding of OBS, and you are not interested from a gamer perspective (which is a prevalent OBS Studio use case) then I'd recommend StreamGeeks/PTZ optics unofficial guide to OBS Studio (you can buy the book, or get the PDF for free) https://streamgeeks.us/obs-superuser/
Next, understand that real-time video compositing is computationally intensive. So beware hardware resource utilization on the system running OBS Studio. One way to save CPU demands is to do encoding/decoding elsewhere. In that case, for now, the tried/tested/works best approach is nVidia NVENC. AV1 is likely the future for streaming (replace H.264), but today, you are most likely going to be streaming H.264 to Facebook.
Now, back to OBS Studio. General best practice is to get your audio and video sources all set outside of OBS Studio first. Then make sure those source(s) are working at Operating Stem level (OBS Studio NOT running, not just not in foreground).
- Livestream Audio has different requirements than live listening for optimal (or even just usable) results. It is common to need to run at higher level, often with compression, for livestream audience to hear ok (think awful mobile speakers in vast majority of use cases). Be prepared to test stream with typical listening devices to get sound right. I'm no audio engineer, but for me, getting the audio to a decent state for remote listening was the most challenging part.
- Video - your description above does NOT indicate how you plan to get video onto OBS Studio computer (though I'm guessing SDI video to USB capture device... oops, guess not ... as BMD Web Presenter is a hardware device. Hmm... I'm not familiar with that device. a quick look and it appears to be something you'd normally use INSTEAD of OBS Studio.
With that, good luck on your journey. I'm happy to help.
First, if you want a good understanding of OBS, and you are not interested from a gamer perspective (which is a prevalent OBS Studio use case) then I'd recommend StreamGeeks/PTZ optics unofficial guide to OBS Studio (you can buy the book, or get the PDF for free) https://streamgeeks.us/obs-superuser/
Next, understand that real-time video compositing is computationally intensive. So beware hardware resource utilization on the system running OBS Studio. One way to save CPU demands is to do encoding/decoding elsewhere. In that case, for now, the tried/tested/works best approach is nVidia NVENC. AV1 is likely the future for streaming (replace H.264), but today, you are most likely going to be streaming H.264 to Facebook.
Side note on Facebook livestreaming. *IF* you schedule your livestreams, good security is to NOT use a persistent stream key (meaning retrieve and set stream key each stream). A benefit on Facebook to a Scheduled livestream video event is that you get a consistent URL that you can share in advance, and does NOT require logging into Facebook to watch
Now, back to OBS Studio. General best practice is to get your audio and video sources all set outside of OBS Studio first. Then make sure those source(s) are working at Operating Stem level (OBS Studio NOT running, not just not in foreground).
- Livestream Audio has different requirements than live listening for optimal (or even just usable) results. It is common to need to run at higher level, often with compression, for livestream audience to hear ok (think awful mobile speakers in vast majority of use cases). Be prepared to test stream with typical listening devices to get sound right. I'm no audio engineer, but for me, getting the audio to a decent state for remote listening was the most challenging part.
- Video - your description above does NOT indicate how you plan to get video onto OBS Studio computer (though I'm guessing SDI video to USB capture device... oops, guess not ... as BMD Web Presenter is a hardware device. Hmm... I'm not familiar with that device. a quick look and it appears to be something you'd normally use INSTEAD of OBS Studio.
So the question for you - what is your intended use of the BMD Web Presenter? And is the model you have match the video resolution and frame rate you intend to broadcast at (ie 1080p vs 4K)? If that device is simply part of the existing setup, then you need to ask yourself... is there something you want/need that the BMD Web Presenter isn't providing? if yes, what exactly?
I suspect, though not sure, that you could SDI video feed into BMD Web Presenter, and let that device digitize the video and get that to a computer. From the product page, it mentions creating a USB webcam connection. In which case you'd simply USB connect BMD BMD Web Presenter to OBS Studio computer, configure BMD Web Presenter appropriately, and pick that 'webcam' as your video source in OBS Studio [again, strongly recommend making sure webcam working as expected outside of OBS Studio at first, OS permissions, etc].
But unless you are changing (manipulating/compositing) the audio and/or video from the BMD Web Presenter in some way, why bother with OBS Studio (or any other similar software)?
And what resources (especially) time, will be made available to learn to use OBS Studio (or similar software). There can be a material learning curve. As an IT Person, you know folks hear free (upfront acquisition cost), and ignore lifecycle costs. Don't get me wrong. I like and am a happy user of OBS Studio. but know what you are getting into (whether OBS Studio or any similar setup)
With that, good luck on your journey. I'm happy to help.
Realistically, So we stream all City meetings. I walked into a setup that worked, but not great. The setup is as follows:
18 Mics feeing into a Behringer x32> BMD Audio to SDI (trying to use to apply the audio to the video) I also have a BMD Web Presenter (which I am not sure I need) then it feeds to a computer managed by Granicus (a company used to stream municipal stuff) thru an Osprey card on the computer.
18 Mics feeing into a Behringer x32> BMD Audio to SDI (trying to use to apply the audio to the video) I also have a BMD Web Presenter (which I am not sure I need) then it feeds to a computer managed by Granicus (a company used to stream municipal stuff) thru an Osprey card on the computer.
Lawrence_SoCal
Active Member
I'm not familiar with BMD Audio to SDI (as SDI is a video cable connection/protocol), though I guess putting only audio on a SDI connection would work... but typically one swaps video (SDI in your case) sources (ie cameras) and only sends along a single video signal. How many cameras, by the way? And the cameras are using SDI to connect to BMD Web Presenter, right?
But I'm presuming, if my guess is correct, that the BMD We Presenter is configured to know one of the SDI connections is Audio only, and to merge/always be on, along with other Video input(s) which are switched on that device?
The issue is that your physical connection description indicates multiple points of potential failure long before it gets to the PC. And without knowing the design parameters, seems overly complex (too many parts, with uncertain function). I suspect, there are good reasons for each piece, but hard to advise without knowing about those reasons.
As for audio, my inclination, without knowing more than you've posted above, would be to check audio signal at each step. For example, how do you KNOW BMD Audio is sending audio signal over SDI (and using SDI seems odd to me, unless frame genlock professional broadcast type thing going on, which is entirely possible?? not sure how that would play into audio though)... [Sorry, I use NDI not SDI, so not an area of subject matter expertise for me]
And then there are audio sampling rate mismatch possibilities. And then there is the whole analog vs digital audio connection discussion. I'm assuming your setup is analog (as that is what SDI is, I believe, so I'm guessing signals stay analog until BMD Web Presenter???)
I suspect you'll need to login/check config on each BMD device and confirm its setup and that it is passing audio signal as expected/desired
And the Osprey card seems odd (is that a HDMI capture card??)... unless that is an OLD BMD Web Presenter device and not capable of digital output (USB) of high enough (to meet requirements/desire) resolution?
The basic consideration is that, as I said, real-time video rendering is computationally intensive. This comes into play especially when dealing with multiple video inputs. So, for under-powered systems, having a video switcher in front of the computer can help by making the computer only have to deal with 1 video signal (vs receiving and processing all video inputs, and selecting from them on the computer itself). With modern powerful computers, and the right GPU for encode/decode offload (from CPU to GPU), doing the video switching on the computer itself has benefits... but Pro's and Con's to each approach. For example, if this system has been in place for many years, possibly with some upgrades along the way, using BMD Web Presenter as a video switcher due to underpowered computer makes plenty of sense. Also, a purpose built device like the BMD Web Presenter, in theory, should be more stable/reliable than a PC... ymmv
But I'm presuming, if my guess is correct, that the BMD We Presenter is configured to know one of the SDI connections is Audio only, and to merge/always be on, along with other Video input(s) which are switched on that device?
The issue is that your physical connection description indicates multiple points of potential failure long before it gets to the PC. And without knowing the design parameters, seems overly complex (too many parts, with uncertain function). I suspect, there are good reasons for each piece, but hard to advise without knowing about those reasons.
As for audio, my inclination, without knowing more than you've posted above, would be to check audio signal at each step. For example, how do you KNOW BMD Audio is sending audio signal over SDI (and using SDI seems odd to me, unless frame genlock professional broadcast type thing going on, which is entirely possible?? not sure how that would play into audio though)... [Sorry, I use NDI not SDI, so not an area of subject matter expertise for me]
And then there are audio sampling rate mismatch possibilities. And then there is the whole analog vs digital audio connection discussion. I'm assuming your setup is analog (as that is what SDI is, I believe, so I'm guessing signals stay analog until BMD Web Presenter???)
I suspect you'll need to login/check config on each BMD device and confirm its setup and that it is passing audio signal as expected/desired
And the Osprey card seems odd (is that a HDMI capture card??)... unless that is an OLD BMD Web Presenter device and not capable of digital output (USB) of high enough (to meet requirements/desire) resolution?
The basic consideration is that, as I said, real-time video rendering is computationally intensive. This comes into play especially when dealing with multiple video inputs. So, for under-powered systems, having a video switcher in front of the computer can help by making the computer only have to deal with 1 video signal (vs receiving and processing all video inputs, and selecting from them on the computer itself). With modern powerful computers, and the right GPU for encode/decode offload (from CPU to GPU), doing the video switching on the computer itself has benefits... but Pro's and Con's to each approach. For example, if this system has been in place for many years, possibly with some upgrades along the way, using BMD Web Presenter as a video switcher due to underpowered computer makes plenty of sense. Also, a purpose built device like the BMD Web Presenter, in theory, should be more stable/reliable than a PC... ymmv