What the heck with the REALLY overly long reply (below), right? the joy of being recently unemployed, and bored, so time for this ;^)
so I just booted up streaming computer and confirmed
@Warmuptill's Advanced Scene switcher
https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/advanced-scene-switcher.395/ supports automation of both Stream and Recording Start and Stopping based on Scene [so after typing all of the below, then booting up streaming PC to check, I recalled that automation to Start Streaming has been there for a long time, it was to have a separate Start Recording option which was a new feature (my request, for the following HoW use case). Details on that use case... for the the curious, here is a long explanation ;^)
--- longer context of why I don't use automation to start streaming, and why that Start Record feature exists in that plugin --
For our Church livestream, we use Facebook (not big enough for YouTube) and non-Facebook folks can watch Facebook video...so good enough
I use Advanced Scene Switcher, and a few months ago (June?), I think based on my request, added Start Recording based on a scene (vs streaming).
For Facebook specifically, with a Scheduled Live Video (required for non-Facebook folks to see video), Facebook tells your to start streaming a minimum of 10 minutes before schedule stream time (or stream cancelled), with a recommendation of up to 20 minutes in advance. So, what I've done is:
- set PC alarm for service starting - minus 30 minutes. Alarm indicates "Start Streaming"
It hasn't been worth it for me to automate this, for reasons I'll explain
- Using Advanced Scene Switcher, I've use the Time feature to switch to a scene to start recording when actual live stream starts (which is 10 minutes before service time). Why 10 minutes? somewhat random, but getting notifications/being able to connect to Facebook livestream isn't always timely, so give folks PLENTY of time to see/find/connect to stream. When we first started (March) it took folks lots of time to find/connect to our stream. I could probably shorten that lead time (to 3-5 minutes?)... but found folks like what I've filled the time with so leaving alone for now.
To be clear. Service starts at T=0, scheduled stream starts at T-10min, and OBS stream to Facebook starts at T-20to30minutes (10-20 minutes before Scheduled time)
- We then have a Service Bulletin plus picture on the screen, with a countdown timer (using OBS native script)
- To minimize 'empty' airtime (ie - video livestream), we play a recorded pipe organ piece (our organist). I then added a walk-up video to remind people of the physical space (Our video editor re-did the video which now includes our fountain with water running, call to service bells, etc). And we have short welcome/announcement videos that play (changes each week). This left us with about 2->6 minutes of empty airtime, so I've recently starting re-playing Preludes from 3+ month's earlier (small corner Picture in Picture).
Using Advanced Scene switcher, as each video ends, OBS changes to 'next' scene. The only automation missing is page changing on the Service Bulletin (PowerPoint)... but due to Microsoft changes with latest Office versions... not so easy anymore
So in our scenario, auto starting Streaming itself really isn't useful. For security reasons, we use a unique stream key per service. So a user has to log into service (Facebook in our case) the day of, get stream key, apply to OBS, and test stream to confirm working (and monitor via browser session or alternate device depending on computer power.. our new computer is powerful enough that monitoring stream on OBS PC is a non-issue). Also, I've experienced 'glitches/hiccups' when first playing a pre-recorded video via OBS's Media Source (videos are on SSD). 2nd time playing - no issue. So our process involves booting computer in AM, running through entire content, each scene, checking videos (anywhere from 7-10 videos between Readings, Hymns, Psalm, Prelude, Postlude, Announcements, etc), audio levels, and Advanced Scene switcher automation, including a brief test of the stream connection all an hour or so in advance.
So, in our use case, I could add an extra scene to Start Streaming, but I found (after I screwed up and got distracted and failed to start stream well enough in advance) that the alarm suffices, and in case we are working on something still at T-30 minutes, gives us an extra 10 minutes to address whatever before streaming actually has to take place... which I used this last Sunday as cloud file sync was still in progress but about to finish. So I prefer the flexibility of starting the stream when I want vs automating. Then I don't start recording until actually streaming something to avoid unnecessary locally recorded video trimming effort
Though not asked, for anyone Facebook livestreaming that comes across this thread ... I mentioned above failing to start Facebook livestream as required. Once that caused our scheduled live stream to be cancelled (my user error back in April. Had to just Go Live now, and non-Facebook users had to wait for livestream to end to see video in library). However, more recently when I got distracted and started stream to Facebook and recording exactly at Scheduled time, it worked fine. Why? I think because I had connected/tested livestream 30 min-an hour earlier as noted above. It hasn't been worth it for me to risk a stream to test/check if this is consistently the case, and skip starting stream 10+minutes in advanced of Scheduled start time. And I've seen Facebook behavior change over last 6 months, so I'm sticking to Facebook's posted requirement/recommendation (having to start stream 10+ minutes in advance)
And just 'cuz, for House of Worship stream, I use Advanced Scene Switchers Media, Time and Sequence tabs
- Time: to change scene, start recording, and switch to initial video playback scene
- Media: to change scene when a video ends (we switch between videos along side service bulletin, and those full screen. To keep it simple for volunteers, easier to be separate scenes
- Sequence: add end for final good bye picture full screen (and invitation to join Zoom coffee Hour), for a fixed period of time, then put up livestream copyright info for a couple seconds (last page of Service Bulletin), then change scene to end stream/recording
