Stream To Record Locally

[derek@understandeachother]

Apologies newbie asking about streaming here for a specific purpose. I see that when I choose streaming I need to request a stream key from one of the services listed: Twitch, YouTube, Facebook Live, etc...

What I want to do is simply record a high quality video when I'm using zoom. I have the video as a scene in OBS, and it works great to record. But I want to stream is so I can choose the stream option in Zoom because both OBS and Zoom cannot use the camera at the same time.

Can you give me clues how to just have the output of OBS be just like a camera source to pick up in Zoom? Do I need to organize with one of the services in the list?

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

I suspect one of 2 possibiilties
1. what you want to search on is OBS Studio's virtual camera output option
So your physical camera is captured by OBS Studio, you do your compositing there, then output that to Zoom... but that would NOT be for Recording the Zoom session, that would be for doing more with camera than Zoom's native tools

2. But, if you misunderstand the involved tech terms, and really only want to Record the Zoom session... then OBS Studio streaming wouldn't be involved, and OBS Studio should NOT be using the camera as a source

What I suspect you need to do is more clearly spell out desired end game
- Why would you want OBS Studio and Zoom to both have access to your camera?
A common reason is for folks watching Zoom ONLY (ie they aren't ever on video within the Zoom session) and recording commentary/response to Zoom video (not participating in the Zoom call)... which potentially has all kinds of privacy implications depending on source material... but i digress

What I want to do is simply record a high quality video when I'm using zoom. I have the video as a scene in OBS, and it works great to record.
But I want to stream is so I can choose the stream option in Zoom because both OBS and Zoom cannot use the camera at the same time.

Be a LOT more specific... I don't follow this last part.. sorry
What do you mean by 'stream option in Zoom' ? this https://it.umn.edu/services-technologies/how-tos/zoom-livestream-youtube-or-custom
if yes, then OBS Studio not involved in streaming the content to a content delivery network (YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, etc), Zoom is.

Zoom could handle the livestreaming directly (by not having you re-encode the video, has potential to be higher quality than you capturing Zoom, re-encoding and livestreaming that content... whether actually higher quality or not, I can't say as I haven't done or researched this)

Can you give me clues how to just have the output of OBS be just like a camera source to pick up in Zoom? Do I need to organize with one of the services in the list?

OBS Studio Virtual Camera... but, the more I read what you wrote, the less inclined I am to think this is actually what you are trying to accomplish.

 

[derek@understandeachother]

Oh so appreciate your answer Lawrence_Socal! I had no idea about the virtual camera! Yes I just needed to turn that on so I can choose that as the camera in zoom. The reason I want to do this is while OBS is the virtual camera, it is also recording the video of me for the zoom meeting. I want to do this to record a much higher resolution of me for the meeting. I may change this to switch out of Zoom to use the Riverside application, but it's so expensive when doing 40 to 50 hours a month of meetings. Appreciated!

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

Glad to help
Clarifying that you want high quality recording of yourself (not the Zoom meeting) makes a huge difference.

*IF* you want high quality video of yourself, something to consider is the camera you are using. Using a 'real' camera (DSLR, mirrorless) or similar image sensor equipped camera (ex. quality PTZ camera or similar) will make a HUGE difference, and you can usually do on-camera recording (vs re-encoded video on computer)... Obviously this can get relatively expensive if you don't already have somethign that would work for you. and maybe what you have is good enough.... just mentioning options

 

[derek@understandeachother]

I am using a fairly good Canon Camcorder HGG20 - but it's too difficult to get a good depth of field to blur the background. The NVIDIA software on the laptop does a great job of this. So I want to record that source in OBS. With a better camera, if I plan to get the right lens for depth of field, I would record right onto the SD Card, or I've heard the CF card is a little better, but that's getting pretty subtle I bet. Any thoughts on doing this better?