In recent times, people have become accustomed to streaming videos. Coupled with the advent of coronavirus, work-from-home, social distancing, and stay-at-home policies, a large percentage of people and organizations have made services like Zoom, GoToMeeting, Facebook Live, and YouTube household names for work and entertainment.
This global familiarity with streaming videos has pointed out an obvious difference to many people as some videos are professional-looking while others are not-so-good with unintelligible sound. What’s the difference? Majorly, the video streams with professional looks are created with quality resources while so much effort and time wasn’t invested in the bad ones. This is where OBS (a software that’s used to make video streams look professional and exceptional) comes in. Most importantly, OBS is free, you don’t need to pay for it.
In this post, we will discuss what OBS is, the purposes of OBS, and how to use OBS software.
What is OBS Streaming Software
OBS is a short form for Open Broadcaster Software. It’s a free open source software and cross-platform suite that can be used for live streaming and recording videos. OBS functions by capturing and recording your screen while also capturing the audio.
The history of OBS recording software is dated back to September 2012. It started out as a small project by Hugh “Jim” Bailey, but had rapid growth thanks to the help of many online collaborators who worked seriously to improve the software and share valid knowledge about the program.
Applications of OBS
Now that you know that OBS is used to make high-quality videos, what are its possible use cases?
- Professional-looking videos for several social media platforms: OBS enables even a novice to learn how to use multiple live streaming PTZ cameras. The software also allows you to switch between the cameras, add professional touches, make smooth transitions, and produce a smooth recording for upload.
- Better online meetings and seminars: With OBS, everyone doesn’t have to be present in a meeting or seminar before its successful and enjoyable, especially if most people are not actively participating. OBS has the capability of highlighting the speaker and presenting bullet points of the speaker’s speech on the screen, ensuring that the audience present and those at home enjoy the program.
- Esports: Twitch, a popular game streaming platform is one of the passionate sponsors of the OBS project. This is because live streams of video games are very popular and OBS doesn’t just function by sending live games to Twitch, but allow the gamers to switch between selfie cams and the game, as well as add comments on social media feeds in real time.
- Vlogging: Basically, vlogging is a composition of blogging and video recording. Simply put, it can be termed as blogging with video. It can either be live streamed or recorded, which makes OBS recording software a great tool for its creation. To be an exceptional vlogger, it’s only imperative that you satisfy your audience with high-quality videos and audio, as well as bold captions.
How to Use OBS Software
These are the pointers you need to follow on how to use OBS software.
- The first thing you will need when learning how to use OBS software is a reliable camera that can handle streaming. For this, it’s best that you contact a professional PTZ camera supplier for cameras that can pan, tilt, and zoom on subjects perfectly. A sub-standard camera is liable not to handle the task efficiently, which could result in crashes or stream failures.
- Secondly, you need a standard computer that’s capable of handling the streaming and recording task. At the same time, it should be able to capture, render, and upload video and data simultaneously. Also, OBS can work on computers with Mac and Windows software, so your computer has to have either of these two.
- Next is to choose the streaming platform. OBS can stream across numerous platforms, including Twitch, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.
- Then, go to your OBS settings menu and move the stream tab. Here, you are to select your preferred streaming platform, which could be either Twitch, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, or any other compatible platform.
- To finally link the OBS with your streaming platform, go to the channel tab, your stream key will be displayed at the top. Copy the characters that appear there and paste them into the OBS.
Conclusion
OBS is a helpful tool for so many live video streamers and recorders, including content creators, gamers, vloggers, non-profit organizations, businesses, etc. It’s used for producing enjoyable video content, enabling the audience to feel enthralled and committed throughout the stream.
At Telycam, we help actualize this by supplying outstanding cameras that support your video streaming and recording projects. Over the years, we’ve worked with a torrent of establishments, cementing our stand as one of the best available. You can contact us to discuss how to make the best of your live streams and record.
