ConferenceRooms/Recording

Background

Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) is free and open source software for video recording and live streaming. It is simple to set up and highly customizable. At UMIACS, it is the software we recommend to users looking to either record or stream on either their personal computers or in a conference room or auditorium setting.

Conference Quick Setup

Below are steps outlining how to start recording or streaming your meetings. If, at any point, you have questions or need other assistance, feel free to reach out to the UMIACS Help Desk.

1. Select the source you'd like to route to the computer via the "Shared Media" option on the Crestron control panel. This will route the source through the A/V Bridge to the conference room computer.
2. Download (windows zip file) and/or launch OBS on the conference room computer and do not run the auto-configuration wizard.
3. Set up video.
   1. Click the + under the Sources pane at the bottom and select Video Capture Device. Leave everything at default and hit OK.
   2. Ensure the proper device is selected to get the video to show up. In larger conference rooms and auditoriums with an A/V cabinet, this will usually be called 'AV Bridge'.
   3. Click OK and resize the window to take up the entirety of the canvas.
   4. If the output appears blurry or fuzzy, try setting the Resolution/FPS Type to Custom by right clicking the source -> Properties and changing it from Device Default. This seems to be particularly important in the larger conference rooms and auditoriums, as the A/V stack's default resolution is not the highest supported one (720p). Change resolution to the highest available one. You probably want to leave FPS at Match Output FPS.
4. Ensure audio settings look OK.
   • The default microphone for the system should already be set up to record audio. It is listed as Mic/Aux under the Mixer pane at the bottom. If you want to use an alternate microphone, click on the cog -> Properties and change the device.
   • Keep in mind that by default, Desktop Audio is recorded as well. If the user running the conference expects to play media during the conference that they do not want being picked up in the stream or recording itself, click the megaphone icon under Desktop Audio by default to mute it.
5. Set up either streaming, recording, or both as follows.

Streaming:

1. Go to File -> Settings -> Stream and select the service you want to use (99% of the time probably YouTube or Twitch).
2. Locate your stream key for the account you want to use. For YouTube/Twitch, there is a helpful link right there that takes you to the proper place to get this.
   • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live_dashboard, near the bottom
   • Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/username/dashboard/settings, at the top (replace username with your username). You can also link your account directly if you want.
3. Enter your key and hit OK.
4. Click Start Streaming under the Control pane at the bottom.

Recording:

1. Go to File -> Settings -> Output and change the recording path to something appropriate and click OK. If in a conference room, this should be an external SSD or the internal drive. We have observed that using external HDDs may introduce dropped frames due to encoding lag because of I/O bottlenecks.
2. Click Start Recording under the Control pane at the bottom.