Streaming, obs, and webcams

WingedWeasel

Hello!

I have been searching around but haven't really found an acceptable solution. Since I know a bunch of people on the forums stream I am hoping that someone can assist with this.

I've recently begun streaming and the actual process seems mostly fine. Granted my overlay sucks and there are other things I need to improve on but I have a technical issue I can't find a satisfactory fix for. I plan to do some "talk show" related projects. Think omnicast (hearthstone) or the pylon show (Starcraft) bit for other games. I want to be able to have the other person's webcam visible (probably through Skype or discord) but here's the issue:

In my testing I found that if someone hung up/ended the call it will display the underlying application. So in this instance (and we are talking about obs as the streaming application), have my own webcam being captured, but j also have obs set to look for a specific application for the VOIP (so skype.exe etc). Even if I set it to look for the specific title of the window it will revert to the "friends list" (or whatever it is called) and possibly show more than I want it to.

I've seen mention of 3rd party tools to block this but j don't really want to go that route. I was considering trying to show part of my desktop and then block off everything but the camera but that seems clunky and I'll forever be paranoid I have something showing on the desktop so that's not a great option.

Has anyone done this or can point me to where I could read about a solution? I hunted through the obs forums, some subreddit, and just general googling and didn't really find a clean answer. Clearly I'm not the first person to do this so there has to be a way.

Thanks in advance!

KoopahTroopah

Ahoyhoy!

First off, this sounds cool. Second off, what type of capture have you tried in OBS to get the video from Skype or Discord? Game/Window/Desktop/Video/etc? Any chance we can see your settings & scene setup? Do not post your stream key.

Elvenshae

@MNC Dover also streams a lot; maybe he can help?

WingedWeasel

KoopahTroopah wrote: »

Ahoyhoy!

First off, this sounds cool. Second off, what type of capture have you tried in OBS to get the video from Skype or Discord? Game/Window/Desktop/Video/etc? Any chance we can see your settings & scene setup? Do not post your stream key.

so a few clarifying details:

OS: windows 8.1
OBS: 22.0.2 64-bit

i actually tried a few different things. window capture was able to identify "skype.exe" and the new desktop application (as opposed to the windows 10 app version), however both the "friends list/main window" and the pop out call video both have the title of "skype.exe" so i was able to point it to the camera if i had the call initiated, but as mentioned if the call terminated, that window disappears and then poof it is showing some amount of the contact list. i made an attempt at game capture but it couldn't find skype or is smart enough to know it isn't actually a game executable.

i was/am using video capture device to load my own webcam. haven't tried doing that for my webcam and the other one though. as mentioned i was avoiding the desktop option because i didn't want to have the same exact issue but with showing my desktop instead. although maybe thats the only way?

JebusUD

I think @SniperGuy does a multicam show

SniperGuy

I do a dnd show (Wednesdays at 8:30 cst and link to twitch channel in sig if you wanna see the archived videos of how we do it) on twitch and use discord to capture everyone's cameras. I use a window capture four or five times and crop it down to each person's camera, then leave the discord maximized on one monitor and then I can open other stuff on top of it.

I do have the issue of people occasionally getting disconnected which causes some issues since the cameras move. When that happens though, discord only shows the call window which doesn't have a contact list or anything I wouldn't want people to see. The call stays open for a bit even if you're just in a call with one other person. I have a dummy computer with a cameraman discord account setup to make sure the windows are all the same size. This might work even better for you if you've just got one person. I capture my own camera through discord too, as otherwise streamlabs obs takes priority and the discord people can't see me.

If you decide to try the discord route, be warned discord needs hardware acceleration either turned on or off in order to be captureable. I don't remember which off the top of my head but if you're having problems definitely try that. Happy to answer any questions I can about this!

WingedWeasel

SniperGuy wrote: »

I do a dnd show (Wednesdays at 8:30 cst and link to twitch channel in sig if you wanna see the archived videos of how we do it) on twitch and use discord to capture everyone's cameras. I use a window capture four or five times and crop it down to each person's camera, then leave the discord maximized on one monitor and then I can open other stuff on top of it.

I do have the issue of people occasionally getting disconnected which causes some issues since the cameras move. When that happens though, discord only shows the call window which doesn't have a contact list or anything I wouldn't want people to see. The call stays open for a bit even if you're just in a call with one other person. I have a dummy computer with a cameraman discord account setup to make sure the windows are all the same size. This might work even better for you if you've just got one person. I capture my own camera through discord too, as otherwise streamlabs obs takes priority and the discord people can't see me.

If you decide to try the discord route, be warned discord needs hardware acceleration either turned on or off in order to be captureable. I don't remember which off the top of my head but if you're having problems definitely try that. Happy to answer any questions I can about this!

i'll test out cropping things a bit more. i did attempt it with discord (although my focus was on skype as that was what the people i was interviewing were using at the time) from what i recall after a disconnect it snapped back and would then show potentially any chat conversation (part of anyway) with that individual. i had toyed with the idea of using my own private discord channel and then just locking down a bunch of settings so it'd always be blank,

your layout is the exact sort of thing i am going for in a lot of aspects but i gotta get the cameras sorted out first. so i picked a random video (episode 16, @ 09:05) and one person's camera looks like it switched to a contact picture, is that what you are describing?

SniperGuy

WingedWeasel wrote: »

SniperGuy wrote: »

I do a dnd show (Wednesdays at 8:30 cst and link to twitch channel in sig if you wanna see the archived videos of how we do it) on twitch and use discord to capture everyone's cameras. I use a window capture four or five times and crop it down to each person's camera, then leave the discord maximized on one monitor and then I can open other stuff on top of it.

I do have the issue of people occasionally getting disconnected which causes some issues since the cameras move. When that happens though, discord only shows the call window which doesn't have a contact list or anything I wouldn't want people to see. The call stays open for a bit even if you're just in a call with one other person. I have a dummy computer with a cameraman discord account setup to make sure the windows are all the same size. This might work even better for you if you've just got one person. I capture my own camera through discord too, as otherwise streamlabs obs takes priority and the discord people can't see me.

If you decide to try the discord route, be warned discord needs hardware acceleration either turned on or off in order to be captureable. I don't remember which off the top of my head but if you're having problems definitely try that. Happy to answer any questions I can about this!

i'll test out cropping things a bit more. i did attempt it with discord (although my focus was on skype as that was what the people i was interviewing were using at the time) from what i recall after a disconnect it snapped back and would then show potentially any chat conversation (part of anyway) with that individual. i had toyed with the idea of using my own private discord channel and then just locking down a bunch of settings so it'd always be blank,

your layout is the exact sort of thing i am going for in a lot of aspects but i gotta get the cameras sorted out first. so i picked a random video (episode 16, @ 09:05) and one person's camera looks like it switched to a contact picture, is that what you are describing?

Yeah that sounds like what was happening. In Discord you can full screen it so you hide the chat, there's a little down arrow that will let you hide the chat, meaning if someone does disconnect, it should just show their contact photo (which is often just the default blank for my players). It's annoying, but doesn't show anything I wouldn't want people to see.

WingedWeasel

are you using the desktop app @SniperGuy or the browser version?

SniperGuy

Desktop app

WingedWeasel

is there a setting to force the hide chat to stay after someone disconnects? i am not sure if this is because i only have one other person in chat, but it reverts to the "normal" window when i have the other person intentionally leave the call for testing

edit: OK it appears it does this because it didn't pick up my webcam. once i had that enabled (presumably if there is any cam still connected) it will maintain the window. i think i've got it. we'll see tomorrow when i try this for real

TheKoolEagle

Hey WIngedWeasel, you need to turn off hardware accelration for OBS to pick up the camera in discord, this is gunna make it use a lot more CPU, but a necessary step that @Sniperguy forgot to mention.

edit: or maybe he did mention in and i skimmed because i'm bad lol

edit2: I'm just bad thats what you said and I am terrible. good luck with the streaming though its a lot of fun.

WingedWeasel

Thanks for the help everyone. I am gonna try it tonight. The last stream was strictly my camera so the grand experiment with other people on the show will begin

WingedWeasel

Well, turns out I didn't need the extra camera setup as the guest didn't want to load his up. I do appreciate the help everyone as I was able to get this resolved using the tips here. Now I gotta figure out what the fuck is going on with my mic