Setting up OBS

OBS is the free app that sends your picture and sound. To stream through GreenMind you point it at the relay, using a server address and a stream key from the Live page. You need nothing else installed.

Before you start

  • The brand is approved. Until then the relay refuses OBS. See Asking for approval.
  • A stream exists. See Setting up a stream.
  • You have the Admin role, by default. Nobody else sees the server and key, so ask an Admin if you cannot see them.

Connect OBS

  1. Open Live and pick the stream. While it says Not connected, the page shows a Server and a Stream key.
  2. In OBS, open Settings, then Stream, and set Service to Custom.
  3. Copy the page's Server into OBS's Server box.
  4. Copy the page's Stream key into OBS's Stream Key box. The page keeps it hidden. Use its copy button, because the key is long and all of it is needed.
  5. Save the settings, and press Start Streaming in OBS.

The page changes to Receiving from OBS and your picture appears. Nothing is public yet, but relay time is now counting. See While you are live.

About the stream key

  • Each stream has its own key. The server stays the same, but a new stream means pasting a new key into OBS. The key of an ended stream stops working.
  • It is not shown only once. You can copy it again at any time while the stream says Not connected. The page stops showing it once OBS is connected, and it is gone once the stream has ended.
  • New key replaces it. The old key stops working at once, so paste the new one into OBS.
  • Treat it like a password. Anyone holding it can send a picture to this stream. If it may have got out, press New key.

Output settings

The relay passes your stream on as it arrives and does not re-encode it, so what OBS sends is what every channel receives. The Live page does not set these for you. In OBS, open Settings, then Output, and set Output Mode to Advanced to reach them all.

Setting Use
Video encoder H.264
Rate control Constant bitrate (CBR)
Video bitrate What your upload can hold, and no more than every channel you go out on accepts
Keyframe interval 2 seconds
Audio encoder AAC
Audio bitrate 160 kbps

Platforms change their limits, so check their own guidance for the bitrate. If what arrives is too low, the page says Too low: check your upload speed.

Control OBS from the Live page

This is optional. It lets the Live page drive OBS from your browser, on the computer OBS runs on, using the WebSocket server built into OBS 28 and later. Nothing is installed. It takes the Admin role by default.

  1. In OBS, open Tools, then WebSocket Server Settings.
  2. Turn on Enable WebSocket server.
  3. Press Show Connect Info and copy the Server Password.
  4. In the Live page's Setup area, open Control OBS from this page and paste it into WebSocket password. Leave OBS WebSocket address as it is unless you changed OBS's port.
  5. Press Connect to OBS.

The page asks you for that address and password and nothing else. Chrome also asks once to let the page reach your local network: allow it, or the page cannot reach OBS. The page talks to OBS directly. The password stays in your browser, and is kept there only if you tick Remember the password in this browser.

Once connected you have:

  • Set up OBS for this stream, which writes the server and key into OBS. It does not change your output settings.
  • Start streaming and Stop streaming. Stopping here stops OBS, and does not end the stream.
  • Scene, to switch scenes.
  • Save replay, which needs OBS's replay buffer running. OBS refuses otherwise.
  • Add marker, which also makes a chapter in OBS's own recording when it records Hybrid MP4.
  • A line showing whether OBS is streaming, its CPU use and its dropped frames.

If it goes wrong

If OBS will not connect, or the page stays on Not connected, see Live problems.