OBS NDI makes it surprisingly easy to set up streaming from two PCs without a capture card. The performance is excellent and doesn’t require any additional purchase OBS NDI will use your network to send your gaming PC content to your streaming computer.
This guide will walk you through every step required to get started using OBS NDI and provide some insight into its performance. Be sure to read each step carefully to get everything set up correctly.
Does OBS NDI work? Is it better than a capture card?
Does OBS NDI work? Is it better than a capture card?
Before I start, let’s talk about NDI performance. I’ve used it myself for both streaming and recording and had an exceptional experience. If you are connected to your router with Ethernet cables, you will experience incredibly smooth operation. Quality is indistinguishable from single PC streaming.
Plus, you’re not limited by frame rate or resolution – some capture cards like the Elgato HD60S force you to play and stream in 1080p 60fps – they only have HDMI. But since you will be using your network to send everything to your streaming computer, you can stick to your display port and get higher frames and resolutions.
How to set up OBS NDI on both computers
- First, you must download and install OBS on both computers. Let’s start with our gaming PC. We’ll move on to our streaming computer later.
- On your gaming PC, close OBS Visit this page to download the OBS NDI plugin. Click Download, scroll down and click obs-ndi-4.6.1-Windows-Installer.exe.
How to set up OBS NDI on both devices
- First, you must download and install OBS on both devices. We’ll start with our gaming computer. We’ll get to the streaming computer later.
- On the game computer, close OBS Go to this page to download the OBS NDI plugin. Click Download , then scroll down and click obs-ndi-4.6.1-Windows-Installer.exe .
- Go through the installation process. Upon completion of the installation process, you will be prompted to restart your gaming computer. Once your gaming PC turns back on, open OBS again. In OBS, click Tools, then click NDI Output Options.
- A new window will open. Click to check the Primary Output checkbox and give it a name. Later, you will need to find this name on your streaming PC.
You have completed the required steps on your gaming PC. Later, you can add your own scenes, capture devices, and customize audio and video. However, first, let’s go over the steps to follow on your streaming PC.
- On your streaming PC, open OBS and click the + button in the lower left corner of the scene box to add a new scene.
- Give it a name and click OK. Then in the sources field, click the “+” button and select “NDI Source”.
- Click the Source Name field and select your computer – you should find the name you entered here earlier in brackets. Make sure the bandwidth is set to Highest. You can leave all other settings as default. Click OK.
You will now see that everything in your streaming PC’s OBS will reflect what is displayed in your gaming PC’s OBS This gives you the ability to edit and make adjustments while streaming without touching the streaming PC.
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Preparing to launch with OBS NDI
Prepare to live with OBS NDI
You are now ready for your first stream, but there are a number of things to consider before starting.
- First, you will need to enter the stream key into the streaming computer. You should also click the start streaming and / or start recording buttons on your streaming PC.
- You only need one NDI OBS source and scene active on your streaming computer – all other scenes and sources can be switched, edited and modified from your gaming PC.
- If you notice any difficulties, make sure your video settings are the same on every copy of OBS For example, if you are recording at 1920 × 1080 on your gaming PC, but upscaling the streaming output to 1280 × 720, do the same on your PC for streaming.
- Finally, OBS must always be open on both computers. to start the thread.
Summary
Summary
This is my guide to streaming with OBS NDI. It’s surprisingly easy to set up, requires no hardware setup, and you can stream at your own resolution and frame rate.
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