OBS Studio and Kaltura Live Streaming

This article describes how to set up Kaltura Live Streaming using Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) Studio.

OBS Studio is open source software for video recording and live streaming. It is one of many software-based encoders that may be used to broadcast to Kaltura Live Streaming. OBS Studio may be downloaded here: https://obsproject.com/.

For assistance with OBS Studio, please visit the OBS Studio Help and/or OBS Studio Forum.

To set up OBS Studio for a Kaltura Live Entry

  1. Create a live stream entry in the KMC by following the article: Creating a Live Stream Entry in Kaltura Using the KMC.
  2. Open the live stream entry you just created and navigate to the Live Stream tab. The information you will be pulling from this area is the Primary URL and the Stream name.

To set up a live stream for a Kaltura Webcasting event using OBS

Verify that you have the following Live Stream details from the Webcast Event page: 

  • Primary URL - the system automatically generates this URL
  • Backup URL - the system automatically generates this URL
  • Stream Name - the stream name is the stream ID and is generated automatically. It is usually just the number '1' unless more than one video flavor or multiple soundtracks are being streamed simultaneously. If you are broadcasting multiple bit-rates or multiple audio tracks from your encoder, you will need to use different stream names for the different flavors. Check this article for further details. 

You can use various live encoders. Kaltura Webcasting creates an XML file to seamlessly export the live encoder information.

You can also export an XML file containing all of the Live Stream details that can later be imported to the encoder. If you're unsure about where to find the Live Stream details, review the article for Editing a Webcasting Event.

To Configure OBS Settings for RTMP streaming

  1. Open OBS Studio, go to the File menu, and select Settings.
  2. Go to the Stream tab.
  3. Select Custom Streaming Server from the Stream Type dropdown.
  4. In OBS Studio's URL field, paste the Primary URL from step 1. In OBS Studio's Stream key field, paste the Stream name from step 2.
  5. Click OK when done.
  6. Set up your scenes and sources in OBS Studio by following the help documentation on Open Broadcaster Software's website:
  • OBS Studio Quickstart
  • Sources Guide
  • After you set up your scene and sources, you are now ready to live stream to Kaltura.
  • In the OBS Studio's Controls section, click Start Streaming. Your live stream will begin broadcasting to Kaltura. Click Stop Streaming to end your broadcast.

To Configure OBS Settings for SRT streaming

  1. Use the streaming option.
  2. Use the URL as the Server Address. 
  3. Concatenate the stream ID string to the URL by adding ?streamid= between the URL and the stream ID. 
    • <URL>?streamid=<stream_ID>
  4. Leave the Stream Key field empty.

Although, you are now broadcasting to Kaltura, you may need to do further refinements in OBS Studio to optimize your stream. There are various places within OBS Studio where this can be done, for example Settings > Output, Settings > Video, Settings > Audio, and others. For more information on optimization, please refer to OBS Studio's Help.

To learn more about the types of encoders you can use, see Which Encoders can I use with the Kaltura Live Streaming?

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