How to Use Wirecast and OBS Studio with Multiple Video Sources

Did you know that it was possible to live stream from multiple sources at once?

In this tutorial, we will cover how to use multiple video sources on OBS Studio and Wirecast. The same process can apply to most video encoders around.

What is an Encoder?

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of setting up multiple sources for your lives stream, we are going to touch upon encoding.

Encoding is a process used to convert the RAW video files captured by a camera into digital files suitable for live streaming over the internet.

OBS Studio and Wirecast are two examples of software encoders that are used for live streaming. This means that the encoder feeds digital video files to the streaming platform in real-time.

Required Encoder Settings

The following encoder settings are required for live streaming with Dacast, regardless of your selected resolution and bitrate:

VIDEO CODECH.264 (x264 may work)
FRAME RATE25 or 30
KEYFRAME INTERVAL3 secs (or 3x frame rate)
SCANNINGProgressive
ENCODING BITRATEConstant (CBR)
AUDIO CODECAAC
AUDIO BITRATE128 kbps
AUDIO CHANNELS2 (Stereo)
AUDIO SAMPLE RATE48 kHz (48,000 Hz)

Additionally, we encourage you to review some of the best settings for OBS Studio.

Setting Up Multiple Video Sources on OBS Studio and Wirecast

There are two primary steps that must be completed to use Wirecast and OBS to stream with multiple sources at once.

Let’s break down the process.

Step 1

The first step is to select your first video input source.

This is what it looks like on Wirecast:

multiple video sourcesThis is what it looks like on OBS Studio:

multiple video sources

Step 2

Next, resize and adjust the place of the source.

This is what it looks like on Wirecast:

multiple video sourcesThis is what it looks like on OBS:

multiple video sources

Step 3

You will now repeat steps 1 and 2 three more times. The hard part can be tweaking the size of each frame in order to use all the available space.

Once you’ve completed the steps, it will look slightly different on each platform.

This is what it looks like on Wirecast:

multiple video sourcesPlease note that each video input is on a different layer. This will prevent having one image hidden by another one.

This is what it looks like on OBS Studio:

multiple video sourcesAny questions or need help/access to this feature? Please contact us.

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Additional Resources

 

Harmonie Duhamel

Harmonie is a Senior digital marketer with over 6 years in the Tech Industry. She has a strong marketing and sales background and loves to work in multilingual environments.