Someone asked me what software we’re using to stream at the church. That’s a good question, but I am guessing they are going to need more information, so I am putting it here.

Software

We have some good tech guys that use OBS. It’s a free application.

If you want something a little friendlier and still affordable, you might try vMix.

Camera and Cables

We use a camera with HDMI output in the front of the sanctuary. Since the building is long, we have to run that HDMI signal through Black Magic Design’s HDMI to SDI so we can send it over coax to the PC in the back of the church. Then back through another (opposite) Black Magic Design SDI to HDMI converter to get it back to a standard HDMI cable.

We run that HDMI signal into an elgato HDMI to USB3 Converter. Plug that elgato into a USB 3 port on a PC.

We take the audio from the soundboard which is right next to the PC. OBS and vMix will mix those together for you if you add them as sources.

On the PC

The PC software (OBS or vMix) readies the video for Facebook or YouTube. You’ll have to enter the sources (both audio and video). Refer to your software manual for how to do this. When the software is set up, you should see the video from the camera on the screen of your PC in the software.

Open either Facebook or YouTube in a web browser, log into your church page, and start a live stream. Somewhere on that web page, you’ll see Facebook (or YouTube) provide you with the “stream key”.

Copy that key into the settings on OBS for whichever platform (FB or YouTube) you are using.

Then you can start the stream in OBS and it will feed it to your browser (either Facebook or YouTube, depending which you chose). If it’s YouTube, it starts streaming immediately. If it’s Facebook, you have to go back to Facebook and press “start stream”.

Easy, huh?