The following article, helps you to set up Streamlabs OBS settings and give you a brief tutorial for usage. You will know, how to install, configure and use the SLOBS. For the starters, the beginning should be the “How to start streaming” content, where you’ll find basic points about streaming. And if you have any questions, drop them in the comments. Let’s start!
What’s the difference between Streamlabs OBS and OBS Studio?
Streamlabs OBS is built upon the OBS Studio, therefore the main settings, like video and audio are the same. The plus that this program gives is the integration with the Streamlabs services and functions. For example, notifications, different widgets, but you have the choice to follow chat inside the software, how many viewers do you have, or current who’s subscribed.
Registration to Streamlabs
Before you download the software, you need to register at the Streamlabs website. Just pick your streaming platform where you want to go live.
After you selected the platform, you need to give access Streamlabs to it (Authorize). A reliable source so doesn’t worry because of the authorization, and later on, when you’re not using Streamlabs you can withdraw the access from it.
After the login at the left-up corner, you will find the option to download the software itself. It’s available for Mac users too.
The first installation
Because of the smooth operation install to your SSD, if you have. You should install the software in the given directory, because of the permissions (C:\ for Windows users), but if your SSD is elsewhere then install it on that drive.
For Mac users, just install the application. The next thing is to go through the wizard, which is a little different at the two OS, but the function is the same.
After the start, your first thing to do is to connect your account, so later on you don’t need to specify stream keys or anything. Choose your preferred account, then log in. The specified account will ask for access again, which you need to allow.
If you are an OBS Studio user, and you already set it up, with scenes, sources, then this step is yours. You can import the whole profile from OBS Studio to Streamlabs OBS. Just choose one, and click on the import from obs option.
If you’re a new user or want a whole new profile, then click on start fresh.
If you followed the tutorial, then the wizard gives us the option to choose from different widgets, which you want to use later on. If you already know, you want a chatbox or follower goal, then you can add it, but it’s modifiable later on as well.
The last step of the wizard is, again a function that saves you time. The software wants to measure your PC, your hardware performance, then it will automatically set up the best optimal settings for you. We can say, that the settings are acceptable, but if you want to get the most out of your computer, then you will need a little fine-tuning. And yes we will talk about it later.
Streamlabs OBS – Main Screen
If you’re already used OBS Studio, then this screen will be familiar, but for starters, we go through the functions, and how this program is built.
This is the screen that you would use day by day for streaming. Here you can see the streaming picture, and here you will start the broadcast itself.
To get started, you need to add Scenes. You can do it by clicking on the “+” button. The next window is the Source, where you can add different pictures, videos, capture devices, sounds, and other widgets, that your viewers will see.
Between the different scenes, you can specify transitions, then the changing between the two will not be done instantly, but with effect. You can create connections between scenes, to make it easier.
The main sources, that you can find in OBS Studio, you see on the left side. Here’s the option to add your streaming webcam, slideshows, texts, or videos. The easiest way to stream a game, if you record the whole monitor, by the Display Capture. Some games will not react well to Game Capture.
In the wizard you had the option to add some widgets, but here is the possibility again. Therefore the Donation Goal or the Alertbox is placed here, and you can use it without copying some URL address.
The next is the Mixer. This is where you can determine the sound settings, which one you would like to use, for example, external or internal mic, and which is the default audio, speaker, headphones, or HDMI. For the different audio output, you can place some filter, that contains gain, or noise canceling. You can add this, by clicking on the gear icon.
So far, you needed to open up a browser tab, to follow the Chat. Streamlabs solve this, with a built-in window, where you can see what messages your viewers are sending to you. The chat is available under the arrow icon, on the right side.
If you log in to your Twitch, or YouTube account, at the wizard setup, and you added some scenes and sources, then you’re good to go. You can start streaming by clicking on the “Go Live” button. Also, you can find the record button (REC) here, by saving later the stream you have the option to create montages or compilations later on.
Streamlabs OBS is saving your settings, so you don’t need to do anything, like in OBS Studio.
The Layout Editor
The above-mentioned screen is editable, by the built-in UI Customization, or we can call it layout editor, for your needs. You can add different elements, like Mini Feed, where you can instantly see who’s subscribed to your channel. If you’re done, click on Save Changes.
Cloudbot, your moderator
The Cloudbot is also available inside SLOBS, now you don’t need to log in to the website. After you grant the permission to Cloudbot, you can set conditions, and rules, that your viewers need to follow, while using chat. If they’re using insulting words or doubtful links, then the chatbot instantly blocks them, and you don’t need to always look for these.
Streamlabs OBS Settings
The settings are placed at the lower-left corner, under the gear icon.
The first stab is the General Settings, for example, the software language. Here you wouldn’t find any interesting option, for us right now.
The next tab is the Stream Settings. Here you can select which streaming platform you want to use for broadcast. After you decided what you want to use, just log in, and start live streaming.
Streamlabs OBS one of the best functions is the multistreaming option at the same time. So your followers can watch you on Twitch, or at Facebook.
Output
We arrived at the most crucial settings. The settings you can see in the picture are for a middle-ranged computer. But let’s go through the different options, how you can fine-tune to your hardware specs, however, you can find the same in OBS Studio.
- Audio Track is matters for the recording option, because if you choose it, you can save to different track your computer and microphone sound,
- Encoder best option is the x264, which is a software solution. With this your CPU power will be used for streaming and recording. The NVENC (NVIDIA GPU) or AVC Encoder (AMD GPU) options are for who want to use their videocard for encoding. For the newer videocard’s owners the NVENC (new) is an option too,
- If your computer specs hardly reaches the minimum or medium specs, then on the Output Resolution, you should choose the HD (1280 x 720px). If you have more hardware power, then turn off this setting, and go live with Full HD (1920 x 1080px),
- At the Bitrate you need to determine, again, your pc power, and your internetspeed. For the calculation you can use the bitrate calculator. If you want to stream at Full HD, with 30 FPS, the must is 3000 – 4000 bitrate. If you level up with 60 FPS, then 6000 kbps,
- The simple HD, is only requires 1500 – 2000 kbps, but if your set it too low, then the image quality spoil, and the stream can lag,
- But if you’re setting this value for 6000, that means, it needs 6 MB/s from your upload speed,
- The keyframe interval, based on Twitch, YouTube and Facebook recommendations, it needs to be 2 sec,
- CPU Usage Preset is for determining, how much power it burns from your pc. As you set higher, it will need less CPU power, but the streaming quality will be lower,
- At the Profile you need to set it to main, by Twitch. With that, you set the CPU and RAM usage,
- The other settings is not relevant now.
You can see what Twitch recommends, on this page.
The bitrate, the output rescale, the CPU usage, and the profile is depending on your specs, and your environment, so you need to experience which works for you. The settings we discussed before, are a good starting point, but for the best settings, you need to fine-tune them. If you need some help, drop your specs in the comments.
At the recording tab, you can specify the saving path, the format, and other things. For the recording file extension pick MP4 or FLV, then if your PC is crashed the records are still usable.
Audio Settings
In this settings tab, you can set the quality of the streaming sound, sample rate. The recommended quality is 44.1 kHz, by Twitch requirements. You can set it up, but that only matters at the recording, not in streaming. You can set here the equipment you want to use, like a microphone, headphones, or speaker.
Video
The Base Resolution is your screen resolution.
The output resolution, if you have a less powerful computer or notebook, then It needs to be HD (1280 x 720), but you can set it Full HD (1920 x 1080) too.
The Downscale Filter setting depends on your computer specs. The Bilinear is the lowest one, while the Lanczos is the highest, but for that count a minimum 6 or 8 core CPU. The Bicubic is placed between the two, which is a good base point for the start.
The FPS value is in general 30, but you can set it down (if your stream is lagging), to 25 FPS. Of course, there’s the option to set it to 60 FPS.
At the Hotkeys option, you can set different rules for the different key pushes. If you have only one screen you should set these settings, at least the Start of the stream and the End Stream settings. Then if something happens, you can instantly stop streaming.
The Advanced settings contain some interesting settings, like the Process Priority, the Filename Formatting, or the Stream Delay, who want to create a game contest.
The Game Overlay tab is for in-game settings. You can see the chat, and the different events, while you are streaming, and playing. This function is still in beta, so test it before you apply it in production.
The Scene Collections and the Notifications are for exporting and importing settings, and you can set the notifications sounds and other things.
At Appearance, you can choose the theme of the software, and the scene item selection method, etc.
Last but not least, at the Remote Control tab, you can control the software with an app, which is available for Android and iOS. If you don’t have a secondary monitor, then it’s the best solution for you, and it’s a better one than the Hotkeys.
Themes, pages, applications – Streamlabs Prime
The other advantage of the Streamlabs OBS, that you can find built-in themes, widgets, and applications. You can install easily the different animations, and your broadcast is instantly more professional.
We should mention, that most of these are available in the Streamlabs Prime subscription, which is $12/mo. You can subscribe here.
After subscription, a whole website will be available for you, and you can place some information about yourself, stream a calendar, etc. But a professional streamer, who wants to earn a decent amount of money should have a full site for the broadcast. Then you can share the contents and with a little break away from the streaming platform you can be a little independent.
These are the main settings of the Streamlabs OBS. If you have any questions drop’em in the comment section, so everyone can learn.
