3 ms·

Jordan was a little vague in terms of how to get the iPad as a source. I know that QuickTime can capture i(Pad)OS devices as an input source so it might be some

by mrkwse 6y ago

Jordan was a little vague in terms of how to get the iPad as a source. I know that QuickTime can capture i(Pad)OS devices as an input source so it might be some built in compatibility when the device is connected via lightning/USB, but another route is NDI. [1] NDI is doubly useful as it: 1. is wireless over the local network 2. allows you to use your phone/tablet's camera as a video source, which can be a reasonable webcam stand in (although latency will never be as good, so possibly better as a sort of secondary vanity camera) (3. definitely works on Windows) There are apps on iOS that will share the screen content and camera content and a quick google seems to surface the same for Android. As someone who used to work in TV too, the importance of good lighting cannot be stressed enough. It doesn't have to be expensive, but a reasonable, ideally diffuse source of light will make the biggest improvement to your stream vs an expensive camera (and some webcams may need manual adjustment via OBS to best utilise the available light). [1]: https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/obs-ndi-newtek-ndi%E2%84%A2-integration-into-obs-studio.528/ https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/obs-ndi-newtek-ndi%E2...

unnouinceput 6y ago
You can run TeamViewer and feed that as source into OBS.
jordanlewis 6y ago
Whoops, you're right that I didn't mention that. Connecting it to your Mac via Lightning makes the screen available as a video source.
- philsnow 6y ago
  This is great, thanks for pointing this out; I had jumped through a bunch of hoops trying out various camera streaming setups (RTMP mostly, held off on looking at NDI because I only wanted the additional camera angle for laughs), but I never got the latency under multiple seconds. I saw some people suggesting that wifi was causing the latency so I looked up some lightning->ethernet adapters before coming to my senses. OBS recognized my iphone as a video source with zero configuration, and zero latency (ish? low enough that I can't tell).
- Cu3PO42 6y ago
  Is it available as a video source directly in OBS? I know I can open it in QuickTime, but then you'd have to add a layer of window capture... Personally I'm looking for a Windows solution primarily, but if I can open it directly in OBS, I might just run my MacBook and use the NDI plugin from the parent to stream that video to my PC.
  - jordanlewis 6y ago
    Yes, it pops right up in OBS as well as QuickTime and so on. Using another layer of window capture doesn't work very well as I'm sure you know - it gets super laggy!
    - Cu3PO42 6y ago
      > Using another layer of window capture doesn't work very well as I'm sure you know - it gets super laggy! Oh, don't I know. I last looked into this when I had to produce a video explaining the FLP theorem. In the end I opted to just TikZ everything and avoid the iPad route because I couldn't get anything working acceptably well. (Though I never tried just adding it as an video source directy, I assumed there had to be secret sauce in QuickTime.) Thank you so much for the info!
- mrkwse 6y ago
  To be fair I think the green screen whiteboard trick was a much more valuable tip, I've done a similar thing in the past but it's probably less intuitive/widely documented than how to make your device's screen appear.
- chrisweekly 6y ago
  ... and eliminates the problematic wireless latency overhead.
Cu3PO42 6y ago
> There are apps on iOS that will share the screen content and camera content and a quick google seems to surface the same for Android. I have been on the look for something like that in the past. I know of software sharing the camera via NDI, but it was my understanding that doing the same with the screen was not possible inside Apple's sandbox. You can use AirPlay, of course, but then you're stuck with hoping that on the next OS update the AirPlay server software you're bought is updated quickly. So please do name one if you're aware.
- mrkwse 6y ago
  NDI HX Capture is the one I've tried: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ndi-hx-capture/id1501247823 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ndi-hx-capture/id1501247823 In terms of sandboxing, I think it may use APIs that are there for screen sharing on video calling apps. It shows a similar interface to the screen recording feature that was added in iOS 12.
  - Cu3PO42 6y ago
    Well I'll be damned. I wasn't aware screen sharing was available in video calling apps either. I suppose my last foray into this "rabbithole" must have been pre-iOS 12. Thanks!
    - mrkwse 6y ago
      Just spotted it's $10 now, so not a painless thing to try if you're on the fence. FWIW it's worked well for me, decent quality and the latency is not an issue at all for screen sharing, not immediate obviously, but for whiteboarding etc. definitely not an impediment (YMMV dependent on your local network). Also while it isn't a 'universal' app with an iPad specific interface, the interface is just the button to start broadcasting the screen so other than looking a little awkward on launch, again it's not an issue in terms of the output, you'll still get the full screen.
      - Cu3PO42 6y ago
        I tried one of those AirPlay servers before and it worked... okay for me. I've got my PC on LAN and an access point across the room (albeit without direct line of sight) and I still had network hiccups. Since it turns out connecting the iPad to a Mac via USB will make it show up as a video source in OBS (not just QuickTime), I'm inclined to run OBS on my MacBook (also on LAN) with the NDI plugin to stream the screen to my PC. If that falls through, I guess I'll bite the bullet and get the app.

by mrkwse 6y ago

unnouinceput 6y ago

You can run TeamViewer and feed that as source into OBS.

jordanlewis 6y ago

Whoops, you're right that I didn't mention that. Connecting it to your Mac via Lightning makes the screen available as a video source.

philsnow 6y ago
This is great, thanks for pointing this out; I had jumped through a bunch of hoops trying out various camera streaming setups (RTMP mostly, held off on looking at NDI because I only wanted the additional camera angle for laughs), but I never got the latency under multiple seconds. I saw some people suggesting that wifi was causing the latency so I looked up some lightning->ethernet adapters before coming to my senses. OBS recognized my iphone as a video source with zero configuration, and zero latency (ish? low enough that I can't tell).
Cu3PO42 6y ago
Is it available as a video source directly in OBS? I know I can open it in QuickTime, but then you'd have to add a layer of window capture... Personally I'm looking for a Windows solution primarily, but if I can open it directly in OBS, I might just run my MacBook and use the NDI plugin from the parent to stream that video to my PC.
- jordanlewis 6y ago
  Yes, it pops right up in OBS as well as QuickTime and so on. Using another layer of window capture doesn't work very well as I'm sure you know - it gets super laggy!
  - Cu3PO42 6y ago
    > Using another layer of window capture doesn't work very well as I'm sure you know - it gets super laggy! Oh, don't I know. I last looked into this when I had to produce a video explaining the FLP theorem. In the end I opted to just TikZ everything and avoid the iPad route because I couldn't get anything working acceptably well. (Though I never tried just adding it as an video source directy, I assumed there had to be secret sauce in QuickTime.) Thank you so much for the info!
mrkwse 6y ago
To be fair I think the green screen whiteboard trick was a much more valuable tip, I've done a similar thing in the past but it's probably less intuitive/widely documented than how to make your device's screen appear.
chrisweekly 6y ago
... and eliminates the problematic wireless latency overhead.

Cu3PO42 6y ago

> There are apps on iOS that will share the screen content and camera content and a quick google seems to surface the same for Android. I have been on the look for something like that in the past. I know of software sharing the camera via NDI, but it was my understanding that doing the same with the screen was not possible inside Apple's sandbox. You can use AirPlay, of course, but then you're stuck with hoping that on the next OS update the AirPlay server software you're bought is updated quickly. So please do name one if you're aware.

mrkwse 6y ago
NDI HX Capture is the one I've tried: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ndi-hx-capture/id1501247823 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ndi-hx-capture/id1501247823 In terms of sandboxing, I think it may use APIs that are there for screen sharing on video calling apps. It shows a similar interface to the screen recording feature that was added in iOS 12.
- Cu3PO42 6y ago
  Well I'll be damned. I wasn't aware screen sharing was available in video calling apps either. I suppose my last foray into this "rabbithole" must have been pre-iOS 12. Thanks!
  - mrkwse 6y ago
    Just spotted it's $10 now, so not a painless thing to try if you're on the fence. FWIW it's worked well for me, decent quality and the latency is not an issue at all for screen sharing, not immediate obviously, but for whiteboarding etc. definitely not an impediment (YMMV dependent on your local network). Also while it isn't a 'universal' app with an iPad specific interface, the interface is just the button to start broadcasting the screen so other than looking a little awkward on launch, again it's not an issue in terms of the output, you'll still get the full screen.
    - Cu3PO42 6y ago
      I tried one of those AirPlay servers before and it worked... okay for me. I've got my PC on LAN and an access point across the room (albeit without direct line of sight) and I still had network hiccups. Since it turns out connecting the iPad to a Mac via USB will make it show up as a video source in OBS (not just QuickTime), I'm inclined to run OBS on my MacBook (also on LAN) with the NDI plugin to stream the screen to my PC. If that falls through, I guess I'll bite the bullet and get the app.