Youtube streaming for dummies (and for me too)
The coronavirus crisis forced us all to stay home. Those of us in the education business are instructed to keep going using online resources. But given the current state of laws, I am reluctant to distribute any personal information (and that includes emails) to any available webinar platform. Several of them have been suggested like GoToMeeting or Zoom by my friends. We have Microsoft's Teams on-campus package but, for some reason not all my students are on the platform.
So it appears the simplest thing to do is to just use youtube streaming service, that allows hidden videos/streams, only accessible to those who know the URL. And I could email the stream info to my students by email without revealing their email information to anyone. So that sounds like a plan but ... there are a few caveats:
So it appears the simplest thing to do is to just use youtube streaming service, that allows hidden videos/streams, only accessible to those who know the URL. And I could email the stream info to my students by email without revealing their email information to anyone. So that sounds like a plan but ... there are a few caveats:- While I do know how to stream a video out of a webcam (as simple as pressing the upload button and choosing "Go live"), just the idea of a talking head does not seem very appealing to me.
- I do not have the time nor the freedom to go and buy additional hardware for this to work.
- I would like to have the ability to switch the camera to my presentation slides.
- I would like to have the ability to switch the camera to my tablet's screen so I can sketch on it for my audience.
So here is where my quest starts. The first thing to do is to figure out how to place some kind of multiplexor that allows me to switch between different kinds of content (webcam, presentation, or any other program window). But for the life of me, I could not find any indication on youtube menus on how to do it, at least during the first minutes. I learned there is free software that I could use, called Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) that after installing it asks me for stream key I know nothing about it. I create a new video stream and copy its URL but this is just not the way. Time to browse for help.
Ok, so it is a bit tricky but not difficult at all. Once you click the "Go live" button you go to a Youtube Studio window with three options in the top:
Ok, so it is a bit tricky but not difficult at all. Once you click the "Go live" button you go to a Youtube Studio window with three options in the top:
So far I have used the webcam option but now I am learning what the rest is about. If you select the option "Stream" you get a dialog asking for some info:
And, besides the name, whether you want the stream to be public or not (I choose not in my case), is something you may want to pay attention too. And once you create the stream you get something like this:
And, besides the name, whether you want the stream to be public or not (I choose not in my case), is something you may want to pay attention too. And once you create the stream you get something like this:
Where you, finally, can see the stream key value generated for this stream (it will be different for each new stream). You can select different levels of Stream latency that will translate into a longer or shorter delay from your computer to the audience. For the moment I did not play with that. I enabled DVR so viewers are allowed to go back into the stream.
So now that I finally get my stream key, I can go back to OBS studio software. This is a program that allows us to compose the video stream, where multiple sources (like cameras or program windows can be combined or overlapped and changed live).
So for the slides of my presentation, I used a PDF viewer program. Other programs I was planning to use during the presentation can be moved to the foreground at will while I am talking about them. Audio can be muted at will too. Any content can be moved around and resized at will, including the speaker's video. And once you place the right stream key on the program and press initiate transmission button, the composed video will be shown in the top left corner of the web page with the stream info. But all these steps are not placing any content online just yet.
Only when you have started the transmission and the streaming video is up on youtube server, the "GO LIVE" button will turn red, and when you press it, your stream will become available to your audience.
However, then is when you realize no one really can watch it if you have not advertised it in advance. You can right-click on the video element on the web page and copy the stream URL to the clipboard, so you can send an email to your students with it. This is what I did and it works, but it forced me to start the stream minutes before the lecture starting time so there is time for me to set everything up and create the corresponding email and for it to reach my students so we can start on time.
Later, I found out what the "Manage" tab on the first image is for: You can create a stream that will happen in the future now, and get both its stream key and its URL now so you can communicate it well in advance to your audience.
But being old school, I was missing the blackboard. So, what do you do? Well, one way of addressing this is just using any drawing program and sharing its window so the audience can see your drawings. However, I won't like to be drawing any equations or sketches with the mouse. I thought a tablet would be better too, and for that, I tried my old Samsung tablet, which included a nice stylus and a small version of PowerPoint. My idea was to be able to stream the tablet's window to my computer and once there, I could include it with OBS in my stream. Unfortunately, none of the programs I tried worked. AirDroid Remote Control almost worked but my USB cable was a charge-only one and that was a show stopper.
I borrowed an iPad Pro with a stylus and tried to solve the problem the Apple way. I installed AirServer so I could stream the iPad's screen to my computer and that worked the first time, nice and easy. The software is not free but it can be used for two weeks as a trial version (the watermark on the stream shows you are a cheap bastard). On the iPad, I used the ProCreator app but any drawing program can do it. I created a green background and used white ink to give it a more obvious appearance.
As a bonus, I reckon the iPad can double as a presentation tool, as there are many PDF viewers for it. And the advantage would be that this way the iPad won't go to sleep during your lecture and you won't be annoyed having to restart the AirServer connection and having to add a new window to OBS as the old one is gone and the new one is just not showing on your stream until you add it to your sources (not funny to do while you are trying to give a lecture).
So here you have it, this is my current setup that worked ok.
So now that I finally get my stream key, I can go back to OBS studio software. This is a program that allows us to compose the video stream, where multiple sources (like cameras or program windows can be combined or overlapped and changed live).
So for the slides of my presentation, I used a PDF viewer program. Other programs I was planning to use during the presentation can be moved to the foreground at will while I am talking about them. Audio can be muted at will too. Any content can be moved around and resized at will, including the speaker's video. And once you place the right stream key on the program and press initiate transmission button, the composed video will be shown in the top left corner of the web page with the stream info. But all these steps are not placing any content online just yet.
Only when you have started the transmission and the streaming video is up on youtube server, the "GO LIVE" button will turn red, and when you press it, your stream will become available to your audience.
However, then is when you realize no one really can watch it if you have not advertised it in advance. You can right-click on the video element on the web page and copy the stream URL to the clipboard, so you can send an email to your students with it. This is what I did and it works, but it forced me to start the stream minutes before the lecture starting time so there is time for me to set everything up and create the corresponding email and for it to reach my students so we can start on time.
Later, I found out what the "Manage" tab on the first image is for: You can create a stream that will happen in the future now, and get both its stream key and its URL now so you can communicate it well in advance to your audience.
But being old school, I was missing the blackboard. So, what do you do? Well, one way of addressing this is just using any drawing program and sharing its window so the audience can see your drawings. However, I won't like to be drawing any equations or sketches with the mouse. I thought a tablet would be better too, and for that, I tried my old Samsung tablet, which included a nice stylus and a small version of PowerPoint. My idea was to be able to stream the tablet's window to my computer and once there, I could include it with OBS in my stream. Unfortunately, none of the programs I tried worked. AirDroid Remote Control almost worked but my USB cable was a charge-only one and that was a show stopper.
I borrowed an iPad Pro with a stylus and tried to solve the problem the Apple way. I installed AirServer so I could stream the iPad's screen to my computer and that worked the first time, nice and easy. The software is not free but it can be used for two weeks as a trial version (the watermark on the stream shows you are a cheap bastard). On the iPad, I used the ProCreator app but any drawing program can do it. I created a green background and used white ink to give it a more obvious appearance.
As a bonus, I reckon the iPad can double as a presentation tool, as there are many PDF viewers for it. And the advantage would be that this way the iPad won't go to sleep during your lecture and you won't be annoyed having to restart the AirServer connection and having to add a new window to OBS as the old one is gone and the new one is just not showing on your stream until you add it to your sources (not funny to do while you are trying to give a lecture).
So here you have it, this is my current setup that worked ok.
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