Interesting Video backgrounds can be created many different ways including green screen, blue screen chroma key, wall projection, rear projection, front projection, digitally printed or painted backdrops, fake sets, props and real backgrounds and locations. Even ugly boring locations can be made interesting.

vMix vs. OBS Studio: An Overview
Both OBS Studio and vMix are powerful packages that allow a range of livestreaming features, but there are a few key differences.

Price
The obvious difference between vMix and OBS is price. OBS is an open-source package and is completely free. vMix, on the other hand, is a paid package. The cost ranges from $60 for the most basic version to $1200 for vMix Pro, or $50 if you opt for the subscription model, referred to as vMix Max.

Sources
Both packages support a number of sources like webcams, video and audio files, sound cards, images, and desktop windows. vMix, however, allows more types of sources such as network device interface and a feature called vMix call, which allows easy integration of remote guests to your stream.

Titles and Animations
Both vMix and OBS can handle text, but vMix has a built-in titling tool, and OBS does not. Animations are possible with vMix but take a little programming knowledge. OBS lets you add a text file as a source – workable but not as dynamic as vMix’s built-in tool.

vMix vs. OBS: The Bottom Line
The bottom line is both vMix and OBS are powerful platforms. If your budget is low, OBS is the obvious choice, as it is if you’re a Mac or Linux user. However, vMix comes with a more robust feature set, especially if you opt for the higher-priced versions. If you’re a beginner, OBS may be more intuitive since it lacks more advanced features.

Either way, you won’t regret trying either package.

https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/obs-raspberry-pi-build-instructions.115739/

We have been using a free, very capable toy for streaming all this time. I better tell the higher-ups.

We use both everyday, it just depends on your use case. vMix is primarily our main switcher, because of audio management, aux outputs, etc. OBS is our main remote presenter streaming tool, and allows the hosts to have multiple cameras without using all their upstream bandwidth. Both are critical to our workflow.

A popular streaming setup involves two computers. The major benefit of this is that it allows the second computer to bear the brunt of the encoding load. Streaming at the highest quality, using the CPU intensive x264 encoder, can be a huge impact on a system, causing the framerates of your games to suffer and making the whole experience unenjoyable for both viewer and streamer.

Another benefit is that if your main gaming PC has a problem and you need to restart it, or restart OBS because the stream is actually coming from the second computer, your stream will not go offline.

The traditional method of a two PC streaming setup involves using something known as a capture card, like an Elgato HD60S. These cost almost $200 though and thus have a slight barrier to entry.

A FREE WAY TO STREAM WITH TWO PCS
Not everyone wants to pay for something like a capture card, especially if you’re just starting out streaming.

Fortunately, a plugin utilizing something called NDI from a company called Newtek has been developed for OBS Studio. This uses your available network bandwidth (not your Internet speed) between your computers and your router to send/receive anything in your OBS preview window.

Since the main PC isn’t actually streaming, this NDI protocol is very lightweight on the gaming system and so the majority of your performance is maintained, while the second PC does all the heavy lifting. All the traffic is passed through your local area network, or LAN also known as your Home Network.

Since the second PC will be a dedicated streaming machine, you don’t actually need some super crazy high-end and powerful system in order to stream at a decent quality. Most old computers can work well as secondary computers, so long as they fit the below requirements.

The CPU must support Supplemental SSE3 instruction set (SSSE3). Please note, that’s THREE S’, not two. Google your CPU model + “cpuworld” to get a result that will tell you if your CPU supports that instruction set. AMD CPUs before the FX/Bulldozer series did not support SSSE3.

OBS Studio and the NDI plugin

Quad-core or hyperthreading dual core for 720p at 30 frames per second

Hyperthreading Quad-core or better for 720p 60 frames per second (preferred), or 1080p at 30 frames per second/1080p at 60 frames per second

Gigabit (1000 megabit) network connections between computers and router/switch. You can verify this on each computer by going to the control panel in Windows > Network Connections > Selecting and opening your active ethernet connection

HOW TO INSTALL THE OBS NDI PLUGIN
Step 1: If you don’t already have OBS Studio, go to https://obsproject.com/ and download and install the appropriate version. Reboot your computer after installation (this is optional but good practice to ensure the NDI plugin installs correctly). Make sure OBS is not open before proceeding to the next step. This guide is for Windows, so be aware of that.
Step 2: Download and install the OBS NDI plugin using the windows installer package. https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/obs-ndi-newtek-ndi%E2%84%A2-integration-into-obs-studio.528/
Once installed, follow the prompt to reboot your computer.

Step 3: Repeat these steps for the second computer
Step 4: Verify that the NDI installation was successful by opening OBS and clicking “tools.” Make sure to click “allow” on any prompts at this point when opening OBS. If you see “NDI Output Settings” then we are ready to proceed to configuration.

CONFIGURING OBS FOR TWO PC STREAMING
The simplest way to take advantage of OBS NDI and a two PC streaming setup like this is to essentially mimic a single PC streaming setup. Configure all of your overlays and alerts in OBS on the computer you will be gaming on. For a step by step tutorial on configuring StreamElements overlays and alerts in OBS, please see the following videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFgrV2aSiHg&t=
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwAfMIR3Cj0&list=PLCDDKlFdScbEwdx5AntcQIS1InkFJwHtv&index=5&t=0s

If you’re at this point, we will assume that you have your overlays and alerts configured so lets go over getting OBS ready for two PC streaming.

ON THE GAMING PC
Step 1: Open OBS and go to settings > video. Ensure your video output settings here reflect the quality you want to stream at. The lowest impact, highest quality setting will be 720p at 60fps so that is what is shown.
Step 2:
Now go to Tools > “NDI Output Settings” and click it. You will be presented with a window that lets you name your source and checkbox as an output. The checkbox we will check is “Main Output.” Make sure you write a name that will reflect which PC you are using.

Pressing OK will activate the NDI signal to be sent from the Gaming PC, so the gaming PC configuration is now complete*. Let’s move on to the second PC.

*Note: activating the NDI output will make you unable to change your video settings. In order to change your video settings if you need to change resolution or FPS, you will need to deactivate NDI then change the video settings, then reactivate NDI. The second computer will automatically pick it back up.

SECOND PC CONFIGURATION
Step 1: Open OBS on the second PC
Step 2: Go to Settings and configure your stream output settings, including your stream key (or “connect account” option for Twitch and Youtube) and set your bitrate. A good example configuration for your Output is pictured below. Adjust the bitrate as necessary for your upload speed and adjust your CPU Usage Preset based on how powerful your CPU is/how much CPU load OBS uses while streaming with this second PC.

Step 3: Configure your Video settings to match the “Output (scaled) resolution” listed Step 1 above for configuring the Gaming PC.

Step 4: Almost there. Now we just add the Gaming PC’s NDI signal to the second PC. To do that, go into sources and click the + sign or right click. You should see “NDI Source” on the list, click it.

Step 5: Once you click it, you’ll be asked to create new or add existing. Create new, and give it a familiar name such as “Gaming PC.” Click “OK.”

Step 6: Now you’ll be presented with a window that should show you a dropdown list of any NDI signals that second PC you’re on detects**. It should show “Gaming PC” along with its configured network name. You may have manually configured this network name, but it may just be random letters and numbers with the familiar name you configured above in parentheses next to it.

Note**: You may see “latency mode” when at this screen and it has two options, Normal (safe) and Low (experimental). Try to use Low for the smoothest stream experience, but if you encounter any issues then leave it Normal.

Press “OK” and your OBS feed from the gaming PC should appear in your preview window of your Second PC. You are now ready to stream!

Once you are here and ready to stream, you can press “Start Streaming” in OBS on the second PC. You must NOT press that button in OBS on the gaming PC, but you MUST leave OBS open on BOTH computers.

Should you encounter any issues, fear not as there is a FAQ video that should help address most commonly asked questions about OBS NDI.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3KlbU5AYP0&t=

NDI® and NDI|HX for network video production
https://www.epiphan.com/blog/ndi-ndihx-network-video-production/

Wondering what low-latency NDI® video over Gibabit Ethernet can do for your live video production?

NDI® from NewTek lets you transmit and receive broadcast-quality video with very low latency over Gigabit Ethernet networks. With NDI, video and audio can be transmitted farther over existing LANs using cost-effective CAT5/6 cables and the quality is virtually lossless.

NDI gives you flexibility to choose from a wider variety of video input sources. You can access multiple cameras, software on computers, mobile devices, and more on the network using a single LAN port. No expensive multiple-port HDMI switches or SDI routers are needed.

The number of NDI sources you can add to your network is practically limitless.

More and more software applications like Skype, NewBlueFX, EasyWorship and others offer native NDI support.

To help spur adoption, NewTek provides free NDI plugins for popular applications like VLC and Adobe Creative Cloud. For all the rest, NewTek offers simple-to-install free NDI tools. For example, NDI Scan Converter lets you turn a computer into multiple NDI inputs that any other NDI device on the network can access.

Another useful free tool is NewTek’s NDI Virtual Input application. This tool makes an NDI source appear like a standard Microsoft® Windows webcam that can be used as a video input for software like Google Hangouts, Zoom, and many others. This way, NDI lets you avoid the cost of purchasing an expensive video capture card for every video source you want to bring in to your computer. All your video inputs are readily available from the LAN port.

A couple more options include the free NewTek Connect and the NewTek NDI Camera app (available for a nominal fee). NewTek Connect makes any camera or device connected to a computer’s capture card (or the local webcam) available to other NDI systems on the LAN. And NewTek NDI Camera converts the output from iOS devices and Android phones into NDI video inputs. If you want to take your content further and out onto the WAN, consider using SIENNA Cloud for NDI.

Adoption of NDI is spreading like a big net (pun intended) since NDI introduction to the public early in 2016. Designing NDI into your AV system is getting easier as more hardware and software options become available. There are also more NDI enabled cameras to choose from companies like PTZOptics, or Panasonic, as well as full-featured video production systems like the Epiphan Pearl-2 that support NDI.

Graphic overlays with alpha channel
With NDI, you don’t need to use the HDMI ports on your production gear to connect an effects computer. All your video sources including your computer generated effects connect through the LAN port. This also lets you offload chroma keying from your production equipment for better performance so you can worry less about chroma effects.

Wrap it up!
NDI opens up new opportunities to make your live video production workflow easier and more flexible. You can save money on cables and infrastructure by using the existing Ethernet network and gain easy access to a lot more video sources at broadcast quality. There are free plugins and tools from NewTek to help you start incorporating NDI into your current AV system right away.

Getting Started with NewTek NDI
https://obs.camera/docs/getting-started/ndi-wifi/

Let’s setup OBS Studio with the third party NewTek NDI plugin so we can receive the wireless video & audio signal from our iOS devices.

https://streamlabs.com/content-hub/post/create-ndi-stream-output-with-obs-studio