In a previous article, we learned how to connect Zoom to OBS for onward live streaming, while Zoom is very well capable for Video Conferencing and the likes, it comes with financial conditions or some restraints, for example, calls between three (3) or more participants has a 40-minutes meeting limit except a subscription is in place. So, the question then is, what other options are available for financially constrained individuals, to the rescue comes Skype from Microsoft Inc. Now, you are wondering do I need to install pesky skype app for this, well it's a yes and no; the host of the call at least needs the Skype Desktop App, while the guests do not, how is this possible you might ask? Skype team came up with a nice solution called Meet Now, a meeting can be held entirely using a web browser just visit the link shared previously, create a new meeting, share the link to your participants, and you are well on your way to hosting a meeting with good video quality. I digress!
In this tutorial it will be divided into 4 major sections, this is for the HOST, guests do not need to do anything except join the meeting.
1) Prerequisites
As with any setup, there are some prerequisites required to run a complete setup, the direct links will be provided except for the PC specs.
- A Moderate to Insanely powered Desktop or Laptop preferably an Intel i5 or more powered devices with a dedicated Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) such as AMD Ryzen or Nvidia GTX or RTX.
- OBS Studio v25.0.8 (Generally Available version at the time of writing). Please select the Installer based on your computer's bit (64/32-bit), do not download the Zip file unless you are absolutely sure of what you are doing.
- OBS NDI from Palakis. This is a network data interface designed to bring in any NDI application into OBS; the video and audio as one NDI source.
- Smartphones capable of running skype on web browsers, from my testing I found out that Skype Meet Now does not work well with Apple's Safari Browser.
2) Configuring Skype
When you purchase a PC or install windows it often would come with a Skype app installed, or if you use Windows 10 you probably have Universal Windows Platform (UWP) Skype App, both apps are useless for our tutorial so head here to install the latest version of Skype for Desktop, this version has NDI Capabilities built into it. If you already use Skype for Desktop, you can check if it is on the latest version, by going to the Settings -- Help and Feedback, if it shows you are on the latest version of Skype then you do not need to download from the link provided.
After download, follow the install instruction, once you are done you'll be asked to create an account, as the host you probably want to have an account so go ahead and create one. The next step is to configure Skype, unlike the Zoom tutorial we do not need to set a Virtual Cable or Virtual Cam, although it can be set up if you wish to do so.
To access the settings tab, click on the 3 icons at the top, see the image below
Next is to configure audio and video, so when the setting panel is open, do your configurations by selecting appropriate cameras and audio
After the camera has been configured, the final step on Skype is to enable NDI, on the right-hand side select Calling, select "Advanced", and tick "Allow NDI Usage" to enable it.
Note: When NDI Usage is enabled during a call, Skype will inform ALL users in the call that they might be recorded, if NDI is on this will show on the Host Screen
With NDI setup, we can create a call of a simple MEET NOW,
A new window opens where you are provided with a link and asked to share it with your guest(s). Finally, Start the call.
3) Installing and Configuring OBS-NDI
With Skype set up and running, we can face the OBS, for this part, the assumption is that OBS is already installed so the focus will be on OBS-NDI plugin which should have been downloaded by this time already, click on the installer file, just click next, by default it will find the path where OBS is installed, and it will ask you to install an NDI Runtime [if you have not installed NDI tools choose this option] and follow the prompt till the installation is complete, at the end the computer has to be restarted.
Once this is done, open OBS, always run OBS as an administrator [there are some functions that run best when OBS is in administrator mode], this can be achieved by right-clicking on the OBS icon on your desktop and selecting run as admin. This process can be made easier by doing the following:
a) Right-Click on the OBS icon, select properties
b) In the Properties window select the "Compatibility" tab
c) Select "Run this program as an administrator"
d) click Apply.
Now OBS should run in administrator mode anytime it is opened.
With that configured, open OBS, at the top find the Tools tab, there should be an NDI Output Settings option as shown below
Here you can set up either your Preview or Program Screen to Output to NDI and this also means NDI is successfully installed.
4) Adding Skype Scenes in OBS
Since the Skype call had been started in (3), what remains is to add scenes, in OBS,
a) at the top click on Scene Collections, then select New, feel free to rename scene and scenes as you see fit,
b) then go under sources, right-click or click the + button below, select NDI Source
c) In the NDI windows, all NDI enabled devices will show up, each guest on your Skype Call have individual Skype NDI Profiles, unfortunately, for the most part, you do not know who is who because Skype uses a GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) to identify each guest; only the Host is identified as Local.
d) Repeat step (c) to add any Skype Guest you want in OBS.
When NDI is added, it comes with audio-visual properties, but this audio is not enabled by default,
to enable the audio, click on transition, then go to the Audio Mixer -- select the specific NDI audio source, right-click to access the Advanced Audio Properties to set the Audio Monitoring to Monitor and Output.
5) Testing your setup
Once the Audio and Video are setup in OBS, test to see if both are in sync, and in good quality, if all is well, you can click the "Start Streaming" or "Start Recording" button. Additionally, you can create multiple scenes, so video switching will be possible and use the arrays of transition effects available.
BEFORE STREAMING OR RECORDING, ALWAYS TEST
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