How to Stream on Nostr with Cloudflare and OBS

1. Download and install OBS (Open Broadcaster Software). You can keep the default settings for the time being (they work for some)

2. Add a Screen input in the Sources window. This will capture your screen and stream it. The screen capture also captures your desktop audio if you have any playing. So, if you have audio playing on your desktop, that will stream as well.

3. Add an optional Mic input (Audio Input Capture). Select your source of audio, in my case I use an external Yeti microphone.

4. Sign up with Cloudflare Stream. You’ll have to probably dox your payment details as that’s necessary for Cloudflare payments. Cloudflare Stream starts at $5 prepaid.

5. Navigate to Stream > Live Inputs and create a new Live Input.

6. Once you have created your Live Input, scroll down to “Connection Information” section and take note of your RTMPS URL and your RTMPS key, you’ll need these for OBS settings.

7. Navigate back into OBS, and into Settings > Stream. Here you need to enter your RTMPS URL into the “Server” input field. Then, add your RTMPS key into the “Stream Key” input field.

8. Go back into your CloudFlare Stream account, and back into the live input you just created. There you should see the HLS Manifest URL. Copy this as it’s needed to set up your new stream on live.snort.social.

9. Navigate to live.snort.social (or whatever client that you end up using down the road) and sign in. If you are unable to sign in, go to snort.social and sign in there. Navigating back to live.snort.social should automatically log you in.

10. Click on “New Stream” button at the top. Fill in the information about your stream. You can host host images on nostr.build and copy the URL. Add your HLS Manifest URL into the “Stream URL” field. Click Start Stream to go live!

If you have any issues with video or audio quality, you may need to play around in OBS with bitrate settings, resolution size capture etc..

If your screen capture is zoomed in and not fully fitting on your screen, right click the “Desktop Capture” source, and go to Transform > Fit to screen. This should set it to full screen capture. You can also play around with capturing only windows.