FIRST Chesapeake Knowledgebase

4. OBS Plugin Guide

9 min read

Contents

Pairing the Plugin
Not Using the Plugin Manual OBS Setup
Picking a Stream Key and Event
The Live Dock
Recommended OBS Output Settings
Plugin Updates

The OBS plugin adds a dock inside OBS Studio — titled CHS Streaming in OBS’s Docks menu — that connects to the platform, so you don’t have to manually configure OBS’s streaming server/key for each event. See Getting Started if you haven’t installed it yet.

Pairing the Plugin

  1. In OBS, open the CHS Streaming dock (Docks menu, if it isn’t already visible). The first time you use it, it shows: “This device isn’t paired yet. Click below, then give the pairing code to your Client Admin.”
  2. Click Pair with CHS Streaming. The dock briefly shows “Requesting a pairing code…”, then a code in the form XXXX-XXXX and “Waiting for your Client Admin to enter this code…”.
  3. Give that code to a Client Admin. On the OBS Plugin page in the web dashboard, they click + Add Device, paste your code into the Pairing Code field of the Add Device dialog, and click Look Up — this shows them your machine name, OBS/plugin version, and when the code was requested, so they can confirm it’s really your computer before continuing. They can optionally give your device a Label (for example “Field 1 Laptop”), then click Pair Device.
  4. Once paired, the dock shows “Paired!” and moves on to the stream key/event picker below. You only need to do this once per computer — pairing survives OBS restarts. Pairing is per Windows user, so each Windows user who runs OBS on that computer pairs their own copy.

+ Add Device needs Client Admin; other members see it dimmed with ”🔒 Needs Client Admin”.

If nobody claims your code in time, the dock shows “Pairing code expired. Click the button to get a new one.” — just click Pair with CHS Streaming again.

Screenshots Coming Soon

Please pardon the lack of plugin screenshots for now — we’re working to get them added to this
guide soon.

Unpairing Is Permanent

A Client Admin can revoke a paired device from the OBS Plugin page (Revoke, with a confirmation
dialog). A revoked device cannot be silently reactivated — you’ll need to pair it again from
scratch to get a new device, following the same steps above. The same applies to Unpair This
Device in the dock itself (see below).

Not Using the Plugin Manual OBS Setup

You don’t have to use the plugin — OBS can be pointed at the platform directly. Every member can open the Stream Keys page. Copy the RTMP Streaming Endpoint URL from the blue box at the top with its own Copy button, then click Copy on the key you’ve been assigned to copy the stream key itself straight to your clipboard (no need to click Reveal first — Copy sits right next to Reveal). Reveal and Copy on a key need User or above; a Readonly member sees them dimmed with ”🔒 Needs User or above”, so ask a User or Client Admin for the key value.

In OBS, go to Settings > Stream, set Service to Custom, paste the copied endpoint into Server, and the copied value into Stream Key. The platform accepts a publish on that key only for a non-archived event of your own Client, from one day before the event’s start (a pre-event test) through its end. This is the same information the plugin fills in automatically — using it manually means you’ll also want to set your encoder up yourself; see below.

Picking a Stream Key and Event

After pairing, the dock shows a Stream Key dropdown and an Event dropdown, with a Select Event button. Pick the stream key assigned to your setup, then pick today’s event from the list under it — only non-archived events on that stream key show up, scoped to your own Client. Events that have already ended still appear. Selecting an event automatically applies OBS’s stream settings and encoder profile (server, key, resolution, bitrate, keyframe interval, and so on) for you — you don’t need to enter any of this manually when using the plugin.

The Live Dock

Once you’re paired and an event is selected, the dock becomes your live status panel during the event — it’s a server-driven mirror of the control center described in Running a Live Event, so the same status rows and buttons (Start Push, Stop Push, Go Live, Stop Broadcast, End preview, Enable/Disable Signage) appear here too, without leaving OBS. Because the dock’s content is sent by the platform, the exact rows and warnings you see can change over time without needing a plugin update.

The dock has three rows — Incoming Stream, YT Restream and Signage — with the same plain-language labels as the web page:

  • YT Restream has the same states (for example Ready for Live, Live to YouTube and Holding — standby slate on YouTube; see Starting and Stopping the Push). Under it, “Today’s broadcast: status” gives today’s broadcast’s YouTube status in words such as Ready, Starting on YouTube, Live or Ended (the full list is in The Event Status Panel). With no broadcast for today it reads “No broadcast for today yet.”, and in manual key mode “Manual RTMP key mode”. A push that keeps stopping reads Push failing — retrying in red, with the reason and the next attempt under it, exactly as on the web page. On a broadcast with the YouTube preview, the line reads Starting preview and then Preview (not public) once the push is running, and an End preview button shows beside Go Live; it confirms first with “End this preview without going live? This is irreversible on YouTube.” (see The YouTube Preview). On the day before the event, the dock’s buttons act on the setup-day test video if the event has one; the line still reads “Today’s broadcast:”.
  • Incoming Stream reads “No audio track from OBS — YouTube may not start playback without audio” when your stream has video but no audio.
  • A warning banner shows when YouTube is still starting today’s broadcast more than a minute after it began (“YouTube hasn’t started playback after …”) (see Health Warnings).

Stop Push always asks for confirmation here too, and Stop Broadcast and Disable Signage confirm as they do on the web page.

The buttons follow the same rules as the web page. A button that doesn’t apply right now — for example Go Live before the push is active, or Enable Signage outside the setup day and event days — is shown dimmed, not hidden. Hover over it to see the reason as a tooltip; the reasons are the same as on the web page (for example “Start Push and wait for it to go active” or “Wait for YouTube to start receiving the push”; see Going Live and Stopping the Broadcast).

The dock also warns about the selected event before you start streaming, so you find out before OBS is rejected:

  • “This event is archived — OBS publishes will be rejected.”
  • “Current time is outside this event’s publish window (from one day before its start through its end) — OBS publishes will be rejected.”
  • “This event isn’t set up yet — OBS publishes will be rejected until an administrator configures it.”
  • “This event is marked Completed — OBS publishes will be rejected unless it is reopened.” (see When an Event Completes)
  • “This event is in an error state — OBS publishes will be rejected.”
  • “This event can’t receive a stream right now — OBS publishes will be rejected.”
  • “This event has no configured stream window.”
  • “Event has no scheduled dates.”
  • “Event starts in n days (date).”
  • “Event ended n day(s) ago.”

None of the “rejected” warnings shows while the event is live or in a pre-event test, since publishes are accepted then.

Two controls only exist in the dock itself:

  • Change Event — lets you pick a different event. Disabled while OBS is actively streaming (tooltip: “Stop streaming in OBS before changing events.”).
  • Unpair This Device — removes this computer’s pairing. Also disabled while streaming.

Recommended OBS Output Settings

When you select an event through the plugin, it applies an encoder profile that your system admin manages centrally (System Settings — commonly: 1920x1080, 30 fps, 4500 kbps video / 128 kbps audio, 44100 Hz sample rate, and a 2-second keyframe interval). It picks a hardware encoder (NVENC, Quick Sync, or AMF) if your system admin has configured one for your deployment, and otherwise uses OBS’s built-in x264 encoder — x264 is always available and is what most setups actually use. If you’re setting OBS up manually (see above), match the same resolution, frame rate, and bitrates in Settings > Output (Simple output mode), and set your keyframe interval to 2 seconds — a longer keyframe interval is a common cause of one of the health warnings covered in Troubleshooting.

H.264 is the usual choice, and what the built-in x264 encoder produces. If your OBS is set to send AV1, HEVC or VP9 instead (OBS’s Enhanced RTMP output), the restream now passes it to YouTube as it is, without converting it. Audio still has to be AAC. With one of those codecs, confirm picture and sound on YouTube before the event: watch the broadcast’s preview in YouTube Studio, or run a setup-day test (see The Setup-Day Test Video).

Plugin Updates

The plugin checks for a newer version and will let you know one is available, but it does not install updates automatically. When notified, close OBS, get the latest installer the same way you got the first one, and run it (see Installing the OBS Plugin). Your pairing is kept. Reinstalling or repairing OBS itself removes the plugin, so run the plugin installer again after either.

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