OBS Software Installation
Video tutorial: xxx
The system uses OBS Studio (version 29.0) for video recording. OBS is widely used in the field of video live streaming and recording due to its excellent configurability, stability, and open-source characteristics. The software supports multiple input sources, including images, text, browser windows, cameras, and microphones, effectively simplifying the complexity of multi-camera synchronous recording. Its multi-threaded load optimization and GPU video encoding/decoding provide excellent performance. In this platform, OBS provides a comprehensive and flexible video recording solution with real-time preview, multi-camera layout, resolution adjustment, and programming interfaces. The specific configuration of OBS is detailed in the table below.
OBS version 29.0, download address: https://obsproject.com/download
| Object | Main Function | Parameters |
|---|---|---|
| Sources > Add > Video Capture Device | Add 9 K1S293 cameras | In the resolution dropdown list for individual cameras, select 1280×800, frame rate as highest (i.e., 120fps), and frame encoding as MJPEG |
| Settings > Output > Recording | Recording file format | Type as standard; filename without spaces; output container as MP4; encoder as NVIDIA NVENC HEVC; bitrate as 30 Mbps; preset as high quality. |
| Settings > Video | Canvas resolution and frame rate | Canvas resolution 3840×2400, which is the pixel sum after stitching 9 cameras; no scaling; frame rate 30 fps. |
| Menu > Tools > WebSocket Server | External code control of OBS recording switch | Port number 4455; no password (uncheck authentication box); recommended to use with F2 Synchronization Assistant |
In the specific configuration process of OBS software, the following technical details should be focused on:
- When adding multi-camera video streams to the OBS canvas, stretching or cropping of camera views should be avoided to prevent image data loss and ensure accurate positioning of subsequent multi-camera image reading.
- Multi-camera images should be tightly arranged in the OBS canvas, and camera numbering should follow the order from left to right, top to bottom.
- Some cameras capture upside-down images, which need to be corrected by 180° rotation in OBS software, but do not use mirroring.
After completing the above configuration, recording can be started through the OBS interface to synchronously record behavior experiment videos from 9 cameras. Typically, a 15-minute experiment video is about 3.4GB. Players like Potplayer or VLC can be used to conveniently view the videos.