Video Recording the CRG Derby Scoreboard
Understanding
This guide is intended to help you to produce a real time video recording of the scoreboard used at your game.
This guide relies heavily on your familiarity with 3 topics:
The CRG Derby Scoreboard software commonly used by many WFTDA roller derby games.
Complete scoreboard operating instructions are available at https://github.com/rollerderby/scoreboard/wiki
Open Broadcast Software aka OBS Studio
OBS provides documentation at https://obsproject.com/wiki/
This guide can help with any software or hardware video switcher which accepts website URL or screen capture.
Basic IP/computer networking
You may be required to learn more about operating CRG Derby Scoreboard and OBS Studio in order understand this guide. Any errors or operational issues with those programs should be resolved prior to attempting to follow this guide.
Shorthand for this guide:
OBS = OBS Studio
CRG = CRG Derby Scoreboard
Target Audience
This guide is intended for anyone who wishes to make an isolated video recording of the CRG broadcast overlay during the game. This recording may be mixed with an in-camera video recording later to produce a final composite edit.
This guide does not detail mixing the overlay into a live video production, but most of the steps and concepts in this guide can easily be applied to that workflow.
Variables
Note that there are many solutions and configurations to achieve this results. This guide is written for the most common configuration we experience:
A computer (Win, Linux, or Mac) running the CRG Derby Scoreboard operated by a scorekeeper.
The Scoreboard computer is connected to a network (wifi or wired) and other devices can connect to it via IP address to access the web interface.
Video mixing/recording is set up on a different computer on the same network and can access the Scoreboard Computer via IP.
The setup can happen in any number of configurations including but not limited to:
on 1 computer (the scoreboard computer also runs OBS and records during the game)
without network infrastructure (the computers are directly connected and peer-to-peer networked)
via a video capture device (video output of scoreboard computer to video mixer input) instead of browser input
offsite utilizing a proxy stream from the scoreboard computer over WAN
Video Guide (dated)
In 2018 the YouTube channel obsoletatorium (formerly NERDerby) produced a video guide demonstrating this process. Note that this video does not utilize a current version of OBS or CRG. The process is similar but the software and some of the processes have changed since this video was recorded.
The video guide is provided only as a supplement to help with basic concepts. It is not advised that you attempt to follow this guide to the letter with modern versions of the software.
Written Guide (modern)
Recording Equipment & Specs
For your recording computer: refer to OBS's System Requirements about necessary hardware specifications and features. Recording the CRG overlay is a very lightweight task so only very minimum video processing and recording capabilities are necessary.
The OBS recording should utilize the same Resolution and Frame Rate as the camera(s) recording the game. This makes makes editing the video + overlay together easier. If in doubt: aim for the highest frame rate and resolution your recording computer is capable of. 1920x1080 and 60fps is typically compatible with most video recordings.
Frame Rate must be fixed. Do not allow your recording to utilize variable framerate- this will cause time errors when syncing with the video. Note that many screen capture software solutions utilize a variable framerate which is not suitable; this is why we choose OBS to perform the recording.
Bitrate may be variable. And recording at a lower bitrate is OK. Because the overlay only utilizes a small portion of the screen and doesn't have much dynamic motion, recording at a low bitrate can result in an adequate final product.
Check your record time and disk space. Note that the recording must run for the entirety of the game (optionally stopping during halftime). The record media must have enough space to accommodate 90-120 minutes of continuous recording.
Step 1 - CRG + Networking
Ensure that the Scoreboard Computer is connected to networking prior to launching CRG.
When CRG is launched it will display all of the necessary connectivity information in the program window.
Make sure outside connections are allowed to access CRG. This may require a change in the computer's firewall. See CRG documentation and/or your operating system's firewall documentation.
Find the Scoreboard Computer's IP access URL under the "or try one of these URLs:" line. In the example image the address we want is:
http://192.168.0.31:8000/
Your scoreboard computer will have unique IP address URL but it will always appear in the format "http://###.###.###.###:8000/"
This IP URL allows any computer on the network to connect to the scoreboard computer.
Step 2 - Broadcast Overlay URL
After the scoreboard is launched you may access the Scoreboard from any computer on the network utilizing the IP URL we found in step 1. It's best to access the Scoreboard from the OBS computer in order to verify you have network connection to the Scoreboard computer.
From the Scoreboard home page, copy the Broadcast Overlay URL. Using our example IP, the URL should look like this:
http://192.168.0.31:8000/views/overlay
This is the URL you will utilize to call the score overlay in OBS.
Also note that this view grants you access to the Overlay Admin Page where you can customize the names and colors of the teams. This is vital in adjusting the overlay to look good in your recording.
Step 3 - Overlay in OBS
In an OBS scene add a new source of the Browser type.
In the "create new" box, choose a name for the source. I'll use the name "scoreboard" in this example.
In the Properties panel we'll need to make changes.
URL is updated to the overlay URL we found in step 2.
URL: http://192.168.0.31:8000/views/overlay
Width and Height should be a 16:9 video resolution.
Width: 1280
Height: 720
Note: If your recording is 1920x1080 you may enter these as your height and width but these numbers determine the scaling of the web elements displaying the overlay. High w/h values will result in a very small overlay. Lower values render the elements larger.
In the WFTDA studio we produce video at 1920x1080 but ingest the overlay at 1280x720 for better scaling.
The remaining values on this page may be left in their default values.
Click OK to close the properties window.
The score overlay should appear in your screen and look the same as it appears in the web browser.
Resize the overlay to fit your scene. Click and drag or use Transform > Fit to screen.
The overlay should appear on a black background showing the scoreboard elements in the place and scale that you wish to see them overlayed onto video.
Background (Key) Color
Following the steps above, you're ready to record the scoreboard overlay in OBS on a black background.* That is technically adequate for adding it to the camera recording later BUT we also need a way to remove the overlay's background layer when editing it to appear over video.
In order to add an easily removed color background, add another source and this time choose Color Source.
*note: the browser overlay is rendered with a transparent background but OBS is not capable of outputting/recording alpha transparency.
In the Color Source properties choose a color that will not conflict with any of the colors in the scoreboard overlay.
Typically Green is the safest color for this purpose.
Avoid these color backgrounds:
Blue will match the time-to-derby and intermission clock highlight.
Red will match the timeout indicator.
Grey, white, and black match the elements of the scoreboard.
Team colors chosen in the Overlay Admin Page
If one of the Team colors is green consider using Yellow, Orange, or Purple as contrasting background colors.
Step 4 - Testing & Recording
Now that your scene contains the overlay and a background color, have the scoreboard operator make changes to the scoreboard and verify that they are reflected in OBS program view. Your OBS view of the overlay should update automatically and keep in time with the official game clock.
Recording Notes
Start the recording before the game starts and do not stop it until the period (or the game) ends. Provide a continuous recording of both periods or the entire game.
The OBS recording should utilize the same Resolution and Frame Rate as the camera(s) recording the game. This makes makes editing the video + overlay together easier. If in doubt: aim for the highest frame rate and resolution your recording computer is capable of. 1920x1080 and 60fps is typically compatible with most video recordings.
The record settings (file format, bitrate, etc) in OBS are dependent on your hardware. Ask Quad Media for guidance on your specific hardware.
Frame Rate must be fixed. Do not allow your recording to utilize variable framerate- this will cause time errors when syncing with the video.
Bitrate may be variable. And recording at a lower bitrate is OK. Because the overlay only utilizes a small portion of the screen and doesn't have much dynamic motion, recording at a low bitrate can result in an adequate final product.
Check your record time and disk space. Note that the recording must run for the entirety of the game (optionally stopping during halftime). The record media must have enough space to accommodate 90-120 minutes of continuous recording.
