How it works
Every auction has an overlay link: a transparent 1920×1080 web page with the player card, current bid, SOLD stamps and team purses. OBS shows it on top of your camera and streams the result. When you click a button in the control panel, the overlay updates in under a second — from any computer, anywhere.
- OBS Studio (free) — obsproject.com
- A YouTube channel with live streaming enabled
- A camera (optional — webcam, phone or capture card)
1. Copy your overlay link
Open your auction → Go live tab → copy the OBS Browser Source link (or click 🔗 OBS URL in the control panel). It looks like https://…/overlay/abc123…. It is public and read-only, so OBS does not need to log in.
2. Add it to OBS
- In OBS, under Sources, click + → Browser → name it “Auction Overlay”.
- Fill in the settings below, then click OK.
- Add your camera: + → Video Capture Device. Drag it below the overlay in the list.
| URL | Your overlay link |
| Width | 1920 |
| Height | 1080 |
| FPS | 30 |
| Shutdown source when not visible | ✅ |
| Refresh browser when scene becomes active | ✅ |
To move or resize the player card and bid box, click ✏️ Edit Layout in the control panel and drag them. OBS picks up the new positions immediately.
3. Connect OBS to YouTube
- Open studio.youtube.com → Create → Go live → Stream. Copy the stream key.
- OBS → Settings → Stream → Service YouTube - RTMPS → paste the key.
- OBS → Settings → Output (Advanced): x264 or NVENC, CBR, 4500–6000 Kbps, keyframe interval 2. Video: 1920×1080, 30 FPS.
- Click Start Streaming, check the preview in YouTube Studio, then Go live.
First time? YouTube can take up to 24 hours to enable live streaming. Test with an Unlisted stream first.
4. Run the auction
Open the control panel in your browser (it can be a different computer from OBS). Keyboard shortcuts:
| N | Next player |
| 1 – 9 | Bid for team 1–9 at the shown amount |
| + / − | Raise / lower the bid amount |
| S / U | Sell / mark unsold |
| Z | Undo last bid |
| P | Pause / resume |
No OBS? Use the Live View
The Live view link shows your webcam (or a green screen) with the overlay on top in one browser tab — handy for projecting at the venue, or sharing a window in Zoom / Google Meet. For a phone camera, use OBS Virtual Camera or a webcam app on your phone and pick it in the Live view.
Troubleshooting
| Overlay is blank | Open the overlay link in a normal browser first. Before the auction starts the overlay is empty on purpose. |
| White instead of transparent | Make sure the source is a Browser source at exactly 1920×1080, positioned at 0,0. |
| No sound | Turn sounds on in Settings, and unmute the Browser Source in OBS's audio mixer. |
| Updates are slow | Check the control panel header: ● LIVE means instant updates. ○ SYNCING means it fell back to checking every few seconds. |
| Stream drops frames | Lower the bitrate to 3000–4500 Kbps and use the hardware encoder. |