Guide
How to Use SCAPTION with OBS: Live Captions in 5 Steps
Live captions on top of your picture in OBS, in the language your audience needs. For a live event with microphones, a stream, a meeting, or a video you play. No special hardware. Five steps, about ten minutes.
Also in: Español · Français · Deutsch · Português · Italiano
Tested by the SCAPTION team with OBS Studio.
- 1Install OBS and DistroAVOne time only
- 2Choose your planOne minute
- 3Set up SCAPTIONThree choices
- 4Add the captions in OBSFour clicks
- 5Send it to the screen in the roomRight-click, done
Install OBS and DistroAV
OBS is the free video software. DistroAV is the free plugin that lets OBS receive NDI video, which is how SCAPTION sends the captions.
- Download OBS: obsproject.com/download
- Download DistroAV: github.com/DistroAV/DistroAV/releases
- Install both, then restart OBS.
Choose your plan
To translate (for example French speech into English captions) you need the Event Pro plan. Buy it as a single-event pass for one event, or as a monthly plan if you caption regularly. The Accessibility plan gives you the same NDI output but transcribes only, with translation switched off.
Want to try it first? Every new account includes a free one-hour trial, with no expiry date.
Set up SCAPTION
- Open SCAPTION on your computer.
- In the Audio card, choose what to listen to: a microphone for a speaker in the room, or This computer's audio for a video, a stream, Zoom, Teams or Meet.
- In Languages, set the Spoken language, and in The venue screen shows pick the caption language, for example French to English.
- In Output, switch on NDI Alpha Output.
Add the captions in OBS
- In OBS, under Sources, click + and choose NDI™ Source.
- Select the SCAPTION source from the list.
- In the source's Properties, set Latency Mode to Normal (safe). This keeps the background transparent, so only the text shows over your video.
- Drag the captions to the top of your scene.
Send it to the screen in the room
- Right-click the main OBS preview screen.
- Click Fullscreen Projector (Preview).
- Pick the display where your screen or projector is connected.
What your audience sees
Your picture, with the captions on top and nothing else in the way.
Illustration. The text is an example.
After the event: an AI summary
When the event ends, you can ask for an AI summary of the day. You can open it for 30 days. After that it is deleted automatically.
Before the event
- Test with real speech in the spoken language (someone on the microphone, or a video), a few minutes before you start.
- Background is black instead of transparent? Open the NDI source's Properties and set Latency Mode to Normal (safe). The Low and Lowest modes drop transparency.
- Need help? Write to [email protected] and we answer with the highest urgency.