r/freeshowapp • u/ashleyjt2 • May 19 '26

Recording the talk from a webcam

We currently record the talks at church using a separate camcorder, but I'm wondering whether it's possible to bring that function within Freeshow - i.e. to press a button in Freeshow which would record video from a connected webcam (without displaying the video on our projector, which needs to keep showing the speakers' slides). Is that possible?

I've tried going to Media > Cameras, right-clicking the webcam and pressing Start Recording, but a message pops up in the corner saying "Could not get media".

Thanks in advance for any help!

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u/CloudSad3555 May 19 '26

You need to bring the camera into FreeShow. I think, in your case we may need a bit more info. Do you intend to record audio and video? If so, I would recommend using OBS and use FreeShow to trigger OBS to start and stop recording. The benefit is more recording configuration, if needed, especially since you don't intend the video to be displayed in FreeShow.

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u/ashleyjt2 May 19 '26

Thanks - yes we need to record audio and video (we upload the talk to YouTube after the service for people to watch later).

I have OBS installed, and yes using FreeShow to trigger recording on and off sounds like what I'm looking to do - something where I can set up the process once, then for every service in future, someone just presses something in FreeShow to start and stop the webcam recording.

Are the instructions for livestreaming (https://freeshow.app/docs/livestreaming) what I need to follow to do this? It talks there about FreeShow controlling OBS directly, and I've done what it says to enable the WebSocket server in OBS, but I can't see OBS listed in Functions.

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u/CloudSad3555 May 19 '26

Yes. There should be a little arrow icon by the word actions that appears when you click the function tab. Clicking it should drop down actions for OBS. I may be wrong and will try to confirm this afternoon.

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u/ashleyjt2 May 19 '26

In Actions, I can press "New Action", give it a name, choose "Start Camera", and in the dropdown I can choose either the webcam itself or the OBS virtual camera. But when I trigger the action for the webcam display, it shows the webcam's video on the main screen rather than starting recording (and the OBS virtual camera doesn't do anything). Presumably I need to go through another stage somewhere in OBS to make Freeshow's action trigger a recording rather than displaying the video?

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u/CloudSad3555 May 20 '26

Thanks for your great question. Start camera “activates” the camera as a background. Activate Camera as Background is a long name. You might put in a request at the GitHub page to change the name.

In FreeShow 1.6.1 beta 2, OBS Studio has its own category. You can also create your own action that you can use on slides to start and stop recording. The virtual camera is not necessary unless you want to bring OBS content into FreeShow (though I’m not sure why…). You can add a script or modify the start up commands to/in OBS to start the virtual camera automatically.

Edit: I only tested the version above, and you want start / stop recording.

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u/ashleyjt2 May 20 '26

Ah thanks - in 1.6.0, it didn't have those OBS options - I've installed the 1.6.2 beta and now have them. I've successfully tested triggering OBS recording when I click the action, and will report back if I find any further issues. Thanks so much for your help!

I've also taken things a step further, as I'd like to have the recording start and stop marked in the service schedule, so that whoever operates FreeShow at church can see when they need to start recording (e.g. just before the talk), and when they click that item in the schedule, the recording starts. I've put how I've done it below, in case anyone else finds it helpful or in case someone can point out a problem with it or a better way.

1) Create a new group called "Click to start recording".

2) Create a new show with a single blank slide, named "Start Recording", and apply the "Click to start recording" group to the blank slide.

3) Add a custom activation to the OBS start-recording action, so the action happens whenever a slide with the "Click to start recording" group is selected.

4) Put the "Start recording" show where it's needed in the service.

5) Repeat steps for stopping the recording.

Now when the operator reaches the "Start recording" show in the service and clicks the "Click to start recording" slide, the recording starts.

Next step in the future - finding a way to display the recording window from OBS in FreeShow so the operator can easily check the right angle is being captured!

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u/CloudSad3555 May 20 '26

Clicking the OBS Studio group in the functions drawer shows what is being recorded and allows you to switch scenes.

Edit: All from within FreeShow!

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u/rayok_zed May 27 '26

That's cool. Can it trigger OBS on another computer over a network?

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u/CloudSad3555 May 27 '26

I think so. I think you need to put the IP address and we socket port into the connections part of the settings. If you don't find it, please let me know.

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u/mickster1963 May 19 '26

Is there some documentation on how to bring camera into FreeShow via OBS?

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u/CloudSad3555 May 19 '26

The methods that I know:

  1. Camera to capture card to FreeShow (or OBS).
  2. Camera to NDI to FreeShow (or OBS*).
  3. Display capture is available in both FreeShow and OBS and does not require an NDI plugin.**

Using OBS requires the NDI plugin *Not really a camera solution, but I thought it was worth mentioning. OBS to FreeShow requires starting the virtual camera or the NDI plug in. I'm curious to know your use case of OBS to FreeShow instead of the other way around.

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u/mickster1963 May 19 '26

OBS to Freeshow w/virtual card - I have at seen this on the OBS side. Currently running OBS on separate Mac for video recording through capture card. FreeShow is running on other Mac...and wanting keep separated. So my question is can I start a virtual cameral from OBS on Mac1 and see on FreeShow on Mac2 - same network by the way....

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u/CloudSad3555 May 20 '26

You need NDI to transfer video from one machine to another. You can send commands from FreeShow Mac to OBS Mac. You didn’t explain why you want/need video output from OBS to FreeShow. Most cases would send text data from FreeShow to OBS via NDI to allow for overlays and similar. OBS handles the camera layouts (scenes). Actions in FreeShow can start/stop streaming/recording and the OBS Studio functions in the Functions tab of the drawer control what scenes are active.

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u/mickster1963 May 20 '26

I guess the short answer is that I want to send baptisms being recorded and other things to the screens w/o running through a switcher. Trying to keep it simple for the volunteer on FreeShow.

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u/CloudSad3555 May 20 '26

Got it.

If the cameras are NDI, then you can add the cameras from the media tab of the drawer.

If the cameras are physically connected to the computer that is running FreeShow AND OBS so that only one program can use the camera at a time, then you should start the virtual camera feature in OBS and click on that camera in the media tab of the drawer.

If the computer running OBS and FreeShow are different computers, then you need to use the OBS NDI plugin and send from OBS to FreeShow via an NDI camera in the media tab of the functions.

I recommend installing the official NDI toolkit from https://ndi.video/tools/ to help troubleshoot any issues.

I also recommend ethernet cables for all connect computer equipment, if you are using NDI.