How to set up a broadcast-quality meet stream with RecordBoard

Every meet can have a broadcast. With RecordBoard and OBS Studio — both free — your phone camera feed can look like a real production: live scores updating on screen as judges record, auto-advancing between events, team standings visible in the corner. No graphics operator. No encoder hardware. No production crew.

This guide walks you through the exact setup, end to end.

What you need

• RecordBoard (Coach or Program plan) — manages the meet and generates the overlay URL
• OBS Studio (free, obsproject.com) — the broadcast software that composites your camera feed with the live scoreboard overlay
• A phone, tablet, or laptop with a camera for your video feed
• An internet connection at the venue (4G/LTE is fine)
• A streaming destination — YouTube Live, Twitch, Facebook Live, or any RTMP endpoint

That's it. No hardware encoder. No capture card unless you want one.

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Step 1: Set up your meet in RecordBoard

Before meet day, create your meet and add your competitions as you normally would. Everything in the overlay pulls from live judge input, so the setup is the same whether you plan to stream or not.

On meet day, open your meet in RecordBoard and navigate to the overlay URL:

https://recordboard.io/meets/{your-meet-id}/overlay

You'll see a transparent scoreboard panel — this is your OBS Browser Source. It shows the current event's top results, athlete names, marks, and attempt counts. It auto-advances to the next event every 15 seconds (configurable), and switches to team scores when no event is active.

Keep this URL handy. You'll paste it into OBS in the next step.

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Step 2: Install and configure OBS Studio

Download OBS Studio from obsproject.com and run the setup wizard. When it asks about your streaming destination, connect your YouTube or Twitch account (or enter an RTMP URL for any other platform).

OBS uses a Scenes and Sources model:

• A Scene is a full camera layout (e.g., "Shot Put", "Team Scores", "Pre-Meet")
• A Source is one element within a scene — your camera feed, a browser source, text, etc.

For a basic meet broadcast you only need one scene with two sources: your camera and the RecordBoard overlay.

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Step 3: Add your camera as a video source

In OBS, click the + button under Sources and select Video Capture Device (for a webcam or phone connected via USB/capture card) or Window Capture (if you're using a phone app that mirrors to your screen).

Resize and position the camera feed to fill the entire scene canvas. This is your base layer.

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Step 4: Add the RecordBoard overlay as a Browser Source

This is where the magic happens.

1. Click + under Sources and select Browser
2. Paste your overlay URL: https://recordboard.io/meets/{your-meet-id}/overlay
3. Set the Width to 1920 and Height to 1080 (or match your stream resolution)
4. Check "Shutdown source when not visible" — this keeps the connection clean
5. Click OK

The overlay has a transparent background, so it composites directly over your camera feed. Drag it to the lower-third or corner position where you want live scores to appear.

That's it. Your stream now shows live results automatically as judges record on any device at the venue.

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Step 5: Go live

Click Start Streaming in OBS. Your stream is live with real-time results overlaid on your camera feed.

Meanwhile, your RecordBoard setup continues exactly as normal:

• Judges record attempts on any device
• The scoreboard updates instantly
• The overlay on your stream reflects those updates within 3 seconds
• When one event finishes, the overlay automatically advances to the next

No one needs to touch OBS during the meet. It runs itself.

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What the overlay shows

The RecordBoard overlay displays:

• Current event name and status (Live / Final)
• Top 8 results with athlete name, team, and best mark
• Attempt count per athlete (so viewers know who has throws remaining)
• Team standings between events (auto-shown when no active competition is running)

The overlay is designed to be legible on a phone stream at 720p and sharp on a 1080p broadcast. White text with subtle backgrounds — readable over any camera feed.

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Going further: multi-camera and venue display

For larger meets, you can add a second scene in OBS with a different camera angle and cut between them manually or via Scene transitions. The overlay follows you across scenes automatically since it's a separate Browser Source.

If you also have a venue scoreboard (a TV or projector at the field), the Browser Scoreboard URL (/meets/{id}/display) gives you a full-screen display separate from the OBS overlay — same live data, different layout optimized for the venue screen.

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Why this works for any level of meet

OBS is free and runs on any laptop. The RecordBoard overlay URL is included in every streaming-enabled plan. Your phone camera produces 1080p video. The total cost of a "broadcast-quality" stream is exactly your RecordBoard subscription — no production crew, no encoder hardware, no streaming platform subscription beyond whatever RecordBoard charges.

For USATF club meets, high school invitationals, and D-II/D-III college dual meets: this is how a meet with a budget of zero turns into something parents and boosters can watch from anywhere and feel like they're there.

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Bundling results distribution

OBS streaming is one piece of a larger results story. RecordBoard is also connected to:

• MileSplit — export formatted results after the meet
• Athletic.net — live push during competition
• TFRRS — post-meet export for college results

The same meet data that drives your broadcast overlay also flows to every results destination automatically. Run the meet once, distribute everywhere.

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Ready to set up your first broadcast?

Start a free RecordBoard account and build your meet. The overlay URL is available immediately. OBS is a 10-minute install. Your next meet can have a broadcast.

If you capture real footage from a meet using this setup, send it to hello@recordboard.io — we'd love to feature it.