OBS on Manjaro Linux - Best Solution So Far!!

[rob215x]

Hi, I've only been streaming a few weeks but I love OBS. I'm also on Manjaro Linux and it's been my primary OS for over 3 years.

This post is for anyone having trouble with OBS on Manjaro Linux, especially the missing "browser" source. I just spent 3 days installing and uninstalling various flavors of OBS, searching forums, watching Youtube videos, and being generally frustrated. Also, I hope the people at OBS will read this and consider supporting Manjaro. I'll have more about that at the end of this post.

Below are the four types of OBS installs I tried. ONLY THE LAST ONE has everything I wanted. TLDR; skip to number 4.

1. Default Install​

I originally installed OBS from the default "Add/Remove Software" interface. If you search for OBS, this is the one that comes up first and has the OBS logo. It worked fine until I wanted to use the "browser" source, which does not exist in that installation.

Installed using Pamac (Add/Remove):​

- OBS Studio (obs-studio) 27.2.4-2 - Repository: Community - Packager: Christian Hesse <eworm at archlinux dot org> - Build Date: Mon 11 Jul 2022 04:35:15 PM EDT

PLUGINS INSTALLED:​

obs-downstream-keyer
obs-streamfx

NOTES​

• Program runs fine, both plugins work perfectly, I've done about 20 hours of streaming on Twitch over 3 weeks.
• There is NO "browser" source in the menu, so I can't use any of that functionality
• There is NO Twitch account integration (which is fine). I'm using my stream key

2. Flatpak Install​

• Uninstalled the previous OBS and all plugins, rebooted.
• I already had Flatpak installed. I've used it for something else.
• Installed OBS using flatpak in a terminal:

$ flatpak install flathub com.obsproject.Studio
This installed OBS Studio 27.2.4 (how is this different from 27.2.4-2 ??)

PLUGINS INSTALLED​

NONE.
The plugins I want (StreamFX, Downstream Keyer) are not available. Installing the plugins from AUR doesn't work.

NOTES​

• Program runs fine. I was able to import my scenes from my previous install.
• "browser" source IS AVAILABLE and works!! I was able to live stream my phone's camera feed over wifi to OBS.
• Twitch integration works! I was able to add docks for my Twitch chat and Twitch stats.

At this point, I've streamed with 2 different installations and EACH has pros and cons.

• Twitch integration is nice but I DON'T NEED IT.
• I DEFINITELY need StreamFX and Downstream-Keyer. But I don't see those available through Flatpak. Is there some other method?
• I ALSO need the "browser" source because there are many things I want to do with that.

So, I uninstalled the Flatpak version of OBS and rebooted...

3. Alternative OBS Installs​

In Add/Remove Software, if you search for obs you will get a long list of items. There are several "alternative" versions of OBS Studio, including:
obs-studio-browser obs-studiuo-rc obs-studio-tytan652
These claim to support everything except service integration, which is fine with me. However...

I TRIED to install using Pamac (Add/Remove):​

- obs-studio-browser 27.2.4-2 - Repository: AUR - Maintainer: tytan652 <tytan652 at tytanium dot xyz> - Last Modified: Tues 05 Jul 2022 03:37:42 PM EDT

DOES NOT INSTALL​

• Each one has a dependency called "ffmpeg-obs" which is a modified version of the standard ffmpeg. I'm not going to replace the regular ffmpeg and risk messing up something else on my system. Many other programs on my system rely on ffmpeg.
• IMHO its the wrong approach to modify another, widely used app (ffmpeg) instead of finding some other solution. I certainly don't want to offend anyone who may have spent hours or days working on the above solution, but I just don't agree with it.
• the Flatpak install did NOT require a custom ffmpeg so I don't see why I should mess with my default system apps.

4. Current Best Solution IMHO: obs-studio-git​

At this point I was pretty frustrated and I was about to give up. But, then I tried...

Installed using Pamac (Add/Remove):​

- obs-studio-git 27.2.0.777-1 - Repository: AUR - Maintainer: benklett https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/obs-studio-git - Last Modified: Sun 27 Mar 2022 05:40:55 PM EDT

PLUGINS INSTALLED:​

obs-downstream-keyer
obs-streamfx

NOTES​

• It is installed through the default installer with no command line tweaks or hacks.
• Both plugins installed and seem to work. I will need to do some streaming to test them
• "browser" source IS AVAILABLE and works!!
• There is NO Twitch account integration (which is fine). I'm using my stream key.

CONCLUSION​

I've seen so much discussion about why OBS is missing features on Manjaro (or Arch because Manjaro is based on it). I even watched a Youtube video where the OP explained in detail why this and that doesn't work on Linux (or Arch, etc).

But, my current installation of obs-studio-git proves them wrong?? The default browser source DOES WORK and I didn't need
some modified version of ffmpeg that won't get regular updates like the normal one. Third party plug-ins like StreamFX DO WORK and can be installed the "normal" way using Add/Remove. I'm going to do a livestream later tonight (27 July 2022 11pm EDT) using this install.

For the people at OBS: Manjaro is a very popular Linux distribution, and I would venture to say equally as popular as Ubuntu. I did a quick search for articles about Manjaro and this one reflects most of the reasons why I've been using Manjaro for the past 3 years instead of Debian (I used for several years) or plain Arch: https://itsfoss.com/why-use-manjaro-linux/

In case anyone is curious or needs this info:

My System:
  Kernel: 5.15.55-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.1.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.15-x86_64
    root=UUID=********************************** rw quiet intel_iommu=on
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.16.0 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.29 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm
    v: 4.16.1 vt: 7 dm: 1: GDM v: 42.0 note: stopped 2: LightDM v: 1.30.0
    Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux

My Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/rob215x

I hope this post helps someone. I hope the people at OBS can use this info to support a wider base of people who would like to try this amazing software!

 

[rob215x]

I'm seeing videos for OBS version 28 on YouTube and I really hope I can get this soon on my own Linux PC, running Manjaro XFCE. I'm still using obs-studio-git with fully functional browser sources and my 2 favorite plugins- StreamFX and Downstream Keyer! I'm streaming 2 or 3 times a week.

I'd like to learn more about the difficulties with the different Linux releases and I'm certainly willing to help out any way I can, even if its just beta testing.

Thanks!