Table Tennis Live Streaming Setup: The Complete Guide

The big picture

Everything meets in one computer running OBS Studio. The camera and the microphone feed OBS, ScoreStudio Pro feeds the scoreboard, and OBS sends the result to YouTube or Twitch. If you also have a TV or projector in the hall, the same Mac can show the venue scoreboard for the people in the stands.

1. The camera

One fixed camera is enough to start. Put it high, at one end or at the side of the table, and frame the whole table with both players. Table tennis is fast, so a steady wide shot is easier to follow than a camera that tries to follow the ball.

• Position: as high as you can, with the table lines visible, and away from spectators who could walk in front of it.
• Light: avoid backlight from windows. Even, bright hall lighting is better than a single spotlight.
• Quality: a camcorder, a mirrorless camera with a capture device, or a good webcam all work. Prefer a camera that holds a steady frame rate.
• A second angle: optional. In OBS, a second camera is just another source, and you can switch between scenes.

2. The computer and OBS

ScoreStudio Pro runs on a Mac with macOS 15 or later, and OBS Studio runs on the same Mac, so one computer handles both. In OBS set the canvas and output to 1920 × 1080 and a frame rate of 30 or 60 fps, and choose the Apple hardware encoder to keep the load low.

Where you can, connect the Mac to the internet with a network cable, and keep the Wi-Fi for the phone remote. The scoreboard itself doesn't need internet, but your stream does, and a cable is more stable than Wi-Fi for sending video.

The basic steps are in how to live stream a table tennis match with OBS.

3. The scoreboard

Add a Browser source in OBS with the address http://127.0.0.1:8765/obs at 1920 × 1080, above your camera, and turn on the OBS output in the app. The overlay is transparent and updates with every point.

For a team match, the stream can also show the line-up before play, the warm-up of the next two players, the one-minute break between games, timeouts and the final result, each on its own screen. They appear as you confirm each moment, so you decide what the audience sees. Pick the overlay design that fits your broadcast and, if you have sponsors, show their ads inside the stream. See the OBS scoreboard overlay page for the five designs.

4. The audio

In an echoing hall, the hall sound alone can be muddy. A microphone close to the commentators, or at least placed away from the loudest noise, improves the stream a lot. In OBS, watch the Audio Mixer: the levels should move through green and yellow without touching red.

Do a test recording before the first match and listen to it on headphones.

5. The venue screen

The people in the hall also want to see the score. Connect a TV or projector to the Mac, click Show on screen in ScoreStudio Pro and drag the scoreboard window to that screen. It shows the same score as the stream, with nine designs to choose from, and it can show your sponsors between matches. It works on the hall's Wi-Fi, with no internet. See the venue TV guide.

6. The people

With the right tools, two people can run the whole thing:

• The scorer keeps the score from a phone at the table, or from the Mac. Nothing to install: they scan a QR code.
• The operator looks after the camera, OBS and the sound. With the scoreboard running itself, they only need to switch scenes if they use more than one.

If you are alone, use keyboard shortcuts or a Stream Deck to keep score without leaving OBS.

A pre-match checklist

Keep reading

• The live stream scoreboard, for clubs, tournaments and broadcasters.
• All the features of the table tennis scoreboard software.
• Documentation, with the steps for every part of the app.