There’s a ton of different physical interfaces for video switching. You can use Blackmagic, Atomos, Roland, and even no name brands from China are getting in the action on Aliexpress with things that are impressive in their abilities, if not attempts.

But I always go back to the granddaddy (and free) version of software and that’s OBS. OBS stands for Open Broadcast Software, and I talk about it more in depth in my free guide on streaming coming out soon, but the one main reason, the ONE reason that I use it or prefer that as my head switcher is this:

Flexibility. No physical switcher can crop/move/change sources like OBS, in the way that OBS can, with the speed that OBS can. The ability to bring in elements on the fly-in multiple different ways, is the reason that I’m always using OBS, even with additional computers and sources, to ensure that if there’s something that pops up or is needed, we can somehow fit it in the broadcast. There’s so many different ways to use it or be able to use it and get what you need that I really don’t know anything else that’s as complete as OBS.

There’s other software-Wirecast, Vmix, etc, and they all do something similar, so don’t think I discount those. If you get a good workflow, then by all means do it, but I still think that you’ll find that a PHYSICAL switcher won’t be able to handle the kind of power that software based switchers will unless you get into the ten’s of thousands of dollars.

The Moral? If you’re going to stream, try OBS. Or at least a software based switcher to help make them more professional.