Every camera, phone, guest, web page and clip shows in one window, in a browser or a desktop app. You put the next shot in Preview, press Take, and the programme goes out to YouTube, Facebook and anywhere else you stream to while it records on your own machine.
Both films show the real product running on a laptop. The camera pictures are demo footage cut from an open Creative Commons film, played into the desk as if they were cameras.
"We go live at ten. There are two cameras, the lyrics run off a laptop, and the service has to reach YouTube and Facebook. It's me on my own most weeks.
Last month somebody stepped on a cable during the second hymn. The stream froze on one frame and stayed like that for twenty minutes, and I didn't know until someone texted me from home. Fixing it meant stopping everything and starting again, so the people watching lost the sermon."
Each of these is in the product today. Where something is new this month or has only been tried on Windows, the honest scope further down says so.
The next shot waits in Preview with a green edge while the audience watches Programme with a red one. Press Take for a smooth change or Cut for an instant one. Both buttons stay large and in the same place on a laptop, a tablet or a phone.
A scene is a saved arrangement: one camera full screen, two side by side, a picture in picture, a quad, a split. Every scene tile shows a moving picture, so you choose the next shot by looking at it.
Paste the address of a lyrics page, a slide deck or a live scoreboard and it becomes a source like a camera, drawn by a real browser with its sound. The words your team already keeps on a website go straight on air.
Name straps, tickers, score bugs, countdowns, title cards and a 3D studio set sit as cards. Add one, put it on air, change its words while it is up. A presenter can be placed in a virtual set with a green screen or with no screen at all.
YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, Instagram Live, Kick, LinkedIn Live, X, TikTok LIVE or your own server, several at the same time. Pick the platform, paste its key once. A recording runs alongside, and the file stays playable even if the machine crashes halfway.
A guest opens a link in their browser and is live with nothing to install. A phone in the room becomes another camera when someone scans a code on the desk. Each phone gets its own name and can flip between its front and back camera.
If a camera dies, viewers see a clean black picture in its place and the stream carries on, with every destination still connected. When the camera comes back you take it again. A destination that drops reconnects by itself and the others never notice.
The desk works by touch with large targets, so a tablet or phone can run the show. Scan a code from the desktop app and that device signs in with its own access, which you can take back at any time. Two or three people can work the same show, each with their own undo.
Presets set the desk up for a church service, a classroom, an esports match, a broadcaster's feed or a channel that runs by itself. The church preset gives you the scenes, two destinations and a red button to go live, and a church already streaming can move across in an afternoon.
Everything you can do with the mouse, a script can do too, and so can an AI assistant once one button has connected it. Ask it in plain words for a name strap or a change of shot. The desk holds an agent to at least eight seconds per shot, so it cannot flicker between cameras.
Each film is narrated and runs a few minutes or less. They were recorded from the product itself, with demo footage standing in for your cameras.
The church setup from start to finish: two cameras, the lyrics over the picture, and the service going to YouTube and Facebook while it records. Watch what the people at home see when a camera stops sending in the middle. The stream carries on, and the camera is taken back when it returns.
A guest opens a link, chooses a camera and a microphone, and presses Go live. On the desk they arrive as one more source, ready to be taken to air. No account and no app for the guest, which matters when the guest is seventy and joining from a kitchen table.
The graphics gallery in use. A name strap goes over a camera and its words are changed while it is on air, then a camera is placed inside a ready made studio set. Nothing here needed a designer or a separate graphics machine.
The same desk set up for a school or a sports club: a teacher's camera with the screen beside it, or a pitch with a live score on the picture. A preset does the setting up, and the recording is there at the end for anyone who missed it.
The desk taking instructions from something other than a mouse. An AI assistant reads what is on air and changes the shot when asked in plain words, and the desk refuses a second change that comes too soon. This suits a channel that runs on a server through the night, though we do not recommend leaving one unwatched yet.
Shorter silent recordings of single tasks, made earlier from the same desk.
Ruth is the volunteer from the problem above. Ade produces for her church and, on Saturdays, for the football club. Click any picture to see it full size; the arrow keys move through them and Escape closes.
Each one starts from a ready made preset. We say plainly what is missing, because you will find out anyway.
First stepApply the preset on the machine you already use, add your two stream keys, and stream a rehearsal to an unlisted YouTube event.
First stepRecord a ten minute test lesson on the room laptop and watch it back on the projector before term starts.
First stepSend one player machine to a test box and check the picture holds steady before committing to four.
First stepPoint one venue at a test box for an afternoon while we watch the link together.
First stepRun it on a test server for a week to a private destination and read the log each morning.
First stepA rehearsal a week before, with two guests on outside networks, from the venue's own connection.
First stepAsk IT where it can live, then run a 15 minute internal test with one remote speaker.
First stepStream a training session from two phones to an unlisted YouTube event and watch it back.
First stepA one day joint test on a private domain, with a camera pulled and the connection cut on purpose.
These results come from the project's own checks, run against two independent test servers standing in for YouTube. The test pictures were made and measured by separate tools that share nothing with GodwinMix.
Through every switch between cameras, the stream held exactly 30 frames a second with no gap. The receiving server logged one connection and no disconnects.
With both cameras dead, the programme stayed live and showed a clean black picture. It did not freeze and it did not drop.
The receiving server was switched off for 15 seconds. The stream was live again 5 seconds after the server came back, with no one touching the desk.
An advert break played every one of its 240 frames and came back to the camera by itself. A scheduled break started within a fraction of a single frame of its time.
These have not yet been measured against YouTube's or Facebook's own servers. The technical overview has the full table of results.
GodwinMix cells come from its own code and records. The other columns are our general knowledge of those products and were not checked against each vendor's site for this page, so confirm anything that decides your choice.
Swipe the table sideways to see every product
| What you care about | GodwinMix | OBS Studio | vMix | Wirecast | A hosted cloud switcher |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Your computer, or a server with no screen | Your computer | Your Windows computer | Your Windows or Mac computer | The vendor's servers, through a browser |
| Several destinations at once | Yes, each kept apart from the others | With plugins or newer versions | Yes | Yes | Usually |
| When a camera dies | A clean black picture, stream stays live | Depends on how scenes are set up | Depends on setup | Depends on setup | Varies |
| Phones as cameras | Scan a code, nothing to install | Through third party apps | Through its own tools | Through its own tools | Usually in the browser |
| Guests from a browser | Yes, by link | Through third party tools | Yes | Yes | Usually a core feature |
| Run from a phone or tablet | Yes, by touch, with access you can take back | Remote apps exist | Remote control exists | Limited | In the browser |
| Run by an AI agent | Yes, with one button setup and safety rules | Not built in | Not built in | Not built in | Some offer AI features |
| Instant replay | No | Saves the last few moments only | Yes, in higher tiers | Yes, in higher editions | Varies |
| Capturing a game on Windows | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not applicable |
| Price | Free and open source, no account | Free and open source | Paid licence tiers | Paid licence | Monthly subscription |
| Where your video goes | From your machine to your destinations | Your machine | Your machine | Your machine | Through the vendor |
| Maturity | Young. First installers published 5 October 2026 | Mature, huge user base | Mature | Mature | Mature products exist |
when one person runs a desktop show that includes games or desktop apps, and you want the biggest pool of tutorials and people who already know it. If your volunteers know OBS and Sundays go well, keep it.
for a staffed Windows desk that needs instant replay, a mature title designer and many capture cards. Sports and event companies with a dedicated operator do well with it.
for a team that wants a mature, supported product on Mac as well as Windows, with a vendor to phone.
when you have no machine you want to look after and every guest is remote. Your video passes through the vendor, and the monthly bill grows with use.
when the desk should live on a server and be run by a phone, a script or an AI agent, when the show has to survive a dead camera without anyone touching it, and when you want no vendor between you and your viewers.
GodwinMix is younger than all of these. Its first installers were published on 5 October 2026 and the current version is 0.2.1. The project does not yet claim to match OBS, vMix or Wirecast in production, and its long running endurance tests are still outstanding, so we do not recommend it yet for shows nobody is watching. Studio mode and the suggested preview, the graphics gallery and the one button agent setup shown on this page are on the main line of the code but not yet in a tagged release. For a staffed desktop production today, the three desktop products above are the safer choice.
Three typical sizes. All of them are our estimates, and the first thing we do in any of them is try GodwinMix on the machine you plan to use.
Half a day, on site or remotely. We apply the church preset, put in your stream keys, connect your cameras, add phones as extra angles and set the lyrics over the picture. Then a test stream to an unlisted event, and we show your volunteer the red button.
Three to five working days spread over two weeks. We fit the nearest preset to your rooms and kit, set up recording, graphics and a score feed if you need one, and run two or three rehearsals. Two or three of your people get trained, and you get a one page run sheet.
Four weeks and up, for a broadcaster's contribution chain, a channel run by an AI agent, or a bespoke plugin. We design it with your engineers, test the links and tally with your equipment, run long tests on your hardware, and agree what happens when something fails at 3 a.m. Part of that month is simply waiting and watching.
A graphics card helps but is not required; the desk uses one if it finds one. On a recent Mac, two cameras with the stream going out used less than one processor core. Full HD at 60 frames a second without a graphics card is more than a laptop can manage, so drop to 30 or use a stronger machine. Smaller machines such as a Raspberry Pi or a basic laptop have not been measured, which is why we test on yours first.
It runs on Windows, on macOS with Apple Silicon, and on Linux, as a desktop app or on a server.
GodwinMix itself is free. It is open source under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (January 2004), as stated in the project's LICENSE file. There is no hosted service and no account: it is a program you run on your own machine. There is no licence fee to us or to anyone else for the mixer.
Some parts that travel with it carry their own terms. The Windows installer includes the NDI runtime on the NDI SDK's terms, and the licence files of the open source media framework and browser engine it uses travel with the installers.
You pay for your own machine and your connection. You pay us for the work around the software: choosing and applying the preset, setting up your sources and destinations, testing on your machine and network, training your people, and building anything new such as a plugin, a graphics package or a build under your own name.
Our fees are quoted per engagement after a short call. If an AI agent directs your show, its model costs are paid by you directly to the AI vendor.
It mixes your cameras, phones, guests, clips and web pages into one live programme and sends it to YouTube, Facebook and other destinations at once, recording as it goes. A person presses Take, or a script or AI assistant does.
Churches, schools, sports clubs, event producers, broadcast engineers, and companies that want a channel run by software. It is young, so today it suits people who are happy to be early.
The software is free, with no account. You pay for your own machine and connection, and for our time if you want us to set it up, train your people or build something. We quote that per engagement.
A church already streaming can switch in an afternoon. A school or club with training takes about a week. A broadcaster's chain or a bespoke plugin takes a month or more.
The stream does not drop when a camera or a destination does. Phones and agents sign in with access you can take back, stream keys are never shown again, and your video goes from your machine to your destinations and nowhere else.
That camera's picture goes and a clean black picture shows in its place. The stream keeps running and every destination stays connected. When the camera is plugged back in it restarts in about two seconds and you can take it again.
The desk holds 5 seconds of the stream and reconnects each destination by itself, in about 2 seconds for a single dropped connection. In testing, with the receiving server off for 15 seconds, the stream was live again 5 seconds after it returned. It has not yet been measured against YouTube's own servers.
That is what the church preset is for: a few scene tiles and a red button to go live, usable by touch on a tablet. We would still train them and run rehearsals first.
Yes. Each person has their own undo, and if one person's undo would overwrite somebody else's later change, the desk refuses it and says who made that change.
Yes, straight away or at a set time, and it returns to the camera on its own. In testing a scheduled break started within a fraction of one frame. If the clip file is missing the break is refused and the programme is left alone.
Yes. Drop in an OBS scene collection and the desk tells you what it could not bring. GodwinMix is not affiliated with the OBS Project.
Not yet, on our advice. The project's long running acceptance tests are still outstanding, and until they finish we keep someone watching.
The code is open source under Apache 2.0, so you can keep using it, change it, and have someone else maintain it. The project has also promised that its control commands will not break without a year of overlap.
Better that you read this now than discover it during a service.
| Not available | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Proven parity with OBS, vMix or Wirecast | Not claimed. The long running and cross platform endurance tests are still outstanding. |
| Shows with nobody watching | Not recommended until those tests finish. |
| Instant replay | There is none. |
| Game capture on Windows | Not in the first year. Screen capture takes a whole display or a region of it. |
| Vertical and horizontal at once | One picture shape at a time, so you cannot send an upright version to TikTok and a wide one to YouTube at the same time. |
| A hosted service | You run it on your own machine. There is no account and nothing to log in to. |
| Personal guest invites | A guest link carries the channel's key until invites exist. Treat it as a password and change it after the event. |
| Sound on stinger transitions | A stinger's own sound is dropped today. |
| Moving graphics and transition packs on Mac and Linux | They have run on Windows only so far. |
| A complete Linux installer | A few media pieces are missing from it, so the container version is the safer route on Linux for now. |
| Capture cards for SDI and HDMI | In the code, never tried with a real card. |
| Figures for small machines | Not measured on a Raspberry Pi or a basic laptop. We test on yours. |
| Newest features in a release | Studio mode's take bar, the suggested preview, transition packs, the graphics gallery, moving graphics and one button agent setup are on the main line of the code, not yet in a tagged release. |
| You accept | In return |
|---|---|
| A young product with a short record | A desk built around keeping the picture going, with its own failures published openly so you can weigh them. |
| Looking after your own machine | No subscription, no account, and no company between you and your viewers. |
| Your IT team's time for outside guests | Guests who join from a browser with nothing to install. |
| Paying an AI vendor if an agent directs | A show that can run from a server, with the desk enforcing the safety rules. |
| Testing a feature on your platform first | We find out in the first days, before you rely on it. |
One Rust binary on GStreamer serving one HTTP port; it is also the CLI and the MCP server. The encoder starts once and every take happens upstream on raw frames, so RTMP outputs never reconnect across takes. Each source and each output runs in its own pipeline, so a failure stays local, and a black slate and silence sit permanently under the compositor. Out: RTMP and RTMPS, SRT, RIST, WHIP, NDI, and HLS, LL-HLS or DASH with an ABR ladder. The API has 215 methods. Docker image and systemd unit for servers.
GodwinMix produces the show. GodwinOTT puts channels in front of viewers on the web and on phones, under your own name, with a guide, accounts and paid access if you want it. A channel made in GodwinMix would arrive at GodwinOTT like any other channel. The two were designed to fit and have each been tested on their own; they have not yet run together end to end, so a one day joint test comes first.