Does my PC need to be running when I use Cloud-OBS?

Short answer: No. We explain why FizzyPeak's Cloud-OBS works entirely without your computer and when a PC still makes sense.

Does my PC need to be running when I use Cloud-OBS?

One of the most common questions about FizzyPeak: "Does my PC at home have to be turned on while I'm streaming mobile on the go?" The answer is simple: No. Cloud-OBS runs entirely on our servers. Here we explain why that is and when you might still need a computer.

What Cloud-OBS does

FizzyPeak's Cloud-OBS is a full OBS instance running on our servers — not on your PC. That means:

• Scenes, overlays, alerts — all rendered in the cloud
• Multistreaming to Twitch, YouTube, TikTok — from the server
• Chat overlays, live counters, donation alerts — server-side
• AI moderator, Auto-Clip, VOD scanner — fully cloud-native

Your phone only sends the camera picture to us via SRTLA. The cloud handles the rest.

Why this is a game-changer

Old scenario (self-hosted OBS):

• PC has to run 24/7
• Power: ~200 W × 10 h of streaming = 2 kWh/day = ~€30 per month
• Remote desktop app needed to control OBS
• A crash at home = stream offline

FizzyPeak scenario:

• PC off, Wi-Fi off, lights off
• No remote desktop, no latency
• A crash at home doesn't shake anything
• Everything controllable from your phone

When do you still need a computer?

In 3 situations:

1. Scene editing

If you want to edit your scenes, overlays or sources, you open the FizzyPeak Scene Editor in your browser (desktop or tablet). This also works from your phone, but using a mouse is more comfortable.

2. PC gameplay as a source

If you want to include gameplay from your own PC (e.g. in hybrid streams), you need a PC with an OBS encoder that sends the game picture to us as a second stream input.

3. Green-screen chroma key

If you want to do local keying with a high-end GPU (e.g. NVIDIA Broadcast), it has to happen in the ingest source — that is, on your device before the upload. Cloud-OBS can key too, but without GPU hardware acceleration it's less elegant.

How do you control Cloud-OBS?

Entirely from your phone or browser:

• FizzyPeak dashboard: all scenes, sources, overlays editable live
• Chat commands: !scene live, !scene brb — switch scenes via chat
• Discord integration: commands in your Discord channel trigger scene switches
• Voice commands (beta): "Hey Peak, switch to BRB" — via a Bluetooth mic

Does it really save money?

Example calculation at 40h of streaming per week:

Result: ~€260/year saved, plus no stress with updates, driver problems and power outages.

A short anecdote

One of our early users left their desktop running at home for months "just to be safe". After switching to Cloud-OBS: power bill down by €35, 0 outages in 6 months, the PC now only runs for gaming. The switch is simple — the peace of mind afterwards is priceless.

Noch Fragen? Öffne das Dashboard oder schreib im Discord #support.