Streamlabs beta could make Mac livestreaming a lot better

Let's not sugarcoat it: livestreaming on Macs tends to suck. Even if you're not streaming games, there's a dearth of high-quality broadcasting tools to add a professional level of polish. Now, however, you shouldn't have to struggle. Streamlabs has released an open Mac beta of its version of OBS that delivers the alerts, overlays, audiovisual controls and chat management that many streamers take for granted. It'll handle familiar services, too, including Twitch, Mixer, Facebook and YouTube.

As with livestreaming on Windows PCs, you'll want a pretty beefy system (including a dedicated webcam and microphone) if you're going to broadcast from your Mac -- you probably shouldn't turn your MacBook Air into a studio. And while there are games available for the Mac, this OBS release makes more sense for musicians and "just chatting" hosts who don't have to worry so much about software selection. Nonetheless, this helps level the playing field and might make it feasible to become a streaming star without having to be picky about your choice of platform.