The Problem with Manual Verse Overlays
If your church live streams, you have probably dealt with this: the pastor references a verse, and someone on the stream team scrambles to create a lower-third graphic or switch to a pre-made slide. It breaks the flow. Sometimes the verse shows up late. Sometimes it never shows up at all.
Vies detects verse references in real time and sends them as a transparent NDI video feed. OBS, vMix, or any NDI-capable software can receive that feed and composite it directly over your camera output.
What is NDI?
NDI (Network Device Interface) is a protocol for sending video over a standard ethernet network. Think of it like a virtual HDMI cable. Vies outputs a 1920x1080 feed with an alpha channel (transparency), so only the verse text and its background are visible. Everything else is see-through.
You will need NDI Tools installed on any machine that sends or receives NDI. The runtime is free.
Setting Up the Vies NDI Output
1. Open the Canvas Editor
Launch Vies and go to NDI Scripture from the home screen. This is where you design the visual layout of your verse overlay.
2. Design Your Lower Third
The canvas is 1920x1080 with a transparent background. Add a text box and position it where you want verses to appear on your stream. Most churches place this in the lower third of the frame.
A few settings to pay attention to: font size (36-48px works well for 1080p), a semi-transparent dark background behind the text for readability over busy camera shots, and generous padding so the text does not feel cramped. White text is the safe default. Use your church brand colors if you prefer, but keep contrast high.
3. Start the NDI Send
Toggle the NDI send button in the toolbar. Vies will begin broadcasting a source on your local network, discoverable by any NDI receiver on the same subnet.
Receiving in OBS Studio
Add an NDI Source
You will need the OBS NDI plugin installed. Once that is in place:
- In OBS, add a new NDI Source to your scene
- Select the Vies NDI feed from the source dropdown
- Position and resize the source in your scene. Since it has transparency, you will only see the verse text.
Layer and Test
Place the NDI source above your camera sources in the OBS source list. When no verse is active, the feed is fully transparent. When a verse fires, the text appears over your camera shot. If you want verses only during certain scenes (like “sermon” but not worship), add the NDI source only to those scenes.
Before Sunday, start the Scripture Listener, say a verse reference into your microphone, and confirm it appears in your OBS preview.
Receiving in vMix
vMix has built-in NDI support with no extra plugins needed.
- Click Add Input and select NDI / Desktop Capture
- Find the Vies NDI source in the list and add it
- Use the input as an overlay layer on top of your camera inputs
vMix handles the alpha channel natively, so transparency works out of the box. You can assign the Vies input to an overlay channel and trigger it to be always-on during the sermon portion of your service.
Network Considerations
If Vies and your streaming software are on the same computer, the NDI feed stays local and network speed is irrelevant. If they are on separate machines, connect both via ethernet. Wi-Fi introduces latency and can cause frame drops. For single-machine setups (common in smaller churches), everything just works with no network configuration.
Combining with Projection Software
Many churches run both a projector for the in-room audience and a live stream for online viewers. You can use Vies for both simultaneously:
- Send verses to EasyWorship or FreeShow for the in-room projector
- Send the same verses via NDI to OBS or vMix for the live stream
The Scripture Listener feeds all connected outputs at once. You do not have to choose one or the other.
Handling the Verse Lifecycle
Each new detected verse replaces the previous one on the canvas. If no new verses are detected for a period, the display fades out based on your settings. This auto-clear behavior is especially important for streaming. You do not want a verse from five minutes ago still sitting on screen.
Troubleshooting
NDI source not appearing? Make sure NDI Tools is installed, both apps are on the same network (or same machine), and your firewall allows mDNS discovery.
Black background instead of transparency? Use the NDI Source plugin in OBS, not window capture. Window capture does not preserve alpha channels.
Text too small on stream? Increase font size in the Vies canvas editor. Stream viewers often watch on phones, so go larger than what looks comfortable on a desktop monitor.
Stream dropping frames when bandwidth wobbles? If you live stream over a residential or shared connection, install OBS Connection Manager. It steps the encoder bitrate down when your upload congests and back up when it recovers, so the stream stays alive instead of freezing.
For more on getting started with Vies in general, see the Getting Started guide. To learn more about the verse detection process, read How AI Scripture Detection Works in Vies.