How to Set Up Youtube for Live Streaming

In order to live-stream  with multiple cameras with Youtube live, you need to set up at least one event. Then add cameras to this event. Each camera is associated with a stream. A stream consists of the address of the streaming server and the stream name/key as we saw in setting up smartphones for streaming and setting up Youtube for simple live streaming. 

Once the events, streams and cameras are set up, you switch to the Live Control Room from where you can preview the event, monitor the live stream through video and statistics (analytics) and turn off streaming. The Control Room interface includes an indication of stream health - whether the server is receiving data from you encoder and at what speed.

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The steps involved in setting up for multi-camera streaming are as follows:

1. Sign in to a verified Youtube account. Verification requires that you have observed the rules for Youtube accounts and have not infringed on copyright in the last 90 days.

 2. Once you are logged in, locate the Youtube Creator Studio. 

 

 3. In the Creator Studio show below, you will find several menu options including Dashboard, Video Manager, and Live Streaming. 

The Dashboard will be very useful when you need to edit or delete the recorded  live streamed video. Live streamed videos are automatically recorded by Youtube.

Creator Studio Interface

4. The Live Streaming option has the Stream Now option which was described in the article on simple live streaming. In this article, we want to explore Events.

The right hand panel in the Events menu allows you to edit an delete and event. It also allows you to enter the Live Control Room and manage a particular event. Your events are listed here. You can use the settings of one event to set up a new event to save time. This feature is especially useful when events are similar to each other. For example, a church service that happens each Sunday at the same place and same time.

Events Sub-Menu

youtube live streaming settings

 5. The next step involves creating a new event. The illustration below shows Button 1 that can be used for this purpose. Button 2 is used to enter the Live Control Room while Button 3 is used to edit events.

Functions in the Event Sub-Menu

6.  This illustration shows another way to create a new event.

Alternative Way to Create an Event

7.  To create an event, supply the information shown in the illustration below that includes:

• Name of the event
• Event starting and ending times and dates. Dates need to be logical - end date should come is after start date, start date is "now" or in the future, not in the past.
• The Time Zone of the event location.

Creating an Event

youtube live streaming settings

 8. To the right side of the same screen, you can select whether the event is private or public. You can also send  message to your Twitter and Google+ accounts to publicize the event. After this, you now click the "Create Event" button to create the event.

"Create Event" Button

The event can be public (open to all), private (restricted access) or unlisted (invisible to others)  

Privacy Settings

 9.  The following screenshots show the Advanced Settings sections of events configuration. Most of these settings are self-explanatory.

10. We are now ready for the Ingestion Settings that include (i) adding cameras and (ii) setting up streams. The Main Camera can not be renamed. Ingestion refers to the act of feeding the streaming server with video and audio data in the right format.  The Main Camera is the first to be configured.  Additional cameras can be assigned customized names.

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Ingestion Settings

 

11.  A stream key can be either selected from keys that you created and saved in the past or created afresh. It is safer to create a new stream as shown below.Three main settings are required:

• The stream name
• Stream description
• Bit rate

The bit rates are standardized and indicate the maximum bits per second the stream will support. However, there is a VARIABLE setting that is beta (under test). See Google's standard video settings  at this site.

New Stream Menu

Creating a New Stream

Add caption

12. You now have the stream name/key and the URL as shown below. The Stream Name (also called the stream key) and Primary Server URL are combined to create  the Larix Broadcaster URL as follows:

rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com:1935/live2/sgkw-jb1j-6bjh-8xs1

• The number 1935 is the port number. For Google's live streaming servers, it is currently 1935.
• The blue text is the Stream name.
• If there is any error in the URL, the encoder will not connect to the streaming server.

In some encoders, these parameters may need to be entered separately.

Encoder Parameters

13.   Up to six additional cameras may be set up. However, ensure each has sufficient bandwidth on your Internet connection. Stream names should match the camera to which they are assigned. Reusable stream names can be used during other events but we found that two cameras that are live at the same time can not share the same stream names. When viewers access the live video on Youtube, camera names are visible and viewer-selectable.

Adding a Camera

 14. Once the cameras and associated streams are ready, set up the encoders. In this example, we will use the Android app called Larix Broadcaster and the encoder.  See this article on how to configure the Larix Broadcaster. Once configured, start streaming. It's important to get clean shots right from the beginning because Youtube records the stream.This stream may be viewed by a large number of people. The quality of the stream may influence your public image. Maintain high standards in your videography.

Encoders are software or hardware that feed the streaming server with video and audio in the correct format. Typically, they acquire the video and audio from a camera and, if necessary, digitize and convert to an appropriate format before sending to the streaming server using the server-dependent protocol. In this case the protocol is RTMP which is the

real-time messaging protocol.

15.  Once the encoder is streaming, it's time to visit the Live Control Room shown below. Press Preview to see the stream before the event becomes visible to your viewers. The Control Room interface allows you to see both the preview stream and the public stream. The viewers will begin seeing the stream at the time you set as the start time for the event in step 7. The Control Room provides:

•  A view of stream information including stream heath
• Stream management interface
• Stream analytics (information on viewership)
• Live chat with viewers (if you have enabled it)
• Stream termination buton

Live Control Room

Public View and Live Chat

Analytics

 Once events have been set up, the Events sub-menu in the Creator Studio allows events to be edited or deleted. Key event information is shown. The interface provides access to the Control Room in addition to the ability to create a new event using the current event as a template.

Events View

 Below is the stream Actions menu. In it you an set up monetization, privacy, license type or delete the stream.

Events Actions

In Summary

1. Create an event
2. Define streams within the event. Typically each stream is associated with a camera and is identified by a stream name ( or key) in addition to the server URL. These two parameters are used to configure the encoder.
3. Once the encoder is ready and running, visit the Live Control Room to manage the event.

 Hardware and Software

There are many hardware and software options for live video streaming. The one described here relies on a smartphone, Larix Broadcaster and Youtube Live. It is illustrated below:

Typically, the smartphone will connect to a wireless router via Wifi then on to the Internet via a 4G connection.  When using a wireless router, the Internet speeds are determined by this router and not by the 3G or 4G rating of the phone. However, the phone can connect to Youtube directly via a 3G or 4G link rather than through a router. 3G networks can be used but expect lower video quality since you are unlikely to achieve high definition (HD) video streams through a 3G link. Larix offers a wide range of video resolutions but follow  Youtube recommendations. By testing different resolutions, you can tell what will work well in your environment. However, anything below 360p is not likely to be acceptable to viewers.

The above Youtube configuration is the more tedious while Larix configuration is relatively trivial.

See this article on how to configure Larix and this article on how to configure simple live streaming on Youtube.