Streaming a conference over YouTube
Pexip Infinity can output a dedicated RTMP multimedia stream to enterprise CDN (Content Delivery Network) streaming and recording services such as Wowza, Adobe, VBrick, Abiliteam, Qumu and Azure Media Services, and to public streaming services such as YouTube. Any Pexip conference can be streamed as a live event to an unlimited number of viewers, and can automatically be recorded and stored for later consumption.
If your conference contains presentation content, you have the option of setting up dual streams so that you can output the main video and presentation content channels separately. This means that viewers can simultaneously access the main video stream of the participants and a separate presentation content stream.
The administrator or meeting Host has to decide whether to set up the conference with a single RTMP stream or with dual RTMP streams.
When a conference is single streamed:
- Viewers are automatically switched between the main video stream and the presentation stream whenever someone is presenting.
- When someone is presenting, the video stream of the active speaker is shown in a small window in the upper right corner of the presentation.
- The same single stream (with automatic switching between main video and presentation streams) can be made available later as a recording.
When a conference is dual streamed:
- Viewers have to manually switch between the main video stream and the presentation stream, according to their preference. (However, viewers could optionally view the streams in two separate windows — one window showing the main video stream and the other window showing the presentation stream.)
- The main video stream is not embedded as a small window within the presentation stream.
- If nobody is currently presenting, Pexip Infinity sends a placeholder image on the presentation stream.
- If the event is made available later as a recording, it can only be played back as two completely separate streams. There is no synchronization between the streams.
Note that your firewall needs to allow outbound traffic from the Conferencing Node to TCP port 1935 on the RTMP streaming server.
This guide explains how an administrator or meeting Host can stream a Pexip conference over YouTube.
YouTube prerequisites
Before the administrator or meeting Host can obtain an RTMP streaming URL from YouTube, they must ensure that they have a verified YouTube account, and that the account is enabled for live events.
- From your YouTube account settings page, select www.youtube.com/features). (
- If your Account status is not verified, select and follow the YouTube instructions.
- If Live events is not enabled, click .
Setting up streaming
To stream a conference you must assign a live streaming URL via YouTube, and then add it as a participant in your Pexip conference. There are two ways in which you can obtain an RTMP streaming URL from YouTube:
- Use Pexip's own service at http://youtube.pexip.com. This method simplifies the generation process and automatically uses the appropriate settings. However, it is only suitable if you want to set up a single stream.
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Generate your URL directly from within your YouTube account at www.youtube.com/my_live_events. You must use this method if you want to set up dual streams within the same broadcast (i.e. a "second camera" in YouTube terms).
When generating a URL directly from within YouTube, the Privacy setting is Public by default, so we recommend that you change this to Unlisted.
Note that the live stream will have a 20-30 second delay. This is because YouTube buffers the stream so that it can tolerate brief connection losses and to ensure a good consistent experience. This is standard streaming behavior.
The appropriate procedures for adding single or dual-streamed participants to your conference are described below.
This procedure explains how to use Pexip's own service to request a URL for a single YouTube RTMP stream on your behalf, and how to add that stream as a participant to your Pexip conference.
Obtaining the YouTube streaming URL
- Go to http://youtube.pexip.com.
- Enter a Video Name — this is the name that will appear in YouTube.
- Select a Privacy level:
- Unlisted: viewers must know the streaming URL to see the stream.
- Public: anybody can find the stream on YouTube. This is not recommended unless you are streaming very public content.
- Private: restricts access to only people that you have explicitly allowed to view the stream.
Default: Unlisted.
-
Select
. - If you are not already signed in to a Google Account, you must either sign in or select an account.
-
The streaming URL will be generated and displayed.
If you receive a "The user is not enabled for live streaming" error message, this means that you either do not have a verified YouTube account, or that the account is not enabled for live events.
- Select to put the rtmp:// address onto your clipboard. Leave this browser window open.
Adding the participant URL and enabling streaming
Now that you have the YouTube streaming URL, you can add it as a participant in your Pexip conference and start streaming.
- Add the YouTube streaming URL as a new RTMP participant in the Virtual Meeting Room you want to stream.
Join the conference via Infinity Connect.
(Note that administrators can also use the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface to add RTMP streaming participants.)
- Select Add a new participant.
- Select a protocol of RTMP.
Paste the streaming URL as the address to dial.
- Select a role. We recommend selecting Guest (so that the streaming participant is not shown to other Guests in a Virtual Auditorium layout, and so that it does not keep a conference alive when all other Hosts have left).
- Select .
Pexip Infinity will dial out to YouTube. The streaming participant will appear in the participant list with a streaming badge and a name that is typically in the format a.rtmp.youtube.com, and a streaming icon is displayed to the right of the layout.
Note that administrators can also add a streaming participant via the Administrator interface (go to , select the conference and then select Dial out to participant).
- Wait for a few seconds, then from within your YouTube account, go to your Live Control Room. (You can select the green link below the rtmp:// address that you copied when using Pexip's URL generator.)
-
Select
and confirm.After a few seconds you will be able to
the Preview stream.Note that this is your preview only — at this stage the stream is not being broadcast. The stream has a 20-30 second delay.
-
Click
and confirm, to start broadcasting. - You are now streaming to anyone who is allowed to access or find your streams (according to your Privacy settings). You can optionally the Public View of the stream.
- You can select (top right of your Live Control Room page) to see the normal YouTube view. This is how it appears to users who are watching the live stream and is the URL that you should share.
This procedure explains how to use YouTube to generate a YouTube streaming URL with dual streams, and how to add that stream as a participant to your Pexip conference.
Note that the YouTube Privacy setting is Public by default, so we recommend that you change this to Unlisted.
Obtaining the YouTube streaming URL
To generate your URL directly from within YouTube:
- In your YouTube account go to www.youtube.com/my_live_events). (
- Select (at the top right of the page).
-
Enter the Basic info:
Title The title of the video. Start time Set the start time to 30 minutes in the past (so that it is available instantly). Privacy Select a privacy level. We recommend Unlisted, which means that viewers must know the streaming URL to see the stream. Type Select Custom. - Select . You are taken to the tab.
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Configure the main video stream:
- Select Basic ingestion and select a bit rate of 1500 Kbps - 4000 Kbps (720p).
- From the Select your encoder drop-down list, select Other encoders.
- Optionally, you can upload a Thumbnail for this stream.
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Configure the second stream:
- Select (next to the Main Camera tab).
- Enter the Camera Name e.g. "Training presentation".
- Select Basic ingestion and select a bit rate of 1500 Kbps - 4000 Kbps (720p).
- From the Select your encoder drop-down list, select Other encoders.
- Optionally, you can upload a Thumbnail for this stream.
- Select .
- Produce the RTMP URL for your primary video stream as Primary Server URL/Stream Name of the Main Camera:
- Go to the tab.
- Take the Primary Server URL, for example rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2.
- Append a / (slash).
- Then append the Stream Name, for example alice.b3s7-qz6v-ud09-958y.
In this example, the RTMP URL is rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/alice.b3s7-qz6v-ud09-958y.
You will use this RTMP URL as the first address of the new participant in your Pexip conference.
- Produce the RTMP URL for your presentation stream as Primary Server URL/Stream Name of Camera 2:
- Go to the tab.
- Take the Primary Server URL, for example rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2.
- Append a / (slash).
- Then append the Stream Name, for example alice.gtxc-uxy1-babd-4cqz.
In this example, the RTMP URL is rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/alice.gtxc-uxy1-babd-4cqz.
You will use this RTMP URL as the second stream address of the new participant in your Pexip conference.
Adding the participant URL and enabling streaming
Now that you have the dual YouTube streaming URLs, you can add them as a participant in your Pexip conference and start streaming.
- Using Infinity Connect, add the YouTube streaming URL as a new RTMP participant in the Virtual Meeting Room you want to stream.
Join the conference via Infinity Connect.
(Note that administrators can also use the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface to add RTMP streaming participants.)
- Select Add a new participant.
- Select a protocol of RTMP.
Paste the streaming URL of the primary video stream (from the Main Camera tab in the YouTube Ingestion settings) as the address to dial.
Select Dual Stream and paste the second presentation streaming URL (from the Camera 2 tab) into the address field that appears.
- Select a role. We recommend selecting Guest (so that the streaming participant is not shown to other Guests in a Virtual Auditorium layout, and so that it does not keep a conference alive when all other Hosts have left).
- Select .
Pexip Infinity will dial out to YouTube. The streaming participant will appear in the participant list with a streaming badge and a name that is typically in the format a.rtmp.youtube.com, and a streaming icon is displayed to the right of the layout. (Only one streaming participant is shown, even if you have selected Dual Stream.)
-
Wait for a few seconds, then from within your YouTube account, go to your Live Control Room.
-
Select
and confirm.After a few seconds you will be able to
the Preview stream (of the primary video stream).Note that this is your preview only — at this stage the stream is not being broadcast. The stream has a 20-30 second delay.
-
Click
and confirm, to start broadcasting.You do not have to preview/start the "Camera 2" presentation stream.
- You are now streaming to anyone who is allowed to access or find your streams (according to your Privacy settings). You can optionally the Public View of the stream.
-
You can select
(top right of your Live Control Room page) to see the normal YouTube view.This is how it appears to users who are watching the live stream and is the URL that you should share.
When you have dual streams, YouTube viewers can switch views between the main camera and the second presentation stream by selecting the thumbnails above the main window.
If nobody is currently presenting, Pexip Infinity sends a placeholder image on the presentation stream.
This procedure explains how to stop streaming your conference (for either single streamed or dual streamed conferences).
To stop streaming your Pexip conference:
- Disconnect the streaming participant from the Virtual Meeting Room.
- When using Infinity Connect: the streaming participant appears in the participant list with a streaming badge and a name that is typically in the format a.rtmp.youtube.com.
- When using the Administrator interface ( , and then select the conference): the participant alias is the streaming URL with an alias typically in the format rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com.<etc.>.
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The Live Control Room will report that the stream status has No Data. and the YouTube public stream will now display:
Note that while the stream is still open in your YouTube Live Control Room, you can restart streaming by adding the RTMP URL to the conference again as a new participant.
-
In your YouTube Live Control Room, select
and confirm. -
A few minutes after your stream has ended, it will appear under
.From here you can delete the video if you do not want it to be available for later use, or you can change its privacy settings. You can also use the YouTube video editor to combine multiple recordings, or remove parts of a recording before you publish it etc. (If the video is slow to appear in the Completed events.)
list, you can also check its content by going to and viewing allNote that if you have produced two recordings (because you selected Dual Stream), you must manage each recording separately. When playing back the recordings, YouTube does not provide any mechanism to synchronize them to each other.
This procedure explains how to change an existing single streamed RTMP participant into a dual streamed participant.
YouTube ingestion settings cannot be changed after streaming has started. Therefore the only way to add a separate presentation stream after streaming has already started is set up a new, second stream (rather than a second camera on the existing stream) for the presentation channel.
Unlike setting up dual streams from the outset, this time the two streams are completely separate YouTube events and must be viewed in separate browser windows/tabs.
If you have already added a single stream participant to an in-progress conference but want to change this to a dual stream:
- Go to http://youtube.pexip.com and obtain a second streaming URL. Enter a Video Name (e.g. "Alice's training video presentation content" and select .
-
From within Infinity Connect, ensure that you have a copy of the existing streaming URL for the video channel:
- The streaming participant appears in the participant list with a streaming badge and a name that is typically in the format a.rtmp.youtube.com.
- You can select the participant from the participant list and copy the rtmp URL/alias.
-
Disconnect the existing streaming participant from the Virtual Meeting Room.
Note: do not stop streaming in the YouTube Live Control Room.
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Add the streaming participant back in to the conference again, but this time include the second streaming URL:
- Select Add a new participant.
- Select a protocol of RTMP and a role (we recommend Guest).
- Enter the original, existing streaming URL (from step 2).
- Select Dual Stream and enter the second streaming URL (from step 1).
- Select .
(Note that administrators can also use the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface to add RTMP streaming participants.)
- Start broadcasting the second stream in YouTube:
Go to the Live Control Room for the second stream.
(You can select the green link below the rtmp:// address on the Pexip URL generator screen from step 1.)
- Select and confirm.
- the Preview stream.
- Click and confirm, to start broadcasting the presentation stream.
- You are now streaming the presentation channel in addition to the original video channel to anyone who is allowed to access or find your streams (according to your Privacy settings). You can optionally the Public View of the presentation stream.
- You can select (top right of your Live Control Room page) to see the normal YouTube view and to obtain the URL of the presentation stream that you should share with the conference viewers, alongside the existing video stream URL.
Note that the original conference stream will experience a break in content for the period of time between disconnecting the existing streaming participant from the Virtual Meeting Room and adding it back in again as one of the dual streamed participants. The YouTube Live Control Room for the original stream will report that no data is being received, but this will be resolved automatically when the streaming participant is added back into the conference (providing the original streaming URL is used).