How to Broadcast Live on Your Website

Broadcasting Live Video

Before you begin, you may need a few pieces of equipment to get your video on your website.

1. Camera

The first is your camera or recording/capture device. This can be as basic as a webcam or as high tech as a 4k Ultra HD. What’s going to be important is that you have the right device for the right job. Also keep in mind that most cameras are made with the intention of recording, so you want to make sure your cameras has the capability of streaming as well. 

Also its a great idea to have a camera with a HDMI connection as these produce the best looking streams. 

You may also want to look into whatever audio equipment you are going to use as some people do not like the quality of the built in mics on their cameras.

2. Encoding

One of the least understood pieces to the puzzle is encoding. There are two ways to encode: software or hardware (like a standalone encoder but these can be much more expensive). Software is probably going to be your best bet as it is not only effective, it is also very cheap. 

Encoding simply compresses the video or changes the format to one that is optimized for broadcast over the internet. Your camera output might be putting out something like 25 Mbps and obviously if your upload speed is less then you wont be able to broadcast live. This is what encoding does, it will compress that video down to a streaming size that is manageable (something like 3 Mbps) so that you have a smooth broadcast without interruption.

3. Internet Connection

 You must have an internet connection that is steady and reliable with a decent upload speed. You want to make sure that your upload speed is much faster than your encoding speed. For example, if your upload speed averages 5Mbps and your encoder is set to encode the video at 2.5 Mbps then you should be all set. You have to make sure that your upload speed is quite a bit faster than your video encoding speed because your connection may vary up and down throughout the broadcast.

4. Video CDN or Video Host

 You cannot broadcast live without a video platform or service. Youtube, is an example of a popular video platform, however it is quite difficult to utilize for live streaming video and is not a professional service in which you can brand your own company. The best option is to use a dedicated white label video platform also known as a CDN (one that specializes in video). In fact, without a professional video platform you can not serve hundreds or thousands of simultaneous viewers. One of the features of a professional video platform is that your stream can be watched by thousands without buffering. If you simply only have a hosting account with no more than two or three at at time can watch it before the server and bandwidth crashed. 

There are several out there but if you’re looking for someone that gives you the software you need, a white labeled video platform, viewer stats and even video TV apps all in one then tvstartup.com is probably your best bet.

5. Embedding

You need to embed the code onto your website. If you are a tvstartup.com customer, this will be easy as the embed code is listed in your account. Just login and go to the “documentation” tab and you can copy the embed code right out of your account. You will have several options for both an Iframe, Javascript or what ever you need. 

Okay so now you got the code you can simply embed it by accessing the HTML code view. For a WordPress site this is not hard at all. Go to edit a post or a page and then click the tab for the “text” editor so you can then paste the embed code where you want it in your page. Simple save and now you are ready to go. 

If you need help and you are a TVStartup customer we can do this for you. 

Begin your broadcast. 

Now you can stream live with the big boys! 

Click to Sign Up!