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webcam.io

Using YouTube Live

To use YouTube Live with webcam.io in this example, we first set up YouTube Live for live streaming, get the “Stream Server URL” and “Stream Key” and then start streaming from webcam.io using these values for output (and the the “Camera Stream URL” for input from previous setup step: connecting your camera).

Basic YouTube Setup

  1. Open YouTube Studio. You might need to activate streaming following instructions there if this is the first visit.
  2. Click “Go Live” in the upper right to open the Live Control Room
    Warning: This will open the Stream Tab by default, which is not recommended to use with webcam.io (see below for details).
  3. Instead use the Manage Tab on the left and create a scheduled stream (“Schedule Stream” in upper right). Set name, visibility etc.
  4. Open upcoming stream from the list
  5. Use “Stream URL” and “Stream key” from here for webcam.io output settings in next step

Start streaming in webcam.io

  1. In webcam.io: add a new webcam of type “Live stream”
  2. Use your cameras stream URL in Input section (here rtsp://myrouter1234.dyndns.org:554/Streaming/Channels/101 from the previous example).
  3. Paste “Stream URL” + “Stream key” from above into “Stream Server URL” Output field (might look like rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/32ye-jepr-f330-3dwf-edac)
  4. Save the webcam settings (with “Enable streaming” checkbox activated).

Streaming will start within the next 1-2 minutes. The status of the stream outgoing from webcam.io is visible in dashboard status box.

Start scheduled stream in YouTube

  1. In YouTube Live Control Room, the connection status should change after 2-3 minutes
  2. Check settings, recommended: Auto-start/-stop off, DVR off, Normal latency
  3. Click “Go Live”. Done.

Please contact us for help if your stream does not start or you cannot find the video stream URL of your camera.

Also see FAQ.

more

While the old “Stream now” (in classic interface) worked fine restarting ended streams by just re-sending to the stream key URL again, in the new interface the stream will appear offline and requires user interaction in YouTube interface.

To fix this condition, these steps are required each time the stream ends:

  1. visit the Stream Tab (only to start listening for incoming streams again)
  2. then restart the stream in webcam.io interface so YouTube starts the stream

Restarting the stream in webcam.io takes 30-60 seconds until data is sent out and (depending on latency setting) around 30 seconds in YouTube to display the preview. Clicking restart button again will not make this faster ;-)

For now, we recommend using the scheduled streams in YouTube, as these keep listening for incoming streams.

What if the scheduled stream is ended ?

If the scheduled stream is ended, which might happen after hours of stream inactivity (unfortunately there is no documentation), you need to recreate and start the scheduled stream in the manage tab and select to reuse the previous settings

We recommend using the “Backup stream” option in webcam.io to keep the stream alive, if your camera or network is down for a longer time.

What is the transcoding setting ?

For H.264 streams the ‘off (copy stream)’ setting should be fine. Transcoding is required for cameras not supporting H.264 (like MJPEG url or Mobotix MxPEG). Or if you have unusual quality settings, not recognized by YouTube. Transcoding consumes a lot more resources on our servers and requires the LIVE+ plan after your trial.

References