Some CDN providers offer products made especially for live streaming. If you are going to launch a site that specializes on such service, you should consider five crucial factors for successful broadcasting.
Identify Target Audience
Knowing the auditory you aim at is important when preparing to publish a live event. First, you should define where the audience is generally located and get information about peculiarities of local connectivity and speed on the Net. For instance, if the spectators are situated in a part of the globe with higher than average speeds, then you can use high bit rate when sharing your live event. Besides, it is always better to have a CDN video streaming server located close to the viewer’s location.
Choose the appropriate encoder
The market offers hundreds of encoders from free products to top-notch professional variants. Select what meets your certain demands. Take into consideration everything, including costs of production, budget and potential returns. Starters may use Flash Media Live Encoder, because it is totally free and does not require deep knowledge of programs to set it up.
Select optimal video/audio settings
All settings should be adjusted appropriately to get the best possible quality of your audio or video. As a rule, upload speed (outbound bandwidth) is what defines the settings. In fact, it is better to keep the bit rate speed 500-600 kbps under maximum. The video format H.264 is preferable.
Audio settings are recommended to be as follows:
- Format: AAC (this is needed to ensure that iOS and Android platforms will support your file)
- Channels: Mono (Stereo can be selected in case it is supported by your audio capture device)
- Sample rate: 11025
- Bit rate: about 20 Kpbs
Defining the Location
Today, the biggest CDN live streaming data centers are located in the US, Southeast Asia and Central Europe. Select the one located closer to your end-users to ensure the best performance possible. Prior to publishing your live event stream it online to several people. It will be some kind of a quality control test that allows adjusting settings before it is too late.
Test it Yourself
Right before publishing your first live streaming, prepare different devices: a PC, a tablet and a mobile. Then release your file and embed it on a test page of the site. Control panels usually generate embed code so that this feature could be used. As soon as the live event is published, view it from several devices to make sure that everything works without troubles.
comments