The Kaltura live streaming platform empowers you to broadcast live events or 24/7 channels on any screen. This option allows you to effortlessly create live stream entries directly from your desktop. While your files are uploading, you can multitask and attend to other responsibilities. Plus, if there's a connection issue, you can easily resume the file upload without any hassle.
Use the Live stream entry option to provision a live stream on the CDN. The live stream should be configured with your encoder IP address.
We recommend performing the steps described in Getting Started with Kaltura Live to prepare for creating a live stream entry.
Create a live stream entry
1. Log into the KMC and click +Create in the navigation bar.
The upload page displays.
2. Click Create Live Stream Entry.
If you don't see this option, it may not have been enabled on your account. Please contact Kaltura via your CSM (Customer Success Manager) about enabling it.
The Create Live Stream Entry window displays.
3. Select the stream type:
- Kaltura Live Streaming (HDS / HLS / DASH) – This is the default and recommended live streaming type. Kaltura Live Streaming services are provisioned within the Kaltura data centers. Cloud transcoding, extended DVR window, live to VOD recording with a single embed code, instant provisioning, and multi-protocol delivery are supported. Depending on your live streaming package, simultaneous cloud transcoding may be restricted.
- Manual Live Stream URLs - This mode allows you to associate custom live external URLs with a Kaltura live entry. This option is useful if you are using a 3rd party to provision and broadcast a live stream.
Kaltura recommends Kaltura Live Streaming.
Kaltura Live Streaming (HDS / HLS / DASH)
1. Configure the following fields as relevant:
Name - Type a name for your new live stream (required). Minimum 5 characters. The name of the stream will appear in the KMC entries list.
Description - Add a description of the stream (optional).
Live Transcoding Profile - Choose Passthrough or Cloud transcode:
- Passthrough - Passthrough supports multi-bitrate RTMP streams ingest, processing and delivery to any screen for cases when the original encoder output should not be manipulated and bandwidth is not an issue.
- Cloud Transcode - This option enables cloud transcoding for this live entry. A single bitrate coming from your encoder will be transcoded in the Kaltura cloud into multi-bitrate flavors. The default cloud transcoding profile includes the source stream along with transcoded flavors. You can set additional transcoding profiles for live streaming.
Please see our article How to set transcoding profiles for live streaming for more information about these 2 options.
To customize transcoding profiles or broadcast multiple cloud-transcode streams simultaneously, please contact Kaltura Support to create a multicast transcoding profile.
Live DVR - Live DVR enables viewers to pause and rewind during the live stream up to 2 hours prior to the current live point. The DVR duration can be extended up to 24 hours. To extend the time, please contact your Kaltura account manager. By default, this option will not be enabled.
Recording - Click the toggle to 'On' if you want to enable recording of the live stream to a VOD available for later viewing. If you turn it on, you'll be prompted to select one of the following options:
- Append the recorded content to a single entry - This option appends any live stream recording into the same VOD. This is a good option if you're shooting live events with breaks that you don't want to include in your recording.
- Create new Entries for each broadcast session - This option creates a new VOD for each broadcast session. In this mode, each live event is recorded in a different VOD. This mode is useful if you're using the same live entry to broadcast different events and would like to end up with a different recording for each event. To split recordings between broadcast sessions, we recommend stopping broadcasting for at least 5 minutes before starting a new event, otherwise, the system assumes there was an accidental disconnect and will continue appending the recorded content.
Recordings are limited to 24 hours. After 24 hours, the recording will stop.
Recording is done on the account's primary data center. Make sure you're streaming to the primary RTMP URL.
Preview mode - Click the toggle to 'On' to enable the Preview Live feature. Otherwise, broadcasting will automatically go live when you start the encoder. For more information about Preview Mode see Kaltura Live - Preview Live.
Low latency (Beta) - Click the toggle to 'On' to enable low latency streaming to lower your streaming latency, where needed, down to a few seconds - typically between 2 to 8. For more information, see our article Low Latency Streaming Guidelines.
2. Click Create.
A message displays indicating you have created a live stream entry.
Live stream tab for live stream entry:
Manual live-stream URLs
Manual live stream URLs allow you to associate custom live end-user URLs with a Kaltura entry. This option is useful if you are using a third party to provision and broadcast a live stream.
1. Configure the following fields as relevant:
Name - Type a name for your new live stream (required). Minimum 5 characters. The name of the stream will appear in the KMC entries list.
Description - Add a description of the stream (optional).
Enter at least one of the following URLs:
- Live Flash HDS stream URL
- Live mobile HLS stream URL
- DASH stream URL
Akamai HD protocol is used on this HDS URL - (Optional) Check to allow Akamai HD protocol.
2. Click Create.
Live stream tab for Manual live-stream:
Preview your new entry
Now that you've created your live stream, you can make sure it works by previewing it.
1. Locate your live entry in the Entries list.
2. Click Share & Embed.
In the pop-up window, you'll be able to see your live stream and you can choose the player you'd like to use. This window also shows you the embed code that you can copy and paste to your site.
After you've created the live stream, you can also set the metadata and specific broadcasting settings in the KMC's Entries tab. See our article The Content Menu for more information.
To learn more about Kaltura Live, check out our Knowledge Center resources: Kaltura Live.
