To begin with, live broadcasting refers to the process by which media is recorded and broadcast in real time with little to none delay – emphasis on live because otherwise the media is just being streamed or broadcasted and not in real time.
Suppose you are seated at home tuned in for the prime-time news. The physics behind this is that digital TV signals, which really are just a stream of packets of data, are broadcast from transmitters (the giant metal towers and dishes we see on media houses’ roofs) to TV receivers in our homes (usually antennas or decoder dishes).
Live Broadcast Solutions
From the name itself, you may probably have guessed that live broadcast solutions are video hosting platforms that support broadcasting in real time. These platforms are equipped with a blend of features and tools to offer essential services for live broadcasting like privacy as well as security.
Depending on the scale of operation, different live streaming solutions exist to broadcasting anything from sporting events to concerts and webinars.
If you are just starting out as a content creator, it would be advisable to opt for free solutions primarily because of the little to no financial input required. This allows you to play it safe while still getting a sense of what the market space is like and evaluating the options available. As you move along and perhaps your needs increase, it is now viable to make the switch to professional-grade solutions which obviously have more to offer compared to the free solutions.
What to Look For When Choosing a Live Streaming Solution
Security
In this day and age where almost everything is done via the internet, the need for security cannot be overstated. It is advisable to look for solutions that are password protected and those that come with encryption features as well.
Live Streaming Support
What good would a solution be if it does not support live streaming yet you specifically got it for your live broadcasting needs, right? A solution that supports live streaming is the way to go without a shadow of doubt.
Quality of Technical Support Available
Let me paint you a picture. Imagine you are bang in the middle of a live stream, perhaps streaming yourself beating the biggest boss in everyone’s favorite game and all of a sudden, your stream starts buffering for no inexplicable reason. You call for tech support and they are out for lunch or something. I would be absolutely furious too.
Long story short, a solution that offers tech support twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week is advisable to attend to customer needs time of the day or day of the week notwithstanding.
Monetization
Basically, the solution chosen should provide ways to monetize your streams (make money through your stream). It could be through subscriptions or pay per views.
Cloud Streaming
This is similar to live streaming, with the only difference being that with the exception of the actual filming, almost everything else happens on the cloud. All you need for cloud streaming is a camera and a live streaming field unit. The field unit sends your footage to the cloud, from where everything else is done before the footage is distributed to your viewers. By everything else, I mean encoding, audio editing, the combination of multiple feeds and so on. Such activities would otherwise be done on location.
The Cloud
The cloud is a collection of servers accessed via the internet and the databases that run on those servers. Cloud servers are found in data centers spread all across the globe. The cloud revolutionized storage in that users and companies do not have to manage tedious physical servers or run software on their own machines.
How The Cloud Really Works
By utilizing a cloud production tool, resources are turned into services and are made available via the internet. Using virtualization, a virtual computer that behaves like a physical computer is created and is referred to as a virtual machine.
By definition, a cloud production tool is a device that makes it possible for production activities like editing and encoding to be carried out in the cloud. These activities can take part on a private cloud. Alternatively, they can be hosted by a cloud production company, which will essentially be running many processes for multiple clients.
By running multiple virtual devices at a go, one server turns into many servers, a data center becomes a host of data centers that is able to serve multiple organizations. This way, cloud providers can offer their services to more and more customers at a lower cost too.
Even when individual servers go down, cloud servers are able to stay online and available owing to the fact that cloud vendors generally back up their services on multiple machines and across many regions.
Cloud Video Streaming
Broadcasters are moving away from the time when complex on-site physical servers and other hardware were needed to stream videos to audiences. The move was due to the high upfront costs and the complex logistics involved in maintaining physical hardware.
Cloud production tools are used to manipulate video files and upload them to the cloud making them accessible via the internet.
In cloud video streaming, files and data are stored on the cloud and available on-demand by their audiences wherever in the world they are. The broadcasters themselves can as well access their workflow and information from anywhere in the world, sort of like how you can login into your social media handles on a new phone after you’ve lost the old one.
Once broadcasters upload files on their network of cloud servers dedicated to hosting video files, they are encoded and transcoded into a variety of formats ready for playback. Broadcasters can also host live content for their viewers.
Video transcoding in this case refers to creation of multiple renditions of a single video file without taking away any resources from it. This way, broadcasters ensure their content has maximum outreach with compatibility being a non-issue.
Essentials of Cloud Video Streaming
Video Transcoding
When it comes to cloud production video streaming, broadcasters have no idea what sort of internet connection their viewers have. It is only safe to avail multiple renditions of the video files to accommodate the needs of each viewer.
Live Recording
For live streams, it would be valuable if viewers could record the stream and save it to watch later or review.
Video Player Compatibility
It is advisable to use a media player that supports many media formats as well as a video player that is compatible with multiple devices.
Video Analytics
Viewers should have access to video analytics like number of plays or consumption time. This is an integral part of optimizing content viewership.
Privacy and Security
Broadcasters need assurance and confidence that their data will be safe in the cloud.
Round the Clock Tech Support
When it comes to cloud production video streaming, broadcasters have minimal control of the underlying infrastructure unlike the case in managing your own physical hardware and servers. Judging by this, a platform that offers 24/7 support is favorable.
Advantages of Cloud Production Video Streaming
Improved Security
Data is less likely to be lost when on someone’s device because it is backed up globally
Lower Production and Operational Costs
Because there is no need to get actual physical hardware, computing costs are efficiently cut down. Instead, the cloud can compute anything for you-if it can of course.
Workflow Flexibility
The cloud allows remote users to join in from practically any location globally.
