Dacast Live Stream Recording Tutorial (Legacy App)

Live stream recording allows you to record your live stream and share it as a video on-demand (VOD). By keeping a record of your live events, you enable your your viewers to re-watch your videos whenever they like.

Record your live stream for up to 8 continuous hours at a time. The feature’s button stays ON up to 7 days. Past 7 days, it can be turned back ON.

Please note that live stream recording will impact your data usage and your transcoding credits usage:

1- Recording your stream will use some of your bandwidth (the amount used is equivalent to a viewer watching the stream)

2- When you create a recorded file, your available storage will lessen according the size of the file (i.e. the length of the video).

3- Recording your stream will use some of your transcoding credits. Your video recorded is automatically encoded. This process requires transcoding credits. read more Please note that if you don’t have enough transcoding credits, you won’t be able to watch the recorded file.

To get access to live stream recording, just give us a call!

 

How does live stream recording work?

STEP 1: Creation of a live channel

Please follow these requirements to ensure a successful recording.

Requirements for live recording

1- HTML5, Low Latency or M3U8 live channel

2- Video codec: H.264

3- Audio codec: AAC (for the recording to be properly integrated you need audio in your stream)

 

4- Status of your live channel: ON

5-  An informative popup will display to indicate for how long you can use the feature

7- The Live Stream recording will be automatically turned OFF after 7 days but can be turned back ON.

 

STEP 2: Activation of the live stream recording feature

Under the publish settings section of your live channel, turn ON the live stream recording control as shown below:

The Live Stream recording will be automatically turned OFF after 7 days but can be turned back ON.

 

Please note that live stream recording is an automatic feature: once it is activated for a channel, the stream will record itself automatically each time you put it online, until 7 days after you have turned the feature ON.

We recommend to launch your stream 10min before your event starts to make sure the recording  catches all of it.

STEP 3: Checking the status of the live stream recording feature on your live channel

You can easily verify the live channels for which you have enabled Live stream recording directly on your homepage.

Indeed, if the feature is OFF, it will be displayed under the column “Recording” on your homepage.

After turning ON the live stream recording control for your channel, please go back to the homepage or to your live channels section.

You should be able to see the record live icon (circle icon) next to the status of your channel:

1- The record live icon is grey: this icon indicates that live stream recording is activated for this channel but that there is no on-going recording (because you have not started streaming on this channel yet).

When passing your mouse over the grey record live icon, you will see a comment “waiting for the stream to start”.

2- The record live icon is red: it means that live stream recording is activated for this channel and there is an on-going recording (because you are currently streaming on this channel)

 

We recommend to launch your stream 10min before your event starts to make sure the recording  catches all of it.

You will see a banner appear on the top of your live channel section saying ” Recording starting on channel ID: XXXXXX”

The recording will stop after 8 hours, and start over automatically a couple of minutes later as long as your live is still ongoing. Note that you must also still be within the seven days period of time.

3- Record several VODs in the same live event

If you stop recording, enabling the recording again (in the same live stream, after the break) will start recording again, in a new VOD file.

STEP 4: Once your stream is online

Once your stream is online, don’t hesitate to refresh your homepage to verify if the recording has started correctly (i.e. if the record live icon becomes RED).

Maximum length of a continuous recording: 8 hours. After this time, a new file will be automatically created. Therefore, if you are live streaming and recording for 16 hours for example, you will have 2 recorded files lasting 8 hours each.

If you are doing a multi bit-rate stream, please note that the highest bit-rate will be recorded.

 

STEP 5: To stop your recording

There are two ways to stop your recording.

1. Disabling the recording will stop the active recording and save it in a VOD file.
2. Your recording will be automatically stop when you stop streaming.

In your DaCast account, here is what you should see once you have created the recorded file:

SCREEN

– You will receive the following confirmation message: “Recording and integration finished on channel ID: XXXXX”

– You can verify that the recording has stopped by looking at the record live icon, which will have reverted to its initial color: grey.

 

STEP 6: To access your recorded channel

You can locate your recorded stream under your Video On Demand section in the following file format: Live recording – date time (UTC)

Example: Live recording – Sat Nov 10 2018 01:55:42 GMT 0000

Please note that the longer your recorded file, the longer it takes to display in your VOD section.

You can change the name of your video file by clicking on the title.

 

STEP 7: To download your video

The video of your recorded stream saves as an MP4 file, so there is no need to encode it.

To download it, please click on the green icon framed in red in the screenshot above.

The following pop-up will appear asking you to click on the following link.

 

Please click on “The following link”, your file will open itself in a new window.

You can save the video by doing a right click “Save as” on it as shown below:

 

Please note that live stream recording allows you to download the same file only 5 times per 24 hours.

 

STEP 8: To share your video

Please note that a recorded stream has the same exact features as a classic VOD: geo-restriction, referrer restriction, free embedding, paywall options, etc.

Make sure you turn your video ON before sharing it.

Any issue with your live recording file?

It can be quite frustrating when issues arise in the middle of a live stream. We’ve put together a thorough guide to help you troubleshoot live streaming issues and identify the root of the problems. Use the 10 tips we’ve laid out to get your stream back on track in no time.

As a last resort, our support team is available 24/7 via chat team to ensure real-time troubleshooting and reporting. Please contact us with:

– the time and date of your event, timezone included

– the encoder settings used : encoder used, video bitrates, audio bitrates, video codec, audio codec