Stream Engines are effectively the servers you use to host your live stream.
There are many options on the market, including free social platforms like YouTube Live, Vimeo Pro, and even Twitter. However, these have limited production options and really don’t meet the professional standards companies, organisations and promoters need for digital or mixed reality events.
You might want to distribute your stream to some of these channels, but we do not advise you use them as a host platform for your entire broadcast.
One of the main problems is that social networks are isolated — content lives on the platform you’re streaming to. This might be OK for a globally recognised influencer with millions of Facebook Live followers, but for most people running a live stream involves maximising how it can be watched and packaging video in formats for every possible viewing scenario.
Put simply, you need a Stream Engine to distribute secure live streams at scale, and guarantee the most professional experience for the audience. By this we mean low latency (the delay between what happens in front of camera and what viewers see), playback responsiveness and high video quality.
We recommend looking at Wowza or Amazon Web Services (AWS), both of which will do what the majority of Eventcube users need.
What does a Stream Engine do exactly?
Wowza makes a convincing argument for using its Stream Engine rather than social networks here. To summarise, the points really come down to three core functions:
*Transmuxing — the process of taking compressed video data and repackaging to suit the ‘container’, or the device on which content is watched
*Transcoding — converting video, manipulating bitrate and resolution to deliver the optimum version to display on whatever player is used to watch the content
*Simulcasting — distributing the stream to multiple destinations at once, for example YouTube, Facebook and Eventcube
You should always ensure your Stream Engine can perform these functions before making a decision on which to use.
In addition to a Stream Engine, for the best results Live Streaming Video Software such as vMix, OBS or Lightstream is also recommended if you want to use different camera angles or effects. Find out more about these tools here.
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