You can schedule the video without an encoder, but before going live you’ll need to set up an encoder.
Go to YouTube.com and make sure you’re using the right account
- Click on the account icon in the upper right of the screen
- Check the account that shows at the top of the dropdown to make sure it’s right
- If it’s not the account you want to stream from, click the “Switch Account” and select the account you want from the list (the page will reload)
Go to Creator Studio
Click the account icon in the upper right (the dropdown should now show the right account) and select “Creator Studio”
Go to the “Live Streaming” section
Go to “Events” under “Live Streaming”
Click the “New live event” button
Fill out the basic info fields
- This information is public if the video is public
- Make sure you have the right privacy setting – public (most events), unlisted (usually for a contract job where the client should control it, or private (for testing or archival)
Fill out the Advanced Settings
See the example below. Typical changes include:
- Turning off live chat (uncheck “Enable live chat” – this is a good idea if you don’t have someone to manage the chat and interact with viewers)
- Changing the category
- Setting the Recording date
- Unchecking “Make video statistics on the watch page publicly visible”
- Disallowing comments or DVR (less common to need)
Click “Create event”
Add a thumbnail
Especially useful if the video will be embedded in web pages before the event itself begins
Set your stream key
- There’s a good chance an encoder has already been set up to stream to YouTube. You can check by selecting “Reusable stream key” and seeing if the encoder you want is in the list.
- If the encoder isn’t already in the list, you can create it or select “Single-use stream key”
Check encoder settings
No matter how you selected a key in the previous step, check your settings with the encoder (see the encoder setup instructions).
If you need to enter an URL in the encoder, you get it by combining the “Primary Server URL” and the “Stream Name” (make sure you put a slash between them). The full URL looks something like this: rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/5vng-my36-vxb2-crh9
Save changes
To start or test the event, go to the “Live Control Room”
From the video editing screen:
From the list of live streaming events:
Check the stream status in the Live Control Room
Ideally it should show “Good”
- Sometimes it takes a couple of minutes to stabilize
- If the video is just a still image with no movement that can lower the bit rate and trigger a low bit rate warning
- Give yourself plenty of time before the event in case you need to stop and start the encoder
If you need to adjust the encoder settings from earlier steps, you can get to them under the “Ingestion Settings” tab at the top
Preview the stream
You can’t “unpreview,” so make sure your settings are right before this step
Check the preview (including sound)
When you’re ready to go live, click “Start Streaming”
Important: check with the producer/director of the video (often Mikko or Aidan) before the stream goes live!
Important: check with the producer/director of the video (often Mikko or Aidan) before the stream goes live!
When the event is over, click “Stop Streaming”
Notify the producer/director when all web streams have ended
After the event has ended, go to the Video Manager to trim the video
