Livestream Blog

With livestreaming more popular than ever, platforms like YouTube Live, Twitch, Vimeo, and Facebook Live have become household names. But are they really the best option for everyone? If you're a tech-savvy creator, a privacy-conscious broadcaster, or someone who just wants full control, self-hosting your own livestream server might be a better choice. In this […]

Discover how to choose the right live-stream host for your organization. Compare popular platforms like DaCast, Wowza, Vimeo, Kick, ReStream and IBM.

Whether you're broadcasting a live concert, hosting a virtual event, or embedding recorded replays on your website, video format matters more than you might think. Behind every smooth playback, snappy load time, or frustrated viewer lies a set of encoding decisions that determine how your content is delivered and experienced. In this post, we break […]

Recently I saw a page somewhere that shows the top xx Wordpress themes that are ideal for showing a live-stream or other types of video. Unfortunately the URL's to these themes mostly didn't work anymore, so I thought I just steal the idea, look for more recent themes that are suited, and put them all […]

Want to see if your HLS live-stream is working? Or test its quality by using a video player that will show you some interesting statistics? Any of the players I mention below will find any oddities in your stream, and provide you with some basic feedback on any issues it may find. All the players […]

I've been a fan of the open source WWBN/Avideo project on github. In really simple words, it's a package when properly installed will behave as your personal Youtube clone. That's why the previous project name was YouPHPTube. But since then they have changed the name several times. They write all about that on their website.

Here are some useful tips if you want to optimize your Nginx for large file delivery. Use at your own risk! Please be aware that this last part is rather old. I do not advise performing the next step, unless you do it with a more recent version of Nginx. I cannot guarantee if libaio […]

Let's talk about our favorite video player plugin for WordPress. Here are some reasons why Bradmax Player is our favorite. And below that are detailed instructions on how to set it up. Setting it up may at first seem a bit awkward, but it really isn't. First you must obviously install the Bradmax Player plugin […]

“What is adaptive streaming?” This question often leads to answers filled with technical terms like “HLS”, “MPEG-DASH”, “segments” and “codec“. This article is written for people who need to understand the principles, but don’t need to actually implement the technology. If you are looking for specific technical information on adaptive streaming then I recommend you read up on it on this website and elsewhere.

When responding to an HLS request, the streaming server determines which video quality (i.e., ts file) the client will attempt to play before switching to a lower or higher quality video. This switch depends on available bandwidth and device type. Switching to the wrong quality first degrades the user experience considerably. For instance, sending a […]

I wrote a new guide on setting up your own live-stream server. Mostly due to your requests. I took the opportunity to simplify and shorten the guide a bit. If you follow this guide step by step, and use your brain a tiny bit, you'll be fine. This guide has so far been tested on […]

For every service that is offered for a lot of money on the internet, there's always a free or much cheaper alternative, especially if you embrace open-source software. For live-streaming this is also very much the case. We love that,

I won't loose any sleep over it when Adobe is going to pull the plug from the last remaining life-support system on December 31st. So, farewell Flash, we'll never meet again. Bye bye.