Live stream

Live stream puts your service in your app and on your website, with live chat. With Culminate Live, you stream from your encoder once, and we can send it on to YouTube, Facebook, and more at the same time.

Open Organization → Videos and select the Live Stream tab.

dashboard.culminate.life

Set up your encoder (once)

1. Select Encoder settings.
2. Copy the Server and Stream key into your encoder (OBS, vMix, Blackmagic ATEM, or any RTMP encoder). They’re the same for every stream.
   • Most Blackmagic devices need the Server (RTMP) instead (it isn’t encrypted).
3. Under Set up your encoder, pick yours for step-by-step instructions: OBS Studio, vMix, ProPresenter, Blackmagic ATEM / Web Presenter, Wirecast, Streamlabs Desktop, or Other encoder.
   • For an ATEM, select Download settings file, then paste the stream key in ATEM Software Control. The key isn’t in the file.
4. Use the Recommended settings:

Your upload speed should be at least twice the video bitrate.

Add restream destinations (optional)

Select Destinations to send your stream to other places at the same time.

Connect for automatic scheduling (beta). Culminate creates and starts the event for you:

• YouTube: connect your channel in Integrations, then select Add. Each stream is scheduled on your channel and goes live with it.
• Facebook: connect your Page in Integrations, then select Add. Streams go live on your Page, and Facebook comments show in the studio.

Add with a stream key, for anywhere else. Pick YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, Twitch, Rumble, or Other RTMP server, then enter a Name, Server, and Stream key. Use a persistent key that stays the same for every stream. Culminate sends your video there, and you create and manage the event on that platform.

Turn on Default (or Use on new streams when you add one) for destinations you always want. They’re selected for you on every new stream. Select the pencil to edit a stream-key destination, or the trash can to remove one.

Test your stream

Select Test stream, start streaming from your encoder, and check the private preview. Nothing is shown to viewers.

Under Also test, you can test your destinations too:

• YouTube and Facebook (connected): a private test broadcast or unpublished test video, deleted afterwards.
• Stream-key destinations get your real video, and many go public as soon as video arrives. Only test them if that’s OK.

The test stops on its own after 15 minutes (or select Stop test) and isn’t recorded. You’ll see whether each step worked, and can select Test again.

Schedule a live stream

To change a stream, hover over it and select the pencil, or select the pencil in the studio. Delete is at the bottom of the edit window.

Go live

Select the stream to open the Studio.

1. Start streaming from your encoder. The studio shows Receiving video and a Preview. If it says Waiting for encoder, Encoder problem, or that the encoder is in use by a test or another stream, check your encoder.
2. Select Go live (or let it start automatically). If no video is arriving yet, you can Wait or Go live anyway.
3. Watch Live chat and send messages as your organization. YouTube chat and Facebook comments show in their own panels.
4. Select Stop stream when you’re done. A stream can’t be restarted once it has ended.

The studio’s Analytics tab shows viewers, peak, watch time, and chat, live while you stream and as a report afterwards. Who is watching shows signed-in viewers (it needs the People analytics permission). After the stream ends, the studio shows whether the recording is processing or saved.

Check stream health

For Culminate Live streams, the studio shows what your encoder is sending. Once video is arriving, a Stream health card in the studio shows a one-line summary, like 7.9 Mbps · 2 s keyframes · 38% upload, and the top thing to check. Select it, or the Health tab, for the details.

The grade tells you how it’s going:

The Health tab shows:

• What to check (or What to fix next time after the stream): problems found, and how to fix them.
• Bitrate: how much video you’re sending. About 8 Mbps works well.
• Keyframes: the time between keyframes. 2–8 seconds is right, and it should stay fixed.
• Upload time: how long it takes to upload each second of video. Under 90% of real time is healthy. Above 100%, your upload can’t keep up and viewers buffer.
• Video: the resolution and frame rate arriving, or Drops if your encoder disconnected while live.
• Charts of bitrate, keyframe interval, and upload time over the stream, and a list of Encoder events.

While you’re live, health updates every 30 seconds and runs about a minute behind. Select Refresh to check now. After the stream ends, the tab shows a report for the whole stream. Health details are kept for 30 days.

Check and restart destinations

Also streaming to shows each destination and how it’s doing:

Select the open icon to watch it there.

If a destination stops working while your encoder is sending video or you’re live, select Restart (the circular arrow) next to it. This reconnects only that destination, and your stream keeps going everywhere else.

If YouTube or Facebook has already ended the broadcast on their side, restarting asks Start a new broadcast? (or live video for Facebook). A new one has a new link, and people watching the old link aren’t moved to it.

Change destinations while you’re live

Select the pencil in the studio, and turn destinations on or off under Also stream to. While you’re live, destinations you turn on start right away, and ones you turn off are ended there. Select Save.

YouTube broadcasts

If you’d rather stream straight to YouTube, use the YouTube option on this tab (beta). Select New YouTube broadcast and set:

• Title and an optional Description.
• Scheduled start: shown to viewers on YouTube. You can go live earlier or later.
• Visibility and Latency. Lower latency means faster chat back-and-forth, at some cost to quality.
• Go live automatically: starts as soon as your encoder connects. Off, you press Go live.
• End automatically: ends the broadcast when your encoder stops sending.
• DVR: viewers can pause and rewind while you’re live.

Every YouTube broadcast uses the same server URL and stream key. You can run the broadcast and watch YouTube chat from the dashboard. Changes to a broadcast show on YouTube right away.