This guide explains how to do a 360° live stream with Infomaniak's video streaming service.

Prerequisites

• Have a 360° camera compatible with one of the following formats:
  • 360 equirectangular monoscopic (2D)
  • 360 equirectangular stereoscopic (3D) side by side (left/right separation)
  • 360 equirectangular stereoscopic (3D) top/bottom (top/bottom separation)
• Your encoder or camera must also be able to send a stream via an RTMP connection (learn more).
• Finally, note that a 360° video stream requires a source with a high bitrate and a bitrate control set to CBR mode; the bitrate will depend on the type of content and data consumption, which will also be higher than with a standard stream.

Create a 360° player

Broadcasting a 360° live stream requires a 360° player. This option is free and activates quickly:

1. Click here to access the management of your product on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the product concerned:
   
3. Click on Integration in the left sidebar.
4. Click on Players in the left sidebar.
5. Click to create or edit an existing player:
   
6. Check the 360° Player box and configure the projection (360 format):
   
7. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page.
8. All content broadcast by this player (whether it is in 360° format or not) will now be interpreted as 360°.

This guide explains how to activate and use the Timeshift (also called DVR) function on your live video broadcasts. This feature allows your viewers to rewind if they missed the start of your live broadcast.

Activate the Timeshift (DVR) function

To access the video streaming service:

1. Click here to access the management of your product on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the product in question.
3. Click on Configure under Timeshift from the dashboard:
   
4. Activate Timeshift.
5. Set the duration during which your viewers will be able to rewind (max. 240 min.).
6. Click the Activate button:
   

Customize the Timeshift function

It is possible to activate this option via the scheduling tool for a specific time slot and thus limit this possibility to certain programs. The parameters defined in the scheduling tool will override the default state set from the dashboard.

To understand this better, imagine a TV broadcasting a football match from 10 am to 12 pm.

1. The TV wants to activate Timeshift only during the match

With this configuration, viewers who join the live broadcast at 11:59 am will be able to rewind to the start of the match at 10 am, but they will not be able to rewind to the shows that preceded the match before 10 am. For the record, the maximum duration of the Timeshift is 240 min. (4 hours).

2. The TV wants to activate a 20-minute Timeshift only during the match

With this configuration, viewers who join the live broadcast at 11:30 am will be able to rewind the previous 20 minutes, but they will not be able to rewind to the start of the match; only the last 20 sliding minutes will be accessible for the entire duration of the match.

3. The TV wants to deactivate Timeshift during the match

With this configuration, viewers will not be able to rewind parts of the match. They will only be able to see the shows that precede the match if the Timeshift function has been activated by default from the stream dashboard.

In summary, there are therefore 2 use cases

1. Activate Timeshift permanently, except for special events.
2. Disable Timeshift permanently, except for specific events.

The default status is managed from the stream dashboard and exceptions from the scheduling tool.

Learn more about how it works

If you have set a one-hour Timeshift and just activated it, the return time will gradually increase to the chosen duration from the moment of activation.

If geographical restrictions are defined with a specific time range, these will always be respected. In the case where a TV with a 4-hour Timeshift reserves its sports program for Swiss visitors from 10 AM to 12 PM, an Italian viewer who connects to the stream at 1 PM can only re-watch the shows from 9 AM to 10 AM.

This guide explains how to configure the Infomaniak encoder.

1. Default access and password configuration

Once the connections are made, the encoder will be accessible on your network at the address: 192.168.1.168

Configuration is done from a web browser at the address: http://192.168.1.168

• Username: admin
• Password: admin

First, set a strong password:

2. Network configuration

If accessing the address 192.168.1.168 suits you, you can skip directly to point 3.

Otherwise, if your network is configured with DHCP or if you want to specify a different IP address, the System > Network page allows you to set the access parameters. It may be necessary to contact your network administrator to make the various settings and authorize this new device at the firewall level.

3. Main stream configuration

3.1 In the case where a single stream is sent

These are the cases:

• Cloud transcoding => see point (1) and (1.3) of this guide
• or Single-bitrate => see point (3) of this guide

Please adjust the following parameters:

• The bitrate (kbit) and resolution (encoded size) must be adjusted according to your needs.
• RTMP PUBLISH URL corresponds to the publication URL indicated in your Manager in the stream configuration:

The encoder does not allow entering a stream key. Therefore, it is necessary to concatenate the latter with the URL.

Example: rtmp://stream.vprimary.infomaniak.com/livecast?key=XXXXXX/stream

The values “stream” and the password (key=XXXXXX) must be replaced with your personal data.

3.2 In the case where multiple streams are sent

To learn more about this case, please refer to point (2) and (2.2) of this guide.

In the case where multiple streams are sent, you will be in multibitrate mode with n streams encoded on the encoder.

The submenus Substream1, Substream2 and Substream3 allow you to configure the encoding of up to 3 additional streams:

3.3 Audio configuration

The audio input will need to be adjusted according to the connections made. The bitrate can also be adjusted according to the type of content. We recommend using the following codec: 128 Kbps AAC, at 44100 Hz.

This guide explains how to restrict access to Infomaniak's Video Streaming streams based on geographical criteria (geolocation).

Restrict access to broadcasts via GeoIP

To do this:

1. Click here to access the management of your product on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the product in question.
3. Click on Settings in the left sidebar.
4. Click on Restrictions in the left sidebar.
5. Click on the Geolocation Restriction tab.
6. Define the countries that should be specifically allowed or blocked.
7. Click on the Save button:
   

Refer to this other guide to customize the replacement image offered to blocked viewers.

This guide explains how to restrict access to Infomaniak's Video Streaming streams based on the IP addresses of visitors/viewers.

Restrict access to broadcasts by IP addresses

To do this:

1. Click here to access the management of your product on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the product in question.
3. Click on Settings in the left sidebar.
4. Click on Restrictions in the left sidebar.
5. Click on the IP address restriction tab.
6. Define the IP addresses (or IP ranges) that should be specifically allowed or blocked.
7. Click on the Save button:
   

Refer to this other guide to customize the replacement image offered to blocked viewers.

This guide details the steps required to configure OBS Studio to stream a live feed to the Infomaniak Video Streaming platform.

Preamble

• OBS Studio is a free and open-source, multi-platform software widely used for video recording and live streaming.
• Thanks to its flexibility and numerous configuration options, it allows you to easily manage audio and video sources, scenes, and advanced streaming parameters.
• It does not have an official mobile version, but third-party apps allow you to stream from a smartphone or use it in conjunction with OBS on a computer.

Configure OBS Studio

On the Infomaniak side, you have a stream and have activated the Cloud transcoding option.

1. Click the button to access your streaming settings:
   
2. Copy the login information:
   
3. Paste this information into the custom settings of your OBS stream, as in the example below (Stream login = Stream key):
   
4. Validate the streaming settings:
   
5. Then add a streaming source.
6. Click on Start Streaming:
   
7. There you go, the stream is displayed on the Infomaniak side, you can then configure a Player to get the information needed to share your stream: