2016年1月27日
By 1月时特约编辑
专题文章

Joicaster Review: A Simple Platform for Live Video Distribution

Joicaster is a web-based live streaming syndication platform that takes a single live stream and pushes it out to multiple services, 包括YouTube Live, Ustream, 和抽搐, 以及商业网站. Joicaster is affordable, straightforward to operate, and performed well in all my tests. If distributing to multiple live streaming platforms is a problem for you, Joicaster很可能是解决方案.

驾驶Joicaster

The “single-stream-in-with-distribution-to-many” paradigm is simple to understand, 但是你可以转到的网站类型, 还有其他特点, 计划之间的差异很大, 你可以比较哪一个 joicaster.co. 我主要用企业计划进行测试, which provides access to multiple business-oriented and consumer sites (with Roku coming), and provides a generic RTMP preset that allows you to target any RTMP-compatible site; I used the preset to send a stream to webinar provider Onstream. If you’re on a lesser plan, you can only communicate with sites that the service supports directly. The number of sites is growing, but isn’t comprehensive.

Operating Joicaster involves two primary concepts: stream profiles and broadcasts. Stream profiles are the sites that you’ll redirect the video to, and broadcasts are scheduled (or impromptu) occasions on which you’ll transmit the streams to those sites. Joicaster does an excellent job of simplifying the operation, starting with an introductory tutorial that walks you through the main interface elements on the website.

创建流配置文件

一旦你准备好开始流媒体, 您应该从创建流配置文件开始, 或者目标站点, so you can include them easily in future broadcasts. 这个过程, 如你所料, 当您单击添加流配置文件时开始, 哪个初始化向导驱动的流程, the first phase of which is a dialog box that displays all the sites available for your subscription level. 图1 shows the dialog from a free account that I created; though you can access YouTube and DailyMotion, Ustream需要升级帐户.

图1. 可访问的目标因帐户级别而异.

您一个接一个地添加帐户, 单击复选框以选择服务, then Next on the lower right to start the configuration process. 有一些账户，比如YouTube, where Joicaster has integrated with YouTube’s application programming interface (API)—you choose your YouTube account and allow access to Joicaster via simple menu options. With SideArm, you’ll have to enter in the RTMP Address and Stream Name, plus your login credentials. This is the exact same data you’ve had to enter into your live streaming encoder to connect to these sites before, so it should be familiar ground for most live streamers.

创建广播

Once you’ve configured your stream profiles, it’s time to set up your broadcast. 虽然现在有一个广播功能, you’ll probably want to plan ahead for most broadcasts and create them in advance. You start in Broadcasts page and click Add Broadcast, which starts another wizardlike process during which you input the event details (图2), configure some options, schedule the event, and choose your target Stream Profiles. Options include the ability to promote the event via Facebook and Twitter, and to enable/disable YouTube Live features such as DVR and archival.

图2. 插入基本元数据

How these broadcasts integrate with your target platforms depends upon multiple factors. 与Ustream, 在其他网站中, 你广播到一个固定的页面, so you don’t have to do anything other than initialize the stream in Joicaster. 然而, the classic operation of YouTube Live is event-based (a Stream Now feature is in beta), which means you have to create an event to broadcast to it. 因为Joicaster已经集成了YouTube的API, 该服务为您创建事件, 就像其他api集成站点一样.

If your target site is event-based and isn’t supported directly via its API, 您必须事先手动设置事件. This is how I sent the stream to Onstream 在线研讨会; first I created the event in Onstream, 然后为该事件配置Joicaster.

This description makes the operation sound more complicated than it is. 大多数网站都像Ustream一样, with fixed target and display pages; for these sites, 你可以在任何时候从Joicaster开始流媒体, 无需任何额外设置. 另一方面, 如果您要向许多企业站点分发, you’ll probably have to set up the event or distribution point as normal, 并提供地址, 流的名字, 并在节目播出前将证件交给乔卡斯特.

回到我们的叙述, after you enter the broadcast 信息 shown in 图2, 单击Next选择日期, time, 和持续时间, 以及要向哪些网站进行辛迪加(图3). Click Submit, and Joicaster saves the broadcast and adds it to the Dashboard and Calendar.