Tutorial: Streaming and Archiving Live Events with StreamVu and the Matrox Monarch HD

StreamVu is a simple, inexpensive and well-featured service, and Matrox Monarch HD is the only hardware encoder that can produce one stream for live distribution and the other for archiving. In combination, they make an ideal solution for your live and on-demand video production requirements.

StreamVu’s live streaming solutions cost as little as $15 per month and are exceptionally easy to use. When paired with the Matrox Monarch, which can produce both a live stream to send to StreamVu, and a separate master-quality stream, you have a great solution for live and on demand video production.

The Monarch HD costs less than $1,000, and when you purchase one from this video's sponsor, Videoguys.com, you will receive a free 30-day trial to StreamVu that you can continue at with StreamVu directly while still having the expert help and technical support from Videoguys.com.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to produce a live event with StreamVu, while producing both the live stream, and the master-quality copy, with the Matrox Monarch

StreamVu’s Panel of Options

Let’s start with StreamVu. Once you log into StreamVu, you see lots of options (Figure 1, below).

Figure 1. StreamVu’s panel of options in its browser-based interface. Click the image to see it at full size.

The first two icons, New Channel and List Channels, let you create and manage channels of live content. The next two, New Video and List Video, let you add and manage on-demand videos. The next two, New Private and List Private, are for creating private, monetized broadcasts. We’ll look at Broadcast add-ons in a moment.

To produce your live public event, click Producer Stations.

Producing a Live Event in Producer Station

Figure 2 (below) shows the Producer Station Control screen. Working from the top down:

Figure 2. Fields in the Producer Station – Control screen. Click the image to see it at full size.

If you have more than one encoder, you can select that in the pull-down from the Producer Station field at the top of the page.

If you’d like StreamVu to save an archive copy of the live event, click the Archive checkbox. That isn’t necessary here because we’ll produce a master-quality copy of the event with the Monarch HD that we can use to create the on-demand video file.

Select the region closest to your broadcast from the Region pull-down. This helps StreamVu distribute the stream most efficiently.

The code displayed in the FMLE FMS url and FMLE Stream fields are the credentials to paste into the Monarch HD to direct the encoded video to the StreamVu servers.

In the Limited Direct Connect Link field, you’ll see link to a preview of the stream. Alternatively, you can click Open LDC Link near the top right of the page.

In the Limited Direct Connect iframe code field you’ll find the embed code to paste into the viewing page on your website.

Broadcast Add-Ons

StreamVu provides several other options worth considering, which are available in the Broadcast Add-ons page. The first is Chat (Figure 3, below). Note that you can configure options like width, height, and background, text and button colors.

Figure 3. The Chat option found under Broadcast Add-ons. Click the image to see it at full size.

Again, the Direct Link field shows a direct link to preview the add-on, or you can click view up top (not selected in Figure 3). The Iframe code field gives you the code to paste into the viewing page.

Selecting PDF Viewer from the Add-on menu on the left side of the screen lets your viewers scroll through a PDF file during the broadcast, which is great for training and similar videos. Click the PDF File button (Figure 4, below) to select and upload the file.

Figure 4. Click here to select a locally stored PDF file. Click the image to see it at full size.

Click the View radio button to preview the PDF (Figure 5, below).

Figure 5. Previewing the PDF. Click the image to see it at full size.

Back on the Configure page shown in Figure 4, the Iframe code field provides the code you embed into your webpage.

The Note tool (Figure 6, below), accessed by selecting Note from just under PDF Viewer in the Add-on menu on the left, lets viewers take notes and then email a copy to themselves, or anyone else. There you’ll find the now-familiar configuration codes, the preview option, and the embed code.

Figure 6. Configuring the Note tool. Click the image to see it at full size.

Figure 7 (right) the web page that I’ve prepared with the live video and all three add-ons (which you can see by scrolling down from the video window).

Figure 7. The web page we’ve created to present the video and add-ons. Click the image to see it at full size.

Now all we need is the video. For that, let’s go to the Monarch HD. Briefly, the Matrox Monarch HD (Figure 8, right) is a small, quiet, solid-state device with HDMI input. You configure the unit by logging in from any computer on the same networks.

Figure 8. The Matrox Monarch HD. Click the image to see it at full size.

Let’s configure the live stream first (Figure 9, right). I’m shooting in 1080i, but since this stream will be sent to all live viewers, I need a fairly compact and efficient configuration. The 640x368@800 kbps preset should work well. Click Apply to apply your selected preset.

Figure 9. Configuring the live stream in the Matrox Monarch HD Command Center. Click the image to see it at full size.

Choose Record from the Settings pull-down to enter the Record window, where you’ll configure the master-quality copy, which you can store to SD or USB storage on the Monarch HD or to a networked drive. Since this copy is for archival and on-demand production, I want a high-quality stream. I’ll use 1080p@25 mbps, saved to a USB drive on USB2 (Figure 10, right). As with the streamed version, click Apply to apply the preset.

Figure 10. Choosing Record settings for the master-quality archived copy. Click the image to see it at full size.

To start streaming and recording, click over to Control, and press Start streaming and recording (Figure 11, right). Note that I you can also start recording using buttons on the Monarch HD itself.

Figure 11. Starting the stream and record. Click the image to see it at full size.

Let’s check back on the web page; Figure 12 (right) shows the video now streaming and recording.

Figure 12. Now playing. Click the image to see it at full size.

When the broadcast is complete, click the Stop Streaming and Recording button (Figure 13, right).

Figure 13. Click here when the video is complete to stop the recording and streaming. Click the image to see it at full size.

Then, back in the StreamVu control panel, choose Reporting, then click the Get Data button (Figure 14, right) for a report showing details like how many viewers watched the broadcast and for how long.

Figure 14. Getting data on the stream. Click the image to see it at full size.

StreamVu is a simple, inexpensive and well-featured service, and Monarch HD is the only hardware encoder that can produce one stream for live distribution and the other for archiving. In combination, they make an ideal solution for your live and on-demand video production requirements.