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Go Live

This tutorial walks you through a complete broadcast from start to finish. Follow these steps for your first live stream or use it as a pre-broadcast checklist.

Prerequisites​

Before you go live, confirm:

  • You have created a live stream with a scheduled session
  • Your encoder is connected and configured with your RTMP ingest URL and stream key
  • Your live stream is embedded where viewers will watch (viewers will see the live slate countdown until you go live)

Step 1 — Start your encoder​

In your streaming software (e.g. OBS), click Start Streaming. Your encoder will begin sending video to Viostream.

Step 2 — Confirm Connected status​

  1. In Viostream, navigate to Live and open your live stream.
  2. Check the encoder status on the live stream detail page — it should show Connected within a few seconds of starting your encoder.
caution

Do not start your session until the encoder shows Connected. If you start the session while the encoder is Offline, viewers will see the live slate rather than your video.

Step 3 — Start the session​

  1. In the Sessions section, find your scheduled session and click View Session.
  2. Click Start Session to go live.

Viewers immediately see your live video in the embedded player. The session state changes from Scheduled to Active.

Step 4 — Broadcast​

Your broadcast is live. Monitor the encoder status throughout — it should remain Streaming. If it drops to Connected or Offline, check your encoder software and network connection.

Step 5 — End the session​

When you have finished broadcasting:

  1. Click End Session in Viostream.
  2. In your encoder software, click Stop Streaming.

The session state changes to Completed. Viewers see the live slate (session ended message).

tip

End the session in Viostream before stopping your encoder software. This ensures the recording captures a clean end point.

Step 6 — Confirm recording saved​

Viostream automatically saves a recording to your Library when the session ends. Allow a few minutes for processing, then check your Library for the new recording.

The recording is linked to the live stream's public key — if you embed the recording in a Channel, the same embed code that showed the live stream will now show the recording.