How to Stream Live With Your Smartphone

Using Larix Broadcaster , you can stream live video and audio from a smartphone running Android, IOS or Windows. The steps are:

1. Download and install Larix from the link above.
2. Configure Larix
3. Test with the streaming server provided by whomever is hosting your live stream
4. When requested, start sending your stream.

Before giving details explanations of how to configure Larix, its important to note one of two things about the stream:

1. Many people may be watching worldwide and its important to test and then, during the live stream, ensure only acceptable video and audio are sent to the server. 
2. The Larix website illustrates the connection between your phone, server and the viewer devices. 
3. Clear video requires planning your shot - from which direction? is the lighting good? will bright lights interfere? Is there traffic noise or other interference.
4. Maintain your smartphone in  landscape orientation
5. If more than one person are to stream to the same server, be on standby and start your stream promptly when directed. Stop promptly when directed. 
6. In church events and similar situations, it may be possible to get audio from your mixer with the help of your audio technicians.

How to Configure Larix

1.  This is how Larix icon looks like on an Android phone:

  

2. On launching you get the  following home screen: 

3. You access the settings menu by tapping the gear icon []. You will get the following settings screen.

4. Only the first three items (Connections, Video and Audio) need to be configured. To begin with, you create a connection and name it. Secondly, you select the video and audio settings. You can now return to the home screen and press the big red circular button to start streaming. It turns into a square red button used to stop streaming. It's that simple. 

During streaming, the stream statistics will be displayed at the lower portion of the Larix stream.

How to Create a New Connection

1. Tap the Connections menu in settings screen (shown in Step3 above). Before a connection is created, you will see only the New connection and Manage connections menus. The green checkbox is used to select the connection to be used.

2. Select New connection to start creating a new connection.

3. Only two essential settings are required: (i) the address of the server(URL) and (ii) the name of the event being streamed. In the screen shown above, the event or stream name is "Celebration of Healings". The server address is the text starting with "rtmp" which requires to be inserted without any error. The new connection screen is shown below:

4. Type the name of the event and the server address (URL). 

A typical URL will look like the following:

rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com:29335/live23/pswb-7ghsd-f0jz-bkpy

The URL is provided to you by the streaming provider. It must be entered without any error or modification. The best way is to copy (from SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram etc.) and paste into Larix.

In most cases, the Login and Password are not required. Never share the URL provided to you without the permission of the streaming service provider.

The mode sets the type of stream you want to provide. It can be set to video only, audio only or both video and audio.  The default is both. Save the settings and press the Back button until you return to the Settings screen. The Back button is the triangular one in the illustration above.

How to Set the Video Properties

1. Select the Video menu from the settings screen.

2. Several properties can be set for Video as shown in the two illustrations below. The ones you will need to set are: (i) camera (front facing of rear facing), (ii) video size (the streaming provider will advice), (iii) live rotation (turn it on), (iv) bit rate (provider will advice), (v) key frame frequency (provider will advice).  Press the Back button when finished. Settings will automatically be saved.

How to Set Audio Propertied

1.  From Settings screen, select Audio. 

2. The following audio properties can be set: (i) Audio source (default is built-in mic in the phone), (ii) Sample rate (provider will advice, 11025 samples per second gives good quality and uses minimal bandwidth), (iii) Channel count (1 = mono, 2=stereo), (iv) Bitrate (default is OK - Auto), (v) Bluetooth mic (if you are using a Bluetooth microphone). Press the Back button twice to save settings and return to Home screen.

Stream Quality

Note that, the higher the video and audio quality, the more bandwidth (data bundles) will be consumed. 

Video Quality is determined by:

1. Size or resolution (from 176x144 pixel to 1664x1248 pixel). Some streaming servers have restriction on video resolution sizes. The streaming provide will advice on the best setting. 

2. Bitrate. The higher the bitrate (connection speed), the better the video quality. 

3. Key frame frequency. The higher the keyframe frequency, the better the video. If the subject in the video is moving quickly, a higher keyframe frequency will reduce jerky video effects. The less powerful processors may not be able to handle high keyframe rates.

Audio quality is determined by:

1. Sample rate. The higher the better. 11025 is sufficient when streaming mono audio.

2. Channel count. Stereo gives better effects but the source is likely to be mono so setting should match source.

3. Bitrate. The higher the better but high bit rate loads the phone's process more. Auto allows automatic bitrate adjustment to match available network speeds.

Remember to your shot, your lighting and audio will make a big difference to final video quality. If quality is poor, the video be unusable.

You are now ready to press the big red button and stream.

The LORD bless you as you venture into videography and live streaming.