BLOX VMS’s live streaming feature allows you to stream to many platforms, including your website, mobile apps, and OTT apps like Roku, AppleTV and Fire TV.
BLOX VMS can also deliver your stream to other platforms that have their own streaming infrastructure and distribution, such as Facebook. By following the steps in this article, you can stream content on Facebook while also streaming through the BLOX VMS player, simultaneously recording your stream to create a video archive in your BLOX VMS account.
In order for BLOX VMS to deliver your stream to Facebook, you will need the following:
First, navigate to the Facebook Page on which you wish to live stream. You have two options to get to the Facebook Live interface:
Select Videos or More > Videos, then click the Visit Meta Business Suite button.
After Visit Meta Business Suite opens, click on More, then Go Live near top right.
On the resulting interface, you have options "Go live" or "Create live video event". We recommend "Go live" as you can also schedule an event in the other interface. "Create live video event" does allow for users to RSVP and send out a reminder. This document goes through steps assuming choosing "Go live".
We recommend turnng the "Create a test broadcast before going live" setting to on.
Expand the "Advanced Settings". Copy the Server URL and Stream key (above Advanced Settings) information and create a Stream Target in BLOX VMS with this information, before the start of your Facebook Live event.
Once your credentials are configured in the BLOX VMS live cloud, and you are publishing to your BLOX VMS rtmp URL and stream name, you should see your stream appear in the player preview at the top of this page.
If you have previously created a BLOX VMS Stream Target, you do not need to create a new one. However, if you started to publish the stream prior to opening the Facebook Live event interface, you may need to disable then re-enable the stream target or open and re-save the target in order for the Facebook platform to detect the stream.
Please note: If you de-select the “Use a persistent stream key” option, you’ll have to update your publishing information in BLOX VMS Stream Targets each time you want to do a new live event on Facebook. This is not recommended. It is better to use the persistent key because you only have to set this up one time.
On the rest of the page, populate additional information about the live event that Facebook requires — post title and test, etc. You can decide if you actually want to go live now or later.
At the conclusion of your event, Facebook will save a copy of your stream for playback in your Facebook post.
If you wish to stream through the BLOX VMS player and record your stream into your BLOX VMS account at the same time that you are streaming on Facebook, follow our guides to publishing live stream events and setting events to record in the BLOX VMS manager.
