Live Streaming and Live Assets

Flow Capture has Live Streaming integrations that allow you to connect and view cameras on set and/or the work being done in edit bays securely on our platform. If you have questions or issues with the setup or use of Live Stream, please contact Flow Capture Support. 

Flow Capture Live Streaming is currently compatible with Flow Capture Connect, SRT Devices, and AWS Elemental, and can be viewed on all our supported playback platforms. 

Set Up 

Once Live Streaming has been enabled at either the Company or Production level on your account by a member of the Flow Capture team, all of the control will be in your hands! From there, it becomes a folder setting not unlike any other. 

Clicking on the Connections will bring you to the page where you can start putting things together.

Note that anyone who needs to set up a Live Stream or access that panel has to have at least Uploader permissions!

All of the streams you create for the folder will live here, but for now, you'll want to click that Create Stream button to get the setup started.

This is where you choose all of the specifics for your stream, beginning with the type of source you'll be using.

Entering in a name and description are the next steps after choosing your source. Those help differentiate each stream in the settings. The next steps are unique to each type of platform and we'll walk you through connecting each of them.

Note that the Live asset itself won't be created until you start streaming from whichever source you've connected. Skip down to the Live Asset Creation section for more information about that!

Managing Streams

After you've finished the setup steps and created your live stream, it will live under Connections.

It gives you several pieces of at-a-glance information:

  • Stream Name - What you're calling the stream.
  • Source - Where the stream is coming from. 
  • Status - Indicates the stream's current state. Can be any of the following:
    • NEW - Newly minted and awaiting creators!
    • ACTIVE - Currently broadcasting live.
    • OFFLINE - Finished streaming and currently dormant. 

Live Asset Creation

Setting up the stream and connecting it to Flow Capture are just the initial steps - the actual Live asset(s) won't be created until you've started broadcasting from your source. 

Doing that will create a batch called Live Assets in the folder where you've setup the stream up and the batch will automatically populate with a corresponding Live asset that's connected to the stream you just created:

Working with Live Assets

Once created, you can generally treat each live asset much like you would anything else that's been uploaded to Flow Capture. A message with the Live asset in it will be generated in the Inbox of anyone who's a part of the folder where it was created so folks can view it there without having to navigate to the Assets. They can also be added to playlists for Flow Capture Rooms sessions, or to Playlinks, if you don't want to give someone full access to the folder where the Live asset lives. 

The Manage Assets panel can move or copy a Live asset into another folder or subfolder that's been created to host a specific Live stream or that has assets someone viewing may want to reference (streaming pairs really well with Immediates, for instance). 

It's important to note that the next time the stream goes live after being moved, another asset will always reappear and be tied to the original folder where the stream itself was created. 

You might want to give the Live asset a simpler name to help others distinguish or find it in Flow Capture. Just select the asset, open the Metadata tab, and make your changes in the Name field. 

Once saved, that name will follow the Live asset wherever it is on Flow Capture.

Composite Live Streams

We also allow you to create streams that combine multiple feeds into one. You can find more information about that here!

Deleting Live Assets

Like everything else on Flow Capture, it's possible to delete a Live asset. If you do so accidentally - don't panic! It will automatically be created again the next time you start broadcasting.

If you do want to permanently delete a stream, you can do so from the Live Streams tab of the folder settings. Clicking the delete button next to any stream will give you a confirmation prompt.

If you're sure you want to go through with it, click Confirm and the stream in question will be gone for good until you redo its setup.