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How to set up a live event on Vimeo
To create a live event on Vimeo using the free demo, go to the Live Events tab. From here, click the “Start free demo” button. You'll then be navigated into a newly created event called "My live demo". Please note that the privacy will be set to "Private".
You will be prompted to allow your browser access to your webcam, and once you’ve done that, your audio and video sources should appear in drop-down lists for you to select in the Webcam tab.
Going Live
Once you have your inputs selected, click Save and you will see your stream preview, as well as your simulcast destinations, chat, and other features on the left. To go live, click the red Go Live button on the top right corner and your stream will begin.
Please note that you will be limited to 10 minutes of streaming. After the demo expires, you would need to upgrade to Premium to go live again.
If you would rather test with an external encoder, you can use any RTMP streaming encoding, such as Livestream Studio, by clicking the Connect (RTMPS) tab above the player.
What is an External Encoder?
An encoder is a machine or program that takes the live video and audio signals from your input sources and “encodes” them into a format that can be streamed over the internet. Think of this as shipping a package. No matter the contents, in order to ship them across the world, you first have to pack them into a container that meets the standards of the shipping service. An example of an encoder is Livestream Studio.
Encoding for Vimeo is done using RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol). Basically, your encoder has the web address of our servers and a Stream Key to authenticate it and determine the specific destination (i.e. which event to stream to).
When you start your stream, the encoded signal is sent directly to our Ingest Server, where it’s processed and delivered to all of your viewers through the Vimeo Live player.
Ending a Stream
To end your stream, simply click End Event in the top corner, where the Go Live button was previously. The archive for your stream is being processed in real-time while you stream, so once your stream signal stops only the last few blocks of data must be finalized before your archive is available. This typically takes just a few moments. Once completed, your stream archive exists on Vimeo under the same URL and embed code as it did while it was live. You now have all of the options and settings available under your Video Settings that you would had this archive been uploaded instead of streamed.