Free demos of Vimeo Live are available for users currently not on an Advanced or Premium plan who would like to test live features before upgrading. Free demos are limited to 10 minutes of streaming.
In this article:
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 folder. From here, select 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. Once you’ve done so, 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, select Save and you will see your stream preview, as well as your simulcast destinations, chat, and other features on the left. To go live, select the red Go Live button in the top right corner, and your stream will begin.
⚠️ Note: As part of the demo, you will be limited to 10 minutes of streaming time. After the demo expires, you would need to upgrade to go live again.
If you prefer to test with an external encoder, you can use any RTMP streaming encoder, such as Livestream Studio, by selecting 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. Regardless of the contents, to ship them across the world, you first need 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). 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, select "End Event" in the top corner, where the "Go Live" button was previously located. The archive for your stream is being processed in real-time while you stream. Once your stream signal stops, only the last few blocks of data need to be finalized before your archive is available. This typically takes just a few moments.
Once completed, your stream archive will be available on Vimeo under the same URL and embed code as it was while it was live. You now have all of the options and settings available under your Video Settings that you would have had if this archive had been uploaded instead of streamed.