This feature requires an Advanced or Premium plan, or an Enterprise plan with the Events feature added.
You can schedule prerecorded content to play automatically in a live event without needing to be present to start the stream. This article discusses how to schedule a prerecorded event, manage playback settings, and switch between production modes.
In this article:
- What to know before scheduling a prerecorded live event
- How to schedule and configure a prerecorded event to start automatically
- How to switch a scheduled prerecorded event back to manual control
What to know before scheduling a prerecorded live event
Before you schedule your event, take note of the following:
- Encoder support: This feature is only supported when streaming via the web-based production tool and is not available for external encoders.
- Event types availability: Prerecorded events are available for live events and webinars, but are not available for venues.
- Minimum lead time: If the scheduled start time is set to under 1 minute from the current time, the automatic start will not work.
- Concurrent-stream limits at start time: earlier scheduled start times take priority. If your account is already at its concurrent-stream limit when the prerecorded event is due to start, the prerecorded event will not begin and the event owner receives an automated email explaining why. You can review your full event schedule on the Live Events dashboard.
- Video edits: Any videos you add to the live event will play back in their entirety, and all video scenes will auto-transition. This cannot be changed. Ensure you have made all necessary edits or trims before the event begins.
- Audience interaction activation and availability: While chat, polls, and Q&A can be added to the event, polls must be manually activated during the broadcast to ensure timing is accurate. Chat and Q&A can be scheduled automatically.
- Time zones: Event settings display in the creator's browser timezone, but viewers will see the start time automatically converted to their local timezone.
- Contributor Plus folder location: New live events created by Contributor Plus team members are stored in their own folder and must be moved to a shared team folder to go live.
- Subscription limitations: The number of concurrent events varies with the subscription plan. Read more at Simulcast concurrent events to different destinations.
How to schedule and configure a prerecorded event to start automatically
You can configure a live event to start automatically using prerecorded videos. To do so:
- Create a new live event or select an existing one from your library.
- In the upper right corner of the web-based production tool, open the dropdown next to Go live and select Prerecorded event.
- Select the video(s) you want to stream from the modal that appears and select Add. These videos will be added to the Prerecorded segment.
- If you want to include a live portion at the end of the event, add scenes to the Live segment located below the player. If live scenes are also added, the event will switch to manual mode after transitioning to the first live scene, requiring you to manually select End event to stop the stream.
- Navigate to the Settings Gear > Schedule to add the Start date and Time. A timer in the upper right corner will display the countdown to the scheduled start time.
Once the event begins at the scheduled time, prerecorded videos will play and proceed to the next scenes automatically.
How to switch a scheduled prerecorded event back to manual control
You can revert a prerecorded event to manual production mode if you decide to go live manually. To do so:
- Select your event from the Events library.
- In the upper right corner of the production tool, select the dropdown next to the scheduled date (or 'Unscheduled' if there's no date set).
- Select Stream from your browser.
- Your segments will remain in order, but must now be switched manually. Additionally, the event will not start until you select Go live.