To display a livestream inside your Vito hub, you need to use a piece of livestreaming software that supports RTMP. A popular, free option is OBS Studio (see our tutorial).
To stream, you first need to create a channel, and there are a few ways to do this. To follow any of the methods below, first ensure Editing is switched on:
Start a livestream via the plus icon
In the top-right of the screen on desktop (or top-left on mobile) you'll see a purple Plus icon. Clicking on that will open a menu showing different types of content you can add to your hub. Choose Start livestreaming to get started:
Start a livestream from the Watch page
Click on the Watch icon in the explore bar (this looks like a television and appears at the top on desktop or at the bottom on mobile) and on the purple Start a livestream button:
Start a livestream from a custom page
You can insert an existing livestream block into any page in the hub, or create a new one from scratch. Navigate to the page where you want to embed the livestream. Click + Add to this page and select Livestream from the drop-down:
You'll be prompted to either Choose from livestream channels you've already added to your library, or else Create a new channel.
Start a livestream from a post
See this article for attaching rich media, including a livestream channel, to posts in the discussion feed.
Configure your livestream channel
Whichever method to select from above, you'll be prompted to click to Create a new livestream channel:
Set an optional title for your livestream, e.g. "Channel ACME", and edit the visibility settings.
When you save, your livestream channel will be created and you will land on the livestream channel page, which has two layouts depending on the channel status:
When your channel is offline (i.e. not streaming), the stream will appear as a compact block at the top of the page, and the discussion feed will display underneath.
When your channel is online (i.e. streaming), the media player will take up most of the page and the discussion feed will be displayed next to it, on the right-hand side.
Edit your livestream channel
Before you start streaming, you may wish to customize your livestream channel. Click on Stream settings on the channel block:
Next, click on Edit, where you can:
Set a custom placeholder image
Change the livestream title
Add a URL for live captions
Edit the visibility settings
💡 Tip: In addition to customizing the stream settings, you can also edit the livestream channel page by adding blocks, tweaking the discussion settings and more in the drop-down menu under the kebab menu (⁝) in the top-right of the block.
Run your livestream
When you click on Stream settings (see the screenshot above), you'll be shown some key information about your stream:
This section shows:
Livestream placeholder image — override the default one by clicking on Edit at the top).
Connection status — this will say "Awaiting connection" until you successfully connect to your livestreaming software (e.g. OBS Studio).
Stream status — see below:
Idle: no connection has been established between Vito and your streaming software. If this doesn't change after you start streaming, double-check you're using the right Stream Key.
Buffering: a connection has been established and the stream is about to be pulled in to the hub. There is usually a delay of up to 20 seconds before you see the stream appear. This is known as latency.
Broadcasting: the stream is displaying in the hub.
Disconnected: Vito is disconnected from your streaming software. This usually means you've clicked to end the stream inside your streaming software, but occasionally it can happen unintentionally, for instance if your streaming software loses connection to the internet.
View mode — set to Collaborators only if you are testing and wish to hide the stream from participants, or set to All participants if you're ready to go live.
Credentials — you'll need to copy and paste your Stream URL and Stream key (reveal by clicking the eye icon) into your livestreaming software using the RTMP connection option, in order to connect to Vito.
💡 Tip: You shouldn't share your stream key publicly as this would allow people to be able to stream to your hub. You can regenerate the stream key if you need to. You would then need to re-connect your livestreaming software to your hub.
Head over to your livestreaming software of choice and enter the Stream URL and Stream key. You can see an example of this in our OBS Studio tutorial. When you're ready, hit the button inside your streaming software to start streaming. If you've followed the steps above, you'll see it appear in Vito.
Be sure to end the broadcast from your streaming software when you've finished. A copy of your stream file will be saved to the media gallery automatically, and you can attach it to a schedule session or set the visibility to Participants to share it publicly on the Watch page.
Questions? Search our documentation, email support@vi.to or chat to us in-app.