extron h.264 media processors and encoders streaming to

Technical Application Note Technical Application Note

July 7, 2020

Extron H.264 Media Processors and Encoders

Streaming to third parties using RTMP

The following notes provide guidance on setting up the Extron Media Processors and Encoders for publishing live streams to third party services via RTMP. For more information, please call your Extron Application Engineer.

Extron Products Affected:

SMP 111 60-1594-01

SME 211 60-1763-01

SMP 351 60-1324-01 / 60-1324-11

SMP 351 3G-SDI 60-1324-02 / 60-1324-12

SMP 352 – 400 GB SSD 60-1634-11

SMP 352 3G-SDI – 400 GB SSD 60-1634-12

SPECIAL NOTES

Streaming to 3rd party services requires a user to have an account with those services. Accounts with third party providers are the responsibility of those maintaining the stream and its content.


TECH NOTE

Extron encoders support RTMP push streaming for publishing live video to third party services like YouTube, Facebook Live, Wowza, Twitch, MS Stream, and others.

Streaming to Microsoft Stream

If stream should be created as MS Teams live event go further in this document to “Streaming to Microsoft Teams Live event”

Requirement: Microsoft Office 365 plan with included option Stream.

1. Go to https://web.microsoftstream.com and log in to your Microsoft account.

2. From the dashboard select Create, Live event

Note: The examples in this document show the interface of the SMP 111. The interfaces of the SME 211 and SMP 300 series may look different, but the same settings apply.

https://web.microsoftstream.com/


3. Under Event setup, enter a name for the live stream event, description, and thumbnail if desired.

4. There are two options for live streaming: At a specific date and time, or As soon as encoder is connected (now).

A. At a specific date and time now - for scheduled events in the future. B. As soon as encoder is connected - live events starting manually


5. Next press Save at the bottom of the right-hand panel.

6. Then press Start Setup to initiate the stream on Microsoft’s Service.

7. Once the Stream is setup, Select Configure manually. Optional but recommended to

enable encrypted SSL connection (RTMPS). COPY the Server ingest URL:


Streaming to Microsoft Teams Live event

The setup is via MS Teams, still the stream will go via MS Stream.

Requirement: Microsoft Office 365 plan with included option Stream. Full version of Microsoft Teams installed. That user is allowed to create live event via MS Stream.

1. Open Microsoft Teams app and in Calendar schedule a new Live event.

2. Fill in required fields for the live event, organiser must be “Producer”. Press Next.

3. In “Live event permission” select “People or groups” or “Org-wide”. In “How will you produce your live event” select “An external app or device” with any needed options and press “Schedule”.


4. Live event it now scheduled. To find needed RTMP URL press “Join”.

For server to be able to receive a RTMP stream press “Start Setup”.

5. In “Source settings” change “Secure connection (SSL)” to On - recommended. Copy the “Server ingest URL”.


Setup up Encoder

Requirement: Network IP settings on encoder is set with “Default Gateway” and “DNS Server”. That TCP port 1935 for RTMP and TCP/2935 for RTMPS is open, not blocked/filtered by a firewall.

To configure the Encoder for RTMP Push streaming to a live streaming provider:

1. Ensure you SMP unit is connected to the network and has access to the internet

a. Open the web browser of the Encoder, Troubleshooting, Diagnostic Tools

b. Ping your live service, such as [verifydns.media.azure.net]

i. If successful, a green checkmark is shown.

ii. If results fail, verify network and DNS settings.

Note: Azure CDN services don’t always respond to Ping.

2. Open a web browser of the Encoder, Configuration, Encoding & Metadata, Encoding

Presets:

3. Confirm the Encoder is in Stop Mode. If needed, press stop on the front panel (SMP

series only).

4. Select PUSH from the Streaming Method slider and select RTMP for the Streaming

Protocol.


SMP 351 example

SMP 111 example

SME211 example


5. Paste the Server ingest URL from Microsoft into the Server URL data field. Truncate

everything after “live” Note there should not be a / at the end. e.g.: rtmp://thdcfy3jtlree4gfesngnn6u3f-fkcaavrn6dnaulsseqzdz6mv6c-usea.channel.media.azure.net:1935/live

6. Paste the same Server ingest URL from Microsoft into the Stream Name/Key field. Then

delete everything before and including the “live/” Note: this should only contain letters

and numbers, 32 characters long. e.g.: 241a5a9735ca49200gh12b7b14aefd32

7. Click Apply.

***Troubleshooting Tip: If an error is reported, it means the encoder couldn’t resolve the URL name to the streaming service. This does happen if the service is not quite ready to receive the streams yet. Ensure that the Microsoft Stream is setup and is in the “Ready to connect” state.


8. On the SMP Streaming, click “Start RTMP stream” button to activate the stream.

9. After a few seconds, the button will change to red and indicate the RTMP stream is now

live. Please note that with MS Stream and Azure, the live status is emulated not true

feedback.

Start event in MS Stream and MS Teams

1. Back on the web.microsoftstream.com dashboard page or the MS Teams app, you should

now see the display of the SMP streaming content. This process can take up to a minute

to complete. The stream is now considered in a pre-live state. When ready, Press “Start

Event” and audience / event participant can see the live stream.


Find the URL to embed player for MS Stream

1. Enable Audience view to see the stream as audiance.

2. Pressing the ellipsis button (three dots) will allow you to copy the public facing URL that

can be sent to guests or embedded into a web page for public events / streaming.

3. The live stream will be available on Microsoft Stream until it is stopped from the MS

Stream control portal.

4. If the Extron Encoder is stopped or the stream gets interrupted, the Microsoft Stream

control portal will give the notification and option to end the session:


Recommended Encoder Settings:

Video

• Resolution: 1280 x 720 (720P)

• Frame Rate: 30fps

• GOP : 60 frames (2 seconds)

• Bitrate: Up to 5Mbps (5000 kbps)

• Rate Control: CBR

• H.264 Profile: High

• Profile Level: 4.0

Audio

• Bitrate: 192 kbps

• Sample Rate: 48 kHz or 44.1 kHz (recommend 48 kHz)


Troubleshooting:

1. In the producer view, check the Health of the stream. You should see a preview of your live

stream or scheduled event here prior to starting the event.

2. Verify on the Extron encoder page that the stream is Live, and that the button shows “Stop

RMTP Stream”.

3. Ensure that the Encoder’s Stream is not being blocked, and that the firewall is open for

RTMP connection to server. This may be possible to test from the encoder.

▪ In Encoder WebGUI open “Troubleshooting” / “Diagnostic Tools”. Under “Nmap” fill in the

Host and Port number, example:

RTMP URL: rtmp://thdcu3f-fkmv6c-usea.channel.media.azure.net:1935/live/241a5a9efd32

Host: thdcu3f-fkmv6c-usea.channel.media.azure.net

Port: 1935

Answer must include the port number is open for tcp:

PORT STATE SERVICE

1935/tcp open unknown

4. Verify Server URL and Stream Name are entered correctly.

▪ Note: The Stream Name / Key changes after each event.

▪ Note: Make sure there is no extra / character in the stream name after “live”

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