Live:Air Action: A Rundown of the Switching / Live Streaming App for iPads
By Jim Bask
Live streaming is one of the fastest growing forms of new media, but let’s be honest, most streams you see on Facebook and live platforms are choppy videos of your friends holding smartphones to their faces. This gets the content online easily and reliably, but is very rudimentary in execution and oftentimes results in some low-quality videos.
So while we see a lot of live streams are being created by your average independent content creator, rarely do we see more advanced applications of live streaming such as multi-camera, live-switched productions. And for good reason – traditionally, the tools needed to achieve high-end broadcasts were expensive and bulky, making them inaccessible for the majority of people.
But with the widespread use of social media, mass adoption of handsets and implementation of quick-and-easy live video, anyone in the world with a current-generation smartphone can go live from anywhere. This presents an opportunity to create professional live streams in an economical and creative way. That’s where Live:Air Action comes in!
What is Live:Air Action?
Live:Air Action is a live switching app available for iPads. It offers an entire suite of tools traditionally only found on enterprise broadcast switchers such as switching, graphics, lower-thirds, looping in pre-recorded videos and much more. But instead of being a giant hardware switcher, Live:Air Action has all of these bundled into an app!
How Does It Work?
It uses the iPad’s built-in back camera to capture video and allows you to add various built-in or custom-designed graphics. Once the video is ready, you can select any live streaming platform (Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, etc.) and go live directly from your iPad.
However, the best and most unique feature included in the Live:Air Action app is the ability to feed in multiple remote cameras wirelessly. Using other iOS devices (iPads, iPhones, iPod Touches) as camera sources, Live:Air Action can receive the feeds from up to 6 cameras and allow you to switch between them on the control surface. This gives more character to your production and makes for more engaging streams.
What Are The Features?
1. Multi-Cam Switching
There are 2 ways to do this:
- Other iOS devices with the Live:Air Remote app.
- Professional cameras w/ VidiU Pro encoder connected via HDMI.
Under the same WiFi network, other iOS devices can use Live:Air Remote to send their camera feeds directly into Live:Air Action. Every connected iOS source will populate on the main interface, where you can click to choose which feed to occupy the stream screen.
Similarly, if you want to stream a higher-quality image and own a professional video camera, connecting a VidiU Pro to the camera allows Live:Air Action to receive the camera’s feed and stream with it. This allows you to forego the iOS built-in back camera and use a high-def video camera instead.
The free edition includes switching between 3 external camera sources. Additional camera sources can be purchased in-app.
2. Lower-Thirds
Lower-thirds are texts that display on the bottom of a video feed, like the name of a reporter or brief text describing the subject of the broadcast. Adding lower-thirds helps viewers tuning in understand what’s going on, especially in broadcasts like interviews, news and sports games.
Live:Air Action makes this easy. Simply choose one of the built-in lower-third designs, type in the text you want and place it into the video. It can also be changed/removed at any time with just the tap of a button.
3. Scoreboards
A tool for all of the sports streamers out there, scoreboards can be easily added and constantly updated every time your favorite team earns a point. The app gives you the option of listing teams as Home / Away, or simply inputting the team names yourself.
4. Pre-Recorded Video
One noticeable thing you see on TV broadcasts like news or sports is the way they can overlay pre-recorded footage into a broadcast. Whether it’s commercials, pre-recorded interviews, sports recaps or whatever you need, Live:Air Action allows you to pull videos directly from the iPad’s Camera Roll into the app and play them over the video feed.
5. Transitions
You can’t overlay videos without smooth transitions though, and the app offers a collection of built-in transitions to choose from. This allows you to create a nice separation between program and commercial (or whichever video you choose to overlay).
6. Images
Many users enjoy adding images like custom-designed logos to their broadcast, which give their streams more character and identity. Live:Air Action makes this very easy too. Simply load any images into your iPad’s photo storage and load them into the app. You can have up to 4 images in your feed at the same time.
7. Recording
Ever see a good play in a sports game and wish you had recorded it? While streaming, Live:Air Action gives you the option to “clip” the last 30 seconds of the stream into your iPad’s camera roll. Use it as a replay later, post-production VOD or simply keep it for the memories!
8. URL
This new feature is for all of the Twitch streamers out there. Integrated with Streamlabs, the URL function adds a funky icon that pops up everytime you get a new subscriber or donation. This can be rearranged and resized to anywhere on the screen. Just copy your Widget URL into Live:Air Action, choose a cool image/gif for your stream, and go live.
And Much More
Chroma key (green screen), audio mixing, gif overlays, iOS delay info, and multi-destination streaming are more of the many other features available within Live:Air Action. The most popular features in traditional hardware switchers can be done from the palm of your hands.
Conclusion
Heavy, expensive switching solutions are a thing of the past. With Live:Air Action, you can live stream production-level content in an affordable and convenient way. Try it out for free on the App Store today.
