However, there is a massive amount of options for picking your favorite live streaming destination. Streamingmedia.com recently posted a great guide to live streaming platforms. Check out some highlights, below.

This buyers’ guide identifies common live-streaming use cases and suggests the features to look for and the services to consider for those use cases. I’ll be focusing on services that transcode for traditional adaptive bitrate (ABR) delivery via HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) or DASH and not low-latency services for WebRTC or similar technologies. If your use case is not listed (we couldn’t get them all), find one that’s close in scale and the required feature set. 

Note that the list of services is not meant to be exhaustive, so if you’re a reader, you should start with those listed and search for similar companies. If you’re a service provider and your service wasn’t listed, or it wasn’t listed for a particular use case, please add it in the comments below.

You’re a Social Media Marketer, and you want to Reach Your Viewers where they Live: Facebook and YouTube.

Social media has undeniable appeal, and as platforms, Facebook and YouTube are undeniably robust. But using them as your primary streaming platform for mission-critical events is problematic for multiple reasons, most importantly the lack of accessible technical support. Most of the live-streaming platforms I will discuss can syndicate streams to various social media platforms, and originating your streams with a commercial service is the best strategy. 

You’re a broadcaster seeking live transcoding services.

You’ve got the content management, player, and delivery ecosystem nailed; you just want affordable high-quality transcoding and packaging. Companies to consider include AWS Elemental, Bitmovin, Microsoft Azure, Mux, StreamGuys, Wowza, and Brightcove Zencoder.

Check out the full article, HERE.

Whether you’re giving the nightly news or announcing an Oscar winner, the last thing you need is for your live stream to go down on the world’s largest social media site. Despite the fact that Facebook Live is now more popular than YouTube among weekly live-stream viewers, connectivity and streaming problems are all too common for broadcasters on this platform.

Professional streamers and broadcasters demand equally professional quality out of their Facebook Live streams. And their followers now expect it, as well: 90 percent of viewers say quality is the most important aspect of Facebook Live videos. However, in our recent report on Facebook Live streaming, 76 percent of respondents report errors that interfere with stream reliability and quality playback.

Luckily, there’s a solution: the Wowza ClearCaster appliance. It’s purpose-built for reliable, broadcast-quality streaming to Facebook Live. In this single, rack-mountable device, the benefits of industry-leading Wowza streaming software meet seamless integration with the Facebook Live APIs.

Broadcasters Report Widespread Challenges Streaming to Facebook Live

From international media companies to mid-market affiliates; live event producers to universities; broadcasters and streaming professionals need solutions that can be configured quickly and easily, and that fit naturally into their existing production workflows. But our survey respondents say equipment, setup and integration are the biggest challenges when streaming to Facebook Live.

“Of all the services out there, Facebook is the most difficult technically.” —Anonymous survey respondent

This is partially because Facebook Live has specific bandwidth and resolution requirements that must be met. Even one incorrect hardware or software setting can cause performance issues—but it can be difficult to determine what exactly went wrong.

That’s where Wowza ClearCaster comes in. It directly connects to the Facebook Live API, keeping you up to date. And it automatically configures and monitors streams for maximum resiliency and reliability. Regardless of bandwidth and connectivity issues, your stream keeps going strong. Just plug it in, and we’ll take it from there.

ClearCaster Delivers Reliable, Broadcast-Quality Streams

ClearCaster’s many benefits for broadcasters and streaming professionals include:

Auto-Configuration and Stream Health Monitoring

The Wowza ClearCaster simplifies streaming success by auto-configuring the optimal encoding settings for your on-site conditions and use case. What’s more, its real-time stream health monitoring capabilities automatically adjust stream settings on the fly, adapting to changing conditions and ensuring the maximum allowable quality and uptime.

High Resolution for Professional Productions

Plugging in ClearCaster allows broadcasters to deliver in crisp, 1080p30 content: the highest possible resolution supported by Facebook. It includes x264 for encoding high-quality video, H.264 video streams and is H.265-ready. ClearCaster even encodes and delivers in 4K and Ultra High-Definition (UHD) when supported, so you can syndicate to Facebook Live while meeting high-definition broadcast standards.

The Best Path to Facebook Live Success

Working directly with Facebook, the Wowza ClearCaster was designed with the needs of broadcasters and streaming professionals in mind. It easily integrates into existing production workflows—no changes required.

Initial setup takes less than three minutes and involves just five simple steps. After that, you can start new live streams in seconds, making ClearCaster both the best and the simplest path to broadcast-quality streaming on Facebook Live.

Wowza ClearCaster comes with an HDMI or SDI input for all your professional-grade equipment. Just plug it in, and deliver programming directly to Facebook Live from the editing bay or live production studio. You can also control ClearCaster from the Wowza web app, and start and stop streams directly within the Facebook user interface—enabling you to manage streaming from any remote location.

Attract and Engage Facebook Followers

ClearCaster’s Talent View functionality allows on-air talent to see live-streams exactly as they appear to followers, so they can instantly leverage Live Reactions and respond to comments and questions. This also allows you to immediately gauge what resonates with audiences during broadcasts.

To further enhance the experience for viewers, an integrated countdown clock lets on-screen personalities know the exact moment streams go live—no more awkward pauses or truncated content. These features help create engaging conversations that inspire loyalty from followers and build broadcasters’ brands.

We’ve Got Your Back

Keep ClearCaster plugged in, and we’ll handle push updates, so your software always has the latest fixes and features. It even comes with three years of 24/7 phone, chat and email maintenance and support for your hardware and software—so you always have expert help when you need it.

The Wowza ClearCaster was designed with the needs of industry experts like you in mind, and was purpose-built to increase your Facebook Live streaming success. Whether you’re streaming a local town hall or the Super Bowl, it’s the easiest way for professionals to connect with confidence on Facebook Live.

Our friends at Facebook have announced their Live 360 Ready Program, and we’re proud to be leading the pack of software partners. The announcement came with several updates to the Facebook Live platform, including the support of 360° streams in 4K resolution. This means you can now connect your Orah, Nokia Ozo, 360 Fly, Insta 360, Giroptic or other cameras, and stream in the highest quality possible. 

The recent rise of 360º video allows viewers to be virtually transported to a live event, such as a sporting event, concert or political rally. But to feel like you’re there, you need the highestquality possible. Resolution is critical when you need to show depth of field, crystal-clear images and rich color. Facebook has already led other platforms in playback innovations with its cube-mapping and pyramid-projection technology. Now, with the support of 4K content, Facebook gives content creators the ability to deliver breathtaking experiences to the world’s largest audience.

Our Wowza Streaming Cloud service is the leading platform to deliver high-quality 360° and virtual reality content to Facebook Live viewers around the globe. More content creators and event broadcasters trust Wowza to simplify their workflows and scale delivery, including:

• Lollapalooza
• The Oscars
• President Obama’s farewell address
• Conan360
• The Seattle Seahawks

We’re excited to be a part of Facebook’s Live 360 Ready Program, and look forward to powering the next wave of groundbreaking events. Are you in? 

Watch the Video: Streaming Forum 2017—Evolution of Virtual Reality and 360° Live Streaming

To learn how new trends and technology in VR and 360° are being applied in a real use case, check out this presentation by Wowza’s own Streaming Video Technologist, Ryan Jespersen, and Gordon Charles, Analyst Developer at University College London, from Streaming Forum 2017: click here for video.

Enter the MediaDS—bridging the world of content creation with modern delivery, enabling content producers to quickly and easily deliver live-streaming video to their audiences from a single device. Built by NewTek and Wowza, the MediaDS enables different content-distribution models: within a firewall, to social media platforms or even to the masses through a content delivery network (CDN).

With audio and video production tools, live encoding and simple stream delivery, the MediaDS is a revolutionary live-streaming platform for a revolutionary era in video content creation and consumption.

And now, you can buy it directly from Wowza. Visit www.wowza.com/solutions/mediads to bridge your content production and delivery. To learn more, check out the video below featuring Barry Owen, vice president of engineering at Wowza demonstrating the capabilities of the MediaDS with Will Waters, director of product marketing at NewTek….[continue reading]

By, Allen Tépper                                                                                         

NewTek and Wowza Media Systems just announced the immediate availability of MediaDS, a real-time media encoding and live streaming video delivery system. MediaDS is a hardware and software solution merging NewTek’s live production technology with Wowza’s streaming software in a 1RU footprint. 

The result is what the two companies call: “the industry’s first end-to- end streaming solution to allow producers to launch their own multi-channel content networks from their production site and deliver a live video stream directly to their viewers”, as long as they are limited to a maximum of hundreds, and you have sufficient upload bandwidth to serve them all.

“Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for video producers to deliver content to their audience, whether that is within the walls of a building, across a campus or around the world,” said Dr. Andrew Cross, president and chief technology officer for NewTek. “Our partnership with Wowza means that not only do you have a solution that can encode video, but MediaDS also allows you to distribute that content as well, either to local viewers or globally.”

“The MediaDS is a powerful end-to- end solution for content producers, and it introduces new opportunities for distribution, expansion, and content monetization,” said Dave Stubenvoll, chief executive officer for Wowza Media Systems. “By bringing together the best of NewTek production technologies and Wowza streaming technology in a single offering, we empower content creators with the ability to scale their productions and stream to any player, device, or audience anywhere in the world.”

For enhanced scalability, NewTek says that producers can also create a virtual CDN or edge network by connecting multiple MediaDS together – either through a local area network, or remotely over IP to cross wide geographic boundaries. Video production to content delivery over IP makes enterprise deployments effortless.

Read the full article here.