How to set up a live event on Vimeo
To create a live event on Vimeo using the free demo, visit the Vimeo Live landing page and click the “Free Demo” button at the top of the page. You’ll be prompted to enter the name, date, time, and privacy of your event. Please note that scheduling your live event for a given time still requires you to manually begin streaming at that time. You have a total of 10 minutes to stream to this free demo before it’s processed as an archive.
Once you’ve entered that information, you’ll be looking at the live settings page for your event. The live settings page is where you can add a thumbnail, change your privacy, customize your embedded player, grab the embed code for your stream or chat, and (when you're ready!) go live. When you're done adjusting your settings, click Next on the top right corner of the page. Please note the free demo only allows your event to have the privacy setting “Only I can see this”. You will be prompted to allow your browser access to your webcam, and once you’ve done that, your audio and video sources should appear in drop down lists for you to select.
Going Live
Once you have your inputs selected, click Save and you will see your stream preview, as well as your simulcast destinations and chat on the right. To go live, simply click the red Go Live button on the top right corner and your stream will begin. You can also connect with an external encoder using RTMP, which you can find under the External Encoder tab of the Input Settings menu.
What is an External Encoder?
An encoder is a machine or program that takes the live video and audio signals from your input sources and “encodes” them into a format that can be streamed over the internet. Think of this like shipping a package. No matter the contents, in order to ship them across the world, you first have to pack them into a container that meets the standards of the shipping service.
Encoding for Vimeo is done using RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol). Basically, your encoder has the web address of our servers and a Stream Key to authenticate it. When you start your stream, the encoded signal is sent directly to our Ingest Server, where it’s processed and delivered to all of your viewers through the Vimeo Live player.
Ending a Stream
To end your stream, simply click End Event in the top corner, where the Go Live button was previously. The archive for your stream is being processed in real time while you stream, so once your stream signal stops only the last few blocks of data must be finalized before your archive is available. This typically takes just a few moments. Once completed, your stream archive exists on Vimeo under the same URL and embed code as it did while it was live. You now have all of the options and settings available under your Video Settings that you would had this archive been uploaded instead of streamed.
Incorporating the Mevo into the Live demo
- After you create your demo event, do not give access to your microphone and webcam. This option will pop up first, and allowing access would prioritize the built-in camera over the Mevo, so disallow. If this option does not appear, disallow it manually from the settings of whatever browser you're using.
- Select Input Settings, then External Encoder.
- Put the RTMP and Stream Key into the Mevo app as an RTMP destination.
- Go Live from Mevo.
If you followed these instructions, your computer should automatically pick up the Mevo and start using it to stream.