Zoom is a popular video conferencing application many companies use to host remote meetings and webinars. There are a few ways you can take your Zoom call and stream it out to ZenVideo Live, such as for a remote panel discussion.
Regardless of the method you choose, we strongly recommend that you test and rehearse prior to your scheduled event time. This will greatly reduce any issues and confusion you and your team may encounter during the event and allow for a smooth stream.
In this article:
Connect Zoom to Livestream Studio
This is our recommended workflow as it combines the professional multi-camera production features of Livestream Studio with the back-end stream management and audience engagement features on ZenVideo.
What you'll need
- A laptop with an HDMI output
- A Zoom meeting (hosted on the above-mentioned laptop)
- HDMI cable
- Blackmagic Design or Magewell capture device (with HDMI input)
-
Livestream Studio (access included with a ZenVideo Premium or ZenVideo Advanced, or ZenVideo Enterprise account with Events feature added)
- This should run on a separate computer from the Zoom meeting
- A ZenVideo event
- Internet connection for both computers
1. Set up a ZenVideo event
You first want to make sure your ZenVideo event is ready to go. Log into ZenVideo on a desktop browser and navigate to your Library. In the upper left corner, select + New Video > Create live event. We recommend making it a recurring event so you can stream it multiple times.
Configure your event's settings–privacy, embedded player customization, and simulcast destinations–before your event.
If you are embedding your event on an external website, make sure to go to the Embed menu and copy the Event embed code and Chat embed codes and paste them into your site's HTML editor.
2. Connect Zoom laptop to Studio
Make sure the laptop running the Zoom meeting and the Studio computer are close enough to each other so the HDMI cable can reach both.
Plug one end of the HDMI cable into the Zoom laptop. Most laptops only have one HDMI output.
The system running Studio will need to have a capture device connected to it that includes an HDMI input. This will allow Studio to recognize the laptop as a camera source.
Plug the HDMI cable into the HDMI input of your capture device. Note that the capture device may require drivers to be installed; check with the manufacturer. If you own a Livestream Studio hardware product, Blackmagic Design capture cards are pre-installed; plug the HDMI cable into one of them.
Launch Livestream Studio and log into your ZenVideo account. Studio should auto-detect your laptop as an input source and display it in the multi-view. (If you don't see it, select the Inputs tab in the lower-left corner, then select Add Input > Local camera > your capture device. Here are some input troubleshooting steps). You can rename the source in the Inputs menu if you'd like.
On the Zoom laptop, set up your Zoom meeting and invite your guests.
3. Set up Studio to stream to ZenVideo
First, go to the Audio tab and make sure your Zoom input is getting audio levels (make sure at least one guest has an unmuted microphone). We have detailed instructions on using the audio mixer and monitoring audio, but it should generally look like the below image:
Next, go to the Stream tab. ZenVideo should have automatically been added as a streaming provider when you first logged in to Studio. If not, click the ZenVideo logo on this menu to log in.
Select the correct event from the Select Event dropdown menu. You can also configure your event's privacy setting from the Share With dropdown menu (this only applies to the event page on ZenVideo.com, not your embedded player).
At the top of this menu, give the stream a title and choose your streaming bitrate. Since ZenVideo uses cloud-transcoding technology, we recommend selecting a single-resolution bitrate (e.g. 1080p or 720p) to reduce your local bandwidth usage.
4. Start and stop your livestream
When you're ready to go live, make sure your guests are audience-ready and your Output monitor shows either the Zoom meeting input or a slate graphic overlay to switch between. To start the stream, click GO LIVE in the bottom right corner of Studio; it will indicate in red that it is Streaming.
The stream will appear in the ZenVideo player a few seconds later and your event is now live.
If you haven't already, click the Next button on the event's Settings page to navigate to the Preview page. From here you can monitor your stream's health, see real-time analytics moderate chat, and engage your audience with other features such as Polls and Q&A.
When you are ready to end your stream, go to your event's Preview page on ZenVideo and click the red End event button in the upper right corner. This will end the stream on ZenVideo and the video will begin to archive automatically. You can then click the red STREAMING button in Studio to stop the encoder.
Optional steps and considerations
Graphics overlays: Studio has three graphics overlay modules where you can import images and design graphics such as slates, logos, and lower-third graphics to mix into your stream. This is good for communicating calls-to-actions to your viewers before/after your event, branding the stream, and identifying your speakers.
Zoom layout: Keep in mind that what you're displaying on the Zoom laptop will also display in Studio and on your stream, so make sure your meeting is full screen and consider which layout will work best for your event. There is no way to bring in Zoom meeting guests as individual inputs in Studio (consider Studio's remote guest feature for this instead of Zoom).
RTMP from Zoom to ZenVideo
This workflow doesn't include any of the features Livestream Studio provides but would involve less equipment.
You should generally follow the instructions Zoom provides here, but we'll clarify some steps specific to ZenVideo below. Note that their instructions indicate that not all Zoom membership tiers support streaming.
⚠️Note: This method does not allow you to manually set the stream quality. Instead, Zoom will automatically select a stream quality based on the meeting host's upload speed.
What you'll need
- Internet connection
- A Zoom meeting (on a computer)
- A ZenVideo event
1. Set up a Zoom meeting
First, you will need to set up your Zoom meeting. Launch Zoom and start your meeting.
Click the More ••• tab at the bottom of the Zoom window and select Live on Custom Live Streaming Service.
Zoom will ask for a Streaming URL, Streaming key, and Streaming page URL. From here, navigate to ZenVideo.
2. Set up a ZenVideo event
Log into ZenVideo on a desktop browser and navigate to your video manager. In the upper left corner, select + New Video > Create live event.
On the Settings page, select the link icon in the top right corner and then copy the link. This is what will go into the Streaming page URL field in Zoom.
If you are embedding your event on an external website, make sure to go to the Embed menu and copy the Event embed and Chat embed codes and paste them into your site's HTML editor.
Select the Stream button on the right to find the RTMPS URL. You can copy the RTMP URL and paste it into Zoom's Streaming URL field, and take the Stream key and paste it into Zoom's Streaming key field.
3. Start and stop your livestream
Invite your guests to your Zoom meeting. When everyone is audience-ready, click Go Live! in Zoom. The stream will appear in the ZenVideo player after a few seconds.
Use the ZenVideo back-end to monitor your stream's health, see real-time analytics, moderate chat, and engage your audience with other features such as Polls and Q&A. You can also create basic graphics overlays to identify speakers or brand your event.
When your event is done, click the red End event button in the upper right corner of the ZenVideo preview page. You can then end the stream coming from Zoom. The video will be archived on ZenVideo automatically.
Optional steps and considerations
Zoom watermark: By default, when streaming directly from Zoom, the application puts a “Zoom” watermark on the bottom right of the frame. Contact Zoom if you want to have this removed, as this is outside of ZenVideo's control.
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