How to set up a third-party encoder to stream with Fail-Safe Streaming

This feature requires an Enterprise account with the Events feature added.

This article discusses setting up a third-party encoder to stream with Fail-Safe Streaming.

If you stream your events using an external encoder, you must install our dedicated application on your local environment (i.e. the same device that runs your preferred encoding application) to stream using MPEG-DASH. 

Read about MPEG-DASH streaming at 'How to stream to your event with Fail-Safe Streaming'. 

⚠️Note: Fail-safe streaming is not supported for SRT streams. 

Download and install the transmitter service

1. Select Use an External Encoder as your Production mode when creating your event.  
2. On the event setup page, navigate to Settings.
3. Under Latency, choose Fail-safe streaming.
4. Select the Download button to download the ZenVideo Fail-Safe Streaming Transmitter Service application.
5. Follow the onscreen steps to complete the installation.

Using the ZenVideo transmitter service

Once the transmitter service is installed in your local environment:

1. Copy the URL and Stream Key under the Fail-Safe Streaming tab on your event’s preview page.
2. Paste the URL and Stream Key into the appropriate fields within your encoder.
3. Launch the Fail-Safe Streaming Transmitter Service application.
4. Start streaming from your encoder.
5. The transmitter service will begin receiving your RTMP signal and will convert it to MPEG-DASH before sending it to ZenVideo. 
   

Is the fail-safe streaming transmitter service compatible with a third-party hardware encoder?

Yes. You can use fail-safe streaming with your chosen hardware encoder. To stream from your hardware encoder to the transmitter service, substitute the localhost part of your RTMP URL with the transmitter service's local IP address.