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Haivision KB with Facebook Live
25 Aug

How to Set Up Your Facebook Live Stream with Haivision’s KB Encoder

By Live Video Streaming

As companies increasingly become more familiar with Facebook Live, many are opting to send their streams from professional encoders, in addition to streaming from mobile devices. Ever since we published this post on how to set up your professional Facebook Live stream, we’ve received an outpouring of requests for step-by-step instructions on how to stream to Facebook Live using our own internet streaming encoder, the KB Encoder/Transcoder.

So here’s a detailed overview that the KB product team pulled together to help you get set up and stream to audiences on Facebook.

Set Up and Stream Preview

1. Open a browser and log into your Facebook page. Click Publishing Tools in the top navigation bar.

2. On the left sidebar in the Videos section, click the Video Library option.

3. Click the +Live button to begin configuring your Live post.

4. In Facebook’s Create Live Video window under the Separate Fields section, locate the Server URL and Stream Key fields. The Server URL and Stream Key information will be needed in the next step for the KB preset setup section.

Important Tip: The Server URL and Stream Key can only be used for a single Live preview/post connection. You must use the same Server URL and Stream Key to preview and post. That is, you cannot preview, stop the stream, and then resume at a later time. The Server URL and Stream Key values expire 24 hours after creation. Facebook limits all live streaming events to 90 minutes. After 90 minutes, the Live event will end and a video recording of the event will be embedded in the page’s post.

5. In another browser tab, access the KB Encoder’s Web UI and create a new preset (or modify an existing one). For the new preset, fill in the capture settings to match the video workflow as normal. Under the preset ‘Outputs’ section, click the Add a New Network Output button.

Switch back to your Facebook browser tab and copy the Server URL and Stream Key. Head back to your KB’s Web UI, and past the Server URL from Facebook into the ‘Server’ field, then paste the Facebook Stream Key into the ‘Stream’ field in your KB. Hit the save button, load the preset into an available channel and then start the stream.

Important Tip: Each time a new Facebook live event is created, the preset must be edited and updated with the new Server URL and Stream Key

6. Switch to the Facebook page and press the Preview button to configure the Live Post and preview the encoder stream output. If you have already started the video stream from your encoder, it may take anywhere from 1-10 seconds for the video stream to appear within the preview area.

The Go Live button remains disabled until a valid stream from the encoding software is detected. If you receive a Stream is offline message, make sure you have started streaming from your KB software. If you still have issues, check that the values for the Server URL and Stream Key were copied correctly. You can reference the Server URL and Stream Key anytime in the Advanced tab.

7. Add the Video Title and Video Topics tags on the Basics tab and use the icons in the footer menu to tag, add content, specify a location, and set a preferred audience.

Go Live

Press the Go Live button to begin the Live post. Once Live, you will see the red Live indicator appear on the video player. You can then:
1. Monitor a few key Live metrics in the Video Performance section, such as:

  • Live Viewers – number of unique viewers actively watching the Live video post.
  • Total Views – A running count of the total number of views received throughout the Live video post including those that are not currently watching.

2. Press the View Post button to navigate directly to the Live post on your page.

3. Press the Finish Live Video button to end the post. Please note, to avoid accidentally ending a Live Post, you must also confirm by pressing the End button in the message box.

We hope you found this how-to useful. As you continue to stream, don’t forget that Facebook has this helpful post on best practices. If you have any questions and need more information about setting up your stream for Facebook Live, please get in touch with a Haivision engineer for more info.

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Author

Philip has worked in media and ministry for over 16 years. He served as media director at two churches in Metro Atlanta and spent the most recent part of his career in online media. In 2013, Philip joined Haivision where he currently supports video distribution for more than 200 houses of worship. When not on an Apple device, he enjoys travel, photography and spending time cooking for his family and grandson.