RESOLVED: (August 2018) Unable to log in to Facebook Live or stream to Pages / Groups – Teradek

UPDATE: September 10th, 2018

Facebook has approved access for Live:Air Solo to stream to Groups.

Note that the "Teradek Live Air Solo" Facebook App must be added to the Facebook Group using these instructions from Facebook (reference). This additional requirement is due to continued changes that Facebook is making to permissions with the Facebook Live API in reference to Groups.

UPDATE: September 8th, 2018

Facebook has approved access for Live:Air Solo to stream to Timeline or Pages.

However, Facebook has not yet approved access for Live:Air Solo to stream to Groups and is still reviewing the Live:Air Solo app.

UPDATE: September 5th, 2018

Afternoon Update

Teradek has released version 1.6.1 of Live:Air Action and Live:Air Action Bundle with new access permissions for Facebook Live, and Facebook has approved the new apps.

Streaming to Timeline and Pages is restored after the Live:Air Action / Bundle app has been updated and Facebook destinations have been re-added within the app.
Streaming to Groups is possible after manually adding the "Teradek Live Air Action" Facebook App to the Facebook Group using these instructions from Facebook (reference). This additional requirement is due to continued changes that Facebook is making to permissions with the Facebook Live API in reference to Groups.

Morning Update

Facebook has restored access for all Teradek hardware encoders to stream to Facebook Live using the API integration.

No firmware update is required for the Cube, Slice, T-RAX, Bond, VidiU, and 600 and 700 series products.

NOTE: streaming to a Group has an additional requirement due to continued changes that Facebook is making to permissions with the Facebook Live API in reference to Groups. The corresponding Teradek App will need to be added to that Group so that it is able to send live video to the Group using these instructions from Facebook (reference).

If you are having difficulty streaming with the integration:

Log out of the Facebook account from the Teradek hardware encoder.
Remove the "Teradek" Facebook App from your Facebook account with Facebook's instructions (reference). The "Teradek" App can be found under the Business Integrations category or the Apps and Websites category, depending on the individual Facebook account.
Perform the integration again from the device.

UPDATE: September 4th, 2018

Teradek has released version 1.6.1 of Live:Air Solo with new access permissions for Facebook Live.

However, Facebook has not yet approved access for Live:Air Solo to stream to Timeline, Pages or Groups and is still reviewing the Live:Air Solo app.

Please update Live:Air Solo to this version so that it will be ready to stream once Facebook has completed their review process.

UPDATE: August 30, 2018

Access from the Core and Sharelink services have been restored by Facebook.

Streaming to personal Timeline or Pages (as long as the account is an Admin on the Facebook Page) is now possible.
However, streaming to a Group has an additional requirement due to continued changes that Facebook is making to permissions with the Facebook Live API in reference to Groups. The corresponding "Teradek Core" Facebook App or the "Sharelink" Facebook App will need to be added to that Group so that it is able to send live video to the Group using these instructions from Facebook (reference).

To restore access and stream to a Timeline or Page you must perform the below for either Core or Sharelink.

The manual RTMP workaround can also be used to stream to a Group.

Core

Delete all existing Facebook destinations from the Core account: Inventory > Channels, select all Facebook channel destinations with the check box at the left, then select Actions > Remove channel from Core
Log out of the Facebook account within Core: Inventory > Channels > Add Channel > Facebook > click the Logout option under Account
Log in to the Facebook account: Inventory > Channels > Add Channel > Facebook > Link your account
Add each Timeline or Page destination in Core: Inventory > Channels > Add Destination > Facebook

Sharelink

Delete all existing Facebook destinations from the Sharelink account: Channels > Actions > Remove channel on every Timeline / Page / Group destination
Log out of the Facebook account within Sharelink: Channels > Add new Channel > Facebook > Log out to switch account
Log in to the Facebook account: Channels > Add new Channel > Facebook > link your account (this may take several minutes)
Add each Timeline or Page destination: Channels > Add new Channel > Facebook

All other Teradek encoder products

The Facebook Live Integration has not been restored for mobile apps (Live:Air Action and Live:Air Solo) or for any encoder products, so the manual RTMP workaround must be used to stream to a Timeline, Page or Group.

August 28, 2018

Overview

The built-in Facebook Live integration is not working as of August 28th, 2018 across all cloud platforms (Core and Sharelink) and all generations of encoders (Cube, Slice, T-RAX, Bond, VidiU, and 600 and 700 series products) and mobile apps (Live:Air Action and Live:Air Solo).

Teradek's developers are working with Facebook to determine the issue and restore access as quickly as possible.

These changes have immediately blocked streaming access to Facebook Groups and Facebook Pages as well as streaming to the Personal Timeline.

Until Facebook has restored access to the different integrations on Teradek products, customers will need to use the workaround described below to stream to these Facebook destinations.

Workaround

Facebook's changes only apply to the integrated Facebook streaming mode used by Teradek, so you can configure your encoder / app / cloud service destination to use manual RTMP settings with the RTMP server URL and stream name / stream key.

Step 1: log in to the Facebook account which has Admin access to the Facebook Group / Event / Page.

Step 2: access https://www.facebook.com/live/create to generate an RTMP stream key for the Facebook destination. When creating the Stream Key, ensure that "Secure connection (SSL)" is not selected.

Facebook has full documentation for using this method to generate a stream key -- including a Persistent Stream Key which may simplify future broadcasts -- at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/help/587160588142067.

Step 3: configure your encoder to use the manual RTMP settings received in step 2. Below are sample articles showing this process.

Step 4: configure your encoder to meet Facebook's requirements on video resolution (1280x720 or lower), video bitrate (4 Mbps or less), video frame rate (30 fps), and audio bitrate (128 kbps).

Facebook has full documentation on their requirements for encoded video at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/facebookmedia/get-started/live#live-video-specs

Step 5: start the broadcast of the RTMP stream from the Teradek encoder / app / Sharelink or Core service.

Step 6: once Facebook has recognized the incoming RTMP video stream and is showing it in the preview area, the Go Live button at the bottom right of the Facebook stream creation page will allow you take the broadcast live to the Facebook destination.

Step 7: when the stream is finished, use the End Live Video button at the bottom right of the Facebook stream creation page, and stop the broadcast of the RTMP stream from the encoder / app / Sharelink or Core service.