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Force RTMPS support on VidiU Pro

Richard Billett
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Updated May 21, 2019 - reflecting changes in firmware 3.1.6

Background

RTMPS is a variant of RTMP that sends video using TLS/SSL encryption. As security online is a growing concern for today's Internet users, we expect more and more platforms to adopt RTMPS in the future. As of now, the only popular live streaming platform that has adopted RTMPS is Facebook, and they are scheduled to disable standard RTMP support May 1, 2019 (although as of this writing I can still stream RTMP to Facebook).

Although security is generally (always) a good thing, encrypting a live video stream adds significant load to our encoders' CPU. Our newer, more powerful products like VidiU Go and the Cube 6xx/7xx series are able to handle this without any side effects, but we found that VidiU Pro struggled in real-world streaming scenarios. Due to issues like dropped audio, choppy video, and unstable broadcasts we ultimately decided to disable support for RTMPS on VidiU Pro, and encourage our users to utilize one of our cloud platforms for the best experience when streaming to platforms like Facebook that require RTMPS. You can read more about it here: https://support.teradek.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020401634-Facebook-Live-RTMPS-support-on-Teradek-products-and-services

Workaround

For customers interested in trying to use RTMPS on VidiU Pro, but who don't want to use Teradek's cloud services, we added a switch to force RTMPS support. Before I get into the details, some notes/disclaimers:

  • Teradek does not endorse RTMPS support on VidiU Pro, use at your own risk. If it works for you, great!
  • Limited RTMPS support was tested only over Ethernet, Wi-Fi was disabled for all tests
  • System load is largely bitrate dependent, so lower bitrates (<2mbps) may be more stable
  • To prevent unnecessary additional system load, do not leave the web UI open or VidiU App  connected to VidiU Pro
  • Forcing RTMPS support applies to both the manual RTMP and Facebook platforms.
  • Firmware vesion 3.1.6 improves RTMPS performance, but it is still advisable to use RTMP if possible

3.1.6 Firmware

Enable RTMPS option is present on the Broadcast settings page in the web UI. It is disabled by default. Set it to enabled to use RTMPS.

rtmps_enable.PNG

 

3.1.5 Firmware

NOTE: Firmware version 3.1.6 includes a number of performance updates that help to make RTMPS streaming more stable, updating is highly recommended. If you have not updated or choose not to, follow the instructions below.

Now, to enable RTMPS support, after logging into VidiU Pro's web UI, paste the following URL into your browser:

http://ip.address/cgi-bin/api.cgi?command=update&VideoStreamer.Settings.Primary.RTMP.force_rtmps_support=1

where ip.address is the IP address of your VidiU Pro.

If entered correctly, the following will be displayed:

VideoStreamer.Settings.Primary.RTMP.force_rtmps_support = 1

To disable this, replace this 1 with a 0.

 

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