Livestreaming

The LRZ operates a powerful streaming infrastructure that allows you to provide live streams to a large number of viewers.

Live streams can be transmitted from various sources (e.g. event technology, lecture capturing hardware, video conferencing or recording software) to the LRZ streaming server. The live streams are processed on the server and can then be accessed as an HTTP stream to be integrated on your website, and displayed by your viewers.

Service options

• Temporary recording: An incoming live stream is recorded by the streaming server and stored for a certain period of time. This allows viewers to pause, fast-forward, or rewind during the live stream and watch it with time delay.
• Transcoding for adaptive bitrate streaming: An incoming live stream in high quality is converted to several lower-quality streams and can then be accessed as an adaptive bitrate stream. The display quality of the live stream can then be adapted to different end devices and changing network connections of the viewers, which significantly reduces long loading times and stutters during playback.

Reporting

If desired, viewer numbers can be extractet from the streaming server logs and made available after the end of a livestream.

Support

Support by the LRZ exclusively covers the streaming infrastructure operated by the LRZ as well as its interfaces for the ingest and delivery of livestreams. Components not operated by the LRZ are the responsibility of the users and cannot receive support from the LRZ. This includes e.g. hardware and software for the production or delivery of livestreams, server infrastructure operated by you or third parties, web applications or video players for the display of livestreams as well as first level support for viewers.

Setup time

The setup time is 4 weeks as soon as all necessary details about your planned livestreaming are available (see requirements). This allows adequate resource planning and tuning of the LRZ streaming infrastructure to your inbound and outbound channels.

Streaming-Protocols

The LRZ streaming server accepts livestreams via the RTMP or RTMPS (TLS encrypted) protocols. A maximum resolution of 1080p is supported.

Livestreams are delivered to viewers via HLS (HTTP Live Streaming), which allows both simple streams and adaptive bitrate streaming and is supported on various devices.

In addition, the processed livestreams are also made available via RTMP and RTMPS and can thus be fed into further distribution channels.

Latency

The latency of a livestream refers to the time between the recording of an event and the time at which it is displayed on the screen to a viewer:in. This is normally between 30 and 60 seconds for the streaming protocols in use.

If real-time viewer interaction is planned (e.g., through a simultaneous chat), a lower latency may be desired. By tuning all involved components, the latency can be reduced to a few seconds. However, this is usually at the expense of the stream's stability and may lead to stuttering playback, for example. Since the latency depends on numerous factors - many of them outside our control - no upper limit for the latency can be guaranteed.

Prerequisites for using the service are:

• A way to transmit your livestream to the LRZ streaming infrastructure using one of the accepted protocols.
• A distribution channel to make your livestream available to end users.

The booking is done via ticket at the service desk. Therefore, we need information about your livestreaming project:

• Number of simultaneous livestreams
• Expected number of simultaneous viewers
• Desired service options (e.g. recording, transcoding)
• Expected duration of your livestreaming project

This service is made available to the following user classes. The following fees are to be paid by the individual user classes: