vMix Team,

I've enjoyed vMix for many years now. I've been using it with Livestream.com These past several years I've streamed my programming via the vMix list input option, which still works well to this day, after I found listfix, http://listfix.sourceforge.net/ , to check my m3u files.

I'm ready to expand more into the main stream so I've selected ROKU and have figured out how to write a channel and work the xml to get programming to work via VOD, all seperate from vMix of course.

My issue is that I want to be able to stream my programming to ROKU but Livestream doesn't allow using anything but there player so I'm unable to use my Livestream account. Next, I jumped in feet first with an unlimited VimeoPro account so that I could "possible" put all my programming, 1TB, up on Vimeo then access it all through Roku using a method I've not yet figured out. LOL! HELP! Vimeo has links to my files that are in various formats HD, SD & HLS.

How would I implement an .m3u8 file format on Vimeo that Roku could read and then play the list of files like a normal tv channel? I'd want to be able to sync the play time on the files with the programming guide times, and be able to make adjustments when needed.

While using vMix to run a 24/7 Internet TV channel the past two years has been fun I think a better use of bandwidth & computer power may be done, I now stand at the crossroads and had hoped a few wise souls would council with us in taking a new direction.

I'd like to get rid of Livestream.com, $2.4k year, and go with Wowza Media Cloud, ?? year - Comments?, for my weekly live streaming programs and perhaps my vMix livestream via Wowza Media Cloud. And use Vimeo & Wowza both to share my Videos. Since Vimeo doesn't allow direct live streaming to there site I'd use Wowza instead. I have read something about lists and HLS working together but I"ve not figured it out...HELP!

This Thursday night in Redwood City, CA Wowza is conducting a developer event and they have also announced last week or so ago that Wowza now works with ROKU Streaming and the Thursday Night Developer event is focused on creating mobile apps for your streaming data. Something else I've wanted to do for a long time. I'll share what I find out and get there if there is any interest.

So, I'd love to hear your thoughts on how your moving your vMix setup into Mainstream TV! I'm also hoping for a few code script examples for getting a Vimeo playlist to run on ROKU.

Thank You all for Your Comments and Support!

Beloved

@Beloved - We are working on Vimeo and Roku as a combination at the moment. The way I solved this problem (so far) was to use an RSS feed hosted on our website to supply the ROKU channel with the video URLs. This works for us because I use JWPlayer on the website, so I'm using the "use in your own player" URLs supplied by Vimeo anyway. Just the HD and SD ones. Adding an RSS feed wasn't much additional effort.

@djevo1 - Would you be willing to say anything about the costs involved in your setup, generally speaking? Like Beloved, I'd like to know how Wowza compares to Livestream.

I think no other encoding software uses more cpu than livestream producer. I am totally missing the point why they stopped supporting RTMP streams.
Also, they are quite expensive and there is no support at all when there is a problem. A few weeks ago I did a job where we needed to stream to livesteam.com because the client decided to use it and had a subscription with them.
There was a problem when the event was starting, so it was not usable and we needed a plan-B. Their phone support was down and no reactions to mails.
Hours later we received an email, we are sorry there were problems, but the good news is they are now resolved.
Nice for them, but unfortunately, the live event was already done.
I already frowned upon using the livestream encoder, but the fact that a company asking 500 bucks a month for a subscription doesn't pick up the phone when there is a problem, makes me advice against using their service. When there is a problem and you have half an hour before you need to go live, you want to know what you are up to. Good news or bad news, it does not matter. In such a case I need an e.t.a.

I would just look for a service that can ingest RTMP, or setup your own on a vps or rented server.

@W14 do you do any live streaming or is your ROKU setup strictly play out of Vimeo stored videos? Also, what resources did you study to add an RSS feed?

@djevo1, I to would like to know, generally speaking, the costs involved in your setup.

Thanks for your support and comments!

Another streaming server option:

https://wmspanel.com/nimble/

I had used Wowza prior for many years, it was good but cpu and memory hungry vs Nimble and pretty much that was what Nimble is about an efficient non java based streaming server. Does that matter, I can say hell yes to me 700+ Nimble concurrent live viewers on a vps vs 200+ on Wowza. Same spec single core vps. So by the time you have thousands of concurrent viewers you are being more efficient with your hosting fees :) So you can spend more on data and not cpu and ram.

I currently have 4 servers located in various parts of the world, they are easy to manage and get aggregated statistics from with nimble. Also cheap considering nimble is free, you pay for the control panel to operate the servers.

Nimble allows me to get more live or vod viewers on the same sized VPS, is lower latency than Wowza and has WMSPanel which is a great statistic package (which works with Wowza and how I discovered Nimble, as I was seeking better stats).

I don't run a Roku channel, Roku are not sold in Australia except via Telstra (As a Telstra TV) and they bastardize the Roku so it only runs "their" selected channels.

I think Roku works with any HLS streaming server, so is not limited to Wowza, but you best research that as I'm not certain from the documentation I read on their website.

Don't be afraid to email the people at Nimble/WMSPanel and ask questions, I've found they are really helpful. I get nothing from them, they just provide a good product and good support so this is my thank you spreading the word of how good they are :)