We explain livestream simply. What do you need to know about camera, internet and direction for a live broadcast? Livestreaming is becoming increasingly popular and in this text we explain clearly what happens during a virtual online transmission to the Internet.
What is a livestream?
A livestream is a live transmission over the Internet. The user sees an event taking place simultaneously at another location on his home computer or mobile phone. From this location, the event is recorded with cameras and microphones and streamed directly to the end user via the Internet.
How does a livestream work in detail?
For a successful livestream, you first need a video source, i.e. a video camera. The video signal from this video camera must then be encoded for streaming. This is usually done with a video encoder, which translates the image signals for a “server”. The end user then retrieves the stream from the server.
This basic version of a livestream can be expanded somewhat. For example, you can use several image sources, think of several cameras in a television production. These image sources can then be “mixed” in an image mixer. It is the same with several audio signals, for example in a stream with several experts and microphones. These are also mixed in advance to form a final image, because each stream has only one image and one audio track at the end.
How does a live direction work?
This is where the live stream is created. It is precisely this step of mixing image and sound to form a final image that is called livestream direction or live direction. The director decides on a camera image and sound in each case and thus mixes the image that the end user also sees in front of a PC or smartphone. Of course, it is also possible to show graphics or slides instead of the camera image.
Livestreams help to reach a larger target group at numerous events. This is because more people can follow an event live online than at a traditional on-site event. Livestreaming of sports, internal events or hybrid events is particularly popular.
