Live Stream Recording Tutorial: How to Set Up Auto-Archiving

Ensure that your live stream is being recorded and archived at the same time. Capture live streams for playback at a later time without the hassle of any editing and revising with the help of stream archiving tools from Dacast. Before we dive into the live stream recording tutorial, please note that live stream archiving will impact your data and transcoding credits usage. Your credits will be impacted in the following ways:

Recording your live stream will use some of your bandwidth. The amount used is equivalent to a viewer watching the stream.
When you create a recorded file, your available storage will lessen according to the size of the file (i.e. the length of the video).
Recording the live stream will save and archive the file as it appears on the channel. If you experience any network or equipment issues it could disrupt your recording. We recommend that you always save a local copy of your stream to ensure it is always to hand in the event of any issues. This will ensure you always have a back-up of the highest quality.
With Dacast, you can record your live stream for up to six continuous hours at a time.

With that in mind, let’s get to the live stream archiving tutorial for Dacast.

Table of Contents

1. Create a Live Channel

Create a live channel with the following settings.

Channel Type: HTML5
Video Codec: H.264
Audio Codec: AAC (for the recording to be properly integrated you need audio in your stream)
Status of Your Live Channel: ON

For more information on how to create a live channel, please reference our Introduction to Live Streaming Walkthrough.

2. Activate the Live Stream Recording Feature

Under the “General” tab of your live channel, scroll down to the “Settings” section. There you will see the “Live Stream Recording” feature. Toggle to the right to turn it “On.” A timestamp will be displayed beside the live stream recording feature as a reminder about when the live recording was enabled.

As you can see, there is a disclaimer on the button that alerts broadcasters of the limits that only allow 6 continuous hours of recording at a time. It also states that “Live Stream Recording” turns off after 7 days and can be turned on again. This means that if you stream non-stop for 6 hours straight, the live stream will be recorded. However, anything that goes beyond that timeframe will still be recorded, but a new video file will be created for anything beyond 6 hours. Therefore, if you stream for 12 hours straight, it will be recorded and split into 2 VOD files.

To ensure that everything goes well with your stream archiving, be sure that your encoder settings are on par with our recommendations. Any discrepancies could lead to issues with the live stream and the live recording feature altogether. Please check out our Encoder Configurations article for our recommended settings. Always ensure that your internet connection is very stable. A wired connection is preferred since a WiFi connection could lead to unstable and broken coverage and could also lead to issues with the live stream and live recording feature. Also take into consideration that any power outages/internet connection issues will automatically stop the live stream and the live recording process, as well. We recommend launching your stream 10 minutes before your event starts to make sure the recording catches all of it. This is considered best practice.

3. Refresh and Check

Once you have turned the live recording feature “On” and you are already streaming from your encoder, go back to the main page of your live channel. If everything was set up properly, you should see a camera icon under the features tab. You can also refresh the page as another means of checking to make sure everything is working properly:

Now that you are recording your live stream, the software will take it from there. You don’t need to take any action until it is time to stop the recording process at the end of the live stream.

4. Stopping Your Recording

There are two ways to stop your live stream recording. Here are your options:

Stop the stream from the encoder itself. This action turns off the live recording feature from the Dacast backend.
Stop the live stream recording feature from your Dacast live channel. Go back to your live channel inside the “General” tab, scroll down to the “Settings” section and toggle to the left to stop the feature itself.

More on Stream Archiving on Dacast

Like we mentioned above, the live recording tool will automatically save in the Video On Demand section of your Dacast account. The file will be named with the following format:

Live recording – date, time (UTC).m3u8 with file size 1.00B

For example, this could read “Live recording – Sat August 10, 2020, 01:55:42 GMT 0000.” Please note that the greater the length of your recorded file, the longer it takes to display in the VOD section of your Dacast account.

The initially generated VOD can be “stitched” first before you can use it for viewing or embedding.

Click the VOD first, then click the DOWNLOAD button to “STITCH” the actual recording file.

A window will appear to stitch the recording, please note that the process can take a few hours depending on the duration of the recording. The process happens in the background; a new video will appear in your Videos list once done.

Click, “Start stitching.”

Once the recording is ready, a new VOD will appear on your VOD list with the following name format:

[ DOWNLOADABLE ] Live recording – date, time (UTC) with file size 1.00B

Now you can watch, edit, embed, and share your recorded contents to your viewers.

You can change the name of your video file by clicking on the content and typing the name on the right side of the screen.

The name will be automatically saved once you leave the text field or click anywhere on the page. A prompt will appear to confirm.

You may also, double click the VOD title in the video dashboard list to modify, or click the “EDIT” button on second from the far right of the VOD so you can edit the name, description and other settings of your VOD.

This would make it easier for you to find it at a later date. Once it has finished uploading to your VOD library, you can either download the file or share it with others (using the share code or embedding it on your website):

With these simple steps, you are able to take advantage of the Live Recording feature on your Dacast account. If you have any questions about this feature, please contact us any time.

Not yet a Dacast user? Interested in trying Dacast risk-free for 14 days? Sign up today to get started.

get started for free

Additional Resources

Jose Guevara

Jose is a part of the Dacast Customer Onboarding team and started working with the company in 2016. He has vast experience in customer service/engagement and live streaming support.