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A.7.1 ACCESS SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION FEATURES?
1. Exit the Live Desktop, and navigate to the Home page in Startup.
2. Click the Shutdown icon, and then click the Administrator Mode link.
A.7.2 RETURN TO TRICASTER FROM ADMINISTRATOR MODE
Click the Return to TriCaster link in the Administrator Mode screen to return to the TriCaster Startup Screen.
A.7.3 ADD A CUSTOM STREAMING PROFILE TO THE CONFIGURE STREAM
CONNECTION PANEL?
The streaming profiles shown in the drop-down Resolution menu in the Configure Stream Connection panel are drawn from the folder C:\TriCaster\Streaming Profiles.
These files are organized according to whether they are WMV or RTMP profiles, again into NTSC or PAL versions (Multi-standard models only), and then finally sub- divided into folders labeled 4x3, 16x9 (the latter two being Standard Definition profiles), and HD.
(Note that profiles in the various sub-folders only appear in the Stream Type List for the corresponding session type.)
The easiest method of creating a custom profile is to modify an existing profile and then store it using a new name. The procedure differs depending on whether you are working with a RTMP or Windows Media® profile.
Note: It is possible to create streaming profiles that place very high demands on system resources, or are impractical for streaming over most networks.
The default profiles are suitable for most purposes, and should not interfere with other operations. Attention to these considerations when creating custom profiles is vital to ensure reliable performance, and we encourage you to perform real world testing beforehand.
IMPORTING A CUSTOM PROFILE USING ‘BROWSE’
Flash Media Encoder profiles are XML files, while Windows Media Encoder® uses a
.prx file extension for its profiles. If you already have a prepared custom profile and wish to import it, follow these steps:
1. Open the Configure Stream Connection panel, by clicking the Configure
button (gear) next to the Stream button on the Live Desktop.
2. Click New (Connection)
3. Select the option appropriate to the profile you wish to import in the popup
Choose Connection Type panel.
4. Click the Resolution drop down menu, and slide the pointer all the way down to the bottom to select Browse.
5. Navigate to the custom profile, select it and click Open.
CREATING A CUSTOM WINDOWS MEDIA® PROFILE
1. From TriCaster’s Startup Screen, click the Shutdown icon, and select Exit to Windows.
2. Click the Exit to Windows button in the confirmation dialog that pops up.
3. Double-click the My Computer icon, and navigate to C:\TriCaster\Streaming Profiles\WMVPRofiles.
4. Identify a profile (.prx file) similar to the one you wish to create inside the appropriate sub-folder at that location.
5. Copy the file, and paste the copy in at the same location.
6. Double-click the new profile to open it in the Windows Media Profile Editor.
7. Make such changes to the settings as you see fit, then click the Save and Close
button.
8. Rename the modified profile to differentiate it from the others in the same folder.
9. Close the folder, and re-launch TriCaster.
CREATING A CUSTOM RTMP STREAMING PROFILE
1. From TriCaster’s Startup Screen, click the Shutdown icon, and select
Administration Mode.
2. Press the Windows® key on your keyboard, and launch Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder® from the Windows® Start Menu.
3. Select Open Profile from the File menu in the encoder application.
4. Navigate to C:\TriCaster\Configuration\Streaming Profiles\FlashProfiles\.
5. Continue to identify a profile (.xml file) similar to the one you wish to create inside the appropriate sub-folder at that location, and click the Open button in the file explorer.
6. In Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder®, modify the settings for the profile to suit your need.
7. Select Save Profile from the File menu.
8. Navigate (again) to the appropriate sub-folder inside the main C:\TriCaster\Configuration\Streaming Profiles\FlashProfile directory, supply a suitable name for the new profile, and click the Save button.
9. Exit Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder, and re-launch TriCaster.
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION:
Q: Does TriCaster support multi-bitrate streaming profiles?
A: Yes it does, but there are a few things you should consider. Multi-bitrate encoding places higher demands on system resources than usual. It is entirely possible to create a custom multi-bitrate profile that is impractical, either because its bandwidth expectations are unrealistic, or because the encoding requires so many cpu cycles that it can intrude into other important live functionality.
For this reason, we encourage you to use the profiles supplied with your system whenever possible, and if you do opt to use a custom profile – especially a multi- bitrate one – do perform meaningful testing in advance, to ensure everything goes as planned.
Note: The Stream ID (text string) for multi-bitrate profiles must contain the character combination “%i”, without the quotation marks. (The exact position of the character combination does not matter, and spaces are permitted – though the latter may pose issues for some CDNs.)
A multi-bitrate profile without “%i” in the Stream ID will produce a Flash Media Encoder® error on attempting to stream. Also, the filename for multi-bitrate streaming recordings TriCaster saves will automatically include the requisite “%i” (because the originating stream ID contains it).
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION:
Q: Is it better to use a Baseline or Main profile for H.264 encoding?
A: Flash Media Live Encoder lets you choose either Baseline or Main type profiles in the Advanced Encoder Settings that opens when you click the Configure (wrench) button beside the Format menu (in the Video section of FMLE’s Encoding Options tab).
At the time of writing, all NewTek H.264 profiles use the Baseline option as it seems to be the best supported by various online services, and produces excellent results.