Jomablue Live Streaming

Not sure this is the right streaming method for you? See Live Streaming Options in Jomablue for a comparison of all available methods before continuing.

About Jomablue Live Streaming

Jomablue Live Streaming is the built-in streaming option, set up entirely in Jomablue. You send video from a source such as an encoder (OBS or a hardware encoder) or Zoom, and Jomablue delivers it to attendees. In the Portal, Community > Live Streaming lists the Live Streams for your event, and you show one on a Canvas with a Live Stream Block.

A Live Stream isn't tied to a date or time. Create it once and reuse it across sessions without reconfiguring your encoder. As soon as your encoder starts sending content, the stream becomes available in every Live Stream Block it's assigned to and anywhere it's embedded via Embeddable Live Streaming.

Setting Up a Live Stream

Adding a Live Stream Block to a Canvas

1. Go to the Jomablue Portal and log in with your email address and password.

2. Click Canvases under Community in the left-hand menu.

3. Click the Canvas type where you want to add the Block (Lobby, Session, Vendor, or Page).

4. Locate the specific Canvas and click Edit.

5. Click Layout.

6. Within a Flex, click Add Block. In Select Block Type, choose Live Stream (not Self Hosted Live Stream or Simulated Live Stream), then click Save.

7. The Block appears in the Flex as "Untitled". Click the pencil icon (Configure the block) to open it.

Open the Block's Configuration tab and apply the Live Stream details in one of two ways.

Option 1: Create a New Live Stream

1. Click Generate Live Stream Ingest Details.

2. Jomablue generates the stream, its ingest details and a Preview Link. The Live Stream Key and Preview Link are blurred for security. Use the copy buttons to copy them.

The grey fields are read-only.

• Live Stream RTMP Ingest and Live Stream Key: give these to your AV provider (or encoder operator). The ingest URL stays the same across all your streams; only the key changes.

• Live Stream Preview Link: share this with your AV provider for testing, and with event organisers who want to monitor the stream ahead of time.

Note: Some corporate networks block outbound streaming traffic, particularly at volume. This can appear as a stream working initially and then failing partway through. Ask your IT department to whitelist *.jomablue.com and allow outbound TCP traffic over port 5222.

Option 2: Reuse an Existing Live Stream

1. Click Show optional fields.

2. In Select Re-use Existing Stream, choose the stream.

3. Click Save. The Block is automatically configured with that stream's details.

Content Settings

In the Configuration tab, under Content Settings:

• Auto-play: starts the video automatically when the page loads. Off by default; we recommend keeping it off.

• Poster Image: a placeholder image shown when the video isn't playing. Recommended size: 3840 x 2160px.

Activating the Block

A new Block is inactive. To show it to attendees, open the Details tab, set Active to Yes and click Save.

Managing Your Streams

View all Live Streams for the current event under Community > Live Streaming. The list shows each stream's ID, nickname, creation time, stream key and number of external players. Select More on a stream to open its Details tab, which shows its status (idle or active), ingest, stream key and Preview URL. The stream also has External Players, Assets and AI Closed Captions tabs.

Encoder Settings

Share this section with your AV provider (or encoder operator).

Jomablue Live Streaming supports most modern codecs and frame rates. It needs one high-quality incoming stream, with no additional renditions.

Keep your upload bandwidth at least 50% above your chosen bitrate. On limited bandwidth, use the Good Quality settings.

All Streams

• Video codec: H.264 (Main Profile)

• Audio codec: AAC

• Keyframe interval: 2 seconds (maximum 4 seconds)

Great quality

• 1080p (1920x1080) @ 25fps or 30fps

• Bitrate: 6500 kbps

Good quality

• 720p (1280x720) @ 25fps or 30fps

• Bitrate: 4000 kbps

Advanced settings (optional)

• Audio sample rate: 44.1kHz

• Audio bitrate: 128kbps stereo

• Pixel aspect ratio: square

• Frame types: progressive scan, 2 B-frames, 1 reference frame

• Bitrate encoding: CBR

Use these as starting points and test ahead of your event to confirm what works for your content, camera and region.

Previewing a Live Stream

Every Live Stream has a Preview URL for testing and monitoring, generated when the stream is created. Find it in the Preview URL field on the stream's Details tab (Community > Live Streaming, then More), and use the copy button to share it. It can be viewed in any browser.

Live Stream Latency

Latency is the delay between your camera capturing content and attendees seeing it on screen. Some latency is normal and varies between attendees, so they may not all see the same moment at the same time. For time-based interactions (polls, live Q&A, reactions), build in buffer time.

Offline Handling

Jomablue recovers automatically from most streaming interruptions. The viewer experience varies slightly by browser and device.

No video streamed: A viewer arrives before your stream starts, for example during pre-roll. They see a message with an animated spinner, and playback starts automatically once video begins. To avoid this, reveal the Canvas or Block once pre-roll starts and hide it before post-roll finishes.

Dropouts: A running stream is interrupted, for example by a lost internet connection at the source.

• Minor dropouts (under 5 minutes) resume automatically from where they left off after a brief error message.

• Major dropouts (over 5 minutes) may show viewers a few seconds of buffered video, then an error message. Refreshing during a major dropout may briefly show buffered video, followed by an error message that stays on screen.

Once the stream is back, viewers can refresh the page if playback doesn't resume automatically.

Recordings and Downloads

Recording is always on for every Live Stream. Each time a stream stops and restarts, Jomablue saves a separate recording.

To download a recording:

1. Go to Community > Live Streaming.

2. Select More on the relevant stream.

3. Click the Assets tab.

4. Select a thumbnail to preview a session's recording.

5. Click Generate Master .mp4 File, then Download Master File once ready.

Notes:

• Generating takes 30 seconds to a few minutes, depending on recording length.

• The file is available to download for 24 hours and can be generated again if required.

• Once generated, the file is available to all portal users.

• Downloaded files are named master.mp4 (or master (1).mp4 for subsequent downloads).

Reusing a recording as Video On Demand: upload the downloaded recording as a Video On Demand asset. Trim any unwanted intro or outro first. See Video On Demand Block.

Usage and Charging

Live Streaming usage is measured in two ways:

• Stream Encoding: hours of video sent from your encoder to Jomablue's ingest.

• Stream Viewing: total hours watched by attendees (for example, 1 hour watched by 100 viewers = 100 hours).

Charges apply only to video sent to the ingest, so creating a stream on its own incurs no usage. Usage is recorded against your Jomablue subscription.

Recorded streams also carry a monthly hosting charge while they're retained (for example, 1 hour of encoding kept for 6 months is billed as 1 hour × 6 months).

Troubleshooting

If you're having trouble connecting to the live stream servers:

• Double-check the stream details for typos in your encoder or streaming software.

• Confirm no firewall or antivirus software is blocking the connection and that *.jomablue.com and port 5222 are allowed (see the network note above).

• Use a wired internet connection instead of Wi-Fi where possible.

• Try a different network (such as a mobile hotspot) to rule out a production network issue.

FAQs

Why is the stream key so long?

The stream key works like a password. Its length keeps your stream secure from unauthorised access.

My encoder doesn't support separate stream key and ingest URL fields. What do I do?

Combine both into a single line, in this format: rtmp://ingest.jomablue.com:5222/app/[your-stream-key]

Continue To

• Zoom Live Streaming Setup - send a Zoom meeting or webinar to your Live Stream.

• AI Closed Captions and Vocabularies - add automatically generated captions to your Live Stream.

• Live Reaction Block - add real-time attendee reactions beneath your stream.

• Embeddable Live Streaming - share this stream on a website outside Jomablue Community.

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