Setting Up an Epiphan Pearl
Send your service from an Epiphan Pearl Nano, Pearl Mini, Pearl-2 or Pearl Nexus to the platform over RTMPS, an encrypted connection, with the exact settings.
Setting Up an Epiphan Pearl
These steps cover the Pearl Nano, Pearl Mini, Pearl-2 and Pearl Nexus, in the Pearl's Admin panel (open the Pearl's address in a web browser). The Pearl streams to the platform over RTMPS — RTMP inside an encrypted connection, so your stream key never crosses the internet in clear text. RTMPS is in Pearl firmware from release 4.6.0; keep the firmware up to date.
4K. Pearl-2 and Pearl Nano stream 4K with Epiphan's 4K feature add-on, one 4K channel at 30 fps. Pearl Mini streams up to 1920×1200.
Have the Connect your encoder card open in The Hub → Streaming — it appears when you start or schedule a stream.
Set the channel's encoding
From the Channel(s) menu, select your channel and click Encoding:
| Setting | 1080p | 4K |
|---|---|---|
| Codec | H.264 | H.264 |
| Frame size | 1920×1080 | 3840×2160 |
| Bitrate | 6,000 kb/s | 16,000 kb/s |
| Key frame interval | 2 sec | 2 sec |
| Audio | AAC, 48 kHz | same |
If your Pearl Nano offers H.265, choose H.264 — the platform does not take H.265. Click Apply.
Send over RTMPS
- From the Channel(s) menu, select the channel and click Streaming.
- Click New stream and choose RTMP push.
- URL: paste the Server from the Hub,
rtmps://ingest.streaming.1stflock.com:443/live. - Stream name: paste the Stream Key from the Hub. Leave User name and Password empty.
- Click Apply, then Start.
The Stream Key changes with every stream. Each week, edit the stream, paste the new Stream Key from the Hub into Stream name, and click Apply.
Or send over SRT (encrypted)
If your Pearl offers it, SRT is the better choice: it copes better with a shaky internet connection and recovers faster if one of our servers fails. It is encrypted with a passphrase of the stream's own, shown on the Connect your encoder card beside the Stream ID; without it the connection is refused. SRT needs outgoing UDP to port 8890; if your network blocks it, use RTMPS above.
- From the Channel(s) menu, select the channel and click Streaming.
- Click New stream and choose SRT push.
- Fill in:
| Pearl field | Value |
|---|---|
| Connection mode | Caller |
| URL | srt://ingest.streaming.1stflock.com:8890 |
| Source port | Leave empty |
| Stream ID | Paste the Stream ID from the Hub, whole |
| Encryption | Checked, AES 256 |
| Passphrase | Paste the Passphrase from the Hub |
| Latency | Leave the default (125 ms) |
- Click Apply, then Start.
The Stream ID and the passphrase change with every stream. Each week, paste the new Stream ID and Passphrase from the Hub; everything else stays.
If something goes wrong
- It will not connect over SRT. Check Connection mode is
Caller, the URL is exactly as above with the port, Encryption is checked with this stream's Passphrase, and the Stream ID is exactly as shown, starting withpublish:live/. If your building's firewall blocks outgoing UDP, ask whoever looks after the network to allow outgoing UDP to port8890, or use RTMPS. - It will not connect. Check the URL starts with
rtmps://— notrtmp://— includes:443, and ends in/live, and that Stream name is this stream's whole Stream Key: it contains a?and a=. - The Pearl reports a certificate error. The Pearl checks our server's certificate before it sends anything. Update the firmware, which brings the current list of trusted certificate authorities; if the error stays, contact support.
- Viewers see stalls at the start. Check Key frame interval is 2 sec.
The settings every encoder needs, and what to expect if a server fails, are in Choosing and Setting Up an Encoder. Support is available 24/7.