Possible to Record directly to .flv?

[GTHill]

I am creating on-demand content for the web. Ideally I'd like the TC to record raw .mpg and .flv simultaneously. If this is possible, I'd be very thankful if I could get some direction to do so. Thanks!

GT

[joseburgos]

Use the Stream Tab and for the server, type;
rtmp://localhost/live
Then select a Flash FLV preset you desire. Finally type a file name for your flv video file using the browse button to place it where you want.
Now to capture both, press both record buttons and you will be saving the MPEG and FLV video files at the same time.

[GTHill]

The TC is asking me for a stream ID. I typed in 1 for the stream ID and it began to work, but about 6 seconds into it, I received an error that said:

"Flash Media Encoder terminated prematurely, please try again".

Does anyone have any thoughts on that error?

[tomv]

Jose your solution is good just for recording to .flv, but what if I want to actually use the Flash encoder to stream live at the same time. Is there a trick to stream live and record to .flv at the same time?

[joseburgos]

The TC is asking me for a stream ID. I typed in 1 for the stream ID and it began to work, but about 6 seconds into it, I received an error that said:

"Flash Media Encoder terminated prematurely, please try again".

Does anyone have any thoughts on that error?

Type Livestream into the stream name. I don't know if any name will work and can't test right now but livestream works :)

[joseburgos]

Jose your solution is good just for recording to .flv, but what if I want to actually use the Flash encoder to stream live at the same time. Is there a trick to stream live and record to .flv at the same time?

Use your stream info as normal and just follow the other instruction on adding a name for the capture and where you want it to go (folder).
Note: The realtime FLV or F4V capture will always be of the streams preset settings. So you can't stream at 100kbps, for example and capture at 500kbps.

That is ability has always been there Tom the problem people have is when they are not streaming to a server, how could they do a realtime conversion to a flash format without streaming to a server. That is when the rtmp://localhost/live comes into play. So if you want a higher quality flash file, you need to capture using the MPEG format (use studio if you are staying in the TriCaster world) and capture the flash stream at the same time. This will give you an exact flash file that you streamed. Now after you are done with your live stream production, load the new MPEG capture into a DDR. Use the rtmp://localhost/live tip and use a high bit rate and resolution preset. Now press stream and then press play on the DDR to make a higher quality flash video in realtime.
This will yield two flash files, the first at the same bit rate and resolution as your live stream broadcast and a 2nd at the higher bit rate and resolution. Also the MPEG capture of the production at the highest quality for any kind of use.

Take care,

Take care,

[tomv]

Jose... I just tried that and the flash encoder quits on me. I think I'm up to date on Tricaster patches. 3-18-2009 was the last patch I applied.

[joseburgos]

Tom,
You need to enable write to disk at the bottom of the stream section. It will quit if you are not writing the stream file to disk.

[joseburgos]

Oh and that is not the latest patch. Install the new one labeled Quicktime patch which corrects stream issues as well (most notably the ability to write F4V). It came out in Oct. 2009.

Take care,

[tomv]

I will try that tomorrow. We are trying a new streaming provider so I'll need to get this working so I can have the flv file for later. We made the move away from Ustream, to a "School safe" provider (SchoolTube) without the ads. Tested a stream earlier today, it's not a free service, but very affordable for a school and it looks pretty good.