If you are a content creator, particularly one who produces video content, one of the best ways to express yourself interactively is through video streaming on popular platforms like Twitch or YouTube. While these services offer a digital platform to broadcast your stream, you still need your own hardware resources to run it. In this case, a great solution could be VPS web hosting. In the following article, we will examine the scenarios in which a VPS server for round-the-clock streaming is a viable option and then explore how to set up such a server.
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When to Use a Virtual Private Server for YouTube Streaming?
While our typical image of a YouTube video streamer is someone who engages in real-time activities—such as playing a video game, performing music, or responding to audience questions—not all streams function this way. Occasionally, you may want to stream pre-recorded material in real time, allowing the streaming to operate independently. The content you stream could include music radio, a marathon of a show, or any other type of video content.
In this case, instead of keeping your computer on all the time, along with the associated difficulties and inconveniences, you can simply rent a budget-friendly server that will ensure continuous 24/7 operation of your streaming.
Benefits of Using a VPS Server for Streaming
A VPS server is a dependable and versatile hosting solution with numerous potential applications beyond video streaming.
While it’s not the only hosting option, two other popular choices are shared hosting and dedicated servers. However, VPS is likely the most suitable option for the main topic of this article: video streaming. The benefits of VPS include:
How to Set Up a 24/7 YouTube Streaming VPS
Step 1. Server Selection
The first step before setting up your 24/7 YouTube streaming is selecting a server. Find a reliable provider that offers plans including all the resources you need at an affordable price. The server should have enough storage space to host all the content you plan to stream. Additionally, it should provide a high connection speed, sufficient bandwidth, and be located in a data center close to major infrastructure backbones. Therefore, before searching for a server, you will need to perform certain calculations.
Step 2. Server Setup
After purchasing your server, you can proceed to set it up.
First and foremost, you should connect to it via SSH. To do this, you’ll need the login credentials that you should have received from your service provider when you purchased the capacities. Then, you should use the appropriate SSH option based on the operating system of your server. For a Linux server, SSH is accessed through the terminal on Linux and through PuTTY on Windows. If you are using a Windows server, you need to locate Remote Desktop Management on your Windows PC or use the Remmina client on Linux.
Now you need to follow the general steps for configuring your server. This includes actions such as changing the hostname, setting up time synchronization, updating the system, configuring iptables, and more.
Additionally, there are some specific tasks you should carry out, especially for streaming:
sudo yum install epel-release
sudo yum install vsftpd
sudo systemctl start vsftpd
sudo systemctl enable vsftpd
This will initiate the FTP server and ensure it starts automatically upon boot.
You can optionally configure vsftpd by editing the relevant file to customize settings as needed:
sudo nano /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf
To apply the changes, restart vsftpd:
sudo systemctl restart vsftpd
sudo yum install ffmpeg
FFmpeg is particularly noteworthy as it enables a wide range of operations related to video and audio editing. Its functions include recording, converting, and transferring audio and video files in various formats. With FFmpeg, you can trim videos, extract audio from video files, convert files into different formats, and more. One of the most significant features of FFmpeg in the context of this article is its ability to convert files into streams, which can then be redirected to the appropriate streaming service.
Step 3. Broadcasting Setup
Once you have set up the server and installed the required solutions, you can proceed to configure broadcasting on YouTube.
You will first need two items: a link and a broadcast key. Navigate to the streaming settings section of your channel to locate them.
Afterward, you need to create an ffmpeg script using a text editor:
#!/bin/bash
# Replace STREAM_KEY with your YouTube stream key
STREAM_KEY=”your_stream_key”
ffmpeg -stream_loop -1 -re -i your_input_source -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -b:v 2500k -maxrate 2500k -bufsize 5000k -pix_fmt yuv420p -g 60 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ac 2 -ar 44100 -f flv rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/$STREAM_KEY
Replace “your_stream_key” with your actual YouTube stream key. Additionally, adjust other parameters such as the input source (your_input_source), video bitrate, audio settings, and so on, as necessary.
Next, upload your video files to the server using FTP.
Now, you can begin streaming with the ./start_stream.sh command.
Step 4. Configuring Autonomy
To create a queue for files to be broadcast, you need to develop a queue script. The formula for this is:
ffmpeg -re -i video1.mp4 -f flv rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/%KEY_TRANSLATION% ffmpeg -re -i video2.mp4 -f flv rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/%KEY_TRANSLATION% ffmpeg -re -i video3.mp4 -f flv rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/%KEY_TRANSLATION% %nohup bash start.sh $
Replace video~.mp4 with the correct names of your files in the proper order.
Step 5. Configure Streaming
Optionally, you can add extra configuration to the stream. For instance, the following script will display the name you wish to assign to the video fragment on the screen while the video is playing:
ffmpeg -re -i video1.mp4 -vf “drawtext=text=’Lecture 1′:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2:fontcolor=white:fontsize=30:box=1:boxcolor=black@0.5” -f flv rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/%KEY_TRANSLATION%
The font’s color, size, and position on the screen can be adjusted, as demonstrated in the file.
Conclusion
Video streaming on YouTube is one of the most popular ways to share content today. However, if you want to broadcast your content continuously rather than being a live video streamer in person, you don’t need to keep your PC on all the time. Instead, you can set up a streaming server, which will provide a convenient, reliable, and cost-effective solution, especially if you find a good provider. As you may have noticed, configuring such a server isn’t complicated either, so we hope everything is clear and wish you success in YouTube video streaming.
