Broadcasting with the EnhancedIRL Encoder

By the end, your EnhancedIRL Encoder will be broadcasting over SRTLA to your stream key, spreading the stream across all its connections.

You need: any plan with a stream key · the encoder with the wizard done · two connections or more · 10 minutes

Before you start

Bonding works with SRTLA: it spreads your stream across the encoder’s connections (cable, Wi-Fi, modems, iPhone) and puts it back together on arrival. With a single connection you gain nothing over SRT; see Choosing a protocol.

Steps

1. In the dashboard, open Stream Keys and set the Protocol selector to SRTLA.
2. Hit Publish to copy the URL. It looks like this: srtla://<server>:<port>?streamid=publish:<your-key>.
3. On the encoder’s screen, open Settings › Stream › Destination and press Add.
4. Pick Custom and, under Protocol, SRTLA.
5. Paste the whole URL into Server (URL). No need to split it: the encoder takes the key out by itself and keeps it apart, hidden behind dots.
6. Give it a Name (for example, EnhancedIRL). Under Video and audio, leave the Video codec on H.264 and set the video bitrate below your plan’s cap (table further down).
7. Press Save and touch the destination in the list: it turns to In use.
8. Plug in every connection you’re going to use: cable, Wi-Fi, modems or the iPhone.
9. Hold GO LIVE for a second. In the dashboard, the key goes from No signal to Streaming.

Pasting is easier from the web page

You can do steps 3 to 7 from the encoder’s web page, on your phone or laptop: Destination card, Add, Custom. There the URL field is called Server.

Note

The SRTLA server and port aren’t the same as an SRT key’s. Always copy the URL with the Publish button of the key you’re going to use, never from another key or an old note.

Checking that bonding is adding up

1. On the encoder: Settings › Stream › Connections shows each connection with a coloured dot for its state and what it adds to the stream. A connection with no internet stops carrying the stream until it recovers.
2. In the dashboard: the Live signal card shows the Current bitrate. It has to look like the sum of all the connections, not like what a single one adds.

The acid test: unplug a modem in the middle of a test. The bitrate drops a notch, but the stream doesn’t cut out.

Bitrate caps

The cap belongs to the key: video and audio together have to stay below it. Adaptive bitrate comes on: the encoder lowers the bitrate when the connections can’t give more.

Plan	Key cap
Stream Key Lite	9,000 kbps
Stream Key	9,000 kbps
OBS Basic	6,000 kbps
OBS Standard	6,000 kbps
OBS Pro	10,000 kbps

Not working?

The encoder stays on CONNECTING… and the dashboard won’t move off No signal. The URL isn’t the SRTLA one, or the destination’s protocol isn’t SRTLA. Copy it again with Publish, with the key on SRTLA, and paste it into Server (URL) again.

It connects, but the bitrate is that of a single connection. The destination is on SRT, RTMP or RTMPS: those go out over a single connection (with RTMP and RTMPS, the encoder says so on the destination’s page). Switch it to SRTLA, on the destination and on the key.

It stopped connecting out of nowhere, without touching anything. You Rotated the key or changed the Region: the previous URL stops working instantly. Copy it again and replace it in the destination. More detail in Rotating the key and security.

Next step

• The encoder’s connections: cable, Wi-Fi, modems and iPhone, and their coloured dot.
• Getting started with Cloud OBS: your scenes and automatic scene switching in the cloud.
• SRTLA with a single connection: the dashboard’s warning when bonding isn’t adding up.
• Unstable bitrate: if it adds up but sinks now and then.