StreamYard | A Live Streaming Studio In Your Browser!

6 min readMar 15, 2021

If you’ve been looking for an easy way to live stream online, then StreamYard is the only screen share extension you’ll need. At the beginning of this year, I’m more than thrilled to announce that the video streaming platform was acquired by Hopin.

This acquisition combines the beautiful video production quality of StreamYard with the full end-to-end live events experience of Hopin. The result? Hopin organizers are able to create events that dazzle their attendees — across every aspect of the experience.

In short — together — they aim to provide a seamless, high-quality customer experience. One that ‘makes people, not places, the heart of events.’

What is StreamYard?

StreamYard is a live streaming web studio that allows you to produce live shows and interviews through its online web browser extension. And then thereafter, StreamYard broadcasts it wherever you like. For instance, you can interview guests, share your screen, and much more.

You’ll also be able to stream directly to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and other platforms. Anyone with the link can join and no login of any kind is required. Ultimately, you can have 10 people in the stream on both its Basic and Professional plan. But, you can only have 6 people in the stream on its Free plan.

In general, however, up to 10 people can enter the broadcast studio. Only that you’ll need to swap people in and out if you’re doing a dynamic talk show. And like I said in the beginning, StreamYard was recently acquired by Hopin.

Therefore, you can learn more about how to get started with Hopin for more details. Or even go ahead and Request a Demo to start using it right away.

How StreamYard Works

As I said, StreamYard is a live video production tool in your browser. So, there’re no additional downloads required. And, therefore, you don’t need anything other than a computer with a mic and camera to get going.

With StreamYard, most of the work happens on their computers, not yours. May it be your 5-year-old laptop, Chromebook, or desktop, they’ll all work just fine! But, if you’re serious about streaming (and I hope you are!), I recommend investing in a high-quality mic and webcam.

A pair of headphones is also a good idea — this will reduce the potential for echo if you are bringing on guests. Eventually, I’m a big fan of the following microphone and webcam:

Chrome, Firefox, and Opera all work with StreamYard. Unfortunately, other browsers, like Safari, do not support this technology yet. Otherwise, I recommend Chrome for the best experience.

Streaming requires a lot of data, but your current ISP or 4G provider should work fine. I recommend that you hardwire (ethernet) to your router. WiFi will work, but not as well.

To get started,

Launch Chrome or another supported browser
Sign up for StreamYard if you haven’t already
Connect a destination to stream to
Create a broadcast and go live

That’s all you need to get started! But, before the broadcast, make sure you have the following:

A laptop or desktop with a webcam and mic.
The most recent version of Chrome or Firefox.
A strong internet connection.

And just like Skype, you must have a strong internet connection for it to work well. If possible, connect to your router with an ethernet cable instead of using WiFi. I recommend wearing earbuds or headphones to prevent audio echoes.

If you don’t have a laptop or desktop, then you can join on your phone. But the experience is usually best on a laptop/desktop. On Android, I recommend the Chrome browser. While on iOS, you must use Safari. And if you’re on iOS 14.2, I recommend updating your device before joining. Since iOS 14.2 has some issues with audio sound stuttering.

StreamYard allows you to:

How to stream to your own website

So, do you wish to live stream to your own website? Of course, you can with StreamYard! There are a number of ways to accomplish this — in my simple steps below, we’re going to use YouTube. But, it’s important to realize, if your YouTube account was created after August 2016, you’ll need monetization enabled.

Not only that but also an approved AdSense account linked to your YouTube account. For this reason, you can check the YouTube Features page to confirm if live streaming and embedding are enabled as well.

How to Embed a YouTube Live stream

Follow these steps to embed a YouTube Live stream on your website:

Add your YouTube channel on StreamYard. You can do this from your dashboard.
Create a broadcast. Then on the broadcast, click on “More”, then “View on YouTube”.
On YouTube, right-click on the video section and click “Copy embed code”.
Paste the embed code onto your website.

As soon as you’re done, your viewers will see the stream on your website when you go live on StreamYard! Note that the embed code will be different for each broadcast.

How Screen Sharing Works

Screen sharing is an awesome way to present a slideshow or show a video. Both you and your guests can share a screen. You can share images, videos, PDFs, and more.

Screen sharing works best when you have two monitors — two monitors make it easy to click from slide to slide while you’re still controlling the live stream on the other monitor.

In the broadcast studio, there’s a toolbar at the bottom of the screen. Click the “Share Screen” button. Your guests have this option as well.
The screen-sharing tips will pop up on the screen. Click the blue “Share Screen” button.
Another popup will appear with three options:

Your Entire Screen: Shares your entire desktop screen.
Application Window: Let’s you choose one application at a time; great for sharing a PowerPoint or Keynote.
Chrome Tab: This Lets you share ANY file from your computer in a Chrome Tab.

Open a new tab, drag the file into Chrome from your computer desktop or folder. Your cursor displays a little ‘+’ sign if the action is successful.
This is the best way to share audio. But, you should take note that, to share audio from your screen you MUST click the “Share Audio” button.
Then click Share, and your screen will be added to your show.

You can use the layout buttons under the screen to change how the screen appears alongside you and your guests. Click the tile that lights up blue to REMOVE the screen share.

Other additional tools include:

How to join an online broadcast studio

To join a StreamYard online broadcast studio is very simple and straightforward. According to their guest instructions, when that time comes, all you’ll need is to follow a few steps to enter the broadcast studio. Let’s have a look at the new guest steps below:

The host should provide you with a streaming link before the show.
Click the link and you’ll be taken to their broadcast studio.
Allow StreamYard to access your camera and mic.
Make sure you have the correct camera and mic selected. Enter a display name.
You can as well use your actual name or the name of your brand. Then enter the studio.

As a result, the host will be informed that you’ve arrived. You won’t be part of the broadcast until the host decides to add you in. The page will update to let you know when you’ve been added. Then everyone will be able to see and hear you.

This is your time to shine! But, always remember, the host asked you to join because they want to hear what you have to say.

With that in mind, if you’re looking to have the best experience possible, you should check out their devices and equipment section. You’ll also get to understand other more features like Mac camera access, iOS camera access, and even Green screen access. In that case, visit their official YouTube channel for more video tutorial guidelines.

Finally, you can also Contact Us if you’ll need any more additional support or help. And then also, don’t forget to share some of your opinion thoughts, suggestions, recommendations, or even more questions for answers in our comments section below this blog.

You can also visit their FAQ Page for more answers to your questions. As well as additional instructions and guidelines. All in all, have fun!

Originally published at https://josephmuciraexclusives.com on March 15, 2021.