You can use our Flash-based broadcaster together with your webcam or other high quality cameras.

How to start a broadcast

To create a live broadcast from your computer, you need a web camera and microphone, or a compatible video camera with integrated microphone. You also need an internet connection with good upload-bandwidth, and a browser with Adobe Flash-support. To start a broadcast follow these simple steps:

1. Sign up for a Bambuser account or log in to the account you have already created.
2. From the Dashboard, click “Webcam” in the right column and "Go live with your cam" to open the broadcaster.
3. Allow the Bambuser broadcaster access to your camera and microphone (only necessary the first time).
4. Select the desired camera and microphone by clicking the corresponding buttons.
5. Click the red button to start broadcasting.

Broadcast settings

• Broadcast title. You can enter a descriptive title for your broadcast at the top of the camera preview.
• Public/private. You can switch between broadcasting publicly and broadcasting privately. Changing this setting while broadcasting will result in a new broadcast with the new privacy setting.
• Save on server. You can choose whether you want to archive the broadcast also for on demand viewing, or if you want it to be available live only. Changing this setting while broadcasting will result in a new broadcast.
• Aspect ratio. You can choose between a regular 4:3 picture at 320x240 pixels, which most cameras support, or widescreen 16:9 at 512x288 pixels which may look better if your camera supports it. Changing this setting while broadcasting will result in a new broadcast with the selected resolution.

Sharing

You can share your ongoing broadcast with friends through various services you have connected to your Bambuser account. We have another help page about connecting. Simply press the Share-button next to the red button to get a list of the connected services you can share your broadcast to, depending on if your broadcast is public or private.

In the lower right corner of the broadcaster you can find the direct short URL to your latest broadcast. If your broadcast is private, the URL will only let you and any friends you have shared the broadcast with view the broadcast. We have another help page about sharing private broadcasts.

Geotagging

While broadcasting, you can geotag your broadcast with your current location by clicking "get position", which will try to locate you based on your computer's Internet connection. This only works in modern browsers, and the accuracy may vary depending on your computer and Internet connection type.

You can also manually set or adjust the location for a broadcast on each broadcast page. Simply open the Overview tab on a broadcast page and drag the marker on the map to set the location. Zoom in on the map to set the location more accurately.

You can remove geotags from your broadcasts on your Dashboard.

Chat

You can close or open the chat in the broadcaster by clicking the Chat-button in the upper right corner. You can moderate the chat by muting unwanted participants. Click on the name for a person to bring up their information, and click mute to prevent them from writing in your chat.

Advanced settings

You can adjust some advanced video and audio settings by clicking the Settings-button at the top right corner.

Video

• Camera picture vs. broadcast picture. While broadcasting, you can choose whether you want to preview the picture directly from your camera, or if you want to view the actual broadcast video the same way your viewers see it.
• Frame rate. You can adjust the broadcast frame rate. A higher frame rate can result in a smoother video but produces more data and requires faster Internet connections, both from you and to your viewers. Not all frame rates may be supported by all cameras.
• Quality. The quality setting affects the video compression used. A higher quality will provide more detail, but produces much more data and requires faster Internet connections both from you and to your viewers.

Audio

• Audio monitor. Enable this to listen to the recorded audio. To avoid acoustic feedback, we recommend that you use headphones instead of speakers.
• Echo filter. Enable this filter to try to eliminate any acoustic feedback.
• Audio frequency. You can adjust the audio sample rate, which affects the audio quality. A higher sample rate can record higher audio frequencies, but results in more data and requires faster Internet connections. Possible sample rates range from 11 to 44 kHz, but the quality of the microphone is often the limiting factor.
• Volume. You can adjust the volume level if the microphone input is too low or too high. The VU-meter below the gauge displays the microphone activity.