Simple mode
The Simple view takes you live in a few steps: choose a camera and microphone (or a video), check picture and sound, then start the live. All technical broadcast settings are applied by Vivastream.
The screen
| Area | Content |
|---|---|
| Header | ← (back to events), organization and event title, “Local preparation” badge, Simple / Advanced buttons, Live quality. |
| Left rail | Events, Studio, Chat, Monitoring, Recording, Settings. |
| LOCAL PREVIEW | The picture of your production, marked “Not broadcast” until the live starts. Above it, the camera status (for example “Camera not selected”). |
| AUDIO MIXER | The microphone status, then one row per audio source: name, activity badge, level in dB, volume slider, meter and mute button. At the bottom: number of hidden sources, mixer layout, advanced audio settings and Options. |
| Right panel | Camera and mic / Video choice, then live preparation and start. |
| Status bar | “This computer · Studio open”, “Output · Not started”, live state (“Offline”) and save state. |
Broadcasting with a camera and microphone
Choose Camera and mic at the top of the right panel. The panel is titled “Get ready to go live”.
1. Choose the camera
In the Camera card, click Choose (or Change if a camera is already chosen). The “Choose a camera” window opens:
- “Select an input for your event. Check its picture or audio level in the studio.”
- the list of detected cameras; the active input is marked “Selected”, a disconnected one “Unavailable”;
- “A listed device does not guarantee an active signal.”;
- the Settings (device settings), Refresh, Cancel and Select buttons.
Select the camera, then click Select. The picture appears in the preview and the card shows “Camera detected · check the preview”. The first time, macOS asks for permission to use the camera.
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| “Looking for devices…” | Wait while devices are detected. |
| “No device found. Connect a camera or microphone, then refresh.” | Connect the device, then Refresh. |
| “Unable to read the device list. Refresh to try again.” | Click Refresh. |
| “The previous input is unavailable. Choose another device or reconnect it and refresh.” | The device used last time is no longer connected. |
| “This device could not be opened. Check its connection and whether another application is using it.” | Close applications using the camera (video calls, other streaming software) or reconnect it. |
| “Camera unavailable. Reconnect it or choose another input.” | The device disappeared during preparation. |
| “Allow Vivastream Studio to use this device in System Settings, then try again.” | See macOS permissions. |
2. Choose the microphone
Same process with the Microphone card and the “Choose a microphone” window. Once chosen, the card shows “Microphone detected · check the level” and the reminder “Speak: the level should move in the mixer. A detected microphone can stay silent.”.
If the microphone is muted in the mixer, the card shows “Microphone muted”.
3. Check picture and sound
- Picture: look at the preview (framing, lighting, right camera).
- Sound: speak and check that the microphone meter moves in the mixer; adjust the volume with the slider, check that mute is off.
The BEFORE YOU START list follows progress:
| Row | States |
|---|---|
| Camera | “Choose a camera” → “Camera ready” |
| Microphone | “Choose a microphone” → “Microphone ready” |
| Vivastream | “Vivastream check once the devices are ready” → “Checking with Vivastream…” → “Broadcast authorized by Vivastream”, or the refusal reason with Try again |
Below the list, Studio shows the actual preview configuration, for example “Local preview: 1920 × 1080 · 30 fps — Audio: 48000 Hz — Vivastream provides and applies the broadcast profile at start.”.
4. Confirm and start
At the bottom of the panel, always visible:
- Tick I checked the picture and audio level. Changing the camera or microphone clears this confirmation: check again.
- Click Start live. While something is missing, the button stays inactive and shows “Available once everything is ready and you checked the picture and sound.”.
- Studio asks for confirmation: “Start the live event? — The preview scene will be broadcast to this event after Vivastream validation. Check your picture and sound before continuing.”. Click Start live to go, or Cancel.
What happens next (connection, live, stop) is described in Starting and ending the live.
Broadcasting a video
Choose Video at the top of the panel. The panel becomes “Broadcast a video”: “Choose a local video for your event. It will start when you go live.”.
- Click Choose a video and select a file (MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, AVI or M4V).
- Studio shows “Preparing video…”, then the file name.
- Check picture and sound in the preview with Play / Pause, Restart, the position bar and Video volume. The video will restart from the beginning when you go live.
- The BEFORE YOU START list shows “Video ready” and “Broadcast authorized by Vivastream”.
- Tick I checked the picture and audio level., then Start live.
During the live, only playback controls remain: “Playback and volume remain available while live.”. The video cannot be replaced (“The video cannot be replaced while live.”). When it ends, Studio shows “Video finished. Restart it or end the live.” and the End live button.
| Message | Meaning |
|---|---|
| “No video selected” / “Select a video file.” | No file chosen. |
| “File not found. Select the video again.” | The file was moved or deleted. |
| “This file cannot be played. Choose another video.” | Invalid format or file. |
| “This video cannot be played.” | Playback error. |
| “The video scene is no longer active. Select Video mode again.” | The scene was changed from the Advanced view. |
| “The video is not ready. Return to preparation to check it.” | The live cannot start on a video that is not loaded. |
Check details
The Check details link, under the start button, opens the “Pre-live checks” page:
- A banner summarizes the state: “A device is missing. Correct your preparation before continuing.”, “Broadcast is awaiting Vivastream validation.”, “Server validation received. Check the picture and audio level before starting.” or “Required checks are complete. You can start.”.
- VIVASTREAM CHECKS: “Broadcast authorization and readiness”, the result (for example “Server conditions met at the time of this check.”) and what is checked: “Authorization, event, organization, broadcast resource and absence of an active live. These conditions are checked again at start.”.
- THIS COMPUTER: Camera (“Check the image in Preview. A detected device does not guarantee a video signal.”) and Microphone (“Speak and check the audio meter. Check the volume and mute button before continuing.”), each with a button to change device.
- The I checked the picture and audio level. box.
- “Network bandwidth and encoding are not measured here. Check manually added sources in production.”
- The Run checks again, Back to production and Start live buttons.
Passing the checks does not guarantee stream quality: Studio does not measure your network bandwidth before going live.
During the live
- Devices are locked: “Devices are locked during the broadcast. End the live to change them.”. The audio mixer stays usable (volume, mute).
- The preparation panel is replaced by a live status card: starting, live, reconnecting, stopping. See Starting and ending the live.
- Chat, monitoring and recording stay available in the left rail.
Need more control?
Click Advanced in the header: scenes, sources, mixer and transitions appear, and your production is kept. See The Advanced control room at a glance.