Welcome to BoxCast! This article will help to get you started with our products and platform. If you ever have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to the BoxCast Technical Support team at questions@boxcast.com. We provide support from 9am - 9pm EST every day of the week (7am - 9pm on Sundays).
1. Begin by logging in to your BoxCast Dashboard.
2. Click on the Sources tab followed by the green +Add a Source button. If you have purchased a BoxCaster encoder from BoxCast, the BoxCaster will have already been registered to your Dashboard. Click here to learn more about adding a source.
3. If planning to stream to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or other social media destinations, you will want to set that up next. Go to Settings and click on Integrations. Click the green +Add Integration button to add each integration. Learn more about streaming to multiple destinations, here. If you do not plan on streaming to social media, feel free to skip this step.
4. Once integrations are set, you will want to schedule a broadcast. Scheduling a broadcast is an essential step for streaming with BoxCast. With the exception of our Go Live Now feature in the Broadcaster app, you must schedule a broadcast in order to go live.
Click on Schedule a Broadcast and populate the required fields for the broadcast. Please note some key things you DO NOT want to forget while scheduling:
- Adding the correct Source: The Source is your encoder. If using a BoxCaster, select that. If you are using RTMP, select your RTMP source. If you are using the Broadcaster app, select that. This will determine which device/software you plan on streaming from.
- Selecting an appropriate End Time: We recommend selecting an End Time that is 15-30 minutes after when you believe the event may end. For example, if planning to broadcast from 10:00 to 11:00, consider scheduling the end time for 11:15. This will save you if the event runs past 11:00. If under-calculating the End Time in our example, the broadcast will automatically end at 11:00 and any of your live event happening after that will not be recorded as part of the broadcast.
- Scheduling Recurring Broadcasts: Click here to learn more.
- Scheduling Destinations: With your social media integrations linked in the dashboard, you may schedule each broadcast to stream out to those social media destinations. Click on Destinations field to do this.
5. Once your broadcasts are scheduled, you will want to go to the Embed tab to grab code for the BoxCast player for embedding on your website. To learn more about embedding, click here. Most websites use the Javascript embed code, but if that doesn't seem to work for your website, try the Inline Frame code.
If you do not plan to embed on your website, feel free to skip this step.
6. Run a test broadcast! Schedule a broadcast, naming it something like Test. Check out our guides below, should you encounter trouble while starting the stream with your encoder.
RTMP Encoder Guides (Wirecast, OBS, vMix, etc.)
These are just the very basics of BoxCast. Below are some more advanced features BoxCast has to offer, so feel free to explore any one of the following. Not sure if a feature exists on your plan? Check out Streaming Features on our pricing page, or reach out to your account manager by emailing CM@boxcast.com.
- How to Create a Channel
- How to Add Donations to Your Website
- Understanding Enhanced Analytics (Video)
- How to Configure Your Settings for Roku, Apple TV, & Amazon Fire TV
- How to Re-Broadcast (Simulated Live) a BoxCast Live Stream
- Understanding Stream Diagnostics
- How to Use Graphic Overlays
- How to Configure Password Protected Broadcasts
- How to Add Video Indexing to Archived Live Streams
- How to Upload Documents to Your Live Stream
- How to Use Embedding Restrictions
- How to Setup Your Manual Scoreboard or Wireless Scoreboard Adapter (WSA)
- Where is My M3U8 (HLS) Link?
- How to Add Automated Captioning to Recorded Broadcasts
Have more questions?
Please feel free to book a time below, with one of our Technical Support Specialists.