VIDIZMO | Scalable Live Video Streaming Using AWS Media Services

If you need to live stream videos using AWS services in the AWS cloud, you can use these services separate as is. Or you can utilize a video platform that uses these services on the back, and as an end-user you get an easy-to-use interface to get started on streaming. 

In this blog, we discuss how you can achieve the latter through VIDIZMO and avoid getting into the complexities that would occur when using the AWS services as is.

The solution that we discuss, VIDIZMO, is a ready-made application available on AWS Commercial and Government cloud. It makes it easier to stream live video securely with restricted audiences or with the public.

Using a ready-made application has its own perks and is recommended for large organizations that need to conduct secure live streams for various use cases. As opposed to building your own solutions using AWS services, which may be more suited for smaller and one-time live video streaming use cases.

Before we get on ahead with what VIDIZMO offers, let’s first have a look at what services are used at the backend when streaming live video using AWS.

Services Offered by AWS for Live Video Streaming

There are two ways to go ahead with live streaming in AWS. The first method involves ingesting video from a media source into Elemental MediaLive and then Elemental MediaPackage prepares it for delivery. The second method involves ingesting media into Elemental MediaLive and storing the encoded segments on Elemental MediaStore. In both methods, videos are then cached on Amazon CloudFront from where they are eventually consumed by end-users.

AWS Elemental MediaLive

This is a video encoding service offered by AWS that takes a live source from a camera and compresses it for distribution. It also converts the stream into one adaptive bitrate HLS stream.

AWS Elemental MediaPackage

This is a video packaging service that converts the HLS stream from Elemental MediaLive into multiple streams to increase device compatibility and to offer DVR features.

AWS Elemental MediaStore

This is an AWS storage service that is optimized to offer low latency during video delivery. It stores the converted videos from Elemental MediaLive, which are small video file chunks for streaming.

Amazon CloudFront

This is the CDN service provided by Amazon, which helps in fast and secure global delivery of videos.

You can always check out this great video by AWS to learn more.

Benefits of Using VIDIZMO to Stream Videos in AWS

VIDIZMO offers live streaming as part of its enterprise video platform. It’s a ready-made application that you can use to stream videos using AWS services. As such you get to benefit from the capabilities of these AWS services and much more:

• Live video is streamed using modern streaming protocols such as HLS, MPEG-DASH and Smooth Streaming, which ensures an optimized experience on various devices.
• You can carry out secure internal live streams or choose to keep the live stream public. You can even go one step further and define access to the stream on a user or group level if needed.
• Add multiple backup streams to seamlessly shift from the main live stream to a backup in case of failure.
• You can interact during the live stream using the live chat or QnA feature, or by adding quizzes, handouts and surveys to the stream.
• You can record the live stream and make it available for later playback. All on-demand videos are optimized for playback using services for transcoding in AWS.
• Users joining in late can pause, rewind, or replay at any point through the Live DVR functionality.
• The live stream can be easily embedded on a website, or your viewers can view it through the VIDIZMO YouTube-like video portal.
• As these services are run in the cloud, you can scale up as your demand increases and only pay for the resources that you consume.

The setup involves a one-time configuration by the VIDIZMO team (or yourself if that’s preferred) and you can schedule live streams easily from then onwards. VIDIZMO helps you skip the complex processes involved in streaming video through the standalone AWS services. This is a good option for large enterprises looking to purchase ready-made solutions in the cloud. VIDIZMO, with 20 years of experience in the video industry, provides a solution that is designed to solve video challenges that occur in enterprises.

VIDIZMO is not just a live streaming platform, and you can use it to stream on-demand videos for end-to-end use cases. Whether it involves hosting training videos or sharing confidential recorded meetings, or embedding videos as advertisements on your website pages. You can use one platform to do it all.

You can get started on using our platform for live streaming or for on-demand streaming or both, within AWS Commercial or Government cloud, by contacting us today.

The US Department of State Uses VIDIZMO to Stream Live Video Internally – Read More on This Story

You can also read more on how VIDIZMO helps in on-demand video streaming in AWS. Or on how you can use Amazon Transcribe for automatic video transcription in AWS.