RASCULAR PROVIDES INTEGRATED CONTROL OF FACEBOOK LIVE VIA STREAMING ENCODERS
Northampton, UK – 16th February – Rascular, software designers of PC-based video playout control and media management systems, has today announced that its flagship control software Helm can now communicate directly with Facebook Live. This allows a tight integration for broadcasters and playout providers between broadcast devices and streaming content to the dominant social media platform.
Roddy Pratt, Technical Director with Rascular, says, “We have listened to the market and responded to the demand for operators to be able to control both streaming encoders and Facebook Live from a single screen. Operators and journalists can now do this effortlessly because Helm is designed from the ground up with this kind of flexibility and ease of use.”
Helm is a user customisable control/monitoring system that facilitates the creation and deployment of PC-based, application-specific control panels, addressing manual control requirements across a huge range of broadcast technologies.
Helm communicates with Facebook using the latter’s Graph API. Because Helm supports all the Graph API features, an incredibly wide range of applications is possible, both for delivering content – including of course live video – and monitoring the audience for that content.
All Facebook Graph API nodes and edges are available and access to new Facebook features will typically not need further updates to Helm. Script design and coding is robust and straightforward. All communication runs over HTTPS with operators presented with familiar Facebook login details.
Pratt says, “After trialling a more limited way of doing this, it became clear that we needed to add complete Facebook support within Helm. We have removed the need to use encoder web interfaces to do this, which can be fiddly and time consuming. We have provided users with the ability to tailor access on Facebook using simple scripting.”
About Rascular:
Software designers Rascular create PC-based video playout control and media management systems. Bespoke or off-the-shelf, its applications work across SDI and IP technologies. This provides media companies with cost-effective control and management across hybrid playout environments. User-defined screen layouts allow precision access to on-air and off-air third-party technologies. This gives operators crucial touch-of-a-button control of manual and automated media preparation and channel playout, be that IP or SDI. Rascular’s technology is deployed by broadcasters and playout providers globally including Discovery Communications Europe, BSkyB, Red Bee Media, M-Net, Sky Italia and ARD. For more information visit www.rascular.com.