If you are ever caught in an environment without a stable or any WIFI connection and could not live stream, now you can. Using RTMP (Real Time Messaging Protocol) enabled action cameras & a mobile phone you can still live stream without exposing your mobile phone to the outside environment. With ViuLive, you can conduct your outdoor live streaming using an action camera, provided that it is installed & positioned properly using proper hooks and hardware.

Several actions cameras such as GOPRO (Hero 7 and above), MEVO PLUS and YI-4k to name a few, support RTMP protocols that allows them to stream out their data to the server in real time using the mobile data plan as the internet connection. However, do take note this will highly depend on your mobile phone signal strength and could consume quite a hefty amount of mobile data for long streaming session.

A simple way to setup outdoor live streaming is by using ViuLive mobile app. Simply login to the app and select either “Group Live” or “Schedule” option, add your RTMP camera of choice from the menu and fill out the required details. Select “Go Live!” to generate the stream URL and stream key and copy this for later use.

An example of a stream URL and stream key.
An example of a stream URL and stream key in Viulive app.

 Next, launch the action camera mobile app. Establish the camera-mobile connection and depending on types of camera you are using, select the live stream option and tap on RTMP settings.

Next, configure the camera network settings to broadcast to the server using your mobile data. This is done by turning your mobile hotspot on for the camera to detect it as a WIFI option. You can refer to our user manuals documentation for where we’ve covered this more in depth. Next, paste the stream URL and stream key generated earlier. That’s it and you are ready to go live. As a side note, in our experience of trying all the combination of the mobiles & cameras, GoPro seems to be designed to do live streaming using mobiles or modems as hotspots. However, its operation as of this date proven to be inconsistent.

“In our experience of trying all the combination of the mobiles & cameras, GoPro seems to be designed to do live streaming using mobiles or modems as hotspots but its operation as of this date proven to be inconsistent”

The above suggested method works for most action cameras supporting RTMP with most mobiles, however we have seen some combination that do not properly work consistently or properly. For these cases and for better stream quality and user friendliness we do suggest to use a portable 4G GSM modem. This device will act as a portable WIFI connection and in theory will have better coverage and stability due to less signal noise compared to your mobile phones.

An example of a 4G MIFI broadband router
An example of a 4G GSM modem

Setting Up a 4G GSM modem is easy. All you need is the broadband router itself and a simcard with an active internet plan. You can refer to any service provider website for more in-depth information about their data plans. To use this method, simply insert the simcard to the broadband router, turn it on and you’re good to go.  The 4G GSM modem will have its own SSID and password just like a normal WIFI connection. To connect, simply choose the connection SSID and key in the password. 

It should be noted, using a dedicated device acting as a WIFI connection, such as this modem, the camera app could detect the signal much better compared to just using your mobile hotspot.