There are several reasons why we require all LIVE-to-VOD recordings to be transcoded.
- Recorded live-streams are never compatible with all devices. They only exist in specific live-stream formats (as sent by your encoder and as transcoded on the LightcastCDN). Your live-streams are optimized for live-streaming and not yet suitable for on-demand distribution to multiple platforms.
Lightcast.com takes the LIVE-to-VOD service to a whole new level in the industry, by processing recorded files for multi-platform distribution and bitrate-adaptive delivery. All workflows and processes in the Lightcast Media Cloud are designed for multi-platform distribution. For that reason, recorded live-streams have to run through the optimized pre-processing and transcoding just as much as video uploads. They are treated the same way, because they are the same thing and require the same processing for multi-platform publishing and an optimized bitrate-adaptive user experience. Transcoding converts your recording into multiple formats, dimensions, and bitrates to ensure maxiumum compatibility for ConnectedTV Apps such as Roku, FireTV, Apple TV, mobile devices etc., as well as social platforms like Facebook, Cross.tv, YouTube etc.
- Your on-demand files will also have to include meta information in order to be findable and viewable on your various publishing properties. This meta information may include: title, description, keywords and the selection or upload of a suitable thumbnail for your on-demand file.
- You might want to assign your on-demand files to one or multiple VOD Channels, which allows you to control where you want your on-demand file published and where you don't.
Any live stream recording service which falls short of this process will automatically limit the reach of your on-demand files to regular computers. Lightcast.com always strives to take cutting edge technologies to the next level. We take quality and device compatibility very seriously and have so taken live recording to the next level as well.