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Live streaming guide

Your YouTube live stream, on your Apple TVs.

Streaming a service, a prizegiving or a big game to YouTube? You can show the same broadcast on the TVs around your venue. Send the stream to a live video service as well as YouTube, paste its link into POMP, and your screens stay on it for the whole event. If the stream drops, they reconnect by themselves.

How it fits together

Your camera and streaming software
YouTube, for people watching at home
A live video service, for your screens
POMP plays it on every screen, all event
Before you start

What you need.

  • A live video service that gives you an HLS playback link (ending in .m3u8), such as Cloudflare Stream, Mux or Amazon IVS.
  • Streaming software or a hardware encoder that can send to two places at once: OBS, vMix, Restream or similar.
  • Screens running POMP player 2.1.4 or later. The web player at player.pompsignage.com already has it.
Step by step

Put your stream on screen.

Step 1: Set up a live video service

This service receives your stream and gives you a link your screens can play. Most charge per minute watched, so a few screens for an evening costs very little.

  1. 1
    Create a live input or live stream in the service's dashboard.
  2. 2
    Copy the RTMP or RTMPS server URL and the stream key. Your streaming software sends to these.
  3. 3
    Copy the HLS playback link, which ends in .m3u8.Cloudflare Stream shows it on the live input's page. Mux builds it from the playback ID: https://stream.mux.com/<playback ID>.m3u8. Amazon IVS calls it the playback URL.
  4. 4
    Make sure playback is public. Screens can't sign in, so turn off signed URLs or playback restrictions for this stream.

Step 2: Stream to YouTube and the service at once

Your audience at home keeps watching on YouTube, and your screens play the copy from the live video service.

  1. 1
    vMix: in Settings › Streaming, put YouTube in one destination and the service's server URL and key in another.
  2. 2
    Restream: add YouTube as a channel, then add a Custom RTMP channel with the service's server URL and key.
  3. 3
    OBS: add a second output with the Multiple RTMP Outputs plugin, or send OBS to Restream and let it forward to both.Streaming twice from OBS doubles your upload, so check your connection can handle it. Restream only needs one upload.
  4. 4
    Start a short test stream and check it shows up in both YouTube Studio and the live video service.

Step 3: Add the stream to a playlist

  1. 1
    In the POMP dashboard, open the playlist for the screens that should show the stream.
  2. 2
    Turn on expert mode and add a Video URL screen.
  3. 3
    Paste the .m3u8 link into Video URL.
  4. 4
    Tick Show until changed, so the stream stays on screen for the whole event with no restarts.
  5. 5
    Save, then assign the playlist to your screens, or to a tag to reach a whole group at once.

Step 4: Schedule it for the event

Optional, but it means nobody has to change playlists on the day.

  1. 1
    Add the live stream screen to the playlist your screens already play.
  2. 2
    In the screen's schedule, set the event's date with a start and end time.
  3. 3
    Outside that time the stream is skipped, so screens play their usual content before and after.

Step 5: On the day

  1. 1
    Start the screens before you go live. Until the stream starts they show "Connecting to the live stream", then pick it up as soon as you're on air.
  2. 2
    If the stream drops, the screens keep trying and the picture comes back by itself when the broadcast does.
  3. 3
    When the event's over, untick Show until changed or remove the screen, and the playlist carries on as normal.

Live streaming questions

Why can't I just paste the YouTube Live link?

YouTube doesn't let other apps play its streams on Apple TV. POMP's YouTube screen plays ordinary YouTube videos on other players, but on Apple TV it shows a card with a QR code to watch on a phone, which isn't what you want for an event. Sending the stream to a second service gets around this and gives a cleaner picture, with no YouTube branding or ads.

Which live video services work?

Any service that gives you a public HLS link (ending in .m3u8). Cloudflare Stream, Mux and Amazon IVS all do. Some video platforms only offer HLS links on business plans, so check before you pick one.

Will it stay up for a three-hour event?

Yes. With Show until changed ticked the player stays on the stream for as long as you need, and reconnects by itself if no new video arrives for 30 seconds.

How far behind live will the screens be?

Usually 10 to 30 seconds behind the room, depending on the service. That's normal for HLS. Some services have a low-latency mode that brings it down.

Will the stream have sound?

On Apple TV, iPad and Android, yes, at the TV's volume. Browsers often block sound until someone taps the page, so the web player plays muted in that case.

Which devices does this work on?

Apple TV, iPad, Android TV, Google TV, Android tablets and the web player, on POMP player 2.1.4 or later. The web player already has it, and the store apps update automatically.

How do I stop someone closing POMP on the Apple TV mid-event?

Turn on Single App Mode. POMP then opens when the Apple TV starts and can't be closed with the remote. Our Single App Mode guide shows how.

Ready for the big day? Try it on a free account.

Pair a screen, add a test stream and see it running before the event.

Show a YouTube live stream on Apple TV digital signage | POMP