Broadcaster for MacBook. Pivot

As I wrote in previous posts, the main activity of our startup is the creation of OSX software for video streaming.
The main message is to make a convenient tool for conducting business broadcasts (webinars, project presentations, meetings, etc.) with a Mac.

The original concept of the project was in a single ideal bundle: your Broadcaster and your stream service. For perfection, they added their own protocol.

Done, launched. In beta status, the project spent a little over two months. We collected feedback. It became clear that the stream service, that is, the server part, needs to be shot off from our rocket. They decided to focus only on Broadcaster.

Accordingly, here is our first product after pivot: Mac Broadcaster for YouTube

In addition to the convenient video mixer, in which we use the slot-concept, we made integration with YouTube and simplified the process of publishing the broadcast as much as possible.

Opportunities for the Broadcaster itself include:

• screen capture / application windows; cursor tracking;
• camera capture
• capturing iOS devices via ligting cable
• multi-stsenost

YouTube specific

• if the main server is not available, then Broadcaster automatically uses a spare YouTube server.
• relatively new “enableLowLatency” flag is used to reduce latency.

Here is a short (37sec) video of the start of the broadcast:

Well, some moments ...

About money

The main model is “paid software with a free trial period”. Broadcaster, downloaded from our website MacBroadcaster.com , is a full version with a time limit. After that, you will need to enter the activation key. Cost - $ 10.

About Mac App Store

Of course, they poured the version on MAS. Here, alas, no trial. This is a feature of MAS - first grandmother, then software.
Waited for the worst, given the stories about the timing of the review. Everything turned out quickly, all new versions were checked for about 12 hours and even on Saturdays.

Technical moment: about launching a browser

As you can see from the video, when you click on the "On Air" button, a browser is launched in which you are "chatting" with YouTube. Initially, we made a built-in browser, but it became clear that then the user would have to re-enter all login passwords to log in to YouTube. Personally, I could not do it quickly. At the same time, in a normal browser, everything is usually entered, and it is possible to use autocomplete. Moreover, the user will still open it, at least to make sure that the video is displayed on YouTube. Therefore, we open a browser in which our js application communicates with YouTube and receives all data from it, in particular, rtmp parameters. There was a question how to transfer this data to Broadcaster.
The answer is simple - WebSocket. Broadcaster raises the local WebSocket-server, thanks to which it communicates with the browser.

About YouTube API

Somewhat pleased about the relatively new flag that can be put on the broadcast, called “enableLowLatency”. Of course, our Broadcaster uses it. In practice, instead of a delay of ~ 60 seconds, we have a delay of ~ 10 seconds, as I don’t know low latency, but thanks for that.

About plans

Of course, we will add new features both in terms of the video mixer (effects, etc.) and in terms of integration with YouTube.
We plan to release Broadcaster for Facebook. We thought about Periscope, but alas, the API is closed.
From the Russian services flashed the thought to make a version for Ok, they at least have an API for that.

If you have a Mac, you can download Mac Broadcaster for YouTube from our website or via a direct link.

I almost forgot the slogan: High-quality streaming with high-quality iron. Available to anyone who loves Mac.