Channel configuration
A channel lets you encode your video and audio sources so they can be live streamed and recorded. Before using a channel, you should check the channel settings. You can fine-tune your channel to maximize the quality of your live streams, minimize the amount of bandwidth used, and ensure your video and audio encoding settings are optimized for your event. You can control exactly how the video is presented and streamed to shared destinations and multiple viewers.
Add video sources
Add a video source using the Admin panel
Log in to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel.
From the Channel(s) menu, select the channel and click Layouts. The custom layout editor opens.
Below the Layout editing area, click Add new item and select Video Source. The Source settings appear.
Under Source settings, select either a video input or a channel in the Source drop-down menu.
Under Source settings, select a video input in the Source drop-down menu.
For best results, check **Keep aspect ratio when scaling **in the Source settings.
The selected video source appears in the layout editing area.
- Click and drag the red and white handles on the corners of the source to re-size it in the layout editor area. Alternatively, enter a value in the fields along the side and bottom of the layout editing area to resize the selected item.
To layer video sources over top of each other, like for picture in picture, you can click and drag the video sources that appear in the item list beneath Add new item and change their order. Items that are higher up the list appear over top items that are lower down the list.
- Select an audio source from the list of audio sources.
If a channel is selected as the video source, the corresponding audio for that channel is selected automatically by default.
- Click Save.
A note about item positioning and sizing
There are multiple ways to position and size images, text overlays, and video sources in the layout area
Using the mouse.
Using the keyboard.
Using the manual positioning values with percents.
Using the manual positioning values with pixels.
Using the mouse
Click and drag to move the item. Click and drag the round, red and white handles to resize an image or video source (for text overlays, just use the padding settings). Using this method you can make quick changes that are in increments of approximately 5% of the width or height of your layout area. For more refined movements, press the Ctrl key on your keyboard while dragging the item with the mouse.
Using the keyboard
Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the item up, down, left or right in the layout. Changes are in increments of approximately 5% of the height or width of the layout area. Press the Ctrl key while using the arrow keys to make more refined movements. To change the size of an image or video source, press the Shift key while using the arrow keys (for text overlays, just use the padding settings). Press both Ctrl and Shift for fine-grained size control.
Using percents
Specify a whole number, followed by a percent sign (e.g. 4%) in any of the manual positioning fields. See Resize and position items using percents or pixels for more information.
Using pixels
If you need to specify an exact amount in pixels (rather than percent) you can type a pixel value in any of the positioning value squares followed by the characters px (e.g. 56px). You can mix and match pixels and percents changing only the boxes you want to use pixel values. At any time you can switch back to percents by typing a percent. See Resize and position items using percents or pixels for more information.
Duplicate a channel
You can duplicate any channel you've created. All settings in the channel you duplicate are recreated.
Duplicate a channel using the Admin panel
Log in to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel.
From the Admin panel, scroll to the Channels menu option.
From the Channels menu, click Status. The Status page opens.
Click Duplicate this channel. The duplicate channel is created and assigned the next sequential number in the Channel menu.
Click Save.
Rename a channel
You can change a channel's name from any of the channel configuration pages or using the custom layout editor.
International characters
You can include certain international characters in channel names. For a complete list, see International character support.
Do not include any special currency, mathematical symbols, and other special characters such as slashes or spaces in the channel name. Unify replaces special characters with an underscore.
Rename a channel using the Admin panel
Log in to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel.
From the Channel(s) menu, select the channel and choose any of menu options for the channel. For example, select Metadata.
Click on the channel name that appears at the top of the page. The text turns red.
Enter the new name using alphanumeric characters. We recommend using underscores to separate words rather than using spaces.
Press Enter using your keyboard to save the new name.
Delete a channel
You can delete a channel using the Admin panel. Deleting a channel removes all recorded files that are associated with that channel. You cannot recover recordings for a channel after the channel is deleted. We recommend that you stop recording or streaming for the channel before deleting the channel.
If you have multiple configuration presets, deleting a channel removes all recorded files that are related to that channel across all presets. For important information about how channels are indexed in Unify and how that affects deleting channels when configuration presets are used, see Configuration preset considerations.
Delete a channel using the Admin panel
Log in to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel.
From the Channel menu, select a channel and click Status. The Status page for the channel opens.
Click Delete this channel and click OK when prompted to delete the channel, or click Cancel.
Add or remove channel metadata
When you configure metadata for a channel, that metadata is embedded in all channel recordings and streams. You can specify the following metadata that the media player displays for your viewers:
title of the presentation
Author
copyright date or other labels such as proprietary information, preliminary etc.
additional comments about the broadcast, such as time of the broadcast, or change to the schedule
How metadata is displayed depends largely on the media player. For example VLC, stores the metadata in a media information file, while other media players scroll the text horizontally from right to left across the bottom of the media player window.
Use only alphanumeric and diacritic characters in metadata descriptions. The whole metadata string is refused if any special currency or mathematical symbol appears in the description. You must remove the offending characters before Unify will accept the description.
Add or remove channel meta data using the Admin panel
Log in to the Admin panel as admin, see Connect to the Admin panel.
From the Channel(s) menu, select the channel and click Metadata. The Metadata configuration page opens.
Type information into the fields or modify existing content as needed, then click Apply.