Zoom is a popular video conferencing application many companies use to host remote meetings and webinars. There are a few ways you can take your Zoom call and stream it out to Vimeo Live, such as for a remote panel discussion.
Regardless of the method you choose, we strongly recommend that you test and rehearse prior to your scheduled event time. This will greatly reduce any issues and confusion you and your team may encounter during the event and allow for a smooth stream.
These are our recommended workflow options as it combines the professional multi-camera production features of Livestream Studio with the back-end stream management and audience engagement features on Vimeo.
METHOD ONE - USING A SECOND DISPLAY
Connect Zoom to Livestream Studio using a second display
What you'll need
- A Monitor with an HDMI output (Make note of the Monitors Make and Model #)
- A Zoom meeting
- HDMI cable
- MiniDisplayPort to HDMI adapter depending on streaming device being used
- Livestream Studio
- A Vimeo event
- Internet connection
1. Using your HDMI cable, connect your monitor to your system (HD550/HD51/4K) using the provided MiniDisplayPort to HDMI adapter.
2. Start your system and open Livestream Studio on your main display
3. In Livestream Studio , choose to add a new input. Select "Local Camera" and select "Screen 2: (Monitor Name)"
4. Now you will need to link the audio from your monitor to your new input by clicking on the gear icon next to your input. Under the General tab, using the drop down menu, select your "Monitors name (NVIDIA High Definition Audio)"
5. You can now open and join your Zoom meeting. Once Zoom has opened, move the Zoom window onto your second display.
6. Once in your Zoom meeting you will need to edit your sound settings by clicking on the ^ next to your Microphone Mute button. You will need to set your speaker selection to "Monitor Name (NVIDIA High Definition Audio)"
7. **OPTIONAL STEP FOR PIP** You can now create a GFX with a video source set to your Screen 2 input and crop to show your remote guest. You can do this for multiple guests by setting Zoom to "Gallery Mode" and creating individual GFX for each guest.
METHOD TWO - USING A LAPTOP
Connect Zoom to Livestream Studio using a Laptop
What you'll need
- A laptop with an HDMI output
- A Zoom meeting (hosted on the above-mentioned laptop)
- HDMI cable
- Blackmagic Design or Magewell capture device (with HDMI input)
- Livestream Studio
- This should run on a separate computer from the Zoom meeting
- A Vimeo event
- Internet connection for both computers
1. Set up Vimeo event
You first want to make sure your Vimeo event is ready to go. Log into Vimeo on a desktop browser and navigate to your video manager. In the upper left corner, select + New Video > Create live event. We recommend making it a recurring event so you can stream to it multiple times.
Configure your event's settings–privacy, embedded player customization, and simulcast destinations–before your event.
If you are embedding your event on an external website, make sure to go to the Embed tab and copy the Event Embed and Chat Embed codes and paste them into your site's HTML editor.
2. Connect Zoom laptop to Studio
Make sure the laptop running the Zoom meeting and the Studio computer are close enough to each other so the HDMI cable can reach both.
Plug one end of the HDMI cable into the Zoom laptop. Most laptops only have one HDMI output.
The system running Studio will need to have a capture device connected to it that includes an HDMI input. This will allow Studio to recognize the laptop as a camera source.
Plug the HDMI cable into the HDMI input of your capture device. Note that the capture device may require drivers to be installed; check with the manufacturer. If you own a Livestream Studio hardware product, Blackmagic Design capture cards are pre-installed; plug the HDMI cable into one of them.
Launch Livestream Studio and log into your Vimeo account. Studio should auto-detect your laptop as an input source and display it in the multi-view. (If you don't see it, select the Inputs tab in the lower-left corner, then select Add Input > Local camera > your capture device. Here are some input troubleshooting steps). You can rename the source in the Inputs menu if you'd like.
On the Zoom laptop, set up your Zoom meeting and invite your guests.
3. Set up Studio to stream to Vimeo
First, go to the Audio tab and make sure your Zoom input is getting audio levels (make sure at least one guest has an unmuted microphone). We have detailed instructions on using the audio mixer and monitoring audio, but it should generally look like the below image:
Next, go to the Stream tab. Vimeo should have automatically been added as a streaming provider when you first logged in to Studio. If not, click the Vimeo logo on this menu to log in.
Select the correct event from the Select Event dropdown menu. You can also configure your event's privacy setting from the Share With dropdown menu (this only applies to the event page on Vimeo.com, not your embedded player).
At the top of this menu, give the stream a title and choose your streaming bitrate. Since Vimeo uses cloud-transcoding technology, we recommend choosing a single-resolution bitrate (e.g. 1080p or 720p) to reduce your local bandwidth usage.
4. Start and stop your livestream
When you're ready to go live, make sure your guests are audience-ready and your Output monitor shows either the Zoom meeting input or a slate graphic to switch between. To start the stream, click GO LIVE in the bottom right corner of Studio; it will indicate in red that it is Streaming.
The stream will appear in the Vimeo player a few seconds later and your event is now live.
If you haven't already, click the Next button on the event's Settings page to navigate to the Preview page. From here you can monitor your stream's health, see real-time analytics moderate chat, and engage your audience with other features such as Polls and Q&A.
When you are ready to end your stream, go to your event's Preview page on Vimeo and click the red End event button in the upper right corner. This will end the stream on Vimeo and the video will begin to archive automatically. You can then click the red STREAMING button in Studio to stop the encoder.
Optional steps and considerations
Graphics overlays: Studio has three graphics overlay modules where you can import images and design graphics such as slates, logos, and lower-third graphics to mix into your stream. This is good for communicating calls-to-actions to your viewers before/after your event, branding the stream, and identifying your speakers.
Zoom layout: Keep in mind that what you're displaying on the Zoom laptop will also display in Studio and on your stream, so make sure your meeting is full screen and consider which layout will work best for your event. There is no way to bring in Zoom meeting guests as individual inputs in Studio (consider Studio's remote guest feature for this instead of Zoom).