Teradek Vidiu X - New Video Streaming Encoder for YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, Vimeo and more...

Teradek just announced the new Vidiu X live streaming encoder. That's different? Is it worth the $699 price?
Vidiu X Info / Purchase - djp.li/vidiux
Vidiu Go Info / Purchase - djp.li/vidiugo
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[@ScottDavey]

Sent mine back full of bugs and the main features connecting multiple phones for extra bandwidth bonding, has not even been made yet. They don't tell you this when buying it. I gave it a good shot but spent more time rebooting it and rebooting the app than using it. looks like the launched it 4 months too early, I could have waited for the phone bonding part, but everything about it was buggy and not ready for a working environment. The nice lady worked with me on online chat but nobody was from tech support wanted to chat. It may be good but do not buy it for 6 months in my opinion.

[@djp_video]

Thanks for the info

[@jeffersonpichinte3910]

Good review!

[@videoforgeeks]

If I wanted to stream a IP security camera that has both video and audio, will or how does this device be able to do that?

[@djp_video]

The Teradek (and similar) products don't accept video via IP... you'd have to convert to HDMI first.

[@DJLWegas]

Do you think they are going to make a SDI version?

[@djp_video]

If I was to guess, probably not. They have the Vidiu Go, which does have SDI.

[@extramedium3920]

I have a situation where I need to stream with a bonded cellular connection since the hotel wants to charge a ridiculous amount for whitelisted internet connectivity. Now that you have gotten to use it for while, what do you think of it vs. the Video Go or any other bonding options that might be available?

[@djp_video]

I still use the VidiU Go. And depending on the cellular connectivity at the venue we're working, I might end up using 3, 4, or even more cellular radios (the Vidiu X, BTW, can only handle two I believe). With the discontinuation of the VidiU series, though, I'd steer you toward the LiveU Solo products unless you're prepared to jump to a Cube or Prism from Teradek. The streaming fees can be higher on the LiveU products, depending on how often you're streaming, but with the loss of the VidiU series, the LiveU products are the budget-level entry now.

[@extramedium3920]

@@djp_video good to know. Seems that Teradek has exited this market as they have discontinued all Vidiu devices. I might have to go with LiveU Solo HDMI. I like that the service includes the data and it can be easily paused. A known quantity.

[@traincraft]

I am sure that we are using rtmp connection to facebook with our vmix setup... The connection is added with custom rtmp and not with logging in🤔

[@djp_video]

RTMP usually doesn't require a username or password. In the case of Facebook it uses RTMPS -- the Secure version of RTMP.

[@traincraft]

@@djp_video yeah i know but some software solution like obs (i think vmix to) have the feature to login your account instead of copying server and streamkey

[@djp_video]

The Teradek Vidiu products do this as well.

[@stoochy1]

Is the VidiuX a better encoder than what’s on the Atem Extreme?? I’m thinking about getting a better encoder to make my live stream a higher quality and wondering if getting the VidiuX would provide a better encoder or if using OBS would be good enough. Thanks

[@djp_video]

Video quality is more dependent on the bitrate than what device/software you use to create it

[@stoochy1]

@@djp_video thanks. I’ve been looking for this answer for weeks. I have 300 download and 30up on wifi connection. I never even thought about checking my nitrate settings. Is there a way to change the highest nitrate setting on an atem extreme? Also, I have a question about supersource on my extreme. I watched your video on 2 m/e and hoping that my extreme could offer this but it doesn’t not. Is there an email address or Facebook page where I can ask the question and send a photo. Might be easier to describe. Thabks

[@djp_video]

On the ATEM switchers the bitrate is determined by the different XML encoding profiles you use. While I've never done one, there are multiple videos on KZbin on how to adjust them if you need to. Otherwise you can just choose between the Low, Medium, or High presets that come with the switcher.

[@ramenadventure]

I'm looking to build a GunRun IRL streamer kit. I was comparing this with the LiveU Solo. Sharelink seems much more expensive than the LiveU LRT service. I'd be streaming around 8 hours at a time a few days a week.

[@djp_video]

I can't seem to find a concrete answer on how much LRT actually costs. My Sharelink bills have almost always been well under $45 per month. I'm on the $25 plan and it's pretty rare I go over the 50 GB provided by that plan.

[@ramenadventure]

@@djp_video Thanks!

WiFi 6 promises a fix to congestion issues, which is the main problem with real-time stuff over wifi

[@maximilianschmidt7432]

Hi Doug, thanks for your great content. One question about network bonding. I read, that you can use the internet connection from 4 mobile phones with the Vidiu Pro. Does that mean, the connection will be 4 times faster? E.g 4 Mbit/s with one phone --> 16 Mbit/s with 4 phones?

[@djp_video]

They do combine total bandwidth. So, yes, if you had four phones each with 4 Mbps, you'd have up to 16 Mbps to work with.

[@maximilianschmidt7432]

@@djp_video That sounds interesting. So if that works, the next event will be possible. Thanks for your really fast reply. Do you know if the Vidiu X can handle 4 phones too?

[@djp_video]

I think so. The Teradek web site doesn't have any information either way. But the Amazon product listing does indicate that you can attach 4 phones over WiFi.

[@maximilianschmidt7432]

@@djp_video Thank you 👍

[@djp_video]

@@maximilianschmidt7432 If you haven't seen my newest video, it's worth a look. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqGXqJ-mhr6tm7c

[@stevenrecca831]

Do you recommend using this encoder with a ATEM Television Studio HD with 6 cameras? Is it going to work fine with only the hdmi input? And can you stream simultaneously to YT (in 1080p) and FB (in 720p)? Or if I scale it down for Facebook I will have issues? Thanks.

[@djp_video]

The Television Studio HD doesn't have an HDMI output, so you'd need an SDI-to-HDMI converter ( djp.li/bmdms2h ) to get the signal into the Vidiu X. You can stream to multiple destinations simultaneously if you use the Sharelink service offered by Teradek. The device by itself without Sharelink won't do that. Facebook will accept a 1080p signal so you don't need to do any conversion.

[@soundman447]

Still a bad option for Facebook Live they need to release one that supports Facebooks API that way you can do 1080p streaming. Till then the best although lot more expensive option for an encoder is the Resi

[@djp_video]

That's on Facebook if they don't support 1080p via RTMP.

[@nightdesigns395]

Hopefully works better than the Pro. I have 2 and never got them to work reliably. And support wasn't helpful.

[@djp_video]

They've been a lot better the last couple of years.

[@pbelb]

Nice update Doug! I have and use earlier model VIDIU devices, but not always. Why they don't include SDI input is curious and unfortunate (surely it would not cost a lot, really). Being able to handle 60FPS is very good improvement. I like the idea of a single-purpose 'hardware' encoder that's good at doing just that job. But, as we've seen with the move towards newer 'standards', in some ways, if physical size isn't a problem, having a small form factor desktop computer with appropriate ingestion device (SDI/HDMI/NDI) is probably a better long term solution.

[@djp_video]

I'm not a big fan of software encoding. You end up tying up an expensive computer, so you aren't saving any money, especially when you factor in the cost of a competent capture device. And with the additional complexity of a computer, there are a lot more chances for things to go wrong. RTMP and h.264 haven't changed for a very long time, and I don't see them going away either. They're pretty well entrenched at this point.

[@JimmySwe]

Hello from Sweden. =) So i'm interested in all the vidiu and bond lineups. can you make a video about your thougts about them. And a comparison about features and so on. I do some news stuff. And it would be nice to stream live direct with one camera to a studio. Like a good minimalist setup with good transmission. Something backpack style running and gunning. Ideas on how you would solve it. And some alternatives. And thanks by the way for a really good channel.

[@djp_video]

I assume you mean Vidiu vs Cube... or maybe Vidiu vs Cube with Bond, as the Bond is really just for bonding and doesn't do any encoding of its own.

[@soerenlehmann3508]

is this better than Atem Mini Pro (which in us is set to around $599).

[@djp_video]

Yes. Much better. You have a lot more configurable options. And the bonding feature gives you the option of sharing multiple internet connections for additional bandwidth and redundancy.

[@gedzorz]

Hi Doug! Hope you're doing well! Quick question for you, if you have the time: Do you know of any product that will bond internet sources like this Teradek, but doesn't do any encoding? I use a Atem Mini Pro as my encoder, but would love a way to get bonded internet at a decent price. Thanks!

[@djp_video]

The trouble with trying to do this is that you have to have devices/software on both ends of a connection for bonding to work. The RTMP protocol (and other Internet protocols for that matter) used by the ATEM Mini Pro, KZbin, etc. doesn't support bonding in and of itself, so if you need bonding it has to be handled completely separately out of band. Because the ATEM Mini Pro isn't aware of how to do bonding, and Blackmagic Design doesn't have a back-end service to re-combine split data from multiple sources, it's going to be really tricky to pull something like this off with the AMP. The Teradek Vidiu products are able to do this because they control the connection the whole way. The data is being split up by the Vidiu and then recombined by Sharelink before it then gets converted to RTMP to then be streamed. I'm sure there's some way you could hack something together, but it isn't likely to work reliably since the devices you're using to send/receive data aren't aware of the challenges associated with working with a bonded connection, like the much higher latency required to ensure that data going through all available routes gets retransmitted in the case of dropped packets and reassembled in the proper order. The bottom line is that if you need bonding capability that you really need to be using a streaming device and compatible back-end service specifically designed for that purpose. The ATEM Mini Pro just isn't designed to do that.

[@gedzorz]

@@djp_video Ahhh I understand. That makes sense. I was just looking for an easy way to get more bandwidth and redundancy to the atem's internet connection. I'm definitely not going to hack anything together! Thanks for taking the time to explain how this works. I appreciate it!

[@jeffersonpichinte3910]

@@djp_video Great explanation brother. I the adaptive bitrate on the encoder doing bonding also helps with the transmisión process. It’s basically an intelligent encoder.

[@ScottDavey]

Reading on the Teradeck website it says bandwidth aggregation of up to 4 iPhones so technically you could have four mifi's sharing multiple 4g? Edit Hold my beer! just bought one coming on Tuesday.

[@djp_video]

The WiFi feature of the Vidiu has two different modes: Access Point and Client. In Access Point mode, multiple devices (phones in this case) can connect and share their cellular data by launching the Vidiu app and enabling the Join feature within the software. In Client mode, the Vidiu can connect to a single WiFi network and use that Internet connection in addition to Ethernet and/or USB, if connected. What this means is that it can only use one WiFi connection if you aren’t using the Vidiu app. So it could only use a single MoFi via WiFi. A total of two MoFis could be used if one is connected via Ethernet, and one via WiFi. But since you can’t install and run the Vidiu app on a MoFi you’re limited to a total of two MoFis. With the Vidiu app and WiFi Access Point mode you can connect up to four phones in addition to the Ethernet and USB cellular modem. The big upside to using phones and the app is that you’re using regular cellular data rather than hotspot data, so you aren’t capped or throttled the way that many cellular plans tend to do. To the phone carrier it just looks like you’re streaming from a local app instead of sharing the connection with another device. With many carriers offering “unlimited” data, this can be ver appealing.

[@ScottDavey]

@@djp_video Thanks Doug that was a great reply and I really appreciate the effort you just made. Another thing I had a quick panic as soon as I ordered it, due to I am using the Atem mini pro and wasn't quite sure about the connectivity to this device, but in their promo short video it shows a switcher there, so I am assuming it will all be quite easy to connect.

[@djp_video]

You'll connect the HDMI output of the AMP to the Vidiu.

[@NeverEndingBuild]

Phone bonding is coming with a free firmware update, but as far as I understand it, it's not available at launch. You can still bond an ethernet connection, a USB LTE modem, and a single WiFi hotspot together though. And remember, you'll need to pay for the Sharelink service to enable bonding, but its not very expensive.

[@djp_video]

It would be nice if their web site communicated these things

[@marcopanseri6642]

Hi Doug! Thank you for the information. I have a question. Do you have any experience with Speedify? If so what is your opinion? Thank’s

[@djp_video]

I've seen it used and I have an account, but I've not used it. I don't think it would help with a hardware video encoder like this. With a software encoder like OBS it could help, but I believe Speedify has to be run on the device that is doing the streaming.

[@SalComuna]

Speedify is unreliable for production environments.

[@lyinginashes]

SalComuna I was considering Speedify. Why do you consider it unreliable?

[@JulioZavala83]

My vidiu pro works with facebook it took a while to figure it out but it finally worked I think u have a video about going to previous software version

[@ethreemedia]

@@SalComuna That's not my experience. We've used it over 50 times in the past 365 days, and not dropped a single stream.

[@KarlWinegardner]

I am interested in something like this. I am an audio guy building a video system at work, and debating whether to use something like this as the endpoint, or just go into a computer (OBS) for the encoding.

[@djp_video]

I'm not a big fan of software encoding. You end up tying up an expensive computer, so you aren't saving any money, especially when you factor in the cost of a competent capture device. And with the additional complexity of a computer, there are a lot more chances for things to go wrong.

[@KarlWinegardner]

@@djp_video in my case we are already using OBS, so it would make the upgrade more expensive. But I understand your logic. Things go sideways to often for my taste anyway... 😆

[@pbelb]

@@KarlWinegardner If you have the budget, hardware, like most things, will perhaps not give you the best in flexibility, but, they will typically do the one thing they do, more reliably. I agree on that. Hardware systems typically have integration of the various components more tightly done, leading to higher reliability, and they're usually not consuming a firehose of software updates like the desktop systems we use are.

[@KarlWinegardner]

@@pbelb or Doug, I have looked at a few encoders, but get lost. Do either of you have a link that would be a good starting guide? We are streaming to Vimeo if that makes a difference.

[@ethreemedia]

@@djp_video Just FYI, vMix software also allows for hardware encoding of the stream, taking the load off the CPU (and tying up a GPU encoder - nVidia GeForce cards can do three encodes at once, but Quadro cards do more). I've found that our NVMe M.2 equipped Windows traveling box boots back into operational state much faster than the Vidiu Pro that I've used for years, so it's a better choice for us should there be a disastrous need to restart (something our Vidiu Pro has been known to need to do a time or two but have yet to experience after about a year of various shows with our vMix box). Furthermore, Wi-Fi reception on the VidiU Pro is poorer, so I think there are points to be quibbled over regarding stream wellness. However, there's also a good argument to be made for configuration. Whereas settings in the Vidiu X seem improved over the Vidiu Pro, they are still preset levels, and that requires some compromises. In vMix software, you can specify things at a much more granular level, and even record internally to a different, also granularly set, H.264 file. You can also record ISO sources and do so, so many cool things, but that's a whole different conversation.

[@jawadammar9114]

Thankyou for your information , but how this system compare to sling-studio ?

[@djp_video]

This device is only a video encoder meant for getting video from another device online; it doesn't do video source switching like the Sling Studio will.