Efficient tools to build your streaming infrastructure


Larix Broadcaster for iOS

iOS app for capturing and streaming from iPhone, iPad and macOS


Larix Broadcaster

Encoding and streaming features

The core of our tools is Larix streaming library.
Key content streaming features include:

SRT Ready

Minimum supported iOS version is 13.

Codecs
Video is encoded with interleaved H.264/AVC everywhere.

H.265/HEVC is available on supporting devices. This includes transmission over Enhanced RTMP which allows publishing HEVC into YouTube. HDR HEVC is also supported on various devices.
HEVC is a premium feature

Audio is encoded with AAC everywhere except WebRTC. In WebRTC, the codec is Opus.

Zixi live streaming (premium feature)
Larix supports live streaming via Zixi protocol from iPhone, iPad and macOS.

  • AVC/H.264 and HEVC/H.265 codecs are supported
  • SEI timestamps
  • Change bitrate according to network conditions
  • Use WiFi + Cellular bonding
  • FEC control and other specific parameters

Take a look at Larix joint solutions brief from Zixi Enabled Network web page.

NDI®|HX2 output (premium feature)
You can turn your mobile device into NDI source
for just $19.99 per month in-app subscription:

  • Output streaming via NDI®|HX2
  • AVC/H.264 and HEVC/H.265 codecs are supported
  • Preview stream support
  • Discovery Server and connection metadata
  • Handle zoom from NDI Studio Monitor
  • NDI SDK 2023-04-10 r134150 v5.5.4

WebRTC (premium feature)
Larix Broadcaster supports WebRTC output.

Larix Grove format allows you easily distribute your connection and encoder settings via deep links and QR codes.

Full support for Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Twitch, Wowza Streaming Cloud, Amazon Interactive Video Service, Periscope, Dacast, Akamai, Limelight and other online services. All popular authentication methods are supported. Check docs reference for setup instructions.

Image, audio and other features

You can use streaming capabilities for free using our fully-functional Larix Broadcaster apps.
Besides encoding and streaming features, Larix Broadcaster uses full power of mobile device hardware:

  • Landscape and portrait various modes support with device dynamic orientation.
  • “Always vertical” and “Always horizontal” modes
  • Front and back cameras with hot switch.
  • Dolby Vision HDR support on iPhone 12 and beyond along with certain iPad models.
    Enabled in Settings / Video / HDR video menu.
    (premium feature)
  • iPhone 11 Dual/Triple camera system support, including wide-angle and telephoto camera
  • Multi-camera capture with picture-in-picture and side-by-side. Supported on iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPad Pro (3rd generation) and later devices.
    To use this option, go to Settings -> Capture and encoding -> Video -> Multi-camera capture.
  • Center stage on latest iPads, enabled as described here.
  • 4K streaming support on latest iOS devices.
  • External USD cameras with iPadOS
  • Video+audio, video only and audio only modes.
  • Pause the stream: when streaming, long tap on Start will pause the stream without disconnecting it.
    Video track will contain a black screen, audio track will contain silence.
    A separate set of overlays can be mapped onto pause.
  • Stand-by mode: when stopped, long tap on Start will start stream in pause mode, waiting to start with the camera image.
    A separate set of overlays can be mapped onto stand-by.
  • Image overlays video tutorial shows overlays for streaming as well as pause and stand-by modes.
  • Input audio gain control
  • Audio-only capture mode: disable preview, stream from background, no video in output stream.
    Watch Audio-only background streaming video tutorial.
  • Fixed FPS can be selected from the list of supported values.
  • Auto Focus Lock – long press anywhere in the preview, and AF is locked until you tap to re-focus.
  • Recording to MP4 and saving screenshots with iCloud Drive and Photo Library support and files separation.
  • Use custom parameters (resolution, codec etc) for recording.
  • Pinch-to-zoom, including iPhone 11 multi-camera.
  • Bluetooth audio.
  • Flash light support.

Overlays support:

  • Image layers with external URL and local images;
  • Web widgets;
  • Text and HTML widgets;
  • GPS-based data like coordinates, speed and more
  • Timestamp support as defined on unicode.org, e.g. <%date(‘MMM dd, HH:mm:ss’, en_US) %>
  • Assign layers for all mode: streaming, pause and stand-by;
  • Image overlays video tutorial shows overlays for streaming, pause and stand-by modes.

Documentation

Documentation reference page provides more info about Larix apps setup and usage having a huge number of setup instructions and tutorials.

As example, you can see Larix Broadcaster usage in a number of use cases.

Also watch our YouTube playlist with various video tutorials and read Best practices for Larix Broadcaster production deployment for live streaming from mobile devices.

Docs page has that and even more. Contact our helpdesk if in case of questions.

Larix Screencaster app

iOS allows capturing the screen of user device, so Larix Screencaster uses streaming capabilities to capture the screen, encode and stream it.
However, iOS puts some limitations on audio. If you stream your screen, you can only use your microphone. If currently opened application supports ReplayKit, then you’ll be able to stream its sound.
Read this article for setup details or refer to Apple’s support article or support video with our own setup video.

This product uses SRT library distributed under MPL-2.0 license.
This product uses librist library distributed under BSD 2-clause “Simplified” license.
iOS Larix Broadcaster uses Scrollable Segmented Control distributed under MIT license.

This product includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit.

Larix Broadcaster uses Pion implementation of WebRTC API. Special thanks to Sean DuBois and all Pion contributors.