This document describes how to get started with LEB. Before trying out LEB, you’re advised to read the Pricing Overview of LEB to get familiar with its billable items and prices.

Preparations

1. Sign up for a Tencent Cloud account and complete identity verification. Unverified users cannot purchase CSS instances in the Chinese mainland.
2. Go to the CSS service activation page, indicate your consent to the "Tencent Cloud Service Terms", and click Apply for Activation to activate the CSS service.

   Note：

   • After the CSS service is activated, 20 GB of playback traffic for use in the Chinese mainland will be gifted.
   • The steps to configure domain names for LEB are the same as those for LVB. If you have activated LVB, you can get started with LEB from Step 4. Get a playback URL.

Step 1. Add domain names

To use CSS, you should have at least one push domain name, and one playback domain name. You cannot use one domain name for both push and playback.
You can add your own domain names.

1. Prepare your own domain names. For domain names in Chinese mainland regions, ICP filing is required.

2. Log in to the CSS console and enter Domain Management.

3. Click Add Domain.

   

   Note：

   • CSS provides a test domain name xxxx.livepush.myqcloud.com. You can use it to test live push, but you're not advised to use it as the push domain name for business purposes.
   • After the domain name is added successfully, you can view its information in the domain name list in Domain Management. For how to manage it, see Domain Management.
   • For more information on live streaming domain names, please see Basic CSS Features.

4. Once your domain name is added, the system will assign it a CNAME domain name (suffixed with .tlivecdn.com or .tlivepush.com), which cannot be accessed before you complete the CNAME configuration at your DNS service provider. After the CNAME configuration takes effect, you can use CSS. The following example shows you how to add a CNAME record by assuming Tencent Cloud is your DNS service provider:

   1. Log in to the Tencent Cloud Domain Name Service console.
   2. Find the target domain name and click Resolve.
   3. On the domain name resolution page, click Add Record.
   4. In the new line, enter the domain name prefix as the host record, select CNAME as the record type, and enter the CNAME domain name as the record value.
   5. Click Save.

      Note：

      • After a CNAME record is successfully added, it takes some time for the CNAME configuration to take effect. If the configuration fails, you cannot use CSS.
      • After the CNAME configuration succeeds, you can see that the status symbol of the CNAME address in Domain Management in the CSS console has changed to .
      • If the CNAME configuration failure persists, consult your DNS service provider.
      • For more information on how to configure with other DNS service providers, see Configuring CNAME for Domain Name.

Step 2. Get push URL

1. Select CSS Toolkit > Address Generator.
2. On the Address Generator page, configure as follows:
   1. Select Push Domain for Domain Type.
   2. Select a push domain name you added in Domain Management.
   3. Enter a custom StreamName, such as liveteststream.
   4. Select a URL expiration time, such as 2021-05-25 23:59:59.
   5. Click Generate Address to generate a push address.
      

Note：

• In the push URL, live is the default AppName, txSecret is the signature for playing back the stream, and txTime is the URL expiration time.
• Here is another way to generate a push URL: In Domain Management, find the push domain name you want use to generate a push URL, click Manage, select Push Configuration, enter an expiration time for the address and a custom StreamName, and click Generate Push Address.
• You can create and configure a desired feature template before generating the push URL based on your business needs and bind it to the push domain name. For prices of CSS value-added features, see Pricing Overview.

Step 3. Push live stream

You can enter the generated push URL into the push software as appropriate for your use cases.

• For push on PCs, you're advised to use OBS. For subsequent steps, see Push via OBS.
• For push on web, you're advised to use CSS Toolkit > Web Push: select a push domain name, enter a custom StreamName, select a URL expiration time, turn the camera on, and click Start Push.
• For push on mobile devices, download and install TCToolkit App, open it, select Mobile Live Video Broadcasting > Push (Camera), enter the push URL into the address box manually or by scanning the QR code, and then tap the start icon in the bottom-left corner.

Note：

• You can integrate Tencent Cloud MLVB SDK into customized apps for live push.
• The LEB solution for web does not support decoding and playing back B-frames. For details, see B-Frames.

Step 4. Get playback URL

1. After push succeeds, select Stream Management > Online Streams, view the status of the push address, and click Test to play back the stream online.
2. Select CSS Toolbox > Address Generator to get a playback address and configure as follows:
   1. Select the type of generation, such as playback domain name.
   2. Select a playback domain name you added in Domain Management.
   3. Enter the StreamName in the push URL to play back the corresponding stream.
   4. Select a URL expiration time, such as 2021-05-25 23:59:59.
   5. Select a transcoding template if you want to get a playback URL for a transcoded stream. This step is not needed if you want to get a playback URL for the original stream.
   6. Click Generate Address to generate an LEB playback URL whose format is webrtc://domain/path/stream_id.
      
3. You can use the following methods to test whether a live stream can be played back normally in different use cases:
   • Playback test on web: you’re advised to use WebRTC Live Demo to test playback.

     Note：

     • WebRTC Live Demo supports the multi-definition feature. You can configure transcoding templates for HD and SD in Feature Configuration > Live Transcoding in the CSS console, enter a WebRTC stream address containing a transcoding template, test it, and then play it back. (If you don't need to test this feature, simply enter a WebRTC original stream in the demo.)
     • For more information on live transcoding operations and billing, see CSS Transcoding.

   • Playback test on mobile devices: you're advised to download and install TCToolkit App app, select Mobile Live Video Broadcasting > LEB Playback, enter the playback URL you get from push trial into the address box manually or by scanning the QR code, and tap the play icon in the bottom-left corner.

     Note：

     To push/play back a stream on an app, you can integrate the MLVB SDK into the app to supplement the LEB service. If you encounter any problems, see FAQs.

Step 5. Start to use LEB

LEB solution for mobile devices: supports B-frame decoding and AAC audio codec. This solution is integrated into the MLVB SDK. For how to use it, see LEB Playback.

FAQs

Generating playback URL

The format of LEB playback URL is the same as that of LVB playback URL except that the former starts with webrtc while the latter starts with rtmp.

LEB playback URL format: webrtc://domain/path/stream_id or webrtc://domain/path/stream_id?txSecret=xxx&txTime=xxx (hotlink protection enabled). For how to generate a playback URL, please see Get playback URL.

Note：

You can also pull transcoded streams of different resolutions and bitrates. For information about generating playback URLs for transcoded streams, please see Live Remuxing and Transcoding.

B-frames

The LEB solution for web does not support decoding and playing back B-frames. If the original stream contains B-frames, the backend will remove them by transcoding, which will result in latency and incur transcoding fees. We recommend not pushing streams with B-frames. You can also adjust the video codec parameter on push client software (such as OBS) to remove B-frames. If you use OBS for push, you can set to disable B-frames, as shown below:

Audio transcoding

Playback by web browser only supports standard WebRTC protocol and does not support AAC audio codec. If you push streams with audio in AAC format, the audio will be transcoded into Opus format, which will incur audio transcoding fees.