Streaming & Recording
Stream your service to YouTube, Facebook or a custom RTMP destination, and record it locally at the same time.
RheoCast streams your service itself. You do not need OBS, vMix or a second computer.
Both streaming and recording are free on every plan.
Set up a destination
Open Stream Settings in the Controls column and add a destination.
| Platform | What you need |
|---|---|
| YouTube | The stream key from YouTube Studio › Go Live |
| The server URL and stream key from your Live Producer page | |
| Custom RTMP | Any RTMP server URL and key |
You can add more than one and stream to all of them at once. Each has its own on/off switch, so you can keep a destination configured without sending to it every week.
Keep your stream key private. Anyone who has it can broadcast to your channel. Treat it like a password.
Encoding settings
| Setting | Guidance |
|---|---|
| Resolution | 1080p for most churches. Drop to 720p if your upload is limited |
| Video bitrate | Around 4500 kbps at 1080p, 2500 kbps at 720p |
| Audio bitrate | 128 kbps is fine for speech and music |
A useful rule: your upload speed should be roughly twice your video bitrate. Test it at the time of day you actually stream — Sunday morning is not Tuesday afternoon.
Going live
Press Go Live. RheoCast runs a short pre-flight check first:
- At least one destination is configured and enabled
- A scene is on Program
- Hardware video encoding is available
If any of those fail it tells you which, rather than failing silently once you are on air.
macOS 13.3 or later is required for hardware H.264 encoding. On an older macOS the pre-flight check will tell you.
While you are live, the stat cards show bitrate, dropped frames, render time, engine frame rate, CPU, memory, and whether you are encoding in hardware or software.
Dropped frames climbing almost always means your upload cannot keep up. Lower the video bitrate and they should settle.
Test mode
Test mode puts a test card and a 440 Hz tone on Program. Use it to confirm a destination is receiving video and audio without putting your empty sanctuary on the internet.
Recording
Press Record to capture Program to a file on your own computer. You can record and stream at the same time.
| Setting | Notes |
|---|---|
| Resolution | Independent of your stream resolution |
| Auto-split | Starts a new file every N minutes |
| Save location | Any folder you choose |
Turn auto-split on. A three-hour service in one file is awkward to move, slow to open, and unrecoverable if anything goes wrong at the end. Splitting every 30 minutes costs nothing.
When a recording finishes you get a notification with an Open button that reveals the file.
Recordings never leave your computer. They are written straight to the folder you chose and are not uploaded to RheoCast.
Before your first live service
- Stream key entered and the destination switched on
- Test mode sent to the platform and confirmed arriving
- Upload speed tested at your service time
- Recording folder set, with enough free disk space
- Auto-split enabled
- Scenes built and bound to number keys
- Audio levels checked with the mixer meters
- A full rehearsal, streamed unlisted or to a test destination
If something goes wrong mid-service
The stream stops but the service continues. Recording keeps running independently — you will still have the file. Fix the stream and go live again; most platforms accept a reconnection.
Frames are dropping badly. Lower the video bitrate in stream settings. It applies to the next stream, so if you can tolerate a brief interruption, stop and go live again.
The encoder is running in software. The stat cards will say so. Software encoding uses far more CPU and is the usual cause of dropped frames on older machines. See Troubleshooting.