The whole backpack is already in your pocket.
An IRL streaming backpack is really four things: an encoder box, the modems that get it online, a battery, and something to carry it in. With Lumbus Live your phone is the camera and the encoder, the phones around you are the extra connections, and Studio keeps the broadcast up when every connection goes.
What you carry.
- Your phone: the Lumbus Live app is the camera and the connection.
- The phones around you: each one scans a code and lends its connection, on its own plan.
- A battery pack: sending video is among the hardest work a phone does.
- Nothing else. No box, no modem kit, no bag.
Try it: cut a connection.
Your stream goes out over several connections at once. If one drops, it keeps going on the others.
Tap a connection to drop it, and watch the stream carry on.
When the signal goes.
On the move, the weak moment is in a crowd or between masts: upload collapses on one network while another is fine. With the phones around you on different networks, Bond carries on over the connections that are still good, and one word tells you where you stand: Protected, Single, Weak or Lost.
And when every connection goes, Studio keeps every platform connected and shows viewers Be right back instead of a frozen frame, then returns to Live by itself once your signal has held. Both are in every Studio plan, from $49 a month.
Packing for a stream day.
- 1Charge your phone and carry powerA battery pack, and a cable that fits. A hot phone slows itself down, so keep it out of the sun.
- 2Ask the people with you to joinEach one scans a code from your screen and keeps the Lumbus Live app open. Different networks are what make it Protected.
- 3Check your platformsYour channel keys are already in your studio; test each one off-air once.
- 4Go live from the appScenes, Be right back and every connection, one-handed, mid-stream.
Technical detailsThe four words, how much a stream uses, and what the phones around you carry
- The four words
- Protected: Two or more connections on different networks are carrying you. Single: One connection, or several on the same network. Add a phone on another network. Weak: Your connections together carry less than your stream needs. Quality drops; the stream stays up. Lost: Nothing is carrying your stream. Studio shows viewers Be right back until a connection returns.
- How much a stream uses
- Plan on your video bitrate plus about 20% for Bond’s own overhead: that is what your connections carry between them. At 8 Mbps that is about 4.3 GB an hour, so 100 GB lasts around 23 hours; a poor network pushes it towards 5 GB an hour. Adding more phones does not add to the total — the same stream is divided between them.
- What the phones around you carry
- They use their own data plans, shared between them, so each one carries only a part of your stream. How much depends on your picture quality; the next answer gives a figure.
Questions
- Do I need any hardware?
No. Lumbus uses your phone as the camera, and the phones around you as extra connections. If you already use a camera or a laptop, Lumbus takes that too; a camera sends its picture through your phone or a laptop, unless it streams by itself.
- Do the phones around me need a plan?
They use their own data plans, shared between them, so each one carries only a part of your stream. How much depends on your picture quality; the next answer gives a figure.
- How much data does a stream use?
It depends on the picture quality you stream at. As a guide, plan on about 4.3 GB an hour for high-quality HD, shared across the connections you add.
The full answerHide the full answer
Plan on your video bitrate plus about 20% for Bond’s own overhead: that is what your connections carry between them. At 8 Mbps that is about 4.3 GB an hour, so 100 GB lasts around 23 hours; a poor network pushes it towards 5 GB an hour. Adding more phones does not add to the total — the same stream is divided between them.
Keep reading
- IRL streaming setupAn IRL streaming setup: your phone as the encoder, the phones around you as the connection, and what to add for a camera or a laptop.
- LiveU alternativeLooking for a LiveU alternative? Go live from your phone, with the phones around you as backup and a studio that keeps every platform connected when you drop.
- Multi-network streamingStream on several mobile networks at once, so one crowded mast can’t take you off air: the phones around you through Bond.
Seven days of Studio Pro, free.
Every Studio plan starts on Studio Pro, free for seven days: unlimited phones beside you, the full production room, every Pro feature. Card upfront; cancel before the trial ends and pay nothing.
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