VT Web Guest

A quick guide on using the VT Web Guest for outside contribution via a web browser.

The Web Guest is an easy-to-use web-based contribution link that runs on almost any device and provides bi-directional connectivity between the contributor (speaker) and the studio location.

We recommend using Google Chrome for optimal performance.

Using the VT Web Guest

The VT Web Guest requires VT Publisher (to ingest Web Guests) and VT Receiver(to output Web Guest feeds).

Web Guest feeds will appear in VT Publisher as the sources and you have to publish them like the other sources to receive at the VT Receiver location

First, download our latest version (starting with 1.9.4.967). You can do it on our website. After you download and extract the Video Transport:

• Launch the VT Publisher application. Select the video source, which you want to send to the remote guest. Hit “Start Publishing”.

• Using the context menu of the selected channel from the studio, select “Copy Web Guest URL”.

• Insert the "Web Guest URL" into the browser and start the session:

By default, you will be prompted to enter your Name and Location. You can pass this dialog by adding the autojoin=1 parameter to the link. Read more about Web Guest link parameters here.

Both guest and studio feed starts automatically by default:

In the following picture you can see standard Web Guest controls, read the description table below the picture:

Web Guest basic controls

	Action
1	Unmute/mute studio feed. Volume fader will appear when you move the cursor over this switch.
2	Camera On/Off.
3	Microphone On/Off
4	Web Guest settings menu
5	Stop/Start button. By default, it acts as Stop. Press this to stop/start the studio feed and session. Also, you can click on button 6 to start
6	The play button starts studio feed and contribution. By default, the studio feed starts automatically.
7	Web Guest selfie window. Can be switched with the studio feed (center button) or collapsed to the upper right corner. Also, it can be turned off by the selfie=0 URL parameter.
8	Fullscreen On/Off button

Web Guest Settings menu

Web Guest settings can be controlled by the guest itself through the menu or remotely from the studio side from the menu in the VT Publisher.

Here is what the Web Guest settings menu looks like in the browser:

Web Guest settings in browser

Setting	Description
Name	Sets the Web Guest name that will appear in VT Publisher in the studio and also on the login dialog
Location	Sets the Web Guest location name that will appear in VT Publisher in the studio and also on the login dialog
Resolution	Selects the camera resolution. If the selected resolution is not supported by your camera you'll get the error message.
Frame rate	Select the framerate for your camera. 15, 30, or 60 fps. If the selected framerate is not supported by your camera you'll get the error message.
Select a mic	Select a microphone from the list of the available audio input devices.
Select a camera	Select a camera from the list of the available video input devices
Video bitrate	Sets the Web Guest outgoing feed video bitrate. Possible values: 0.5M, 0.75M, 1.0M, 1.5M, 2.5M, 5M, 7.5M, 10M, 12.5M, 15M, 20M
Video encoder	Select the video encoder for the Web Guest outgoing feed. Possible options: H264, VP9
Audio enchancements	Turns on/off audio processing that was purposed to cut off the noise and echo, but sometimes could lead to strange sound issues. If your remote Web Guest sounds like he's speaking from the empty bucket or his voice cuts off try to disable audio enhancements.
Mirroring	Turns on/off the Web Guest camera mirroring
Audio channels	Open the sub-menu where you can select stereo pairs embedded in the studio feed or enter the particular audio channels that you want to hear in the other channels field.

Remote Web Guest settings in VT Publisher resemble the browser ones:

Remote Web Guest settings in VT Publisher

To open remote settings right click on specific Web Guest in VT Publisher and open Web Guest Settings.

You can remotely alter any setting available in Web Guest in this window, including switching on and off the camera and microphone of the guest. Click OK to apply new settings.

The applied new settings are instantly reflected on the web guest page. If some of the new settings require page refresh, it will be refreshed automatically.

It is recommended to make all the settings changes before going live. Making changes while on-air might interrupt video streams to apply new settings.

Configuring Web Guest link streaming parameters

To customize the user experience on the contributing side, you can set the following parameters in the link. Note that the spelling is case-sensitive.

Parameter	Values	Function	Default
name	E.g. "Guest1"	Sets the name of the feed to show in VT Receiver.
location	E.g. "Studio"	Sets location name to show up in VT Receiver.
resolution	E.g. "1280x720"	Sets target resolution for contributor's camera.
videoBitrate	E.g. "5m" (5 Mbps)	Sets max bitrate to stream at.
videoEncoder	H.264/VP9	Selects encoder to use.
audioBitrate	E.g. "40k"	Sets the audio bitrate.
mirroring	true/false (1/0)	Mirrors contributor's video feed.	false
autostart	true/false (1/0)	Automatically starts video feed from contributor.	true
camOff	true/false (1/0)	Turns off the guest's camera.	false
micOff	true/false (1/0)	Turns off the guest's microphone.	false
audio	true/false (1/0)	Turns on the sound from the studio feed automatically	false
autojoin	true/false (1/0)	Bypass the login screen	false
audioEnchancements	true/false (1/0)	Enable/Disable audio enchancements. Might be helpful when audio enchancements cut of too much of the guest's voice or do some other negative effects on the sound of the guest.	true
selfie	true/false (1/0)	Enable/Disable right corner selfie Web Guest picture. Note that disabling selfie preview do not means that you disable Web Guest camera feed.	true

Here's an example:

https://vt2.medialooks.com:8443/webguest2/IHjWJly7s0IrHyAU?name=%27Donald%20Trump%27&location=%27Silicon%20Valley%27&resolution=1280x720&videoBitrate=5m&videoEncoder=H264&audioBitrate=40k&mirroring=true&autostart=true

Password-protected Web Guest Link

It is possible to set a password to limit access to a certain Web Guest or Web Preview Link. To enable the password protection feature right-click on the source at the Publisher application and select Security Settings in the dropdown menu.

In the Security Settings window, you can add multiple users with their own passwords. Disable Allow anonymous access to enable password protection. Read the whole Security Settings documentation here.