Epiphan Pearl and StreamShark Integration

We are pleased to announce the new partnership between StreamShark and Epiphan Video, the developers of the Epiphan Pearl family of hardware encoders for live video production. The partnership efforts have led to a deep integration between StreamShark’s Encoder Management solution and the Epiphan Pearl family of encoders. Our joint customers can now enjoy a turnkey live streaming workflow that makes it effortless to live stream events on StreamShark with Epiphan Pearl/Pearl-2/Pearl Mini.

Pearl Encoders for Enterprises and Broadcasters

Epiphan Video is a leader in professional audiovisual capture, recording, and streaming products. They build some of the world’s most reliable AV communication solutions for education, healthcare, live event production, manufacturing, security and transportation. The Pearl family of all-in-one hardware encoders is the easiest way to manage your streaming, recording and live switching in one place. 

The Epiphan Pearl/Pearl-2/Pearl Mini are a great option for enterprise video teams and broadcasters for the following reasons:

• Flexibility – Pearl can be used in situations where a portable setup is required (such as a meeting room) as well as in fixed event spaces (such as a theatre, rack mounted options are also available).
• Reliability – The Pearl family of encoders provide a reliable contribution feed (contingent on sufficient bandwidth being available at the event venue). Logs are also available to aid with troubleshooting. Epiphan Video offers more comprehensive support plans too.
• Redundancy – For enterprises seeking redundancy especially for their fixed event spaces, the Pearl-2 Rackmount Twin model can push primary and backup feeds from two completely independent Pearl-2 systems within the one device.
• Layout Switching – Pearl is unique in that it offers the option to create multiple layouts and switching layouts with only a one button push using the touchscreen on the device – a great option when you might have an event with only one live stream operator managing the live streaming workflow.

Common Encoder Management Challenges

The common challenges we see in the workflow for using software or hardware encoders for live streaming include:

• The requirement for a technician to be on-site in order to manage live stream hardware encoders following the initial setup.
• The time it takes to identify and configure multiple hardware encoders at a site. Imagine the time or technicians required to identify, control, configure and stream from 10 or even 20 encoders across a building or campus.
• The difficulty of using encoders behind strict firewalls and multiple corporate networks.
• The ease of making errors when trying to replicate stream settings for your streaming destination in the configuration settings for your hardware encoder. While such errors are minor, they might lead to wasting a lot of time spent debugging.

Turn-key Live Streaming with StreamShark and Epiphan Pearl

The new integration addresses the challenges listed above. Now, from within your StreamShark Live Streaming Event platform, you can:

• On-board your Epiphan Pearl/Pearl-2 hardware encoders to StreamShark’s Encoder Management solution.
• Select your encoder when creating a StreamShark Event.
• Click on Start/Stop Encoder to control the contribution feed for your event from your encoder. Both primary and backup encoders are supported. Further, through this workflow you can utilize encoders you have across intranets and the internet.

This integration brings massive efficiencies and time savings for customers who have a fleet of Epiphan Pearl family of hardware encoders. StreamShark’s “Manage Encoders” screen makes it possible to perform the following tasks swiftly with ease:

• Monitor the status of all your encoders.
• Review any events to which the encoders might be linked, at a glance.
• Link/unlink events to encoders. Rapid encoder failover is possible in seconds.

For step-by-step instructions, please refer to our support guide on how to use StreamShark Encoder Management with Epiphan Pearl/Pearl-2 for live streaming events. If you have any questions about the new integration, feel free to email us at [email protected].