Use a Raspberry Pi with Speedify Channel Bonding Technology
If you came to this page, it means that you’re ether already doing IRL live streaming, or you’re thinking of starting. And you’re right – it’s a lot of fun, but it can be expensive to get the equipment necessary to keep a stable HD stream going while you’re out and about.
First thing that comes into mind when taking about IRL streaming gear is the famous Gunrun backpack, based on the LiveU Solo device. That has proven its reliability for many streamers so far. But the price tag starts somewhere at around $1,600.
With Speedify, we managed to put together an alternative to that for only $200 plus the cost of the smartphone you would use for live streaming! Read more below.
What You Should Look at when Choosing Your IRL Streaming Gear
Along with a camera or smartphone for the video part, you should also make sure you have a fast and reliable Internet connection, so, you need a way to use multiple connections at once.
In our example, we installed Speedify on a Raspberry Pi 4. With Speedify, we have the only VPN capable of software channel bonding, so we were able to incorporate the bonding part of the technology right off the bat.
IRL Streaming Gear: Components List
Below you’ll find a sample list of components we used in our IRL streaming gear budget alternative. As long as you find similar hardware with the same functionalities, you should be good to go.
Sample components and costs
- Smartphone: iPhone 11 Pro or newer / equivalent to that in terms of video – $0 if you already have that.
- Computer: Raspberry Pi 4 or newer – $55
- Computer accessories: GeeekPi Acrylic Case with Fan RPi 4 – $10
- Battery pack: $38.
- Organizer: Cocoon GRID IT! Accessory Organizer – $11
- Camera support: Smatree telescoping selfie stick – $23
- Backpack: Jansport backpack – $30
- Mobile connections: USB cellular dongles, tethered smartphones
- Speedify channel bonding VPN – $4.99 / month
- [Optional] Dedicated streaming solution, if you want to multistream. You can also just live stream directly from the platform's app - YouTube, Facebook Live, Instagram, etc.
The total budget for this IRL streaming gear is about $200 plus the cost of the smartphone, if you don't have one alreay. This is still significantly cheaper than the Gunrun backpack. Plus – you may not need to purchase all of this equipment if you already have similar items available.
IRL Streaming Gear – Software You Need
As mentioned before, one of the core elements of this live streaming backpack is Speedify, the only app that can combine multiple internet sources into one bonded super-connection for more stable and secure live streaming, video calling, and web browsing. You can easily set up Speedify on your Raspberry Pi using the instructions here.
And, as mentioned above, if you want to live stream to more than one platform at once: Twitch, YouTube, Facebook Live, Instagram, etc. - you need a dedicated streaming solution. Here are some examples:
- Streamlabs OBS - apps for both iOS and Android
- Streamyard - runs in browser
- Melon - runs in browser
- Restream - runs in browser.
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Get the IRL Streaming Gear Live
At first, we tried building OBS on the Raspberry Pi, but came to the conclusion that it is too unstable. Plus, the streaming quality is limited by the hardware capabilities of the Raspberry Pi.
So we decided to use the Raspberry Pi as a bonding router only (see video above), sharing the bonded Internet connection to the smartphone via Wi-Fi. This is ideal for being able to operate this setup, in a backpack.
You can use any streaming solution that supports the operating system you have on your smartphone - iOS or Android.
All you have to do is:
- connect your smartphone via Wi-Fi to the fast and reliable bonded Internet from the Raspberry Pi - check out this guide on how to set that up.
- start the livestream from your smartphone - either through the dedicated streaming solution or directly from the social media platform's app.
Looking for an Out-of-the-Box Bonding Router for Your IRL Streaming Gear? Try the Miri X510
NEW!
Miri X510 Bonding Router
POWERED BY SPEEDIFY
Bond up to 7 Links Simultaneously
Combine wired, Wi-Fi, 5G, and LTE connections plus Pair & Share with other Speedify users.
Battery-powered Portability
Looking to embed bonding solutions on your routers or appliances?
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Embedded Solutions and Integrations
Embed Speedify software into your app or hardware products and leverage the core channel bonding technology of Speedify in new and interesting ways.