How to securely record (or live stream) a Zoom meeting

Zoom is a fantastic collaboration tool empowering users to meet on video, chat, share content, record, live stream, and more!

The REC.VC cloud service works great with Zoom, enabling users to securely record, store and share any of their Zoom meetings. Users can optionally also live stream Zoom meetings on the REC.VC service or stream it to social media such as Facebook and YouTube.

For both recording and live streaming scenarios, you can use REC.VC to capture with your preferred Zoom Layout and REC.VC Mixing of Video and Content. Here is an overview based on how you connect REC.VC to your Zoom meeting:

	REC.VC mode		REC.VC features available
Capture using …	Record -only	Live Stream	Set Zoom Layout	REC.VC Mixing	Automatic FTP export
SIP/H.323 Connector	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Custom Live Stream	Yes	No*	No	No	Yes

* REC.VC to introduce live streaming with RTMP as source in 2021

Capture Zoom meeting using Zoom H.323/SIP Room Connector

If your organization has the Zoom H.323/SIP Room Connector enabled, you can use REC.VC to capture video, audio and content in Zoom meetings. The recommended way is to connect your REC.VC account to Zoom by placing a call from the REC.VC user interface to the Zoom meeting using Zoom the SIP Dial String format:

Meeting feature	SIP Dial String
Meetings without a passcode, default Zoom layout	[Meeting ID]@[IP Address]
Meetings with a passcode, default Zoom layout	[Meeting ID].[Passcode]@[IP Address]
Meetings with a passcode, Zoom Layout selection	[Meeting ID].[Passcode].[Layout]@[IP Address]
Meetings without a passcode, Zoom Layout selection	[Meeting ID]..[Layout]@[IP Address]

[Meeting ID], [Passcode] and [IP Address] can be found in the Meeting Invitation available via your Zoom account. We recommend that you use the IP address in the same Country/Region as where your REC.VC account is provisioned. For reference, the following table provides an overview of the REC.VC Locations with corresponding Zoom Locations and IP Addresses (as of November 12, 2020):

REC.VC Location	Zoom Location	Zoom IP Address
Ashburn, USA	US East	162.255.36.11
Frankfurt, Germany	Germany	213.244.140.110
Oslo, Norway	Germany or Netherlands	213.244.140.110 or 213.19.144.110

By default, if the Dial String does not include [Layout], REC.VC will capture the Zoom Gallery View Layout. The following table provides an overview of the Zoom Layouts available based on [Layout] inclusion in Dial String:

Gallery	Default (No [Layout] in Dial String)
Full Screen	11 in Dial String
Active	1111 in Dial String

The Dial String for the Zoom meeting is entered as Source address in the REC.VC user interface:

The following REC.VC features are also available when using the Zoom H.323/SIP Room Connector for capture:

• REC.VC Mixing of video and content based on the available REC.VC layouts
• REC.VC Automatic export of recordings to any (S)FTP(S) server on your side

Both features are available for REC.VC Admins. To get Admin permission to your account and additional description of how the features work, please contact support@rec.vc. 

Capture Zoom meeting using Zoom Custom Live Streaming (RTMP)

To simply capture the Zoom meeting, without any layout options on Zoom or REC.VC side, you can use the REC.VC RTMP recorder. Here is how to configure it for your Zoom account. 

In your REC.VC account, set Source to RTMP(S) and copy the Stream URL of your account:

In your Zoom web account, go to Meetings > Personal Room > Live Streaming and click on Edit under Configure custom live stream … (If this is not available in your Zoom web account, contact your Zoom administrator to get it enabled for you). 

Copy the Stream URL from your REC.VC account into the Stream URL field in the Zoom interface, and move the <stream-key> part of the URL (after /rec/) to the Stream key field. As this feature is only used for recording and not live streaming, you may enter any address as the Live streaming page URL.

With the Custom Live Streaming feature configured in your Zoom web account, you can start securely recording your Zoom meetings with REC.VC by clicking on More and Live on Custom Live Streaming Service in the Zoom User Interface:

Unless you change the Custom Live Streaming configuration inside your Zoom web account, the REC.VC RTMP recorder will always be two clicks away whenever you are in your Zoom room.

REC.VC compliance and security

• The service is hosted out of private data centers in Europe and USA with strict access control and 24/ monitoring.
• Recordings are always encrypted at rest (AES 256 bit) and any access to the cloud service is encrypted. 
• REC.VC comply with GDPR, HIPAA, MIFID II, PIPEDA, and many more national and regional privacy laws and regulations.
• REC.VC is ISO 27001 certified with annual audits performed by Lloyd’s Register.

How to use REC.VC

For more details on how to use REC.VC, please see the generic video tutorials below. You can also sign up for a free trial account here.

Posted in How to, Live Streaming, Recording Tagged with: hipaa, live streaming, recording, RTMP, zoom

How to record a Pexip meeting

REC.VC makes it easy for anyone to record & share their Pexip meetings in a secure and effective way, increasing the value of the meeting itself. 

We are in this blog post covering how you can record a Pexip meeting based on the following Pexip options:

• Pexip as-a-Service (Pexip’s cloud service)
• Pexip Infinity (software deployed by your organization or service provider)

Prerequisites

• Access to a Pexip Virtual Meeting Room (VMR), either as-a-Service or on Pexip Infinity
• Access to a REC.VC account (sign up for 14-day free trial here)

1. Recording a meeting on Pexip as-a-Service

You can record a meeting by initiating the recording from the Pexip user interface side or by doing it via the REC.VC user interface. 

REC.VC supports both SIP and RTMP recording when it is initiated via the Pexip user interface. When the recording is initiated via the REC.VC user interface, only SIP recording is applicable. 

1.1 Recording via the Pexip as-a-Service interface (using SIP or RTMP)

1.1.1 SIP based recording

You can call out from your Pexip VMR just like you would call out to any SIP based video conferencing endpoint, here are the steps:

Step 1: Click on Show participants

Step 2: Click on Invite someone

Step 3: Enter the SIP URI (video address) of your REC.VC recorder, typically your.name@rec.vc (the actual address is listed at the top of the REC.VC user interface) and then click on the + button.

Step 4: To start recording, click on the green Dial button

Pexip dials out to your REC.VC recorder which joins as a regular participant and captures any video and audio, and any content shared in your meeting. 

1.1.2 RTMP based recording

Step 1: Click on Show participants

Step 2: Click on Stream/record now

Step 3: Copy and paste your REC.VC RTMP(S) URL (available in the REC.VC user interface when Source is set to RTMP(S)) into the “Server or stream URL” field in the Pexip user interface (no need to fill in the other fields).

Step 4: Click on the “Start stream now” button

Pexip sends the RTMP feed containing video and audio, and any content shared, to your REC.VC RTMP recorder. The recording will be in the same resolution (720p, 1080p, etc) as received from Pexip.

1.2 Recording via the REC.VC interface (using SIP)

An alternative way for SIP based recording is to initiate the call between Pexip and REC.VC from the REC.VC side. Here are the steps:

Step 1: Access your REC.VC account (my.rec.vc)

Step 2: Enter the SIP URI of your Pexip VMR (typically something like your.name@pexip.me) and enter the PIN code for your VMR if it is PIN code protected, and hit the RECORD button.

REC.VC dials out to the Pexip VMR and captures video and audio, and any content shared during the meeting. 

2. Recording a meeting on Pexip Infinity

Similarly to Pexip as-a-Service, recording a meeting on Pexip Infinity can be initiated on the Pexip side (SIP or RTMP recording)  or on the REC.VC side (SIP recording). 

2.1 Recording via the Pexip Infinity interface (using SIP or RTMP)

Pexip Infinity offers two user interfaces, webapp1 (legacy) and webapp2 (the latest). We will here cover both user interfaces in terms of how you can record a meeting using either interface. Please note that both user interfaces are highly customizable and that the steps below are based on the out-of-the-box versions.

2.1.1 SIP based recording (webapp1)

Step 1: Click on Add a new Participant

Step 2: Enter the SIP URI (video address) of your REC.VC recorder, typically your.name@rec.vc (the actual address is listed at the top of the REC.VC user interface) and click OK.

2.1.2 RTMP based recording (webapp1)

Step 1: Click on Add a new Participant

Step 2: Copy and paste your REC.VC RTMP(S) URL (available in the REC.VC user interface when Source is set to RTMP(S)) into the RTMP address field in the Pexip user interface

Pexip sends the RTMP feed containing video and audio, and any content shared, to your REC.VC RTMP recorder. The recording will be in the same resolution (720p, 1080p, etc) as received from Pexip.

Optionally, if you want to record video & audio, and content as two separate recordings, you can check the Dual Stream option and copy paste your REC.VC RTMP(S) URL to the second RTMP field. Please note that as Pexip requires the RTMP(S) URLs to be unique, you’ll need to add a random variable at the end of your REC.VC RTMP(S) URL (in our example below we have added “?x=content”). 

2.1.3 SIP based recording (webapp2)

Step 1: Click on Add participant

Step 2: Enter the SIP URI (video address) of your REC.VC recorder, typically your.name@rec.vc (the actual address is listed at the top of the REC.VC user interface) and click Call in. Please note that you need to specify “sip:” at the beginning of the SIP URI. 

Pexip dials out to your REC.VC recorder which joins as a regular participant and captures any video and audio, and any content shared in your meeting. 

2.1.4 RTMP based recording (webapp2)

Step 1: Click on Add participant

Step 2: Copy and paste your REC.VC RTMP(S) URL (available in the REC.VC user interface when Source is set to RTMP(S)) into the address field in the Pexip user interface and click Call in. Please note that you need to specify “rtmp:” at the beginning of the REC.VC RTMP(S) URL. 

Pexip sends the RTMP feed containing video and audio, and any content shared, to your REC.VC RTMP recorder. The recording will be in the same resolution (720p, 1080p, etc) as received from Pexip.

2.2 Recording via the REC.VC interface (using SIP)

An alternative way for SIP based recording is to initiate the call between Pexip and REC.VC from the REC.VC side. Here are the steps:

Step 1: Access your REC.VC account (my.rec.vc)

Step 2: Enter the SIP URI of your Pexip VMR (typically something like your.name@vmr.yourdomain.com) and enter the PIN code for your VMR if it is PIN code protected, and hit the RECORD button.

REC.VC dials out to the Pexip VMR and captures video and audio, and any content shared during the meeting. 

3. Automatic recording of Pexip meetings

A VMR on both Pexip as-a-Service and Pexip Infinity can be configured to automatically connect your REC.VC recorder so that your meetings are always recorded, e.g. for compliance (financial sector) or simply for ease-of-recording purposes. 

Automatic recording of Pexip VMRs can be configured by a Pexip administrator by using the Autodial feature available under Advanced settings of the VMR in question. Both SIP and RTMP based recording is supported when using this feature. 

4. Managing and sharing your recorded Pexip meetings

The real fun starts when you have made the recording and you are ready to share and manage it. Here is a video tutorial on how to use REC.VC to manage and share your recorded Pexip meetings:

Posted in Recording Tagged with: pexip, recording, RTMP, sip

RTMP Recording in Private Beta

We invite existing resellers and customers to test the soon to be released REC.VC RTMP Recording feature enabling capture from any RTMP source including:

• Pexip (as an alternative to SIP)
• Video/audio mixers
• IP cameras

REC.VC RTMP recording will capture any quality received, so if you send 720p, 1080p or 4K, it will be recorded and stored in the original quality.

To test the REC.VC RTMP Recording feature in Private Beta, please email support@rec.vc with your recorder SIP URI to receive information on how to use the RTMP recording feature.

New to REC.VC? Sign up for a free trial and we’ll notify you when we move to public beta.

We appreciate your help in testing this new feature!

Posted in New features, Recording Tagged with: pexip, recording, RTMP

Live stream from Cisco Webex to YouTube

REC.VC makes it easy to securely live stream from Cisco Webex to YouTube, Periscope, Facebook, or any third-party RTMP destination. Use cases include:

• Live streaming of townhall meetings, e.g. from a Cisco Webex Board
• Live streaming of quarterly analyst calls, e.g. from a Cisco Webex meeting
• Live streaming of customer training from Cisco Webex to YouTube

New to REC.VC? Visit wbx.rec.vc for free trial and to learn more about how the REC.VC recording & streaming cloud service works with Cisco Webex.

Posted in Live Streaming, New features Tagged with: RTMP