Have you heard about Melon? The live-streaming app?
Curious to know about how Melon compares to StreamYard as a live streaming
alternative? In this video,
I'm going to review Melon so you can see if they really are one of the best live
streaming software options on the market.
I'm Sara Nguyen, and on this channel,
I'll help you grow your business using video on social media with ease.
Who are Melon? What do they offer?
And how do they compare as an option for live streaming on Facebook or
YouTube or Twitch? So whilst Melon is new,
the app itself has been developed by the team behind Streamlabs,
who are also owned by Logitech- one big happy family.
Melon is a web-based live streaming software provider so you don't need to
install or learn any complicated software to get up and streaming.
When it comes to pricing,
Melon gives you the choice between a free plan and a pro paid plan.
As usual on the paid plan,
you're able to access more features and options to customise your live streams.
You also have the option to pay monthly or annually to get a little bit of a
discount.
You can check out the link in the description to view their current pricing.
On the free plan you can stream for up to four hours.
You can have one extra person on your live stream,
but you also have the Melon watermark on the stream as well.
It's enough to get you started if you're new to live streaming and it's free
forever, you don't even need to add a credit card in order to get started.
On the pro paid plan,
let's talk about some of the main features you can stream as much as you want
with unlimited streaming hours,
you can add up to six guests on your live stream,
you can add your own logo and customise the stream with your own brand colours
and backgrounds. You can multistream,
which will allow you to live stream to multiple platforms at the same time,
such as YouTube and Facebook.
And you will also get access to priority support if you encounter any problems
with the software.
And one of my favourite features is you get Disconnect Protection.
So if your live stream loses signal, Melon won't end the live stream.
So you get a chance to reconnect the live stream,
as opposed to the live stream just ending. Now,
let's have a look inside the software so you can see where everything is inside
Melon. Now this is a quick overview,
I have another tutorial where I go in-depth into how to use Melon to live
stream.
So make sure that you check that out if you're looking for a step-by-step
livestream tutorial, you know the drill, the link is in the description.
The Melon is web based and you don't need to install any software,
just open up a browser and log into your Melon account.
Once you've logged into Melon, this is what you'll see inside the live studio.
On the left-hand side here,
we have the green room where you and your guests will appear here,
as well as any
screen-sharing content that you want before you've added it to your live stream.
And it really is intuitive and easy to use. It's in the bottom here,
where it says mute next to it. If you click on that,
you will see that there is a microphone monitor here,
as well as audio input,
which allows you to select which microphone you want to use as well as
audio output, which is your speakers or your headphones.
So you get to choose that from this section as well. Next to it,
where it says stop video, you'll see that there's video input,
which is the camera feed ,
so you get to choose which camera source you want to use,
as well as the resolution, depending on which plan you're on.
So they've got full HD, 1080p at 30 frames per second,
as well as high res 720 and standard resolution at 480p.
So you get the choice to choose these depending on the plan that you're actually
on. You'll also get the ability to share your screen.
So if I click on share screen,
it gives me the option to choose between my different monitors.
It gets,
I get to choose between the application window or an actual tab.
So you get lots of choice in terms of what you actually want to share,
and then you simply choose that and click share in order to add it
to the live stream.
And you'll see that once you've chosen that it will appear on the left-hand side
here.
And what I really like about Melon is the ease of being able to
add things to the live stream and also play with the different layouts.
So I've added the screen to the actual live stream.
I'm going to show the stream. I'm going to show myself on the stream.
And now you can see that I've got a couple of layout options.
I can drag this and then make myself larger and the
screen-share smaller or drag it back. I didn't have to do anything complicated.
It really is intuitive. And it really is easy to use. And in the bottom,
if I click on this option here, then I've got more options to play around with.
So I can switch between having the presentation large or myself large,
and it's so easy to use.
And really it just enables you to click around and get a really nice layout
without having to really do much. So I really, really love that about Melon.
So I'm going to hide myself on screen for now and continue to show you some of
the features. We have this show chat option here,
which enables you to see the stream chat,
so any comments or reactions that you're getting from viewers during the live
stream. And we've also got private chat here,
which allows you to talk to your guests and your viewers.
Won't be able to see that conversation, which is really handy.
So if you have guests,
you can talk to each other without your viewer seeing everything that's going on
behind the scenes.
If you click on this edit screen button here,
this allows you to configure the name, your name,
how you want it to appear,
as well as other options such as your logo.
So you have the ability to display a logo,
which will appear on the top right-hand corner.
You can upload your own image. Otherwise you can leave a blank,
or if you're on the free plan,
you will see Melon's logo in the top right-hand corner.
We've also got the option to add your name,
which is displaying as the banner section here. And if we click on that,
once again,
we get the ability to change the font to be whatever we want it to be.
We can change the colour to match the coloor scheme or colour that we feel like
showing for the day, as well as the ability to change the font colour.
So we have a couple of choices to make it look how we want it to look,
and then you can always toggle it on and off just by clicking on that section
there, we also have this ticker option here. And if we click on the ticker,
it scrolls along the bottom.
So this allows us to add text and to change the font,
the background colour, and the font colour,
and to toggle it on and off using this toggle feature here.
So that's a cool little feature to have if you wanted to actually use it.
One of the other features that I like about Melon is the ability to play around
with backgrounds.
So you can choose to swap out between the different backgrounds that Melon has
already uploaded for you,
or you can upload your own by clicking on the upload new background option.
I really liked the background options because they enable you to have a bit of
personality and a bit of colour for the live stream.
And it is so easy and nice to use. And once you're ready to go live,
all you would do is select the go live button.
You would choose the platforms that you want to go live to.
Click that, click next, set your title,
set the description and click go live.
And then Melon will start to set up the live stream for you.
And they'll show you a countdown so that you know, you're going live.
And then you'll know that your live,
because they will have this pink button at the top that says live,
and you'll see the timer actively increasing as your actual
live. So you would present your live stream content. You would be amazing.
You would invite your guests, add them simply by clicking the show on stream.
You can play with the layouts. And once you're done with the live stream,
you would simply click on end live stream.
Melon will ask you to confirm whether you're sure you want to end the live
stream, or whether you did that by accident. So I'm going to click end stream,
and then they'll ask you for some feedback.
And that's how easy it is to live stream using Melon. Now,
this is a quick overview.
I have another tutorial where I go in depth into how to use Melon.
So make sure you check that out
if you're looking for a step-by-step livestream tutorial and you know,
the drill, the link is in the description. Melon is web-based,
so you don't need to install any software,
just open up a web browser and log into your account to get started.
What I really love about Melon is the simplicity. And with live streaming,
you don't want to have a high learning curve when it comes to the software.
A lot of times this is where people get really stuck.
The software is too complicated to use and learn so they don't end up live
streaming at all.
I think the team behind Melon have created a really easy to use,
clean live streaming app. I'm excited to see the evolution of this platform.
If you want to try them out, you can sign up by my link in the description.
I think you'll enjoy the live stream experience with them.
I've also put a link in the description to a live stream I did using Melon.
So you can see the quality of the stream for yourself.
And in terms of being a StreamYard alternative,
I think they're worth checking out whilst they don't have all of the features
that StreamYard have, yet,
they do offer the same core live streaming functionality and
the ability to live stream in full HD at a cheaper price.
If you found this video useful,
hit the like button for me and let me know in the comments section below,
what do you think about Melon?
And what other live stream tutorials would you like to see?
I'd love to make those videos for you. And in the meantime,
why don't you check out my handy livestream playlist or grab a copy of my
Facebook Live Cheat Sheets.
It's a super simple way to get up and streaming on Facebook live,
even if you've never hit record before,
check it out by clicking on the link on the screen,
and I'll see you in the next video. Bye for now.