This is the YoloMax, a massive touchscreen device that lets you live stream to Instagram, TikTok and other apps that usually don't have a way to use external cameras.
There is really nothing else out there quite like this.
So let's take a closer look.
Hi, I'm Aaron Parecki.
I first saw this device at the YoloLiv booth at NAB in April.
I did a quick test with it in the morning, live streaming from this giant box to my Instagram account at the booth, and it worked great.
After the show, they offered to ship it to my studio so I could keep testing it out and so I can share videos about it with you.
So here we are.
The whole purpose behind this device is to let you livestream vertical video to platforms like Instagram using multiple cameras.
And let me explain why this is so interesting.
Instagram only lets you live stream from the Instagram app.
They don't provide a way for you to livestream from software like OBS or hardware like an HMD or YoloBox.
Lots of other platforms do have a way to do that, usually by giving you a way to find an RTMP URL and a stream key.
But for whatever reason, Instagram decided that they only want you to live stream from a phone, not from external hardware, so they don't provide the RTMP URL or stream key for
your account. Now, before we get any further, I know you're probably thinking, but I've seen third party apps for live streaming to Instagram.
And yes, there are some solutions out there that will give you a way to find the URL for your Instagram account.
I'm not going to name them because I actually don't want to encourage you to use them.
It is against the terms of service of Instagram to use tools like that, which go around the Instagram app to stream video, which means you run the risk of your entire Instagram
account getting shut down if you use them.
Let me just say that again.
Instagram can shut down your entire account, not just the live stream, if they find out that you're live streaming to the platform directly instead of using the app.
And if you get your account shut down, there is basically nothing you can do to get it back.
So that's why I would definitely not encourage you to use those third party tools for streaming to Instagram.
So back to this YoloMax.
If live streaming directly to Instagram using things other than a phone is not allowed, then how does this work?
Well, basically, this whole thing is like a giant Android phone and it runs the actual Instagram app on it.
So here's the Instagram app icon, and if I launch it, you'll see the real Instagram app showing my photos and stuff.
And now I can click the Go Live button from inside the app and live stream from the app.
This is where it gets cool because as far as Instagram is concerned, there's only one camera device plugged in.
But running on top of the app is the interface for the YoloMax, which has these little overlays for controlling which camera to switch between and also adding graphics and other
things on top.
So if I have two cameras plugged in, I can switch between the different angles and Instagram still thinks it's just one camera and I can even add graphics on top, like a
logo or a banner.
So you can plug in two cameras via HDMI and you can also plug in a USB webcam and you can switch between all three of them.
You can also set up picture and picture layouts if you want as well.
So you could use this, for example, like an overhead view with your face small in the corner as a nice picture and picture layout.
So one thing to keep in mind when you're using this, though, is that you do have to actually physically rotate your cameras since you're going to be streaming vertical video.
Right now in the device, there's no tools for cropping horizontal video to vertical, so you have to actually mount your cameras sideways.
There is a feature to flip the image horizontally or vertically in case you can only mount in a certain way.
Or if you want to look at yourself like in a mirror instead of the normal backwards way.
This is very cool, but who do I think this is for?
It's clearly not portable.
It is extremely heavy.
It is not easy to move around.
It does have the stand with wheels, so at least I can roll it around in the studio here.
But it's not something I'm going to take with me to a client job.
Instead, I think this has really made for the live selling type of livestreams.
I actually recently hosted a panel discussion with a bunch of amazing creators all about live selling.
It was a really interesting discussion and it was great to hear from some people who have been doing that on their own platforms.
One of the nice things about it being this big is you get a really big view of yourself so you can stand farther away from the screen to show things off that are really tall, for
example. And that big screen gives you a really nice view of whatever you're live streaming.
So is this practical for everybody?
No, definitely not.
It is something that is going to live in a studio the same way you don't usually carry your computer monitors around with you everywhere.
And along those lines, I do actually think it'd be really great to have a smaller version of this, something closer to the size of a laptop, and that one would be portable.
That way you could actually carry it around or just have it sitting on your existing table.
But be sure to follow me on Instagram because I'm going to be doing some more tests and demos with this in the coming months because it is pretty cool to be able to do
multi-camera livestreams on Instagram.
I'm still in the middle of rebuilding my studio in here, which is why things look a little bit different today.
And I've been livestreaming a behind-the-scenes view of setting all this stuff up on Instagram using the YoloMax.
And of course, thanks again to YoloLiv for sending this to me, and thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you in the next one.