FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS LiveStation

In your room, open the Menu (top right) and click Admin Panel. Paste up to 16 URLs — Twitch, Kick, YouTube, YouTube Live, Trovo or VDO.Ninja.

💡 YouTube tip: To catch your creator when they go live, paste their channel URL and add /live at the end. The stream loads automatically when they start broadcasting.

Browsers block autoplay audio — that's why streams start muted. Open the Mixer icon at the top. For Twitch and YouTube, the volume slider works normally.

⚠️ Kick and Trovo: their official APIs are closed, so volume bars don't work. But the Mute button silences the stream instantly via code.

In the Admin Panel you choose the room layout:

FOCUS — one big stream with smaller ones on the side.
GRID — all equal, up to 16 screens.
PIP and SIDE BY SIDE — special formats to compare two streams.

📱 Mobile: complex layouts like PiP may be simplified by the browser to keep performance stable. On mobile, focus mode tends to be the most reliable experience.

LiveStation accepts VDO.Ninja links — not just PC streams. Open VDO.Ninja on your phone, turn on the front camera and generate the link. Paste it in the Admin Panel and your webcam shows up in the grid alongside the streams, with low latency.

Great for watch parties — everyone appears in a tile while watching the main event.

Chat combines Twitch, Kick, YouTube and Trovo in one panel.

👁️ Transparent mode: click the icon at the top of the chat and the background disappears — messages float over the video without blocking the game.

💻 Drag: hold the title bar and move the chat anywhere. With two monitors, drag it to the second screen without opening a pop-up.

Every room starts public — anyone with the link can join. If you want privacy, enable a password in the Admin Panel.

Important: co-admins also need to enter the password to access, even with edit permissions.

As the room owner, you can let friends edit links and layout with you. In the Admin Panel, use the Promote Co-Admin field and paste the user's ID.

The ID appears in the top left of the screen when they're logged in. Text labels on the players also work as warnings or categories — useful when someone joins without knowing what each stream is.

Copy the room URL and send it to your group (with the password if set). When the admin swaps a stream, changes the layout or mutes audio, everyone in the room sees the change instantly — no refresh needed.

Real-time sync — perfect for watch parties and tournaments.

Rooms stay active for 3 days without use. After that, they're removed from the database.

But the owner can renew for another 3 days as many times as needed — just click the renewal button in the Admin Panel.

You can watch without logging in. But if you create a room without an account, you may lose admin access if the browser clears cookies.

To make sure your rooms are always yours, log in via Discord, Google, Twitch or Magic Link (email).

No. LiveStation is dark mode by design — multi-stream marathons can last hours, and a dark background is easier on the eyes. There are no plans to add a light theme.

We don't sell data. We only store what's needed so you don't lose your rooms.

Performance tip: 16 HD videos is heavy on your PC. Enable Hardware Acceleration in Chrome/Edge (Settings → search "hardware acceleration"). Without it, the CPU handles everything alone and it's hard to keep many streams open.

Another tip: on smaller streams in the grid, open the player gear icon and drop resolution to 360p or 480p.

It automatically hides streams that are currently offline.

📺 YouTube and Twitch: we check in real time and hide them automatically.
💚 Kick: Kick's API doesn't allow automatic status checks (Cloudflare protections). If a Kick stream is offline, hide it manually by clicking the ✕ on the player corner.

💡 Turning off ACTIVE ONLY brings back all hidden streams.

Pre-built grids created by the team, accessible at /p/[id], with no expiration. Anyone can watch and click CLONE STATION to copy everything to their own room.

Each preset has an emoji and tags to identify the theme — esports, lo-fi, news, etc.

Paste .m3u8 links directly in the Admin Panel. Video runs in your browser with no server cost on our end.

Two common error causes:

🛡️ CORS: the origin server must allow external connections (Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *). If it blocks, the browser prevents playback and we show the error.

🔒 Mixed Content: since LiveStation uses HTTPS, HTTP links are blocked. Always use https://.

By default, each account is limited to 1 active room. If you need more, contact us via the site form or Discord to request a quota increase.

Inside the room, click SHARE SCREEN at the top. Pick the quality: 1080p 30 FPS is the default, 1080p 60 FPS for fast games, 720p if your upload is tight. Turn on audio if you want voice or a mixer, and the camera if you want to appear in the corner. Click START BROADCAST. In the browser popup, choose Entire screen, a Window, or a Tab.

For audio, pick Microphone (your voice, mono) or Line input (mixer or USB interface, stereo L/R). The camera goes out at 480p in the corner; viewers can hide it or move the corner.

The broadcast takes a free slot (up to 16 screens). To end it, use STOP in the bottom bar.

Use Chrome, Edge or Brave. Firefox cannot capture system audio.

🖥️ Entire screen: check Share system audio in the popup (it starts unchecked). That grabs PC sound (game, Spotify, Discord).
🌐 Tab: check share tab audio. Only that tab, good for YouTube.
🪟 Window: on Windows this almost never has audio.

That system sound is mixed with your microphone or line input. Both play in the room at the same time.

💡 Exclusive fullscreen games can come out black. Switch the game to borderless windowed in its graphics options.

The most common causes:

1️⃣ The audio box wasn't checked in the popup — the site warns you when this happens. Restart the broadcast and check it.
2️⃣ The tile starts muted for viewers (browser standard). Viewers should hover over the broadcast and click the speaker icon, or expand the tile.
3️⃣ You're testing alone: your own preview is always muted on purpose (prevents echo and feedback). Ask a friend to confirm.

The broadcaster also has MIC ON / SOUND ON buttons in the bottom bar — make sure they aren't muted.

This warning means the browser delivered the audio channel, but it's completely silent. Check in this order:

🔊 Is the game sound playing on Windows' default device? The capture only records the default device.
🎛️ Virtual devices (Voicemeeter, virtual cables) as default often break the capture — set your physical sound card as default when broadcasting.
🎚️ Configure the device as Stereo (not 5.1/7.1) at 48000 Hz (Sound panel → Properties → Advanced).
🎧 Plugged or unplugged a USB headset during the broadcast? A Chrome bug silences the capture — restart the broadcast.
⚙️ Driver software (e.g. Logitech G HUB) can interfere with the capture.

In the Admin Panel, under the Screen Sharing card, pick one of three modes:

🟢 Open — anyone in the room can broadcast.
🟡 With Approval — you get a notification and approve or deny each broadcast on the spot.
🔴 Admins Only — only you and co-admins can broadcast.

The video goes directly from your PC to your friends — it never touches our servers. It uses your upload bandwidth, and quality adapts automatically to the number of viewers (we recommend about 15–20 Mbps upload for several friends; the default is 1080p 30 FPS, capped around 8 Mbps per person).

On difficult networks (4G/5G, ISPs that hide your IP), a backup server kicks in on its own. If the connection fails for one specific person, it's usually their network.

Chrome (and Edge) can lock the site to a single microphone. That happens when, in the permission popup, you pick a specific device instead of Allow for all of them.

The site cannot grant permission for every device — only the browser can. With the mic locked, the site picker changes the name on screen, but audio keeps coming from the old device.

✅ How to unlock: click the microphone icon in the address bar → gear Site settings → Permissions → Microphone → Allow. Then pick the microphone again on the site — the switch applies immediately.

💡 Shortcut: chrome://settings/content/siteDetails?site=https://livestation.live → Microphone → Allow.

Yes. LiveStation is a website, not Discord. You open a room in the browser, share your screen or camera (and game audio) and send the link. People who join don't need to install anything.

Discord chat and voice stay on Discord. Here you get the screen, the camera, and several lives (Twitch, YouTube, Kick) on one screen. Free.

In the share modal, with audio on, there are two modes.

Microphone: your voice, in mono. Headset, laptop mic, or USB mic. You can use Voice (browser filters), Pro audio, manual gain, and a noise gate.

Line input: mixing desk or USB interface, in stereo L/R, as Opus at 192 kbps. Echo cancellation, noise reduction and auto gain stay off. The gain slider is hidden: volume comes from the desk. The meter shows L and R separately. If you see MONO, that device is delivering a single channel. A PC headphone jack is often like that, with Windows auto gain.

💡 Connect the desk's L/R output to a USB interface (or use the desk's own USB) and pick that device in the list. Use headphones, or keep the PC away from the PA, to avoid feedback.

They apply only to Microphone. Line input already passes the sound raw.

Voice (default): the browser handles echo, background noise and volume, like a call. Best for a headset, and if a speaker is in the same room.

Pro audio: those filters turn off. Use it when gain is already set on the interface. Without headphones, the speaker comes back into the mic.

Manual gain (0 to 200%) only shows for the microphone. 100% is unity. The noise gate is optional: it turns the floor down when you stop talking, without the heavy compressor we used to have.

On the screen player (yours or whoever is broadcasting) there is a red record button. The file stays only on the PC of the person who clicked. It is not uploaded to LiveStation. The broadcaster can see that someone is recording.

Chrome or Edge on desktop: the click opens Save as. Pick the drive, the folder and the name. Next time the browser reopens the last folder.

Firefox, Safari and phones: the site writes to a private file for the page. When you stop, the file goes to downloads (or the folder you set in the browser).

There is no 20-minute cap. While recording, the button shows time and size. If the tab closes mid-recording, the next visit to the room offers a download of what was already saved, or discard it.

On Chrome and Edge, yes. In Save as, switch to the other disk (D:, E:, external drive). The site remembers that folder for the next recording.

The live view shows the already-decoded frame. Recording compresses it again. Without a high bitrate, 1080p looked blocky. The file now follows the screen resolution: about 10 Mbps at 1080p 30 FPS and 15 Mbps at 1080p 60 FPS. Close to the live picture, not identical. The file is larger (around 75 MB per minute at 1080p30).

Recording audio: voice at 128 kbps, stereo line input at 192 kbps.

The site cannot list Speakers, HDMI or headphones as a source. The browser only captures inputs, not the playback device. It is not like OBS.

For sound the PC is already playing (game, YouTube, Discord):

1️⃣ Share the entire screen and check Share system audio. That mix sits next to the microphone or the line in the mixer.
2️⃣ Or use a virtual cable as an input: Voicemeeter Out, CABLE Output, Stereo Mix. The output becomes an input, and you pick it under Microphone or Line input.

⚠️ If line-in is already Voicemeeter B2 and you pick the same device again, the sound doubles. Capturing the speakers with the mic open, in the same room, feeds back. Use headphones.