Review on Cerevo LiveShell X: HD Video Streamer with H.265 Encoder, WiFi/Wired Connection - Ustream, Niconico, YouTube, Facebook Live, Twitch Compatible by Jamal Edwards

I originally wrote a 2-star review for this device for two reasons: Periscope Pro incompatibility and battery issues. I'm happy to report that I've fixed both of those issues and it's a pretty solid little box now! First the problem with the periscope. The latest firmware (988) seems to have solved the problem with incompatible codecs. Now if you follow the same basic steps as you would with any other RTMP streamer, you should be fine. The only real trick is to enter your unique periscope streaming key in the "Stream" field (the periscope URL with "ca.pscp.tv." is included in the RTMP part of the URL). Set the baud rate to around 800 kb and the audio rate to around 96 kb and everything will work. Now to the problem with the battery. The problem with the battery is that it has built in overcharge protection and is shipped cold. This causes problems as the protection circuit doesn't have enough power to do anything and fails in the "open" state, telling the Cerevo box that there is no battery. As a result, LiveShell X on the 3rd right LED is solid amber, which according to the manual means "no battery connected". If you google "reset lithium ion battery protection" you will see many articles about similar issues with protected lithium ion batteries. So how to fix it? You need to charge the battery a bit first. A little just enough to"wake up" everyone. I can't post instructions on how to do this as the battery can explode if you get it wrong, but if you google enough you will find out. This involves plugging a charger or desktop power adapter directly into the battery for a few minutes to give it a little boost. The device does NOT have a built-in preset for the Facebook Live service, but it works well with Facebook Live. To do this, you need to press the Facebook Live "magic button”. Once you have done this, you will receive the server url and stream key. The server url is specified in the RTMP server field, the stream key is specified in the stream field. Works perfectly! Now you can stream Periscope, Facebook and Google at the same time. The box still has a few quirks - Wi-Fi is an odd setup (remember you need to install a Wi-Fi dongle - it's not built-in like other boxes). But in general I'm now a fan of this box. Really good unit.