It's always a good idea to test your stream before going live. That way, you have plenty of time to identify and fix issues before you're live in front of your audience. Here are a couple of ways to do that!
Record inside Restream
All of our paid plans allow you to record your audio and video without going live. This method is ideal for checking your overall setup and stream quality.
Follow the instructions here to start recording within Restream.
Once you're done, visit the Restream recordings page to download the stream or watch it as a preview. You'll be able to identify issues before the stream and ensure your audio and video sources work as expected.
Send a private stream to YouTube
Another way to test your stream in real conditions is to send private streams to platforms that support them, like YouTube. An added benefit of this method is that you'll get to see how your streams connect to and appear on the end platform.
YouTube
For YouTube, we suggest creating an unlisted stream.
Go to your Restream dashboard.
Click on "Edit Destinations".
Navigate to the "Edit" button next to your connected YouTube channel.
Go to the Privacy dropdown menu, select "Unlisted", and Save.
That's it! Once you go live to your connected YouTube channel via Studio or preferred software, the stream won't be available to your subscribers, but you'll be able to access your stream.
If you want to set up an event via Restream Events instead, you'll follow the same steps in setting the channel's visibility to Unlisted in the event creation portal.