Create a custom channel

Networked VGA Grid has two styles of channels:

1. VGA Grid HD Encoder channels that fit the full screen, as discussed in Create an HD Encoder channel.
2. Custom channels with one or more sources, background matte color and images.

When creating a custom channel using content from a VGA Grid HD Encoder, you must first make sure the encoder is added as a local channel to the VGA Grid. See Add an HD Encoder as a source (custom channel).

With custom channels, you can organize sources, pictures and text overlays in different locations on your screen. We call these layouts, and each custom channel you create can have multiple layouts.

If you want to change the way things appear in your stream while streaming (aka video switching or video mixing), you'll need to create one layout for each of the views you want for your stream. Later, while you are streaming, you can switch live between the layouts using the Admin panel.

If you're planning to do live switching with your channel, we recommend you set the frame size to a fixed size instead of using the default automatic detection of source frame size. Setting the frame size to a fixed value ensures you don't experience any stream interruptions if the source frame size changes due to layouts that contain a single source that has a different frame size than those in other layouts.

The first thing you need to do is create your (first) layout. Before getting started with custom channel layouts we recommend you review the Custom channel layout editor and get some inspiration from our Custom channel examples. Then use the remaining topics in this section to help you create and configure your perfect custom channel layout(s)!

Once you have your layouts created, read about Live video mixing / switching to learn how to change between layouts while streaming and/or recording.

Each layout you add to your channel adds a bit of overhead on Networked VGA Grid- and more complex layouts take more resources. So it's a good idea to make sure you delete any layouts you're not using.