247Live — 24/7 Automated Live Streaming Playout

Continuous live stream that reads video clips from TrueNAS and pushes to Twitch (multi-platform ready).

Architecture

TrueNAS (192.168.1.98)
  └── /mnt/tank/247Live/        ← Drop clips here via SMB/WinSCP
          │ NFS4
          ▼
247Live VM (192.168.1.6)
  └── /srv/clips/               ← NFS mount
          │
          ▼
  generate_playlist.sh          ← Randomizes clip order
          │
          ▼
  playout.sh                    ← Loops clips via ffmpeg, reshuffles on each cycle
          │
          ▼
  rtmp://live.twitch.tv/...     ← Streams to Twitch (or multi-platform via tee)

Quick Start

# Start streaming
sudo systemctl start playout

# Watch live logs
sudo journalctl -fu playout

# Stop streaming
sudo systemctl stop playout

Adding Video Clips

Upload .mp4, .mkv, .mov, .avi, .flv, or .ts files to the 247Live dataset on TrueNAS.

From Windows (recommended for clients):

• Map a network drive to \\192.168.1.98\247Live
• Or use WinSCP: host 192.168.1.98, port 22, user root

From Linux/Mac:

scp *.mp4 root@192.168.1.98:/mnt/tank/247Live/

New clips are picked up automatically within 6 hours (timer), or immediately on service restart.

How It Works

1. generate_playlist.sh scans /srv/clips for video files, randomizes the order, writes a playlist to /tmp/playlist.txt
2. playout.sh reads the playlist via ffmpeg, encodes to 1080p H.264, and pushes via RTMP
3. When ffmpeg finishes all clips or crashes, playout.sh reshuffles and restarts automatically (inner loop)
4. playout-refresh.timer restarts the service every 6 hours to pick up new clips from TrueNAS
5. playout.service runs as vortek user with credentials passed via systemd LoadCredential

Stream Keys

Keys are stored securely in /etc/credstore/ (root-only, chmod 600). They are passed to the service at runtime via systemd LoadCredential — never in scripts or version control.

Update a key

# YouTube
sudo bash -c 'echo -n "YOUR_KEY" > /etc/credstore/yt_key'

# Twitch
sudo bash -c 'echo -n "YOUR_KEY" > /etc/credstore/tw_key'

# Kick
sudo bash -c 'echo -n "YOUR_KEY" > /etc/credstore/kick_key'

sudo chmod 600 /etc/credstore/*
sudo systemctl restart playout

Where to find your stream keys

Platform	Location
YouTube	YouTube Studio → Go Live → Stream tab
Twitch	Dashboard → Settings → Stream
Kick	Creator Dashboard → Settings → Stream

Enable multi-platform

Edit playout.sh and replace the -f flv line with:

-f tee "[f=flv]rtmp://live.twitch.tv/app/${TW_KEY}|[f=flv]rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/${YT_KEY}|[f=flv]rtmp://fa723fc1b171.global-contribute.live-video.net/app/${KICK_KEY}"

Then uncomment the LoadCredential lines in systemd/playout.service and add the keys to /etc/credstore/.

Timer

The playout auto-refreshes every 6 hours via systemd timer:

# Check timer status
sudo systemctl list-timers --all | grep playout

# Manually trigger a refresh
sudo systemctl start playout-refresh.service

# Change interval (edit the timer file)
sudo nano /opt/247live/systemd/playout-refresh.timer
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart playout-refresh.timer

Troubleshooting

# Service status
sudo systemctl status playout

# Check NFS mount
mount | grep nfs
ls /srv/clips/

# Count available clips
find /srv/clips -type f \( -name '*.mp4' -o -name '*.mkv' -o -name '*.mov' \) | wc -l

# Regenerate playlist manually
/opt/247live/scripts/generate_playlist.sh
cat /tmp/playlist.txt

# Test network to streaming platform
nc -zv live.twitch.tv 1935

# View recent logs
sudo journalctl -u playout --no-pager -n 50

Project Structure

/opt/247live/
├── scripts/
│   ├── generate_playlist.sh    # Scans clips, randomizes order, writes playlist
│   └── playout.sh              # FFmpeg loop — encodes and pushes to RTMP
├── systemd/
│   ├── playout.service         # Main streaming service (symlinked to /etc/systemd/system/)
│   ├── playout-refresh.timer   # Auto-restart every 6 hours
│   └── playout-refresh.service # Restarts playout when timer fires
├── .env.example                # Key template (no real keys committed)
├── .gitignore                  # Excludes secrets from version control
└── README.md                   # This file

Secrets Storage

• /etc/credstore/yt_key — YouTube RTMP URL
• /etc/credstore/tw_key — Twitch RTMP URL
• /etc/credstore/kick_key — Kick RTMP URL
• Permissions: root:root 700 (directory), 600 (files)
• Passed to service via LoadCredential in the systemd unit
• Never in scripts, environment files, or git