Periscope on PC Archives

Periscope is one of the most widely adopted live streaming services. Whether you use it for broadcasting events or something more personal, the Twitter-owned platform is a solid option.

Unfortunately, Periscope is far from perfect. It can be unreliable during streams and, more importantly, there's no obvious way to download Periscope videos for offline viewing.

However, there are some third-party alternatives available to help you download Periscope broadcasts. And in this article we'll show you the best ways to download Periscope videos.

How to Download Your Own Periscope Streams

If the broadcast you're looking to download is your own, there is an official method to do it. Once your stream has ended, all your videos are saved to your account's Analytics dashboard.

To download them, head over to the page by tapping your profile picture on the Periscope website. There, hover over the video entry you'd like to grab and click the blue icon for requesting the file. Periscope will take a few minutes to process the request, and once done, you should be able to download the broadcast by clicking the green button.

Unfortunately, this doesn't work on Periscope's mobile apps. What you can do, however, is enable the Autosave setting on the Android and iOS app. This will automatically store your broadcasts locally on your phone as soon as they end. You can find the option under Account > Settings > Autosave Broadcast.

Periscope also lets you download a bunch of other data from your account. This includes information such as your chat history, viewing history, and more. You can request it by visiting your Periscope data page and signing in.

How to Download Other People's Periscope Videos

For downloading Periscope videos recorded by other users, you will have to employ third-party tools.

The first step towards downloading someone else's broadcast is to grab the link to the video. You can do this by playing the video on the Periscope website and copying the URL from the address bar at the top.

Next, on computers, you can visit GetVideo and simply paste the video's address in the search field where it says Enter a Video link. Hit the blue Search button and if successful, the app will show the clip's length, name, and a Download link for transferring its MP4 file. Just click that button and you're all set.

You can, of course, perform the same steps on a mobile browser for downloading Periscope broadcasts on your phone. But there's also an app if you don't want to go through the hassle of navigating around the website.

It's called Scopedown and it functions in a similar way to GetVideo. You paste the link, hit the Download Video button, and the Periscope broadcast will soon be saved on your phone. Unlike the GetVideo website, though, Scopedown stores these videos in the .ts format instead of .mp4. This means they will be slightly larger in size.

Unfortunately, Scopedown doesn't have an iOS client yet and there are no alternatives available for iOS. Therefore, iOS users will have to depend on the website or try this technique...

Save Periscope Broadcasts Using Screen-Recording

The third, and perhaps clumsiest, way of grabbing a Periscope broadcast for offline use is by screen-recording them as they play out.

The process involves playing the entire broadcast and employing a screencasting tool to record your device's screen. That being said, if you want to record live broadcasts, this is the only way.

On macOS, you need to launch QuickTime Player, and under the File menu, click New Screen Recording. Now, open the Periscope broadcast in your browser and hit the red record button on the QuickTime Player popup. Drag your mouse over the video frame you'd like to record or you can go full-screen and get the whole clip in landscape mode. Once it's over, you can stop the recording from QuickTime Player's menu bar options.

Windows also has an inbuilt utility for recording your computer's screen. However, unlike macOS, you cannot select a specific portion. You will have to record it in full-screen landscape orientation. To reveal the screencasting menu, press the Windows key + G and hit record.

If none of those native features work for you, you can try one of these screencasting apps for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

In addition, you can download Chrome extensions like Nimbus, which can record tabs. However, you will lose a significant amount of quality and face stuttering playback issues.

Similarly, iOS users can utilize the native screen recording option. To add it to the control center for quick access, go to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls, and under More Controls, locate Screen Recording tap the green plus button. Now, fire up the broadcast you'd like to download on the Periscope app. Pull up the control center, touch the screen recording button, and off you go.

Android users, on the other hand, will have to download a dedicated third-party app from the Play Store. We recommend AZ Screen Recorder. It's free, can record HD videos, and has a host of other settings you can tweak. To use it, simply launch the app, and tap the record button once you've got the Periscope stream running.

Master the Art of Streaming in Periscope

Live streaming is a growing sector, hence the demand for more ways to download videos. Utilizing the tools here, you should be able to save all of the Periscope videos you want.

However, there's more to live streaming than just watching. So if you're keen to start broadcasting for yourself, here are some essential Periscope tips and tricks.

What Happened
Twitter is unbundling Periscope from the smartphone camera with the launch of Periscope Producer, an API that allows select users to stream high-quality, live video from external sources, including “streaming software, hardware encoders, and professional cameras.” Periscope has been testing this new product in the past few weeks, during which brands and media partners such as Louis Vuitton and NBC leveraged it to broadcast professionally made video content.

What Brands Should Do
The launch of Periscope Producer marks a major step in Periscope’s quest for more quality video content from media companies and experienced content creators, who can now take footage from professional cameras and use editing software to add multiple camera angles, on-screen graphics, and pre- or post-roll ads to their Periscope stream.

The immediacy that livestreaming brings to content makes it a good format for brands looking to engage with online audiences. Early-adopting brands such as Popeyes and McDonald’s have been organizing live events to launch new products and engage with fans. Brands looking to improve the quality of their live video content on Periscope can sign up here to try it.

Source: ReCode

Header image is a promotional image courtesy of Periscope’s Medium Blog

In the day and age of relentless questioning of the trustworthiness of traditional media, being able to see historic events unfold through the eyes of the people who are directly affected by them is a real game-changer.

Founded on the belief that live video is a powerful source of truth and connects us in an authentic way with the world around us, Periscope is a live video streaming app for iOS and Android owned by Twitter and originally developed by Kayvon Beykpour and Joe Bernstein. It empowers people to broadcast video using a smartphone camera to the millions of Periscope users. But what if you would rather watch Periscope broadcasts on a PC? Is there a way how you can bring live, user-generated video content on a large monitor? Yes, and not just one.

Periscope Web Viewer

Depending on how you’d like to use Periscope, you might be content with the official web app, which lets you search through archived broadcasts and watch select broadcasts live. You can log in with your Periscope account, comment, share broadcasts on social media, and more. Similar functionality is offered by third-party aggregates of Periscope streams such as On Periscope or Periscope for Web.

However, none of the available online solutions come close to the functionality of the official mobile app. If you want to experience everything Periscope has to offer on a PC, continue reading to learn how to get the Periscope mobile app on your computer.

App Runtime for Chrome (ARC)

Google has created a Chrome plugin that makes it possible to run Android apps in the Chrome web browser. The plugin is called App Runtime for Chrome, or ARC, and it’s available in Chrome Web Store.

1. Download and install Google Chrome Go to the official website of Google Chrome and download the installation file for your PC. Launch the downloaded installation file and follow the directions. The installer will automatically download the latest version of Google Chrome and install it on your computer.
2. Install ARC: Go to Chrome Web Store and add ARC Welder to Chrome. Keep in mind that there’s a different version of ARC for Chrome OS and for Windows. To add ARC to Chrome, simply click on the blue Add to Chrome button in the top-right corner.
3. Download the latest Periscope APK file: ARK can’t download Android apps from Play Store; it can only run downloaded APK files. Luckily, you can easily secure the latest APK file for Periscope from the web. APKMirror should have a download link for the latest version. If it doesn’t, there are many other similar websites out there—just use Google.
4. Open ARC and load the downloaded Periscope APK file: ARC can be opened by clicking on the Apps button located in the bookmarks bar of Google Chrome. After you open ARC, a window resembling a smartphone screen will appear, prompting you to load an APK file. Select the downloaded Periscope APK file and wait for it to load. Then press the Test button to start the Periscope app on your PC.

Android Emulator

Android emulators aren’t nothing new under the sun—even the official development environment comes with one. That said, we can guarantee that you’d get tired of using the official development emulator to run Periscope on your PC. It’s clunky, it’s not really optimized for performance, and it targets developers and not regular computer users. Fortunately, there are many third-party Android emulators that remove all complexity from running Android app on PC.

1. Bluestacks

Bluestacks was founded in 2011, and its user base has since then ballooned up to more than 130 million users from around the world. Given its long history, it’s not a surprise that Bluestacks supports the vast majority of Android apps and games and is optimized to the highest degree. The latest version, Bluestacks 3, has an integrated app center, a built-in chat app, a state-of-the-art engine that automatically adjusts various emulation parameters to deliver excellent performance, and more.

Download it now: here

2. Andy

Andy is a free, user-friendly Android emulator that provides seamless sync between desktop and mobile devices and enables app download from any desktop browser direct to Andy OS. With Andy, you can use your mobile device to control the Android apps on your PC, but you can also connect your Xbox or PlayStation controller and use it instead.

Download it now: here

3. Ko Player

Ko Player is an upcoming Android emulator with support for OpenGL acceleration, video recording, external input devices, and multiple accounts, just to name a few interesting features. Despite its apparent focus on Android games, Ko Player supports most Android apps, including Periscope. Ko Player maintains its own database of APK files, making it easy to locate, download, and launch the latest version of Periscope.

Screen Mirroring

If you have a very slow PC, Android emulation may not be the right option for you as an alternative to ARC Welder. What you could try instead is mirroring your smartphone to your PC. This is easily done if you have a Chromecast-enabled monitor or if you download AllCast Receiver for Chrome.

You can also consider rooting your Android device and installing a more capable mirroring solution such as AirDroid 3 with its AirMirror feature. All you need to do to mirror Periscope running on your Android smartphone to your PC with the latest version of AirDroid is connect both devices to the same wireless network and launch AirMirror. Unless there’s too much traffic on your local Wi-Fi network, you should enjoy a lag-free Periscope experience on your PC.