Cue · the streaming engine Primcast builds

Cue streaming engine: live video in from anywhere, out to every screen.

Cue is the streaming engine we make ourselves — a media server that runs on your own dedicated server. It takes live video from OBS, a hardware encoder, an IP camera or a TV feed, and sends it to phones, browsers, smart TVs and other servers in the form each one plays. Quality versions for slow connections, rewind, captions, DRM, ads and a complete IPTV service come built in.

Get a server with Cue I already have a server See what it runs

One signal goes in once; Cue hands each screen the format it plays.

What you can run on it

Five jobs Cue was built for.

1

A live channel on your website

Go live from OBS or vMix and your viewers watch in any browser or phone. When delay matters, Low-Latency HLS kept a player about six seconds behind live in our own tests, and WebRTC plays under a second behind.

2

A TV or IPTV service

Bring channels in from a head-end as multicast MPEG-TS and send them to apps and set-top boxes as HLS, DASH or MPEG-TS, with the ad breaks (SCTE-35) still marked. Cue can run the service too: subscriber lines, channel packages and catch-up for the IPTV apps your customers already use.

3

Cameras on a web page

Cue pulls IP cameras over RTSP with each camera’s own login and turns them into a stream every browser can play.

4

Feeds across the open internet

Send a studio or a remote location to your server over SRT, encrypted with your stream password, instead of trusting a plain RTMP link.

5

Streaming for your own clients

Hand your clients the Cue Reseller Panel: their own logins for live channels, TV, on-demand video and radio.

In one side, out the other

Whatever sends the video, whoever watches it.

Goes in

  • Streaming apps and encodersRTMPRTMPS
  • Remote studios, over the internetSRT
  • Encoders that send WebRTCWebRTC (WHIP)
  • IP camerasRTSP
  • TV head-endsMPEG-TS multicastMPEG-TS over HTTP
  • Another streaming serverHLSRTMPSRT

Comes out

  • Browsers and phonesHLSLow-Latency HLS
  • Viewers who need it live, right nowWebRTC, under a second behind
  • Smart TVs and set-top boxesMPEG-DASHMPEG-TS
  • Studios, players and other serversRTMPSRTRTSP
  • Your website’s previewsa picture of every live stream

Every input reaches every output at the same time. A video is only re-encoded when you ask for lower-quality versions for slow connections.

Everything Cue does

Tap a card to see what’s inside.

Keeps viewers watching when a source drops
  • Give a pulled stream up to four backup addresses. Cue switches to the next one that works, and goes back to the main one when it returns.
  • A drop of up to ten seconds is a pause for your viewers, not a stream that ends under their player.
  • When your encoder reconnects, it gets its stream back straight away.
Makes smaller versions for slow connections
  • Pick HD, SD or Mobile and Cue makes the lower qualities (720p, 480p, 360p for HD) next to your original, all switching at the same moment so players change smoothly.
  • The work is done by an NVIDIA card or the Intel Quick Sync graphics in the processor, or by the processor itself on a server without either.
  • On the m710x server we built Cue on, seven full-HD channels got their versions made live at once. We plan on six to leave room.
Puts your logo on, in the right language
  • Add your logo in any corner, at the size and see-through level you like.
  • Clean up interlaced video from older cameras, turn the sound up or down, and choose which of the feed’s audio tracks people hear.
  • These go on the quality versions that browsers and apps play; RTMP, SRT, RTSP and WebRTC get the stream exactly as it came in.
  • A feed with several languages can reach viewers with each one named, and they switch between them in the player (with fMP4 or Low-Latency HLS, or DASH).
  • Captions that come in with a live feed (CEA-608 or teletext) reach viewers as subtitles they can turn on.
Live in under a second, over https
  • Publish from encoders that speak WebRTC, and let viewers watch over WebRTC less than a second behind live.
  • Everyday players stay close too: Low-Latency HLS runs about six seconds behind live, and DASH players get the same low-latency stream.
  • Give your server a name and switch on a free Let’s Encrypt certificate in Cue: your streams and the interface go https, and the certificate renews itself.
Lets viewers rewind
  • Turn on DVR and viewers can go back through the broadcast, then return to live.
  • Download any part of a broadcast as an MP4, cut where you asked, or save a clip to the channel’s library.
Keeps your stream yours
  • Every channel has its own publishing password.
  • Signed links that expire, so a link copied off your site stops working.
  • Allow or block addresses, and choose which websites may embed your player.
  • Set a viewer limit per channel, or let your own login system decide who may watch and who may broadcast.
Works with ads and your other systems
  • Ad breaks (SCTE-35) in an SRT, MPEG-TS or RTMP feed are marked in the HLS stream, in every quality, for ad platforms to read, whether your encoder signals them with splice_insert or time_signal.
  • Each break begins on a fresh piece of video, cut exactly where the ad starts, so an ad platform can swap in whole pieces with nothing of your programme left over.
  • No cue in the feed? Your scheduling system can start, end or call off a break through Cue’s API, and Cue treats it as if the encoder had sent it.
  • Or let Cue put the ads in itself: at each break it asks your ad server (VAST or VMAP) what to play and slots the ads into the stream, made to match every quality, for HLS and DASH players alike.
  • Each viewer counts once per ad: your ad server hears the impression, the start, the quarter marks and the finish, whichever quality they watched it in.
  • Cue tells your systems when a stream starts or stops, when a source drops or returns and when a recording finishes, and keeps trying until they hear it.
Hosts your video library
  • Upload a video in several qualities and Cue plays it as one stream that adapts to each viewer’s connection, starting light so it opens quickly.
  • Add subtitle files and viewers pick their language in the player, each one shown under its own name.
  • A poster, a strip of previews for scrubbing and chapter marks come with every video.
  • Let viewers download a video, or play it as a plain MP4 in any browser.
Protects your video, and sells it
  • Apple FairPlay and Google Widevine protection from a single copy of each stream, on your own Apple and Google agreements, with the keys handed out by your own server.
  • Microsoft PlayReady as well, for Edge, Xbox and smart TVs: Cue passes each licence request to your own PlayReady licence service, under the same viewer rules, and gives it the keys encrypted to your certificate.
  • Or keep it simple with AES-128 encrypted HLS, its keys changing as the stream runs.
  • Want to charge for it? The Cue player sells subscriptions, single videos and event tickets, paid into your own account.
Plays nicely with players and CDNs
  • Players on other websites can load your stream without extra setup.
  • A CDN in front of Cue can cache the video pieces.
  • Old encoders that still send MP3 sound are carried as they are.
Runs your IPTV service
  • Subscriber lines with a username and password or a box’s MAC address, an end date, a limit on screens at once, and free trials.
  • Packages of live channels, films and series, served through the player API and M3U playlists that apps like TiviMate and IPTV Smarters already read, with an XMLTV programme guide.
  • Catch-up TV from the guide, Enigma2 bouquets, and the portal MAG set-top boxes sign in to.
  • See who is watching and cut a line off, keep an activity log, and let resellers sell lines with credits.

Cue, Wowza and Flussonic

Three engines. Only one ticks every box.

On the basics, the three are level: the 28 features at the bottom of this section are in all of them. The five points below are where they differ. Wowza has one of them, Flussonic two, and Cue all five.

Wowza Streaming Engine 4.11

1 of 5

  • Runs on Windows Server too
  • Complete IPTV service, MAG and Enigma2 boxes included (no)
  • Inserts ads itself only through ad partners
  • Nothing extra to install, no Java to tune (no)
  • A panel for reselling streams (no)

Flussonic Media Server 26.09

2 of 5

  • Runs on Windows Server too Linux only, or inside Docker
  • Complete IPTV service only basic: users, packages, playlists; MAG boxes need extra middleware
  • Inserts ads itself
  • Nothing extra to install, no Java to tune
  • A panel for reselling streams (no)

Cue Streaming Engine today

5 of 5

  • Runs on Windows Server too 2012 R2, 2019, 2022 and 2025
  • Complete IPTV service subscriber lines, bouquets, playlists, TV guide, catch-up, MAG and Enigma2 boxes
  • Inserts ads itself in every quality, on HLS and DASH
  • Nothing extra to install, no Java to tune
  • A panel for reselling streams the Cue Reseller Panel, licensed on its own

The 28 features all three have

Cue has every one of them as well.

  • RTMP and RTMPS in
  • SRT in and out
  • WebRTC in and out
  • RTSP cameras and publishing
  • Multicast TV feeds
  • HLS
  • Low-Latency HLS
  • MPEG-DASH
  • Several audio languages
  • RTMP, SRT and RTSP out
  • Quality versions for slow connections
  • Encoding on NVIDIA cards or Intel graphics
  • Your logo on the picture
  • Stream previews
  • Rewind and time-shift
  • MP4 clips
  • Captions on live streams
  • Ad-break markers
  • Apple, Google and Microsoft DRM
  • AES-128 encrypted HLS
  • Signed links
  • Your own login check
  • IP and website locks
  • https for your server’s name
  • Viewer limits
  • Backup sources
  • Webhooks
  • On-demand video with subtitles

What Wowza and Flussonic do comes from each company’s own documentation for Wowza Streaming Engine 4.11.3 and Flussonic Media Server 26.09, read in September and October 2026.

How you get Cue

Three steps, and two of them are ours.

  1. 1

    Pick your server

    The button opens our m710x server with Cue already added. The other servers that offer Cue are listed below; on any of them, choose Linux or Windows Server (2012 R2, 2019, 2022 or 2025), then Software. Windows costs the same. Cue does not run on our ARM servers.

  2. 2

    We install it

    When your server is ready we install Cue and license it to that machine — on Windows Server it installs itself the first time Windows starts. There is nothing for you to download or set up.

  3. 3

    Sign in and go live

    Open Cue in your browser at your server’s address on port 8443. Your dashboard shows your Cue license and whether it is active.

Get a server with Cue

Or add Cue to one of these 15 servers:

What it costs

Cue is its own line on your bill.

You see what Cue costs and what the server costs, separately. There is a one-time setup fee for the install, and the monthly price stays the same whichever billing term you pick: paying for several months ahead lowers the server’s price, not Cue’s.

The figure for the server is the smallest m710x we build; the configurator shows the exact total as you change it, and US sales tax is added at checkout where it applies.

Get a server with Cue

Cue Media Server

$195/month

  • One-time setup$29.99
  • Licensed toone server
  • Our m710x serverfrom $62.58/mo
  • Both togetherfrom $257.58/mo

HPE ProLiant m710x: Intel Xeon E3-1585L v5 Quad Core 3.00 Ghz · 32 GB DDR4 · 1 × NVMe-SSD 240 GB · 1 Gbps

Already have a server?

Put Cue on the server you already have.

You can also buy Cue as a licence on its own, for a server at any hosting company. Paste two commands on that server and the licence ties itself to it the first time Cue starts. You do the install, so you pay no setup fee.

It needs Linux — Ubuntu 18.04 or newer, Debian 11 or newer, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux or RHEL 8 or newer, or CentOS 7 or 8 — or Windows Server 2012 R2, 2019, 2022 or 2025, on an Intel or AMD processor. Once you have paid, your dashboard shows your key next to the commands.

On its own, the panel runs your clients’ SHOUTcast and Icecast radio stations, and live channels on Wowza Streaming Engine; TV and on-demand services need Cue Media Server on the same server.

Buy a Cue licence

Cue Media Server, on your server

$195/month

The monthly price is the same on every billing term.

Selling streaming to your own clients?

Cue Reseller Panel

Give your clients their own logins for live video, video on demand, TV channels and radio stations, in a panel built into Cue.

  • With Cue Media Server or Wowza Streaming Engineorder them together and you pay one setup fee, not two
  • On its ownorder it without an engine for SHOUTcast and Icecast radio stations
  • For a server you already havebuy the panel as a licence on its own, no setup fee; on its own it runs your clients’ radio stations and live channels on Wowza Streaming Engine, and TV and on-demand services need Cue Media Server beside it
Cue Reseller Panel$49/monthwith Cue Streaming Engine + Management: $244/month for both, $29.99 setup onceon its own: + $29.99 setupGet Cue Streaming Engine + Management with the panel
See everything the panel does

Good to know

Before you order.

Questions

What people ask about Cue

What is a streaming engine, and why run my own?

A streaming engine is the program that receives your live video and turns it into streams people can watch on their devices. Running your own on your own server means the channels, the viewers and the settings are yours: you decide who watches, how many can, and where the video goes next.

How is Cue different from Wowza or Flussonic?

The everyday parts are the same in all three: video in from encoders and cameras, out to every kind of screen, with quality versions, rewind, DRM and captions. Cue then has what the others lack. It runs on Windows Server, which Flussonic does not. It puts ads in by itself and needs no Java, where Wowza relies on ad partners and Java. It has a complete IPTV service and a panel for reselling streams, which neither offers. The comparison above lists it all.

Which apps and encoders can I stream from?

Anything that sends RTMP, RTMPS, SRT or RTSP, which covers OBS, vMix, Wirecast and FFmpeg. Encoders and phone apps that only have a stream key field work too: the password can go in the key.

Is Cue cheaper if I pay for a year?

No. Software is charged at its monthly price for every month of the term. Paying ahead still lowers the server’s own price.

What happens if my payment is late?

Cue checks its license twice a day and each license lasts a week. While your account is active nothing changes; if the account stops carrying Cue, streaming stops when the last license runs out.

Not quite what you need?

Read the Cue manualAlready moved, or moving soon? How to get into the console and where everything is now. Servers for streamingBare metal with unmetered bandwidth, whatever engine you choose. Size the machine firstPorts from the included gigabit to 100 Gbps, sized by viewers, with Cue or any other engine installed on request. Transcoding with NVIDIAGPU servers that make quality versions on the card, for Flussonic, Wowza or FFmpeg. Keep WowzaA server with Wowza Streaming Engine licensed and managed for you. Keep FlussonicA server with Flussonic Media Server, for IPTV, live video and VOD. Skip the serverLive video plans on our own servers: RTMP in, HLS out, a player to embed.