Does the original HELO work, or only the HELO Plus?

Both work. The HELO Plus adds the second encoder (so stream and record can run at different qualities), HDMI as well as SDI, and picture-in-picture. An original HELO streams to PealCast over the same SRT settings.

Why caller mode and not listener?

Caller means the HELO starts the connection outward to PealCast, which works from inside a church network with no ports opened and no help from whoever manages your firewall. Listener would mean waiting for a connection into your building. The HELO supports both; use caller.

Is the HELO Plus worth it over a $899 Magewell?

Honestly, for most churches, no. The Magewell Ultra Encode AIO streams and records to a card for less than half the price. The HELO earns its money when the archive matters as much as the stream — recording straight to a network drive at full quality, on an appliance built to be installed once and left alone. If that is not your situation, spend the difference on a better camera.

Can it stream to PealCast and record at the same time?

Yes, and that is the main reason to own one. The two encoders are independent, so the recording can be a higher-quality file than the stream and lands on your SD card, USB drive or network share while the service is going out live. PealCast also keeps a recording of every broadcast, so you end up with both.

Our stream will not connect. What should we check?

Three things, in order: that SRT mode is caller; that encryption is enabled and the passphrase matches exactly; and that the stream ID was pasted whole, with nothing trimmed from either end. Almost every failed SRT connection is one of those three.

Can it send the same service to a social platform as well?

The HELO Plus can push two destinations, but we would not use the second one for social. PealCast is where your people watch, and that is what lets us hand you their names and numbers; the same service on a free platform sends part of your congregation somewhere that will never tell you who showed up.

PealCast works with
AJA HELO.

The HELO Plus streams your service to PealCast and records a full-quality archive to your own network drive at the same time — and every viewer becomes a name your team can follow up on Monday.

Built to not fail

The HELO Plus is an installed appliance with front-panel buttons: press stream, press record. There is no computer to wake up, no window to find, and no update that lands at the wrong moment.

Stream and archive at once

Two encoders inside mean the live stream and the recording are separate jobs. Your archive is a clean, full-quality file on your own network drive — never the compromised copy.

Now every viewer is a name

The moment someone watches on PealCast, they connect with a verified mobile number — and every Monday your team gets the Shepherd’s Report of who to welcome and who to check on.

Set up a HELO in 5 steps

Copy your PealCast SRT address

Start free, open your channel in PealCast and go to Stream Info. Switch the toggle to SRT and copy the address. It looks like srt://live.pealcast.io:778?streamid=…&passphrase=… — you are about to split it across the HELO’s fields.

Open the HELO’s web interface

On a computer on the same network, browse to the HELO’s IP address (it is shown on the front panel display) and open the Config page. Everything below happens in this browser page, which is also how your AV lead can help remotely later.

Set the streaming type to SRT, in caller mode

In the stream settings, choose SRT as the streaming type and Caller as the mode. Caller means the HELO reaches out to us, which is what works from inside a church network without opening any ports. (The HELO also offers listener mode — PealCast does not use it.)

Fill in the host, port, stream ID and passphrase

Host / destination: live.pealcast.io · Port: 778 · Stream ID: the value from streamid= in your address · Encryption passphrase: the value from passphrase=. Exact field names shift a little between firmware versions, but those four values are always what it is asking for.

Set the video profile, then press Stream

Set the stream profile to 1920×1080, H.264, CBR at 4,500–6,000 Kbps with a 2-second keyframe interval, and AAC audio at 48 kHz. Press the Stream button on the front panel (or in the browser) and your service is live — and if you press Record too, you get the archive at the same time.

Field names move around a little between HELO firmware versions — the four values you are entering never change.

One address, four fields

PealCast gives you a single SRT address. The HELO asks for it in pieces, so here is exactly which piece goes where.

srt://live.pealcast.io:778?streamid=YOUR_STREAM_ID&passphrase=YOUR_PASSPHRASE

Host / destination

live.pealcast.io

The hostname only — no “srt://” and no port.

Port

778

The number after the colon in your address.

Stream ID

The value after streamid=

Everything between “streamid=” and the “&”. Paste it exactly, including any slashes.

Passphrase

The value after passphrase=

Everything after “passphrase=” to the end. Enable encryption or the passphrase is ignored and the connection is refused.

Your passphrase is a password. Anyone who has it can stream as your church.

Prefer RTMPS? That works too.

Also fully supported

Every PealCast channel comes with both an SRT and an RTMPS address, and the HELO Plus can hold two destinations — so you can configure both and switch without re-typing anything.

Set the stream type to RTMP

In the same Config → Streaming page, choose RTMP instead of SRT. The HELO Plus holds two destinations, so you can keep the SRT one configured alongside it.

Paste the RTMPS URL and stream key

RTMP URL: your PealCast RTMPS address (rtmps://live.pealcast.io/live/) · Stream name/key: your PealCast stream key. ⚠️ The stream key is a DIFFERENT value from the SRT passphrase — copy it from the RTMPS tab in PealCast.

Leave the video and audio profile alone

1080p, H.264, CBR, 2-second keyframes and AAC audio are identical on both protocols. Only the destination changes.

We still recommend SRT where you have it: it recovers from the packet loss that freezes a stream mid-service, and RTMPS has no such recovery.

The exact settings

Grouped by the section of the HELO’s web interface each one lives in.

Config → Streaming

Stream type: SRT
SRT mode: Caller — not listener or rendezvous
Host: live.pealcast.io
Port: 778
Stream ID: Your PealCast SRT stream ID
Encryption / passphrase: Enabled, with your PealCast SRT passphrase
Latency: There is nothing to set. AJA’s SRT Caller settings are the destination URL, stream ID, security and passphrase — the HELO Plus manual lists no latency field, so the unit runs SRT’s default buffer. That is still far better than RTMP at recovering lost packets, and it makes the auto-reconnect settings below the ones that actually protect your service.

Config → Video + Audio (stream profile)

Resolution: 1920×1080 — send full HD; we make the smaller versions for slower connections automatically
Codec: H.264 (AVC)
Frame rate: 30 fps (or match your camera)
Bitrate control: CBR
Video bitrate: 4,500–6,000 Kbps — 6,000 for high-motion worship, 4,500 for a talking head or slides
Keyframe interval: 2 seconds
Audio: AAC, 48 kHz, 160 Kbps

Config → Recording (optional, but recommended)

Record profile: Higher than the stream — this file is your archive, so let it be the good copy
Destination: SD card, USB drive, or an SMB/NFS network share
Trigger: Press Record on the front panel with Stream, or schedule it — the two are independent

Comparing boxes before you buy? See the five encoders we recommend.

AJA HELO questions

Point your HELO at PealCast — and know who watched.

Start free, add PealCast as an SRT destination, and see the Shepherd’s Report on your own stream.

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PealCast works with AJA HELO.