# Complete channel and input details
The **Channel and input details** section of the **Create channel** page lets you do the following in the MediaLive that you are creating:
+ Select the IAM role that AWS Elemental MediaLive will use to access the channel when the channel is running (started).
+ Optionally select a template to use.
+ Select the channel class.
+ Complete input specification information.
+ Set up tagging.
**To provide channel and input details**
1. Open the MediaLive console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/medialive/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/medialive/).
1. Before creating a channel, make sure that you have [created the inputs](creating-input.md) that you will attach to the channel.
1. On the MediaLive home page, choose **Create channel**, and in the navigation pane, choose **Channels**.
If you've created a channel before, you won't see the home page. In that case, in the MediaLive navigation pane, choose **Channels**, and then choose **Create channel**.
1. On the **Create channel** page, choose **Channel and input details**.
1. Complete the sections:
+ In **General info**, for **Channel name**, type a name for your channel.
+ In **General info**, complete **IAM role**. See [IAM role and ARN](role-and-remember-arn.md).
+ You can optionally configure the channel by selecting and loading a channel template. For information about the **Channel template** section, see [Creating a channel from a template](creating-channel-template.md).
+ Your organization might have deployed a MediaLive Anywhere cluster, in order to run channels on on-premises hardware. In this case, complete the MediaLive Anywhere settings. You must specify the channel placement group that the channel belongs to, and the cluster that this channel placement group belongs to.
If you were involved in [designing the MediaLive Anywhere clusters](emla-deploy-design-cluster.md) in your organization, you should know which is the appropriate channel placement group and cluster. If you weren't involved in this design, you must obtain this information from the video engineer who was involved.
**Warning**
Don't arbitrarily choose a channel placement group and cluster. If you do, it's possible that the channel won't run because it will be assigned to a node that can't handle this type of input, or that future channels won't run, because you have overloaded the channel placement group.
+ In **Channel class**, choose the class. See [Channel class](channel-class.md).
With a regular MediaLive channel, you can set up the channel as a standard channel or a single-pipeline channel.
With a MediaLive Anywhere channel, you must set up the channel as a single-pipeline channel.
+ If you selected **SINGLE\$1PIPELINE** for channel class, you can optionally configure **Linked channel settings** to set up this channel as a primary or follower channel for pipeline locking. See [Linked channels for single-pipeline channels](channel-class.md#linked-channels).
+ In **Input specifications** and **CDI input specifications**, complete the fields to match your input. See [Input specifications settings](input-specification.md).
+ In **Output delivery**, set up the channel to deliver output via the public internet or your Amazon VPC.
With a regular MediaLive channel, you can set up in either way. For information about delivering via Amazon VPC, see [Delivering outputs via your VPC](delivery-out-vpc.md).
With a MediaLive Anywhere channel, you must set up the channel to use the public internet.
+ In the **Tags **section, create tags if you want to associate tags with this channel. For more information, see [Tagging resources](tagging.md).
1. When ready, go to the [next section](creating-a-channel-step2.md).
# IAM role and ARN
This section describes how to complete the **IAM role** section in the **General info** section of the **Channel and input details** pane.
You must choose a role for MediaLive to assume when it works with this channel. If you don't choose a role, you can't create the channel. There are two general scenarios, depending on whether your organization has a designated administrator.
**Note**
This section on the MediaLive console is identical to the **IAM role** section on the **Create input** page for a MediaConnect push input (also on the MediaLive console). The difference in the two usages is that on the **Create channel** page, you attach the role to the channel. On the **Create input** page, you attach the role to the MediaConnect input. You can use the same role (for example, the **MediaLiveAccessRole**) in both usages.
There are two general scenarios for choosing a role, depending on whether your organization has a designated administrator.
## Your organization has a designated administrator
Your organization might have an administrator who manages this service. That administrator has likely set up one or more roles:
+ Ask the administrator or your manager which role to use. Or if only one rule is listed in **Use existing role**, choose that role.
+ If the only rule that is listed is **MediaLiveAccessRole**, choose that role. In addition, if the **Update** button is displayed beside this role name, choose the button. (The button does not always appear, but whenever it does appear, choose it to refresh the role.)
+ If you want the selected ARN to appear first in the list next time, select **Remember ARN**.
## Your organization has no administrator
Your organization might not have a designated service administrator. In this case, if none of your colleagues have set up a suitable role, you might have to create one yourself and then choose it.
+ You can create the default role, called **MediaLiveAccessRole**. To first check if someone else has already created this role (only one person needs to create it for all users in your AWS account), look at **Create role from template**:
+ If this option is grayed out, this task has been done. In that case, choose **Use existing role**, and then choose **MediaLiveAccessRole** from the list.
+ If this option is not grayed out, choose **Create role from template**, and then choose **Create IAM role**. Next, choose that role from the list. If MediaLive does not let you create the role, speak to an administrator about your IAM permissions.
+ If the **MediaLiveAccessRole** has already been created and the **Update** button is displayed beside it, choose the button. (The button does not always appear, but whenever it does appear, choose it to refresh the role.)
+ If you want the selected ARN to appear first in the list next time, select **Remember ARN**.
# Channel class
When you [planned the workflow](plan-redundancy-mode.md), you decided whether to set up the MediaLive channel as a standard channel (with two pipelines) or a single-pipeline channel. You must now specify the class in the channel configuration.
For **Channel class**, choose `STANDARD` or `SINGLE_PIPELINE`.
## Standard class
With this class, the channel contains two pipelines. The input for the channel has two entry points. The upstream system sends identical source streams to these two entry points, to provide content to two pipelines within the channel. MediaLive performs identical processing on both pipelines. For each output that you configure (for example, for both HLS output and RTMP output), the two pipelines deliver identical content to two destinations on the downstream system.
## Single pipeline class
With this class, the channel contains one pipeline. For each output that you configure, the channel delivers content to one destination on the downstream system.
### Linked channels for single-pipeline channels
When you select **SINGLE\$1PIPELINE** as the channel class, additional fields appear for configuring linked channels. Linked channels enable pipeline locking for single-pipeline channels.
You can configure a single-pipeline channel as either:
+ **Primary channel**: The owner of the linked group. The primary channel establishes the linked channel relationship. The primary channel does not need to be running for the follower channel to function.
+ **Follower channel**: A channel that participates in the linked group. You must specify the ARN of the primary channel to join the linked group.
Linked channels have the following requirements:
+ Primary and follower channels must belong to the same AWS account.
+ Only one follower channel can be linked to a primary channel.
+ The follower channel must reference a valid primary channel ARN.
For more information about pipeline locking, see [Implementing pipeline locking](pipeline-lock.md).
# Input specifications settings
The **Input Specifications** settings include three fields that characterize the video in the input that you intend to use with this MediaLive channel. The fields are the following:
+ Input codec
+ Input resolution
+ Maximum input bitrate
You should have obtained information about these video characteristics when you [assessed the upstream system](evaluate-upstream-system.md) for each input source.
## How MediaLive uses this information
MediaLive uses these values for billing and resource allocation purposes.
+ For billing, MediaLive uses these fields to calculate the charges that you will incur on the input side. You pay for the option that you specify. For example, if you specify HD but the inputs are all actually SD, you will still be charged for HD.
+ For resource allocation, MediaLive uses these fields to allocate processing resources when you run this channel. If you don't choose the correct option, MediaLive might not allocate sufficient processing resources. Insufficient processing resources might mean that your channel output starts to degrade when the channel is running.
MediaLive doesn't use these values to determine what is actually in the video for decoding purposes. At ingest time, it still inspects the video to detect the source codec, resolution, and bitrate.
## Completing the settings – option A
Follow this procedure if you will run the channel in the AWS Cloud, not in a [MediaLive Anywhere cluster](setup-emla.md).
1. Find the following codec, resolution, and bitrate:
+ Find the most resource-intensive codec among all the inputs. The codecs, from least to most intensive, are MPEG-2, then AVC, then HEVC. Make a note of the codec. The input it appears in isn't relevant.
+ Find the highest resolution tier among all the inputs. The tiers, from lowest to highest, are SD, HD, UHD. Make a note of the tier. The input it appears in isn't relevant.
+ Find the highest bitrate among all the inputs. Make a note of the bitrate. The input it appears in isn't relevant.
1. For each field, choose an option that meets or exceeds the value you identified for that field.
Follow these tips:
+ If you aren't sure about the processing requirements of your inputs, choose a higher option. For example, if you aren't sure of the bitrate and you are trying to choose between 10 Mbps and 20 Mbps, then choose 20 Mbps, to be on the safe side. Or if you aren't sure if your inputs use AVC (H.264) or HEVC (H.265), then choose HEVC.
+ If your channel contains only one input and it's from an AWS Elemental Link device, complete the fields so that MediaLive allocates resources correctly.
Then make sure that you [configure the **Input resolution **in the device](device-edit.md), so that MediaLive calculates the billing correctly.
**Note**
If the input resolution is HD and the device is a Link UHD, make sure that you [configure the **Input resolution **in the device](device-edit.md) to make sure that you don't get charged UHD rates.
## Completing the settings – option B
Follow this procedure if you plan to run the channel in a [MediaLive Anywhere cluster](setup-emla.md).
Leave the default values in all the fields. MediaLive doesn't use the input specification for billing, and MediaLive isn't responsible for resource allocation.