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Some glitches from today's webcast

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 9:29 am
by aclawson
I am watching the stream statistics and taking down some real-time notes.

* The overall health is very unstable. I've seen levels drop to as low as 16% - so far only one site has reported an interruption and that was only for a few seconds. (This never happened with the old solution, this is the first interruption I've ever had)

* One of the units is receiving the webcast without issue but the portal says they are not online. I receive frequent messages alerting me to the "missing" site.

* One of the units could not receive the stream at all - they were just getting the static image. They rebooted and tried again and got a message saying the stream was already connected, even though they had disconnected. SLC cannot reset the connection. The same user attempted to use the general webcast link and again got the message stating that the link was already in use. The solution was to have the member log in and use my "backup" receive link (I select the stake center as both broadcast and receive sites so I have an extra link for just this type of occasion).

* I'm going to have to get an A/B switch so I can inject an audio source for level testing before broadcasting.

Other than these glitches things are proceeding fairly smoothly.

Re: Some glitches from today's webcast

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 11:02 am
by rolandc
aclawson wrote:
I am watching the stream statistics and taking down some real-time notes.



* One of the units could not receive the stream at all - they were just getting the static image. They rebooted and tried again and got a message saying the stream was already connected, even though they had disconnected. SLC cannot reset the connection. The same user attempted to use the general webcast link and again got the message stating that the link was already in use. The solution was to have the member log in and use my "backup" receive link (I select the stake center as both broadcast and receive sites so I have an extra link for just this type of occasion).



This one is not explained very well, but on the receiving end if the stream is dropped (internet broke, broadcast goes down etc...) just leave everything alone when the stream is restored the receiving side will pick it back up automatically...it listens for 10 to 15 minutes....I have tested this and it does work. If you reboot or do anything that needs a click on the broadcast link, you will get that message about being in use.

Re: Some glitches from today's webcast

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 11:05 am
by russellhltn
aclawson wrote:* One of the units is receiving the webcast without issue but the portal says they are not online. I receive frequent messages alerting me to the "missing" site.
What were they using to receiver? It might have been a device that could not report back it's health. Adequate for "home" viewing, but not for a building.

Re: Some glitches from today's webcast

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 10:12 pm
by aclawson
rolandc wrote:This one is not explained very well, but on the receiving end if the stream is dropped (internet broke, broadcast goes down etc...) just leave everything alone when the stream is restored the receiving side will pick it back up automatically...it listens for 10 to 15 minutes....I have tested this and it does work. If you reboot or do anything that needs a click on the broadcast link, you will get that message about being in use.
The problem is that the stream never started at all. They were getting the static image of Christ and nothing beyond that. They didn't have a choice, if they hadn't tried something else the stream ever would have started for them. And waiting for 10-15 minutes during the middle of a stake conference isn't a valid option anyway.

There should be a way to reset that link, but there isn't.

Re: Some glitches from today's webcast

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 10:13 pm
by aclawson
russellhltn wrote:
aclawson wrote:* One of the units is receiving the webcast without issue but the portal says they are not online. I receive frequent messages alerting me to the "missing" site.
What were they using to receiver? It might have been a device that could not report back it's health. Adequate for "home" viewing, but not for a building.
Web browser, pretty much the only option. It turns out that they couldn't get the primary link to work so they switched to the 2nd option (the Silverlight player).

Re: Some glitches from today's webcast

Posted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 9:33 am
by rannthal
Addressing the issues listed.
1.
aclawson wrote: * The overall health is very unstable. I've seen levels drop to as low as 16% - so far only one site has reported an interruption and that was only for a few seconds. (This never happened with the old solution, this is the first interruption I've ever had)
First off, the old solution never had any health metrics.
The overall health is based upon how many sites participated in the event, both broadcast and receive sites. The health also starts at the time when the event is scheduled to start and ends when the event is scheduled to end.
If the event is scheduled to start an hour early before the meeting is actually started and brings the broadcast site up and down for testing....this is going to effect the overall health. According to the event, it has already started. Same thing happens if any of the sites disconnect before the event was scheduled to end.
Any disconnects, buffers, lagging events the overall health. Also switch from the primary player to the silverlight player can effect health, pending on the first browser that was used.

2.
aclawson wrote:* One of the units is receiving the webcast without issue but the portal says they are not online. I receive frequent messages alerting me to the "missing" site.
Sometimes this happens. This is one of the things we are trying to figure out.

3.
aclawson wrote:* One of the units could not receive the stream at all - they were just getting the static image. They rebooted and tried again and got a message saying the stream was already connected, even though they had disconnected. SLC cannot reset the connection. The same user attempted to use the general webcast link and again got the message stating that the link was already in use. The solution was to have the member log in and use my "backup" receive link (I select the stake center as both broadcast and receive sites so I have an extra link for just this type of occasion).
Using the Edge browser does this. It has problems trying to connect to the primary player, it connects, but doesn't if that makes any sense. Because of this, the health is effected, the portal thinks that a site is being used. It just causes problems. We are trying to get this fixed. Its a pain. I'll try to post a information banner on the portal warning people to not use Edge in the mean time.

4.
aclawson wrote:* I'm going to have to get an A/B switch so I can inject an audio source for level testing before broadcasting.
As an STS, audio can be a pain. I've experienced this also.

The system isn't perfect, we are trying to fix the bugs. Patience will be appreciated.