Tech Forum

Today, 07 May 2017 the North American Northeast region had a conference. I set up the conference in the webcasting system and at 8:30 a.m., I connect the Vidu system and as far I as I know it connected and everything was fine. As the morning progressed towards the start of stake conference, the buildings were starting to come up and they told me that they had the Tabernacle Choir and not seeing the feed from stake center.

I looked over and realized that the VIDU until was in a ready state. So I attempted to start the broadcast and the Vidu unit would not connect. So I feel back to using PVC because I didn't know what the issue was. That worked fine.

I then decided to reboot the Vidu and when it came back up it said that the system wasn't ready. I even tried to attach to the Vidu unit and it wouldn't connect. The not ready state of the Vidu unit stayed that way until I rebooted it after the conference was over. Once I rebooted it then, it came to a ready state. I didn't attempt to connect to it afterwards, but I expect that I would be able to connect to it.

I didn't call SLC for this as I was just trying to get stake conference going. So I'm wondering if anyone else had an issue today?

Thanks
Terry

harddrive wrote:Today, 07 May 2017 the North American Northeast region had a conference. I set up the conference in the webcasting system . . .

Was your stake originating the regional stake conference? Normally, those regional conferences come over the Church satellite system, and the webcasting system is not used.

I will leave it to others to help determine why your VidiU did not connect, but one of the first things we do when we originate a stake conference broadcast is check for a return signal ourselves after we start transmitting. That way, if necessary, we are on the phone with the GSC before anyone else even knows there is a problem.

I'm not sure of the problem, but historically, attempting to webcast a regional conference has been problematic as the system is strained by so many stakes attempting to webcast at once. The fact that everything worked after the conference was over suggests that might be a factor.

You might want to re-read the regional conference instructions. The last one that happened in our stake, it was expected that each building would have their own opening exercise. If the building needed a web connection, it would be a direct connection from SLC and not a webcast.

We used the webcasting system for the first 30 minutes and then the rest of the time was from SLC. So my stake president gave his message and then the broadcast from SLC. I didn't realize it early enough to determine why I wasn't connecting, so I called it and headed to personal video conference (PVC) to do the message from the stake president.

Thanks

Russell, are you talking about the letter from SLC or something on this forum?

harddrive wrote:We used the webcasting system for the first 30 minutes and then the rest of the time was from SLC.

Meaning all of the remote sites changed their feed?

Either way, if a large number of stakes are attempting to webcast at the same time, it could be an issue. Even if they didn't attempt to webcast the SLC portion, you still have a large number trying to webcast the opening.

harddrive wrote:We used the webcasting system for the first 30 minutes and then the rest of the time was from SLC. So my stake president gave his message and then the broadcast from SLC.

Ah, this would represent a change of instructions from previous regional stake conference broadcasts if that was the direction your stake received.

Because stakes involved in regional stake conferences have consistently had trouble accessing the webcasting system, I am beginning to wonder if there may be something that causes those stakes to be disabled on regional stake conference Sunday so that the system is protected for those stakes who need to webcast but who are not part of the region.

harddrive wrote:Russell, are you talking about the letter from SLC or something on this forum?

He and I are talking about the letter from SLC to the stake president announcing the regional conference and outlining how the first 30 minutes are to be handled by the local stake.

I read that letter and it says that the stake president is to address the stake before SLC addresses us.

harddrive wrote:I read that letter and it says that the stake president is to address the stake before SLC addresses us.

The last letter we received said that if the conference is held in multiple locations, a counselor or assigned high councilor would preside and conduct, present the business, and then provide the talk before the broadcast begins.

It may be that the instructions have changed, and if they have, arrangements need to be made for webcasting support of stakes involved in the regional conference.