MEDIA PLAYER AND PORTAL UPGRADE

[rannthal]

As far as the teradek upgrade, the choice is really yours. Here is what happens if you upgrade to 2.4.10.

The receive rate on the stats page will more then likely report that you are broadcasting lower then your target bitrate. This is the only thing that is different between 2.4.7 and 2.4.10. The receive sites will not experience any problems due to the teradek version.
The only way this could be a problem is in diagnosing a problem with over-driving your system. If you are on top of your system and know what is going on, then you could use 2.4.10 without any problems. If you are relatively new to the webcasting bit, then I would suggest that you stay with 2.4.7.

[schmarvin]

Why is there conflicting information between the Portal site recommending 2.4.7, and the 'current firmware' link on MHTech? Please give us a single answer that best aligns with the server side of the webcast system.

I have run webcasts for the last 3-4 years and last December with our visiting authority was the worst experience ever. We were on the phone with support through nearly the whole webcast with NO HELP OR RESOLUTION. We ended up setting up a conference call using a speaker dish in the High Council room using the in-building PA system and having remote units call in.

That weekend there was about an 85% success rate of church webcasts that were NOT having issues. When I shared that with the visiting temple president, he laughed and said, "I must ALWAYS be in the 15% then. This never works well."

It was a disaster.

Our Stake has no trust in webcasts after that.

Have there been sufficient upgrades using a player other than a browser, the server software, anything that should encourage us to continue down this path? Who can I talk to that can give me any assurance that this will work, if I'm able to convince the Stake Presidency to try it again?

[rannthal]

There is conflicting recommendations between the Portal and the MHTech site because they are run by different departments. MHTech doesn't update their stuff regularly. The Portal is updated whenever there is a change. Stick with the Portal recommendations.

As far as having a crappy experience in December, take a look at your network. There have been numerous problems with the routers/network/firewalls that in turn cause webcast to fail. Webcast relies on the network and if the routers/network/firewalls fail the webcast will fail.

If you encounter problems, please ensure that your APs in your buildings are turned off. There have been and sometimes still are problems with TM not turning off the APs when it says it does. The best bet is to upplug them to make sure they are off. Also, if there is still problems, but everything seems to be correct, at last resort, bypass the firewall for the conference....but be sure to put everything back afterwards. This should solve your problems.

Webcast is in the best shape that it has ever been in. If you still are encountering problems, look for hardware issues, laptop issues and network issues. Also, if you have questions, feel free it message me, I'll help work you through to have a successful broadcast.

[schmarvin]

Thanks for the response. Always have APs off in all sending/receiving locations. Was on the phone for multiple hours with church support during failure - not related to our network or firewalls. The issues we had were prior to upgrades in later December - still don't trust it.

Heard from "D. Todd Clay" and we've discussed issues.

What is the standard failure rate on Sunday webcasts? It was 15% the weekend we had problems. Is the failure rate greater than 2%? What is the expected/tolerated failure rate?