Webcaster Frequently Asked Questions

Transcription

1 FAQs Webcaster Frequently Asked Questions Getting Started At a minimum, what do I need to start a live webcast? A live webcast requires a live audio/video source. This could be a webcam, an external video camera, or a media playback device, such as a DVD player. You will also need a live media encoder. A live encoder takes your audio / video signal and sends it over the web to a set of streaming servers where your remote audience can view and participate in your event. If you are using a webcam, you do not need an encoder, since you can use it directly from within Webcaster s Live Event Manager (LEM). If you are not using a webcam, you must connect your audio/video source to the encoder using a media capture device. You can use a software-based encoder like Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder or Wirecast, or a hardware-based encoder from providers like Matrox, Viewcast, and Digital Rapids. How do I invite participants to my event? When you have created a new event in Webcaster, you can send the event URL to your participants. The URL can be found within the Event Editor on the left side under Links. How do I protect or secure my event? You can enable Password Protect from the Event Editor. Click on the People and Access tab and enable Password Protection. Enter a password or have the system generate one for you by clicking the Generate button. Then save the event. Viewers are now required to enter the password to view the event. kollective.com page 1

2 Can I have more than one presenter in my event? How does this work? You can have up to ten presenters participate in the same webcast, with a producer managing the different presenters. The event s producer controls which presenter s stream is active by switching between sources from the Live Event Manager. The producer can grant control of the slides to one of the presenters. The producer and presenters can also chat with each other. Does Webcaster support synchronized slides? Yes. Webcaster supports PPT, PPTX, and PDF formats in both letterbox (4x3) and widescreen (16x9) aspect ratios. To upload slides, click on the Assets tab in the Event Editor. Make sure to select the proper aspect ratio before uploading a presentation. Can I enforce registration for my event? Yes. In the Event Editor, click the Options tab and enable Registration. You can select from two out-of-the-box registration forms. Viewers will be prompted to register for the event in order to view it. How do I record my event? When you start your live event using the Live Event Manager (LEM), Webcaster will automatically start recording in the cloud. You can stop and resume recording by clicking the Start and Stop Recording buttons in the Broadcast tab of the Live Event Manager. What format is used to record the event? It is an MP4 file using the H.264 video codec and the AAC audio codec. What are the encoder settings that I should use? Encoder settings can get quite complicated. Here are some quick tips: For video, always use the H.264 codec. Sometimes, you will see an x264 option in your encoder. This is also OK. For audio, you must use the AAC codec. If you don t have it available, you can use MP3 as the codec. Make sure the bitrate is not too low so that the quality becomes degraded and not too high so that viewers who have bandwidth limitations cannot participate. For talking heads, video presentations, use mono for audio and always use a 44.1 KHz or higher sample rate. kollective.com page 2

3 Does Webcaster support adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming? Yes, as an optional feature that must be enabled for your company. It requires Kollective agent 9.1 or higher. How does adaptive bitrate streaming work? ABR lets you configure a live broadcast with multiple streams at different bitrates. Once the broadcast begins, the Kollective agent constantly monitors the stream for any delays. If a stream is delayed for too long, the client switches to a lower bitrate if one is available. If no delays occur for a while, the agent switches to a higher bitrate, if one is available. This enables optimal utilization of available bandwidth, while ensuring the best viewing experience by the user. Will my live event end on its own if it exceeds the specified end time? No. The date and time setting in the Event Editor is for information purposes only. You can start your live event before the start time and conclude after the end time. Can I participate on a mobile device? Yes, you can view the event on a mobile device. For live, simply type the event URL into the mobile web browser and the viewer will be prompted to watch the live stream only. Synchronized assets such as slides, polls, and Q&A are not yet supported for mobile devices. Can I customize the look and feel of the webcast interface? The only option available at this time is the ability to specify a custom logo URL within the Event Editor. This will appear on the top right of the page. Go to the Options tab in the Event Editor to specify a logo URL. Common Webcaster Issues Invalid codecs being used on the encoder(s). It is extremely important that the encoder operator(s) configure the encoder to send H.264 for video and AAC for audio. Any other codec is not supported because the streaming servers are configured to record down to an MP4 container. If the encoder sends VP6, the video portion will not be recorded. If the encoder sends MP3 for audio, the audio will be recorded, but the video and live stream will be inaudible on mobile devices. kollective.com page 3

4 Producer cannot connect to primary or backup streaming servers from the LEM. This could be caused by a number of possible issues: Producer is at a location where the network or firewall is blocking connectivity to the origin servers. Producer experienced a network change or reset sometimes caused by proxies or if the user is on WiFi. Streaming server(s) experienced issues and the Wowza service has terminated. Wowza service is being restarted. Have the producer run the simple network test at This checks to see if the streaming servers are reachable from the producer s current location. If there are errors, then verify that the streaming servers are reachable by you and that the Wowza service is still running and there are no errors in the Wowza error log to rule out the possibility of issues with downstream servers. Producer states that slide commands from the LEM are not changing the viewer UI. If the producer has been disconnected from the LEM, a modal window will show on the UI stating that the LEM could not connect to the primary host. This could happen for a number of reasons (see above). If the LEM cannot connect to the origin servers, then any synchronized commands like flip slide, push poll, etc. will not work. Have the producer refresh the LEM by refreshing the web browser window. This will re-attempt to connect to the streaming servers. If the producer still cannot connect to the streaming servers, we will need to troubleshoot further by performing a simple network test at or Operations will need to check that the streaming servers are active and running. Even when Registration is not enabled, I see a Registration button on my live event page. Currently, the Registration button will always appear in the Waiting Room page of your live event. However, when you start the live event, registration will not be enforced. If participants join your event before you start the live event, they will see the Waiting Room page. If they join after you have started the live event, they will see the actual live event with video/audio and slides. kollective.com page 4

5 The converted presentation does not properly display the chosen fonts. If a PPT or PPTX file is uploaded that includes a font that the conversion server does not have, the converter will replace with the closest matching font. To have the fonts visible after conversion of slides into images, the fonts must be installed on the conversion server. The presentation must be converted again after the fonts have been installed. Another option is to save the PPT / PPTX as a PDF and upload that. The converted slide size is skewed. If the producer uploads a presentation and does not properly select the correct aspect ratio, the converted slides will be skewed. For example, a 16x9 presentation that was converted with the 4x3 aspect ratio selected will not display correctly. The producer must select the correct aspect ratio prior to uploading the presentation file for conversion. All submitted questions are coming in as Anonymous. If registration is not enabled or the event is not protected, then the event will not prompt the user to register and all questions will come in as Anonymous. The event must be enabled for registration or the event must be protected using Kontiki groups. In a protected event, the producer assigns one or more groups of users who will be able to view the event. After uploading slides for conversion, the LEM or Self Recorder shows missing images When slides are converted, the images are deployed to a CDN. If the images have not yet been deployed, then the user will see dead images. Sometimes, the web browser will cache the fact that these images are dead and refreshing the web browser even after the images have been deployed will not fix the issue right away. Wait at least 30 seconds before launching the LEM or Self Recorder after conversion. If the missing images persist, clear the browser cache and try again. kollective.com page 5

6 After uploading slides for conversion, the Event Editor shows that it has been converted, but when I click Preview Slides, it shows missing images. The slide converter can only handle one PPT / PPTX conversion at a time. A queue may be built up while presentations are converted. There is a scheduled task on the conversion server that runs every 60 seconds to handle the queue. Wait at least 60 seconds and click Preview Slides again. If I add both 16x9 and 4x3 presentations into my live event, all slides will take on the aspect ratio of the first presentation only. Support for multiple aspect ratios within a live event is not yet supported. Use only one aspect ratio for all presentations. kollective.com page 6 Contact Kollective kollective.com info@kollective.com US UK +44 (0) ASIA +91 (80) Kollective Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved