Troubleshooting: Resolve Live Streaming issues (for Organizers)

Learn how to detect and resolve technical issues you may encounter during live streaming sessions

To be covered:

1. Intro
2. Common Issues
3. My live-streaming setup works outside Brella but doesn't show in Brella?
4. My live streaming works outside Brella, but shows a black screen in Brella?
5. Blank bars on the screen (Vimeo)
6. Audio issues
7. Delay for a live stream to load on Brella

Intro

Technical details can cause issues at unexpected times and it is quite frustrating, especially during live events. We believe in being prepared to tackle any issues and have backup plans in place to ensure the event is delivered smoothly to attendees.

👍 A good rule of thumb is to test that your stream works on your service provider's end. If the live stream looks good on the service provider's side, there should not be any issues in Brella either.

Test your stream set up in Brella by following the steps in this article. - it also includes tips! 

Learn more about the the main elements involved when hosting a stream in Brella.

Common issues :

• Issues from the live stream provider's end. It could be a bug, servers are down, etc.

• Wrong configuration. If the configuration is not done properly, the stream will not work. It's vital to follow the guidelines given in the stream providers' Help Center and have a point of contact in their team. To create the stream setup, please follow the guidelines of the provider—read more here. 

• Bad Internet connection. To stream, you need a secure and strong internet connection as your internet will be uploading and downloading information for the streams, event platform, and other platforms you may have opened on your computer, including all people's devices in the same room.

• Brella's servers are down. When the stream doesn't work in the Streams tab in Brella but works outside the Brella Web App, it means there is something wrong with Brella, and in such rare cases, our Product team will already be working on it as they monitor with a contingent server.

1. My live streaming setup works outside Brella but is not showing in Brella?

• The stream configuration doesn't have the embedding option enabled.
  • Solution: Go back to the Settings page of all the services you are using and enable Embedding.
• Embedded streams will work if these have been set as public sharing. Twitch and Youtube can only embed live streams if there are open to the public. 
  • Solution: Solve this by double-checking the requirements for embedding a live stream in the streaming provider's help center.
• The viewer has a strong security firewall that doesn't allow them to watch the stream.
  • Solution: Solve this quickly by following these steps.

•  Issues with setting up streaming over Brella. 
  • Solution: If all of the aforementioned have been checked and the issue persists for longer than 10 mins, please contact us immediately so our team will look into it.

2. My live streaming works outside Brella, but it's showing a black screen in Brella?

• This is usually a result of poor Internet connection, and the streaming destination can display the stream in their platform but has not had enough capacity to display it in Brella.
  • Solution: Find some tips on how to decrease the loading time of the live stream delay.

3.  Blank bars on the screen (Vimeo)

Those blank bars come from Vimeo and the embed code that you add to Brella. To get rid of these blank bars, you can follow these steps:

1. Go to the Vimeo player and get the embeddable player URL, not the embeddable event URL.
2. Add this text player URL to Admin Panel, and then add this part after it: "?"
   
   h=0cd4ed64a0&autoplay=1&loop=1&color=00af66&title=0&byline=0&portrait=0
3. The end URL should be something like this: "https://player.vimeo.com/video/271224713?h=0cd4ed64a0&autoplay=1&loop=1&color=00af66&title=0&byline=0&portrait=0"
4. So we are basically adding video parameters, which allow us to customize the embedded video. Vimeo has developed lots of such parameters. The only problem is that these parameters only work for the player URLs, not the “live event URLs”, so we would have to find the player URL rather than an event URL and then add the parameter to it.

Here is the article about making video responsive on Vimeo Help Center for more info:

https://vimeo.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000710167-Accessing-and-editing-embed-codes (Go to Responsive embeds). 

4. Audio issues

• I cannot hear the audio in the streaming.

  • Solution: If you cannot hear the stream's audio, please follow the Troubleshooting steps for Audio Settings.
• There is an echo in the streaming audio.
  • Solution: Ensure you have only one stream open at a time. If you must have more than one stream tab/page open, mute the other tabs and keep only the active tab with sound on.
  • You can make use of headphones to eliminate the echo.

5. Live Stream delay

• • Solution: This depends on the streaming solution you are using. Generally, a video stream from third-party tools loads from 10 to 30 secs later than the actual video. Find tips on how to decrease the delay time.
  • A live stream delay can be between 15-45 seconds.

---

Last updated - July 2023.

Written by Rajinda Wijetunge.

If you didn't find an answer to your questions, please get in touch with the Support Team here.

👇