Tech Forum

A new version of webcast is out. There are quick guides and complete guides links in the portal. Also the new url for the system is webcast.churchofjesuschrist.org.
Be sure and register your teradek before if you are going to use it.

Have fun!!!

Is it still based on Azure for the video streaming, or something else?

rannthal wrote:There are quick guides and complete guides links in the portal. Also the new url for the system is webcast.churchofjesuschrist.org.

Keep this link handy, because the URLs are wrong in both the quick-start and the complete guides.

Portal.ldswebcast.org will be redirected to webcast.churchofjesuschrist.org for several months.
(The original portal url was left in the docs because at the time of doc creation, it was unknown what the new url would be. So it was left that way knowing it would be redirected to the new.)

russellhltn wrote:Is it still based on Azure for the video streaming, or something else?

Yes, it is Azure still.

One of the cool new features of Webcast 3.0 is the ability to configure the Teradek VidiU once and then it will configure automatically for all your events going forward. You will no longer need to configure the Teradek VidiU (e.g. copying/pasting codes into the Teradek) every time you create a new event. You can also change your bitrate using the portal.

Another great feature is the Low Bandwidth Broadcast mode, for areas that have low and/or unstable internet.

Let us know what you think of the new features and give us any feedback you have (webcastpm@chruchofjesuschrist.org).

Thanks,
Sean
Webcast Product Team

Could we start thinking about the receiving end of these broadcasts? Consistency with a player is the absolute most important thing in a successful broadcast that can't be controlled from the Stake Center / Webcast broadcast site.

seanhyte wrote:One of the cool new features of Webcast 3.0 is the ability to configure the Teradek VidiU once and then it will configure automatically for all your events going forward.

I really like this, but have a small concern.

As I understand it, the Teradek will self-configure only if you turn it on during the pre-buffer period. This is okay for a regular webcast with a two-hour pre-buffer period, but a test broadcast only gives 10 minutes. That does not give much time if the Teradek doesn't come up when first started. Ours takes almost 5 minutes to boot up, and does not always come up Ready the first time. If we had to do it again, we would be late for our test broadcast.

Is there any way to trigger the Teradek to accept the auto configuration during the pre-buffer period if it is turned on before the pre-buffer period has started? Obviously, any type of trigger would have to take place during the actual pre-buffer period. Or is the only method to turn it off and take our chances on bringing it up again during the pre-buffer period, or just never turn it on early for a test?

Again, for actual events with a two-hour pre-buffer, this is not an issue. And I guess a test is a test is a test, so it is no big deal then. I was just wondering if there was another way to trigger the auto-configuration than the poor little switch on the side of the box.

Thanks for sharing this news with the forum, Sean! The first thing I noticed was a complete list of my past events (both testing and otherwise). For some reason, I was not able to see that before. The UI looks a lot more refined and easier to navigate than before.

seanhyte wrote:You can also change your bitrate using the portal.

Any chance the 2.1Mb/s ceiling has been increased?

seanhyte wrote:
Another great feature is the Low Bandwidth Broadcast mode, for areas that have low and/or unstable internet.

Wasn't this available on a per-location basis in the previous version? This setting does that for the entire broadcast, right? So even if we have sites that can take a full HD stream, if we set this it will stream at the lower bandwidth option, right?