When streaming, you may run into a variety of issues with connecting your broadcast, or keeping connected. Here are some of the most common:
Disconnected from Server
You may see this message if the connection between your encoding computer and the channel was disconnected.
The most common cause of this is trying to broadcast on a wireless internet connection that cuts out, or an internet connection that lacks the necessary upload speed.
It is possible that the upload speed of your Internet connection is too slow. We recommend an upload speed minimum of 1.5 to 2 Mbps upload speed to do a high quality broadcast. Also, it is important that no one else is using the same internet connection for other purposes. If you are using a shared wi-fi network, you may find you have insufficient bandwidth to broadcast.
The best rule of thumb is that your broadcasting bitrate should be about 50% or less of your total available upload bandwidth.
The Web broadcaster uses less bandwidth than an encoder, so if you find you are having choppiness or disconnects with an encoder you may want to try dropping to the lowest quality setting or switching to the web broadcaster instead.
Broadcast Looks Choppy
Potential Causes:
- Bandwidth: It is possible that the upload speed of your Internet connection is too slow. We recommend an upload speed minimum of 3 to 8 Mbps to do a high quality broadcast. Also, it is important that no one else is using the same internet connection for other purposes. If you are using a shared wi-fi network, you may find you have insufficient bandwidth to broadcast. The best rule of thumb is that your broadcasting bitrate should be about 50% or less of your total available upload bandwidth. The Web broadcaster uses less bandwidth than an encoder, so if you find you are having choppiness or disconnects with an encoder, you may want to try dropping it to the lowest quality setting or switching to the web broadcaster instead.
- CPU Usage: Your stream can become choppy if your CPU usage is so high that it causes your computer to slow down. This can affect both the broadcaster stream quality and viewer stream quality. Close all other programs that are running in the background to solve this problem. By closing other programs (like ITunes, Skype, and AIM) you will free up CPU space and help your computer run faster.
- Playing back large video files or encoding HD video: If your source is a very high resolution, like an HD video clip, you may find that your computer struggles to encode this smoothly. One trick here is to try to down-convert your clip or source video to a compressed, lower bit-rate format to see if this allows the computer to play it back and encode it more smoothly.
Cannot Connect to the RTMP / Flash Server at the Given IP
- You may see this message or a similar message when you are unable to connect to IBM Video Streaming. This may be caused by your internet connection cutting out or because your first attempt to connect to IBM Video Streaming was unsuccessful.
- Because there are many servers in between your connection and IBM Video Streaming, this is quite common.
- The best course of action is to continue to try to reconnect. Sometimes it may take 5 or more attempts to connect.
- If you still cannot connect after many attempts, check your internet connection again and ensure that the bitrate you are broadcasting at is 50% or lower of your available upload bandwidth.
If you are still having trouble after many attempts, please create a support ticket with us to let us know.