Conduct a stream test

Wavecast provides enterprise streaming support for live event broadcasts. As part of this service, a stream test is required in advance of the live event.

What is a stream test?

A stream test simulates live event conditions by transmitting video and audio content from the venue to the streaming server. It is an essential part of the preparation to ensure a high-quality broadcast.

During a stream test, we complete a number of checks to troubleshoot issues prior to the broadcast, including:

• Hardware and software configuration

• Network connectivity

• Audio and video quality

• Verify backup systems are providing redundancy

• Measure latency

• Check accuracy of monitoring systems

What to expect from us:

For every hybrid event, you can expect us to:

• Supply RTMP links

• Supply links to your transcoder previews

• Monitor streams

• Provide live broadcast feedback throughout

• Test Video for each stream

What we need from you:

We recommend the following requirements for all broadcasts:

• At least 2 x Encoders

• A minimum internet provision of 20 mbps symmetric bandwidth per stream unless remote contribution is used (Zoom etc.) then 40 mbps is recommended.

Format	H264
Bitrate	Variable Bit Rate (VBR)
Video Bitrate	6,000 kbps
Frame Size	Full HD 1920 x 1280
Frame Rate	25 FPS / 30 FPS
Keyframe Interval (GOP)	2 seconds or a GOP of framerate x2
Profile	Baseline
Audio Format	AAC (Stereo)
Audio Bitrate	192 kbps
Audio Sample Rate	48,000 Hz

Stream Test

Follow this procedure when conducting a stream test.

How to monitor the stream

Using the links provided to your transcoder previews, you’ll be able to view the following data:

Preview Tab

Here you can monitor the audio and video that you’re sending to the stream.

Health Tab

Here you can view in depth analytics relating to your connection with us.

If I stream, am I live?

By default when a connection is established, it won’t be live until we make it live at our end.

We will liaise with you as to when you’re ready for your stream to be accessible by delegates, we would recommend that this is done 30 minutes prior to the events advertised start time.

Once the broadcast has finished

Once you’re ready to stop streaming and you’ve let us know, we will stop our transcoders. It’s important that you do not stop your encoders before we’ve stopped things here. This is down to maintaining any backup recordings are free from corruption.

Troubleshooting

Below is an example of an inconsistent keyframe interval. Drops in the keyframe interval [blue] or frame rate [red] are indicative of either encoder or connection performance.

In our experience keyframe interval spikes as shown below tend to indicate poor connection performance and frame rate spikes tend to be indicative of poor encoder performance.