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How to manage a live event?

Event status

A Clevercast event always has a certain status, which you can change on the event management page.

This allows you to hide the live stream from your viewers until the actual event begins. Unless the status is set to Started, viewers will see a poster image (or message) in the embedded player. Additionally, the status also determines if you can start broadcasting and whether language rooms are available to interpreters (T@H) and transcribers and correctors (captions). Finally, when an event starts, a cloud recording is also started.

Note: this also applies if you have a webinar plan. In that case, the embedded player is the player that participants see on the webinar page.

The event appearance tab lets you set a separate image (or message) for each status, or a single general image for all statuses. It also lets you set a countdown timer (until the scheduled start time of your event) to be displayed before your event. When the event is started, the timer automatically disappears.

The event status can be:

  • Inactive: While the event status is Inactive, the embedded player displays the Preview image/message and (optionally) countdown timer. The event is not ready to receive a broadcast.
  • Preview: After setting the status to Preview, you can start broadcasting. On the event management page you can already see the live stream in the preview player, but it is not yet visible in the embedded player. Your viewers will keep seeing the Preview image/message.
  • Started: When you press the ‘Start event‘ button, the embedded player detects this and shows the live stream to your viewers (the Preview image/message automatically disappears).
  • Paused: When you set the event status to Paused, Clevercast keeps processing the live stream but hides it from your viewers. You can continue to broadcast and see the live stream in the preview player, but your viewers can no longer see it in the embedded player. Clevercast automatically detects the status change and replaces the live stream with the Paused image/message.
  • Ended: When you set the event status to Ended, Clevercast stops processing the live stream. The player detects the status change and shows the Ended image/message instead of the live stream.
Event status and multilingual live streams

If your event has support for closed captions or extra audio languages via Translate@Home, the availability of the language rooms (for interpreters, transcribers and correctors) also depends on the event status.

The language rooms are only available if the event status is set to Preview, Paused or Started. While the status is set to Inactive or Ended it is not possible to connect to the language rooms.

Event status and cloud recordings

A cloud recording is automatically started when you set the event status to Started. When you change the status (to any other status), the cloud recording stops. When you start the event again, a new cloud recording is made.

Live stream latency

It is important to realize that a live stream is always served with a certain delay, inherent to the technology and protocols involved in live streaming. This is mainly to allow the video player to buffer a short part of the stream. To guarantee smooth streaming while bandwidth fluctuates, the video player uses the internal buffer while delivering streaming video.

The default delay for HTTP live streaming (HLS) - which is currently the de-facto standard for streaming to desktop, tablet and smartphone - is approximately 16 to 30 seconds (depending on the viewer's connection and device). However, iOS devices (iPhone, iPad) allow latency to grow up to a maximum of 2 minutes.

Because of this delay, you should always start your broadcast at least a couple of minutes in advance and also wait a couple of minutes after your event has ended before pressing the End event button in Clevercast (see the Event management flow section below).

  • By broadcasting in advance and starting the event in Clevercast (at least) 2 minutes before the actual event starts, you make sure each viewer gets to see the actual start. Clevercast Player can also start buffering in advance (for smooth streaming).
  • By stopping the event in Clevercast (at least) 2 minutes after the event ends, you make sure each viewer gets to see the actual end. Since the player shows a poster image (or message) when the event is set to Ended, this may happen while some viewers are still watching the stream if you don’t observe a 2 minute grace period.

Event management flow

With the live stream latency in mind, you should follow these best practices when managing a live event:

  1. Before the start of the live action (at least 5 minutes in advance) set the event status to Preview and start broadcasting. Note: for single-language RTMP streams, you can do this while the event status is Inactive (since there is no Preview status).
  2. Use the Preview player to see whether the incoming stream is okay. Your viewers won’t see the stream in the embedded player until you start the event. If you are using T@H or closed captions, let your interpreters or editors connect to their rooms and verify if their connection and equipment is okay.
  3. When the live stream is about to start, press the Start event button. This will make the live stream visible to your participants. Do this at least two minutes before the live action starts. This allows the player to start buffering and ensures that nobody misses the start. It also ensures that the cloud recording is complete.
  4. When the live action ends, wait at least two minutes before pressing the End event button or Pause event button. When the embedded player detects that the event status is set to Ended, it will show the event's status image or message instead of the live stream. If you set the event to Ended immediately after the live action ends, some viewers may miss the end due to HLS latency (= the status image is shown before their player reaches the end of the stream). The two minutes are necessary for iOS devices, which allow HLS latency to grow to two minutes.

Note: when you are done with an event, set its status to Inactive or Ended. This will stop it from using server resources. Don’t forget to turn off your encoder after a live stream has ended, otherwise you will be using extra live processing hours.

Flow for events with closed captions via speech-to-text conversion

When closed captions are added through speech-to-text, the live stream has a total delay of about 1 minute (the exact delay depends on whether you use real-time correction or not). This is necessary to render the closed captions as accurately as possible. The delay also makes it possible to manually correct the captions before they are auto-translated or shown in the stream.

This slightly changes the event management flow:

  1. Before the start of the live action (at least 5 minutes in advance) set the event status to Preview and start broadcasting.
  2. Once the event is set to Preview, people can connect to the Correction Room. In this room, they will see your broadcast after a delay of about 70 seconds (the time needed by the speech-to-text service to return its optimal result). Next to the video, they can see the closed captions returned by the speech-to-text service and correct them. If you are also using T@H, also let your interpreters connect to their interpreter rooms.
  3. On the event page, the Preview player has a delay of about 120 seconds (= the sum of speech-to-text delay + correction delay + HLS latency). Once this delay has passed, you can use the Preview player to to see whether the stream and captions are okay. Your viewers won’t see the stream in the embedded player until you start the event.
  4. When the live stream is about to start, press the Start event button. This will make the live stream visible to your participants. Do this at least two minutes before the live action starts. This allows the player to start buffering and ensures that nobody misses the start. It also ensures that the cloud recording is complete.
  5. When the live action ends, wait at least four minutes before pressing the End event button or Pause event button. After 2 minutes, most viewers will see the end of the stream in their embedded player (which will be replaced by the poster image). But since iOS devices allow HLS latency to grow to 2 minutes, you should wait an extra 2 minutes.