[NFBMO] 2018 State Convention Streaming Report

[Randy C]

*2018 State Convention*

*Streaming Report*


Total views: 104

Saturday Morning Session had 46 views.

Saturday Afternoon Session had 16 views.

Saturday Evening Banquet had 29 views.

Sunday Morning Session had 13 views.


Viewer Locations

Missouri 46

Colorado 19

Washington 10

Michigan 8

Minnesota 5

Nebraska 5

Other States 11


I suspect that our views would have been much higher if it had not been for
our numerous audio issues (described below).


*1. Audio Echo* – When I began to stream Saturday morning there was a
really bad echo. I didn’t know about this echo until I was informed of it.
It turns out I was getting my audio from two different external microphones
and not getting any sound from the mixer where I was supposed to be getting
my audio.


*2. Audio Drop Outs* – Saturday morning when I determined that I was having
audio problems. I was attempting to troubleshoot and once I determined that
I was not going to get any audio out of the mixer, I began trying to figure
out which external mic would be best to use. The troubleshooting process
caused many short audio drop outs. Also, I decided to use the microphone on
the camera and I did not realize that the camera commands are issued on the
same channel that the audio output comes from, so every time I would give
the camera a command such as pan, tilt and/or zoom it would cause the sound
to drop out.


*3. Audio Quality* – The microphone on my camera is lousy. Because I was
forced to use the camera's microphone it caused the entire audio output of
the stream to be lousy.


*4. Audio/Video Sync.* - There is a control in my encoding software to sync
my audio and video together. With all of the audio problems that I was
having, I simply forgot to sync the audio and video.


*5. One Major Stream Drop* – Near the end of the Saturday afternoon
session, Microsoft thought that it might be a good time to update the
computer that was handling the stream. Part of this update included a
system reboot and I was unable to stop it. So we lost the stream for a good
10 min. while Microsoft rebooted and updated my streaming computer.


*5. Internet Quality* – While my tests on the internet connection showed a
significant amount of packet loss, it still seemed to be a stable enough
connection. With all of the other problems that I had, it is impossible to
determine how great of an impact that the packet loss had on the stream
itself.


*To Dos:*

1. Bring headphones so that I can monitor the audio output of the stream.

2. Spend more time pretesting all of my connections.

3. Bring a high quality microphone and enough cable to place it in a good
location in case I cannot get audio from the mixer.

4. Never use the microphone on the camera.

5. Sync audio and video.

6. Find the control that allows Microsoft to automatically reboot your
computer and turn it off.


*In Summery:* While I was able to maintain an online video stream to the
website for most of the General Sessions and Banquet, I really dropped the
ball with the audio portion of the stream and while video is nice, audio
content is our priority. If I were grading my own performance,
unfortunately I would have to give myself a “D” at best.


I wish to offer my deepest apologies to anyone who was trying to monitor
the convention stream. You may rest assured, although I personally make my
share of mistakes, I rarely make the same mistakes twice.


Respectfully Submitted,

Randy Carmack

NFBMO.org Website Administrator