Am I missing something regarding the "On Air" feature?

Questions about ATEM Switchers, Camera Converter and everything live!
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Streamium

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Am I missing something regarding the "On Air" feature?

PostFri Jun 04, 2021 8:09 pm

Hi,
After an initial foray into Atem switchers with the "Mini", I recently upgraded to the all-singing and dancing Extreme ISO. I am a bit confused as to how the "On air" option works. I must be missing something as it seems redundant.

So I want to schedule a YouTube stream at approximately 7pm so schedule it in YT, get the stream key (pasted into Atem), and URL for the audience. Great so far. So I understand that the Atem includes the encoding software which would otherwise be performed by things like OBS.

My understanding is that with all the details into the Atem, and connected via an Ethernet cable to a router, I should be able to use the Atem to trigger go-live via the "On Air" button. When I'm ready, I click on it and On Air reds up and I get stream statistics.

However if I test the YT link, it claims its still waiting for the stream to start!!!! This is not what I would expect and goes against the information the control panel is giving. So if the stream hasn't started, what actually happens when you click "On Air"?

The only way around seems to be to click Go Live in YouTube. But this then pushes the current program out to the stream.

So my question is, what is the point of On Air if it relies on me going into YT to start it. It seems I can stop via the mixer, so it's not completely useless. But starting relies upon doing so in YT.

Thanks for any guidance.

Paul
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Streamium

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Re: Am I missing something regarding the "On Air" feature?

PostSat Jun 12, 2021 6:51 pm

I have worked out what I was in fact missing, so posting here in case it's useful for anyone else.

The problem is the Atem pro or extreme will indicate it is live, even if there is nothing actually streaming the output. I found a setting in YouTube, to do with scheduling a stream. it's part of 'additional setting' and was mostly hidden because of the chat panel.

What's needed is to switch on Enable Auto-start from these settings. I had seen this before and it hadn't occurred to be this is what does this. I was convinced this was a feature for automatically going live (which it is in fact). It's just my assumption was that it's tied to the schedule. And as I wouldn't want a stream to just start at a specific time automatically, I didn't try this feature.

But this option doesn't in fact do what I assumed.

Instead it will "automatically start the stream when you start sending data from your streaming software". In other words it will be triggered by the Atem (the software) going live. I tried it today and it works perfectly. Of course you'd be a fool for just going live without verifying you are in fact streaming and that all is well. Also silly to not have a laptop connected, despite this not being a requirement.

I'm very glad to have worked this out. It seemed counter-intuitive to have to hit "On air" and then click "Go Live" in Youtube. But with this feature switched on (as well as Auto-stop), it seems you don't even need YT running. Atem has a direct connection.
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BennoZ

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Re: Am I missing something regarding the "On Air" feature?

PostSat Jun 12, 2021 10:43 pm

Normally when you click “On Air” you go live immediately. I’m using Vimeo and it always works fine. Isn’t there a setting in YouTube which you have to enable once?
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Frank Engel

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Re: Am I missing something regarding the "On Air" feature?

PostMon Jun 14, 2021 10:26 am

"On Air" on the ATEM tells the ATEM to stream to YouTube.

"Go Live" on YouTube tells YouTube to stream to the world.

A stream in YouTube is a one-time event, not an open line - you can either set one up at the time of the stream using "Go Live" directly or from within that interface there is an option to schedule a stream in advance for a particular time and date.
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robertsmu

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Re: Am I missing something regarding the "On Air" feature?

PostMon Jun 14, 2021 2:31 pm

This is a youtube feature. The ATEM is, in fact, pushing a stream to youtube. You then have to go live with the stream in youtube.
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Streamium

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Re: Am I missing something regarding the "On Air" feature?

PostMon Jun 21, 2021 10:18 pm

Yes, I understand all of this now. My confusion was purely down to the language used in YouTube. Although it now makes sense, I would put money on a label like "start stream automatically", causing similar confusion with others. Having just scheduled an event, the context suggests to me, and I'm fairly sure others would agree, that this will do what it says. However, what it's really doing is allowing itself to be controlled by the software rather than the broadcaster clicking the "go live" button in YouTube.

Thanks for all the responses, and it turns out this was more a YouTube matter than BM.

Take care all

Paul
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UCPAVTEAM

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Re: Am I missing something regarding the "On Air" feature?

PostTue Dec 14, 2021 4:35 pm

Frank Engel wrote:"On Air" on the ATEM tells the ATEM to stream to YouTube.

"Go Live" on YouTube tells YouTube to stream to the world.

A stream in YouTube is a one-time event, not an open line - you can either set one up at the time of the stream using "Go Live" directly or from within that interface there is an option to schedule a stream in advance for a particular time and date.


So, in the year our church has been using the ATEM Mini Pro we have never had to use the "Go Live" button on the Studio.Youtube stream page. But the last two weeks our stream has failed. Yesterday I puzzled through this on my own and came to the same conclusion about the need to push this button.

But we have never before needed to do so. And yes, "Auto Start" is enabled. I would love to not have to add this step, any thoughts?

Also, I just realized YouTube has dropped the five minute increments, in favor of 15 minutes increments, in the stream schedule time. I always retype 5 minutes before the hour, if that makes a difference.

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