Sun Jun 20, 2021 3:53 pm
Hey folks.
I have the Atem Mini Extreme ISO.
Had this issue during a Wedding Live Streaming on Youtube. The local was in the middle of the mountains, no 3G/4G. Only the local internet. However: Some details must be noted.
1) The local internet link was varying between 10-18 mbps upload speed. Enough for streaming medium or high.
2) We started the Live transmission. Streaming High. It worked fine for some good 20 minutes. The first videos were a countdown and a Pre-wedding. Both made by myself, with a bitrate of 5 mbps - good enough for Youtube live. Everything held fine, no dropouts. Also we advised the few people present (8 people) to not use the local wi-fi.
3) Then, we fired up the same-day-edit video, that was edited in the last 24 hours, and rendered 1 hour before the LIVE transmission. One thing we didn't check -> the BITRATE. Later we saw that It was rendered at 20 mbps. When we started playing this video, the ATEM Extreme buffer started to increase, to 50, 70, 90%, until it went to FULL. And minutes later, people started to warn me that the streaming was freezing.
4) When this video finished playing, we started with the Live feeds from the 3 local cameras (Sony's A7 III), and the buffer kept FULL.
5) We stopped the live streaming and restarted it at Streaming LOW. No avail. It kept the buffer at FULL.
6) We then decided to record everything on an external drive, and upload it later. So we did.
7) One IMPORTANT aspect: we were told that there was a strong rain at the internet provider, which may have caused the link going down.
I made some tests later here at home, trying to replicate the connection limitations, by connecting the ATEM to a cheap repeater/access point, which in turn connects to my home wi-fi. This would give about the same 15 mpbs average upload speed, with a good chance for some dropouts. Tested streaming Low, Medium, High, HyperDeck Low, HyperDeck Medium. Only then I got the buffer to get full again - on HyperDeck Medium. I was streaming the same 'same-day', 20 mbps video. At the best cost/benefit output in my view - Streaming High - the ATEM's data rate indicator was at 9.90 Mb/s maximum. The resulting streaming video at Youtube was pretty solid, good quality.
The conclusion? As you can see, several moving parts which make not that easy to direct point the cause. The ATEM was connected to the router via a CAT6 cable on both cases.
My recommendations after this experience:
1) Render your videos at 5 mbps for streaming, just in case. The culprit, all indicates, was the link itself, later confirmed by the locals. But having a 20 mpbs video doesn't exactly helps.
2) Record everything for later upload if the link fails - do not try to reconnect - just a waste of time.
3) For ISO customers, record individual cameras as well. The client usually asks for a 'teaser' later on.
Just my 2 cents.