Running a Live Stream

Each live stream has one screen you run the service from. Before you go live it is the pre-flight, where you get the encoder sending and check the picture privately. After Go Live the same screen becomes the live console. A key rule: getting video in and going public are separate steps, so a sound check is never broadcast by accident.

Where to find it

Go to Publish > Live Streaming > Live Streams and click the live stream's card (Open pre-flight before it starts, Open live console while on air). While a live stream is on air, Pulse > System Health also shows it with an Open live console button. It works the same in the web app and in Tech Manager.

Read the status bar and the three cards

At the top, the status bar gives one word and one sentence, with a clock (Starts in, On air or Ran for). The words you will see: Scheduled, Ready for your encoder, Preview, Rehearsal, Live, Reconnecting, Feed lost, Ending, Ended and Published.

Under it are three cards, because they answer three different questions:

• Feed from the booth: is video reaching WorshipMetrics? Shows bitrate, frame rate and audio.
• Public: can anyone outside staff see it? Shows how many are watching.
• Destinations: did the relay to YouTube, Facebook or RTMP land? A failing destination never means the service is off air.

Get the encoder sending

1. Go to Publish > Live Streaming > Live Streams and click the live stream's card to open its pre-flight.
2. In What This Run Is, choose Readiness preview (the real live stream, early) or Rehearsal (a separate recording that never joins the public replay; Go Live is disabled). Choose before the encoder starts sending.
3. In the Booth card on the right:
   • If WorshipMetrics can drive your encoder (OBS or vMix on a booth computer running Tech Manager), click Start sending. If the booth cannot start it, you see its reason as an error instead (see Troubleshooting).
   • On vMix, Start sending starts only the one vMix stream slot whose address points at WorshipMetrics (set up on Publish > Live Streaming > Encoders). Other slots, such as an old YouTube key, are left alone. Stop sending stops only that slot too.
   • If your church has more than one encoder, Start sending and Stop sending reach only the booth computer chosen for this live stream's encoder (its Booth computer on the Encoders page). Your default encoder, left on Any booth, uses any booth computer no other encoder has claimed. On an encoder other than your default one, the chosen computer needs the current Tech Manager.
   • For an ATEM or other Blackmagic hardware, Tech Manager's own encoder, or anything else, click Listen now, then start streaming from the encoder yourself. Show the address opens the Encoders page with its server URL and stream key.
4. Wait for the Booth card to say Receiving at a bitrate. The status bar changes to Preview: video is reaching us, and only staff can see it.

Check the picture before you go live

1. Go to Publish > Live Streaming > Live Streams and click the live stream's card to open its pre-flight.
2. Look at the three numbered cards:
   • Card 1, Source Preview: the booth's own picture, when the encoder can send one.
   • Card 2, Cloud Preview: exactly what Go Live would make public, slightly delayed. Only signed-in staff can see it.
   • Card 3, Destinations: says Cannot be proven yet. A relay only exists after Go Live.
3. Read the Ready Check: Video reaching us, Picture format, Sound present, Connection steady, Destinations prepared, Watch page and Recording. Its summary says All clear, how many are still waiting, or how many to look at.
4. To let someone approve the picture without signing in, click Share with an approver, pick Link expires (15 min, 30 min, 1 hr or Until Go Live), then Create link and Copy link. Revoke link stops it early; Go Live retires it.

Go live

1. On the live stream's pre-flight (Publish > Live Streaming > Live Streams, then its card), check the status says Preview.
2. In the Publication card, read the sentence under Go Live. It lists the destinations that will become public.
3. Click Go Live. The dialog lists exactly what becomes public; anything switched off stays private.
4. Click Go Live in the dialog. The status bar turns to Live and the clock starts.

During the service

Once you are live, the run screen becomes the live console (from Publish > Live Streaming > Live Streams, click Open live console).

• Program shows the picture, time on air and viewers. A badge such as "Running 7 min over" appears if you pass the planned end; nothing cuts you off.
• Feed Health shows bitrate over time, Dropped frames, codec, frame rate and audio, measured where the video reaches us.
• Clip This Moment: type a Clip name and click one of the Keep the last buttons (15, 30 or 60 seconds) to keep that much of what just happened. The share link works now; the file reaches the Library a few minutes after the service.
• This Service lists segments. If the encoder drops and reconnects, a new segment starts and the replay joins them.
• Destinations has a switch per destination. Turning one off asks you to confirm with Stop relay; this is not a pause, and YouTube or Facebook may end their own live stream. Turning one on (Start relay) can create a new link there. Open and Master control (YouTube Studio) open the platform.
• Live Chat (when chat is on) shows held messages first with Approve, Hide and Block, then the chat with Pin. Type in the box and click Post as host or Post and pin to post as the church.

End the live stream

1. Open the live console (Publish > Live Streaming > Live Streams, then Open live console). In the Publication card, click End live stream.
2. If WorshipMetrics drives your encoder (OBS or vMix), leave the box that starts Also stop ticked so the booth stops pushing video. On vMix this stops only the WorshipMetrics stream slot. Otherwise the dialog says the encoder keeps sending until someone stops it at the device; stop it there.
3. Click End live stream. This cannot be undone.
4. With Also stop ticked, you see "Live stream ended. The booth stopped sending." If the booth could not stop it, you see "Live stream ended, but the encoder is still sending." followed by the reason: stop it at the device.

The status changes to Ended while the recording is prepared (usually about a minute), then Published. The Publication card then shows the audience report. The recording goes to the Library as a draft, or already published if the live stream was set to Keep it published.

Edit or duplicate a live stream before it starts

1. Go to Publish > Live Streaming > Live Streams and click the live stream's card to open its pre-flight.
2. In Live Stream Details, click Edit.
3. Change the name, times or encoder. Click More options for series, details, address, artwork, destinations, visibility and recording.
4. Click Save changes, or Duplicate… to copy it to a new date.

Details lock once the live stream is public or over. The encoder locks while it is sending. The destination list locks once the live stream starts listening for the encoder (it says "These were prepared when the live stream armed, so the list is fixed now."), so choose destinations before the day.

Troubleshooting

Go Live is greyed out

The sentence under the button says why: No video is reaching us yet. (start the encoder), No Destination is on. Turn one on first., or A rehearsal never goes public. To switch from a rehearsal to the service, stop the encoder, wait for What This Run Is to unlock, choose Readiness preview, and start sending again.

Start sending shows an error

The booth could not start the encoder, and the message says why. "No booth is online…" means Tech Manager is not running on the booth computer. "Tech Manager is online on … but no encoder it can drive was found" means neither OBS nor vMix is open there. Open it and try again, or start streaming from the encoder itself: the live stream is already listening, and the Booth card says Receiving at a bitrate once video arrives.

Start sending on vMix shows an error

On vMix, Start sending starts only the stream slot pointed at WorshipMetrics, and starts nothing if it cannot find exactly one. The message says which case it is:

• "vMix isn't set up to send to WorshipMetrics yet — paste the address and key from Encoders into a Custom RTMP stream slot, then try again." Copy the Server URL and Stream key from Publish > Live Streaming > Encoders into one Custom RTMP Server slot in vMix's stream settings.
• "If you just changed it, close vMix's Settings window first": vMix saves its stream settings only when that window closes. Close it and press Start sending again.
• "vMix has 2 stream slots pointed at WorshipMetrics…": clear the one you don't use in vMix's stream settings, then try again.
• "Tech Manager on … needs an update…": that booth runs an older Tech Manager, which would start every vMix slot, so nothing was started. Update Tech Manager on the booth computer, or start the WorshipMetrics slot in vMix itself.
• "vMix is set to …": vMix runs on a different computer from Tech Manager, which can only read vMix's stream slots on its own computer. Start the WorshipMetrics slot in vMix itself, or run Tech Manager on the vMix computer.
• "Tech Manager couldn't read vMix's stream settings on this PC…": start the WorshipMetrics slot in vMix itself.

Whatever the message, the live stream is already listening: start the slot in vMix and the Booth card says Receiving at a bitrate once video arrives.

Start sending on a second encoder shows an error

These come up only for a live stream on an encoder other than your church's default one:

• "Choose the booth computer that runs … first": that encoder has no Booth computer chosen, so WorshipMetrics won't guess which computer to start. On Publish > Live Streaming > Encoders, pick the encoder, click Change encoder, choose its Booth computer and click Save. Until then, start sending from the encoder itself.
• "Tech Manager on … needs an update before it can send …": that booth runs an older Tech Manager, which only knows your default encoder, so nothing was started. Update Tech Manager on that computer, or start the encoder yourself.
• "OBS on this computer is set up for a different encoder": OBS holds another encoder's address and key. Click Send to OBS on this encoder's card on the Encoders page, then press Start sending again. If OBS is already live to another encoder, stop that stream in OBS first.

"The encoder … was removed"

The live stream's encoder was removed on the Encoders page. In Live Stream Details, click Edit, pick another encoder on the Encoder line, click Save changes, and start again.

"This live stream uses the … encoder. Start it from its page in Live Streaming"

You started it from the old Live Stream page (opened from a bookmark), which sends only to your default encoder. Go to Publish > Live Streaming > Live Streams, open this live stream and use Start sending there.

"No video from the booth"

The service is close and nothing is arriving. Check the encoder is streaming to the right address and key (see the Encoders page), then press Start sending or Listen now again.

"This encoder is in use"

Another live stream is using this encoder's feed. End the other one, or give this live stream a different encoder in Live Stream Details.

"A feed arrived that no live stream claimed"

The encoder started before this live stream was listening. Click Use it for this live stream and its recording joins this service.

Nothing is reaching YouTube or Facebook

Look at the Destinations card. A row marked Failing shows the platform's reason. The service is still on air for everyone else. Click Master control to check YouTube Studio, and reconnect the account on Publish > Live Streaming > Destinations if the reason mentions it.

"Feed lost" while live

Video from the booth stopped, but the live stream is still on air and viewers see it stall. Get the encoder sending again; there is no need to go live again.

The encoder "is still sending" after the end

Either the booth could not stop it (the message after End live stream said "the encoder is still sending" and why), or it is an encoder WorshipMetrics cannot reach. For OBS or vMix, click Stop sending in the banner; otherwise stop it at the device, so the next service starts clean. If the message says "Tech Manager couldn't find WorshipMetrics' stream slot in vMix, so it stopped nothing", stop that slot in vMix itself.

Good to know

• Nothing starts listening and nothing goes public until someone acts here: Start sending or Listen now starts listening, and Go Live prepares everything itself if nobody did.
• Only End live stream ends the service. The planned end is a guide.
• On a booth with an older Tech Manager, Stop sending (and Also stop) stops every vMix stream slot rather than leave the feed running. Update Tech Manager so it stops only the WorshipMetrics slot.
• If the recording was saved as a draft, the replay stays off the watch page until you publish it in Publish > Library.