3Play has a number of features that allow you to control your stream to 3Play - from when you start your stream to how long 3Play will wait if you are disconnected. Each of these settings is configurable at the project level as a default for all Live events that are scheduled within that project, as well as when scheduling an individual event. This article provides a guide to these settings.
Stream Start Time
The Stream Start Time represents the time at which 3Play will initiate a service to listen for your stream. Do not attempt to stream to 3Play before the Stream Start time, as the stream connection will fail to connect from your encoder to 3Play, and your encoder will display an error message. If you'd like to verify everything is set up and connected appropriately prior to the audience facing Event Start Time, we recommend selecting a Stream Start Time at least a few minutes in advance of the event start time.
Stream Wait Time
When your event is starting, this is the duration 3Play will wait to initially receive a stream before spinning down our infrastructure.
As a safety measure, by default, your Stream Wait Time cannot be shorter than the difference between the Stream Start and Event Start times.
Caption Start Time
Caption Start Time represents when the captions will start for your event and is not configurable. For Live Auto Captions, captions will begin as soon as you start streaming to 3Play and speech is detected in your stream. For Live Professional Captions, your captioner will check-in prior to your event, and will send test captions prior to delivering professional captions once the audience-facing event begins at the Event Start Time.
Event Start time
This represents the audience facing event start time. If you are using a video player integration, this time may be pulled in automatically from the video platform into the 3Play ordering workflow (such as with a singular Zoom Meeting or Webinar or with Youtube). If you are using 3Play's non-integrated RTMP workflow (or the video platform does not specify a start time), then you will be able to specify this time when ordering in 3Play.
Maximum Stream Time
This is intended to serve as a failsafe in case you forget to stop streaming, 3Play will terminate your captioning event once the Maximum Stream Time has been reached.
Reconnect Wait Time - Beta
The Stream Reconnect Wait Time setting governs the duration, in minutes, that 3Play will wait for your stream to reconnect before considering the live stream completed and spinning down our service.
After you have connected 3Play and your stream, 3Play will generate and deliver captions (and video, depending on your captioning delivery method). Should your live stream disconnect from 3Play, either intentionally or because of an issue with your network, this setting will allow you to control the duration after a disconnection in which you'll be able to reconnect your stream to 3Play. You will be billed at the per minute rate for your event (either at your Automatic or Professional captioning rate) for the duration of the disconnect.
As a default, 3Play sets the Stream Reconnect Wait Time to 5 minutes, but this can be adjusted to any value between 0 and 10 minutes. This can be adjusted as a project level default in your project settings, or set individually for each event under Advanced Settings when placing your captioning order.
Please note: this feature is not yet compatible with the ability to save your video stream to 3Play. If you would like to upgrade your live event, you can do so by adding your source media to 3Play after the event.
Reconnect Wait Time FAQs
Is there a cost associated with Stream Reconnect Wait Time?
- The Stream Reconnect Wait Time extends the billed duration of your event by 5 minutes (by default) unless you explicitly end your event with 3Play by clicking 'End Event' on the 3Play Live Captioning Dashboard.
Can I reset the Stream Reconnect Wait Time to another duration?
- Yes. 3Play defaults the Stream Reconnect Wait Time to 5 minutes. You can adjust to any value between 0 and 10 minutes at any time.
What if I set my Stream Reconnect Wait Time to zero?
- If we become disconnected from your stream at any time during your event, we will assume your event has ended and spin down (stop) our live captioning service.
Do I need to set a Stream Reconnect Wait Time for every new event?
- Stream Reconnect Wait Time can be adjusted as a project-level default in your project settings or set individually for each event under Advanced Settings when placing your caption order.
During Stream Reconnect Wait Time, will you still deliver automatic captions to my event as a failover?
- No. If we become disconnected from your stream, we are unable to deliver any live captions.
Can I still upgrade my live event?
- Yes, however Stream Reconnect Wait Time is not yet compatible with the ability to save your video stream to 3Play. If you would like to upgrade your live event, you can do so by adding your source media to 3Play after the event.
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