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.
Pre-Event 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.
Different from your event start time, the pre-event start time will tell us how many minutes before your event you'd like to start sending your stream to us. This is before your event start time, and will allow us to listen to your stream before your actual event start time. This is useful if you may start earlier than scheduled.
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. Typically the default will be 30 minutes.
| Stream Wait Time | 1 hour |
To change your stream wait time, you can do so at the project level by going to your project live captioning settings and adjusting the Stream Wait time setting. You can find this setting and other advanced settings by going to your project settings, and clicking "Live Captioning Settings".
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.
Click the calendar icon to choose the MM/DD/YYYY and HH:MM:SS of the event. The time will automatically be set to 5 minutes from the current time but can be manually edited within the field.
- Please note: The live event must be scheduled at least 5 minutes in the future and it is editable up until 5 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. 3Play will initiate a service to listen for your stream at this time. Do not attempt to stream to 3Play before the event start time, as the stream connection will fail.
Maximum Event Duration
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.
Enter the duration in minutes of the live event to be live captioned.
Note that this feature will determine the maximum length of the event and also act as a failsafe in case the streams are not manually stopped at the end of the live event.
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.
If your live stream disconnects during the event, this is how long we will wait before we disconnect from delivering captions. After this time has passed, you will no longer be able to connect to this 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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