Improvements in YouTube broken stream resumption (and how to take advantage of it)

[Andrew Smith]

As you might be aware, the googly thing is to bring out subtle improvements along the way and I'm suspecting that this has recently happened with some of the aspects of streaming through YouTube Live.

It used to be that if you had an interruption to your data stream to the YouTube server it was all over - especially if you were doing an 'event' stream with a dedicated URL.

I had precisely this sort of scenario last week with a sports match. The data stream had broken to the extent that the encoder was no longer transmitting and had gone to a standby / ready mode. When I did notice it (I was on on-screen scoreboard duties as well thus had to be attentive to the game) I did the best I could possibly attempt to do in the dire situation and hit the 'start' button for the stream to start again. And it worked!

There you have it - YouTube streams can be resumed from a broken data transmittal.

[When we later looked at the finished recording of the stream on YouTube, we noted that the gap was about 4 minutes of lost time from when the outbound streaming data had stopped.]

So I thought I'd get on to the ever attentive and responsive Matrox guys with a feature request that the Monarch units will automatically try and resume a stream that has stopped due to a non user-initiated reason. As it turns out the feature is already there in the Monarch HDX unit when you are using it only for streaming (not recording a file at the same time).

Not able to confirm it's in the HD and LCS models, but I can't see the Matrox guys holding a good thing back. It's most likely to be there as well.

Andrew

[Chris Harding]

Nice to know Andrew!

Does YouTube still have the restriction that you need 1000 subscribers before you can go live with them??

[Andrew Smith]

No. I think that is long gone. A verified account with good standing seems to do it.

Andrew

[Chris Harding]

Hi Andrew

I see the 1000 subscriber rule only applies to those using the YouTube App or API on mobile but they are allowing "test streams" even on mobile. We are not on mobile so it doesn't affect us!

What is the advantage of streaming to YouTube in your opinion compared to a Facebook page or event. They are essentially both free. We still go to a CDN for weddings and funerals probably because of the privacy aspect as they don't want the details splashed all over social media!!

[Andrew Smith]

You can still have privacy with FB via an event being "unlisted".

What I like about YouTube streaming is how we can sell it to the end users. I've literally said "accessing the stream is as easy as playing a video on YouTube" and people get it.

YouTube also means that you can watch the event in comfort on your big screen TV either via plugging in a modern laptop via a HDMI cable or by using the YouTube app.

The benefit with Facebook is that your video escapes the usual algorithms that suppress how many people see your post.

Andrew

PS. Pic attached of one of our remote viewers and their TV screen watching the streamed content.

[Josh Chesarek]

Youtube can do 4k, Facebook is is 720p.

The other big factor for me is that someone driving by with a loud song during softball results in facebook shutting the stream down for copyright music violation while youtube seems to not jump when it can recognize 1 second of audio. Fair use says it was not the primary focus but simply heard in the background from a passing car. The game commentary was the focus.

As others mentioned getting your followers to all know about the stream just as it is happening means paying. We stream to facebook regularly for college sports and I regularly see the post talking about it the day after the event instead of during.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Josh

That is the very reason why we use a paid account for weddings that we do live! Every bride has a commercial song to walk into so FaceBook would ping us immediately and probably You Tube would not kill the stream but I suspect would drop an ad over the video clip once it's over ... even a simple wedding ceremony lasting 20 minutes has at least 3 songs ..a walking in song, a walking out song and a song while the couple do the paperwork ...OK they are all from the officiant's PA not us but they would still ping us for them. Even traditional wedding music like the bridal march has now been "re-issued" by greedy music publishers and YouTube actually pinged us last month for using the many hundreds of years old music because of a re-issue.

So what happens in the USA if you are streaming a ball game or hockey game and they play the traditional organ riffs that have always been part of these events ...I would suspect those are now copyright too???

[Josh Chesarek]

I have had facebook shut off the stream completely. I have had youtube mute a stream before so people could see what was going on but not hear anything anymore. Our broadcasts are usually streamed to multiple platforms and we try to minimize the chance of a infraction but the primary website is powered by my streaming service which I control end to end and I don't have to worry about that one going down unless my hardware is having trouble.

[Cary Knoop]

The bridal march (both the Wagner and Mendelssohn one) are in the public domain.

What is copyrighted is:
- a particular recording of these pieces.
- an arrangement or adaptation of these pieces provided they are substantially different from the original.

[Josh Chesarek]

Originally Posted by Cary Knoop

The bridal march (both the Wagner and Mendelssohn one) are in the public domain.

What is copyrighted is:
- a particular recording of these pieces.
- an arrangement or adaptation of these pieces provided they are substantially different from the original.

Yep but if its close enough that the music match system recognizes it you get pinged. By the time you contest it, the event is long over.

[Josh Chesarek]

@Chris, what CDN do you use if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks,

-Josh C.

[Cary Knoop]

True, I am currently dealing with a similar issue, I have a small video with public domain music, it got content id-ed incorrectly. I disputed it and eventually they will release the claim but the problem is the claimant blocked it in various countries including the USA so now my video is blocked probably for the full 30 days and possibly even longer if they automatically deny the dispute.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Josh

We are with Livestream ... no real issues there at all and we can create a nice event page for each stream too.

[Josh Chesarek]

Ah, very cool I have not looked at them in a while. I will have to check up on them.

[Chris Harding]

Hey Cary

We have genuine Royalty Free music libraries from SmartSound but a couple of years back it seems they "sold" the libraries to Getty Images on the understanding that previous owners of the audio pallettes would be exempt from any copyright issues. Despite this, You Tube will ping me each and every time I use it and say "Getty Images has claimed copyright" ...I have to then file a dispute and after 30 days the claim is retracted ....however the usefulness of the video by that time has vanished so it's a fruitless exercise!!