Always pre-test a new venue for video streaming at DVinfo.net

Andrew Smith · August 1st, 2016, 08:28 AM

I had a video recording that I was doing on Saturday and it was also being streamed. I prefer to do a test run beforehand, but it just wasn't possible in this case to get prior access to the building.

So I arrive and set up, and then looked for the ethernet cable jack in the walls of the room. There wasn't one. Not in the next room either. We looked all around the building for any room with a data point in it. Couldn't find it.

They had wi-fi, though. No good for me.

We did eventually find it after someone who knew the building well came along and pointed it out to us. If you remove the correct row of stacked chairs ... there it is. There was also a very long cable that they used to connect to it from whatever room they were using via the nearest hallway.

Unfortunately it was start time by that stage and I'd already had to make the call to advise the people waiting for the stream to start that it just wasn't going to happen. At least this one was only for an internal (to the organisation) use, and a video uploaded to Youtube would suffice in the end.

The lesson of the day? Always pre-test at any new venue. Always.

Andrew

Chris Harding · August 2nd, 2016, 02:05 AM

Hi Andrew

Good lesson! It's almost like shooting a wedding without going to rehearsal and finding out that on the day the bridal car has already arrived but on the other side of the building!! Preparation is so important.

Of course you also might have found that the venue also had standard ADSL2 which in most places has a dismal maximum upload speed of 1 mbps or less which is useless for streaming a decent image!!

I prefer to take my 4G wifi hotspot with me on every job. At least I know it will give me 10mbps at least and I don't need to try and find Ethernet points either! If the venue's upload connection is good enough I will use it but if it isn't at least I have a backup!!

Andrew Smith · August 2nd, 2016, 10:14 PM

Actually, it *was* 'dismal ADSL' at tis finest, giving a 600k to 800k range connection. I figured we'd just do a 360p or 480p stream only, and it was only a talking head for visual content.

Oh well. Maybe it was for the best.

Andrew

Chris Harding · August 3rd, 2016, 06:29 AM

My son is in Montreal, Canada and he tells me they all have VDSL there with a much higher upload speed. He says that ADSL2 has a maximum upload of 1mbps and my mate in Sydney who has NBN was quite disappointed and has gone back to 4G if he needs anything fast ... the NBN is supposedly fast but seems to get bottlenecked in places that still are copper based so the speeds are just crushed. Some places do have cable which can give reasonable speeds for broadcast but half the time venue staff have no idea what they have as they contract out to an IT supplier and often totally un-contactable on a weekend. Problem is that it costs us time and money to go hunting down tech people prior to the event but still is necessary sadly!

One day we might get decent speeds when everything is optic fibre and the NBN is rolled out eventually ...we don't have even a faint whiff of new cable being laid in our area yet and are only 10kms from the city.

Andrew Smith · August 3rd, 2016, 09:13 AM

I think it is possible to get VDSL in Australia, but it's not commonly known about.

Andrew

Chris Harding · August 3rd, 2016, 06:29 PM

Hi Andrew

I think you mentioned you did a corporate stream a month or so back and had a 10mbps upload connection? Was that maybe cable? Apart from mobile 4G that seems to be the only thing that can break out from the ADSL2 upload limit. I wonder what the major hotels and corporate venues are using? Just for interest I had to upload a 384mb video to YouTube this morning and my ADSL2 connection decided it would take 61 minutes to do the transfer. I disconnected and switched to my little 4G wifi hotspot device and the file uploaded in exactly 4 minutes flat!! That's why it's comes with me if I'm doing a live stream!!

Andrew Smith · August 3rd, 2016, 10:19 PM

That hotel venue has, as far as I can guess, a fibre connection. That's the only way you can get that sort of speed.

I'm on the fastest cable you can get, and my upload speed maxes out at about 2.5Mbit/sec. (Just did a speedtest.net reading and it's presently 99.1Mbps down and 2.44Mbps up.) I can upload about a gigabyte per hour, or one megabyte every three seconds.

On the other hand, I have access to an office (located next door to a very friendly data centre company) that is connected in to their LAN and hence accesses what is probably a 100Mbit each way connection. I did a speedtest on it and it was reading 85Mbit each way of available capacity. So jealous of the upload speed.

Andrew

Chris Harding · August 3rd, 2016, 11:43 PM

That's a dream upload speed Andrew. Even on cable and 2.5mbps you can really only dare work at 50% of the upload rate so that's a mere 1.25mbps if you need to play it safe. With 4G I get a consistent 10 mbps so can stream out at half that and get a decent image BUT it's pricey ..around $10 per 1GB then again cable isn't exactly cheap either ..If we hooked into our cable that we already have for Foxtel the monthly cost is at least double compared to ADSL2

Chris Harding · August 5th, 2016, 07:07 AM

Hi Andrew

Well, we are doing a live stream of our attempt at a live Bridal TV show all via the 4G wifi on Sunday at 4:30pm your time. Wish me luck and take a peek if you are around in the afternoon?

Perth Bridal Show Pilot on Livestream

August 1st, 2016, 08:28 AM	#1
Andrew Smith Equal Opportunity Offender Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,015	Always pre-test a new venue for video streaming I had a video recording that I was doing on Saturday and it was also being streamed. I prefer to do a test run beforehand, but it just wasn't possible in this case to get prior access to the building. So I arrive and set up, and then looked for the ethernet cable jack in the walls of the room. There wasn't one. Not in the next room either. We looked all around the building for any room with a data point in it. Couldn't find it. They had wi-fi, though. No good for me. We did eventually find it after someone who knew the building well came along and pointed it out to us. If you remove the correct row of stacked chairs ... there it is. There was also a very long cable that they used to connect to it from whatever room they were using via the nearest hallway. Unfortunately it was start time by that stage and I'd already had to make the call to advise the people waiting for the stream to start that it just wasn't going to happen. At least this one was only for an internal (to the organisation) use, and a video uploaded to Youtube would suffice in the end. The lesson of the day? Always pre-test at any new venue. Always. Andrew

August 2nd, 2016, 02:05 AM	#2
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: Always pre-test a new venue for video streaming Hi Andrew Good lesson! It's almost like shooting a wedding without going to rehearsal and finding out that on the day the bridal car has already arrived but on the other side of the building!! Preparation is so important. Of course you also might have found that the venue also had standard ADSL2 which in most places has a dismal maximum upload speed of 1 mbps or less which is useless for streaming a decent image!! I prefer to take my 4G wifi hotspot with me on every job. At least I know it will give me 10mbps at least and I don't need to try and find Ethernet points either! If the venue's upload connection is good enough I will use it but if it isn't at least I have a backup!!

August 2nd, 2016, 10:14 PM	#3
Andrew Smith Equal Opportunity Offender Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,015	Re: Always pre-test a new venue for video streaming Actually, it was 'dismal ADSL' at tis finest, giving a 600k to 800k range connection. I figured we'd just do a 360p or 480p stream only, and it was only a talking head for visual content. Oh well. Maybe it was for the best. Andrew

August 3rd, 2016, 06:29 AM	#4
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: Always pre-test a new venue for video streaming My son is in Montreal, Canada and he tells me they all have VDSL there with a much higher upload speed. He says that ADSL2 has a maximum upload of 1mbps and my mate in Sydney who has NBN was quite disappointed and has gone back to 4G if he needs anything fast ... the NBN is supposedly fast but seems to get bottlenecked in places that still are copper based so the speeds are just crushed. Some places do have cable which can give reasonable speeds for broadcast but half the time venue staff have no idea what they have as they contract out to an IT supplier and often totally un-contactable on a weekend. Problem is that it costs us time and money to go hunting down tech people prior to the event but still is necessary sadly! One day we might get decent speeds when everything is optic fibre and the NBN is rolled out eventually ...we don't have even a faint whiff of new cable being laid in our area yet and are only 10kms from the city.

August 3rd, 2016, 09:13 AM	#5
Andrew Smith Equal Opportunity Offender Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,015	Re: Always pre-test a new venue for video streaming I think it is possible to get VDSL in Australia, but it's not commonly known about. Andrew

August 3rd, 2016, 06:29 PM	#6
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: Always pre-test a new venue for video streaming Hi Andrew I think you mentioned you did a corporate stream a month or so back and had a 10mbps upload connection? Was that maybe cable? Apart from mobile 4G that seems to be the only thing that can break out from the ADSL2 upload limit. I wonder what the major hotels and corporate venues are using? Just for interest I had to upload a 384mb video to YouTube this morning and my ADSL2 connection decided it would take 61 minutes to do the transfer. I disconnected and switched to my little 4G wifi hotspot device and the file uploaded in exactly 4 minutes flat!! That's why it's comes with me if I'm doing a live stream!! Last edited by Chris Harding; August 3rd, 2016 at 10:08 PM.

August 3rd, 2016, 10:19 PM	#7
Andrew Smith Equal Opportunity Offender Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,015	Re: Always pre-test a new venue for video streaming That hotel venue has, as far as I can guess, a fibre connection. That's the only way you can get that sort of speed. I'm on the fastest cable you can get, and my upload speed maxes out at about 2.5Mbit/sec. (Just did a speedtest.net reading and it's presently 99.1Mbps down and 2.44Mbps up.) I can upload about a gigabyte per hour, or one megabyte every three seconds. On the other hand, I have access to an office (located next door to a very friendly data centre company) that is connected in to their LAN and hence accesses what is probably a 100Mbit each way connection. I did a speedtest on it and it was reading 85Mbit each way of available capacity. So jealous of the upload speed. Andrew

August 3rd, 2016, 11:43 PM	#8
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: Always pre-test a new venue for video streaming That's a dream upload speed Andrew. Even on cable and 2.5mbps you can really only dare work at 50% of the upload rate so that's a mere 1.25mbps if you need to play it safe. With 4G I get a consistent 10 mbps so can stream out at half that and get a decent image BUT it's pricey ..around $10 per 1GB then again cable isn't exactly cheap either ..If we hooked into our cable that we already have for Foxtel the monthly cost is at least double compared to ADSL2

August 5th, 2016, 07:07 AM	#9
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: Always pre-test a new venue for video streaming Hi Andrew Well, we are doing a live stream of our attempt at a live Bridal TV show all via the 4G wifi on Sunday at 4:30pm your time. Wish me luck and take a peek if you are around in the afternoon? Perth Bridal Show Pilot on Livestream