Usage
The MyShowroom.TV model is Software as a Service. It means the website provides the display for the audience and the MyShowroom Studio is the application what generate and manage the streams.
From viewers’ prospective the user doesn’t require any special software except the Silverlight plugin if not installed already on the computer.
They need bandwidth for the watch. It can depend on the streamed content quality but the average is 300 - 400 kbps. A simple DSL should be enough to watch or playback the content. This is also true in 3G mobile network case.
MyShowroom Studio requires installing .NET 2.0. After Windows Vista this is part of the operation system.
Creating a good live broadcast has some prerequisite on the author side.
Bandwidth: you should enough UPLOAD bandwidth for the operation. Please check what your ISP guarantees to you. The typical bandwidth is around 256 and 500 kbps. In 3G mobile networks we recommend the lower bandwidth for streaming around 150-200 kbps.
Computer: encoding from a live source is a big task for the CPU. If you want stable stream then use power pc or laptop. We recommend dual core processor for the operation.
Lighting: without a good light source the quality of the show will be blurry. The camera includes some LightBoost feature but not changing the normal light.
Device configuration: almost each capture device has a configuration panel where fine-tune the device settings. Recommend to check this and set up well for the higher quality.
For instance:
Web Cam – turn on LightBoost, ColorBoost and set up the AC frequency
Digitalization Boards – Turn on de-interlace and set up the size of the input source if possible
MyShowroom Studio settings
You can create your own show with this application. Application will require same log-in like in the website case.
The application layout is simple and similar like the chat application.
File > Studio Configuration
In this window you can set up the basic configuration.
Latency – Delay between your computer and the server
In the live streaming the content broadcasted is not happening in real time. You should calculate delay between now and your audience playback. Typical latency is around 10 seconds, but depends on your bandwidth. Use this field when you create scheduled shows.
Archive Settings
MyShowroom archives your show by default. You can set up a different folder and turn on/off the archive option together with the chat content.
Default Directories
Use this when you want to broadcast Video/Audio files. The application will open this directory like default video or audio folder.
Login Credentials
Change here your login information.
Default Channel
You can select your default channel here. This is important if you are doing scheduled show.
Synchronization
Allow automated broadcast: Turn on/off the scheduled show feature on the client’s side.
Allow idle time management
Turn on this if you like to create 24 hours broadcast. The application will automatically create shows based on these settings.
File > Make Avatar and Channel Logo
Use this feature if you like to create avatar or channel logo with your webcam.
File > Reset Channel Configurations
Reset all channels configurations.
File > Load Channel Configurations
Load a save channel configurations from a file
File > Save Channel Configurations
Save your settings to a file. Recommend to use it when you have different channel settings.
Control > Broadcast
Select the appropriate channel for the broadcast or use F1- F6 key.
Control > Channel Configurations
Configure the appropriate channel or use Ctrl + F1- F6 key.
Control > On Air
Start the show
Control > Off Air
Stop the show
Control > Create Offline Show
Create a show from a pre-recorded content and upload the file to the server.
Control >Allow Idle Time
Turn on/off the idle time management
Control >Reset Broadcast Settings
Reinitialize the encoder engine without application restart.
Control > Open Archive Directory
Open the folder where the archive content located
Control > Upload Archived Content
Upload the recorded content to the server
Video Processing > Index Video File
Re-index the recorded video file.
Video Processing > Upload Video Thumbnails
When your show stopped unexpectedly then you can re-upload the show thumbnails again with this feature
Video Processing > Video File Converter
Simple video converter for other types to WMV. We use FFMPeg for this purpose.
Channel Configuration
Before we start to broadcast anything we should configure the channel.
Go to the Channel #1 and after right-click with the mouse the context menu will appear.
Click the Open Channel Configuration and the Channel Configuration window will be pop up.
In the first line we can give a name for the channel.
The second row help to identify the channel type visually. These are also help to preconfigure the next section.
In the third section we can configure the audio and video source.
We can set up various sources like microphone – webcam
mp3 – webcam
mp3 – video
microphone – video
In video file case another checkbox display where you can set up to play the file in a loop.
Get preview with preview button.
In fourth block we can set up a rule for the channel switching. We should define the next channel and the time period when will happening the switch.
Click OK when you completed the configuration.
Remark: When the channel is LIVE and broadcasting then you have no right to override the values.
Create a show
After we configured minimum one channel with success then ready to broadcast a show.
The first we should select the channel what we like to broadcast it. If the channel is ready for broadcast then you get a green border.
Then click the On Air button.
Please give a name to your show and set up the duration. If you like to protect your stream please set up Access Code to only give access to show to authorized people.
Click OK and your show will broadcast in the next 10 -20 minutes.
The application initializes and establishes the connection with the server.
Upload the show
MyShowroom provides storage space for the live shows. In the normal user case this is 500 MB.
The Studio application allows you to upload the file to the server. Use Control > Upload Archived Content.
We like to mention that you can set up your own FTP server here. Don’t forget the progressive video streaming requires some extra settings for seamless playing
Continuous broadcast
We are supporting the 24 hours streams maximum in 6 hours block. If you want to use this settings turn on this feature File > Configuration > Broadcast Options idle management section.
Scheduled show
For scheduled show please use the web interface to set up a new show. In the MyShowroom Studio please set up File > Configuration > Broadcast Options > Synchronization section.
The application will download the data from the server 2 hours before the show. When the time will come the application will start automatically the show and end when you configured.
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