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Knowledgebase: Streaming Problems
The Encoder is Buffering or Losing Connection
Posted by - NA - on 06 April 2005 10:25 AM
Most often, high network traffic or network maintenance on your local ISP is the reason for buffering between the encoder and our server. Buffering can also occur when the bitrate of your streams approaches or exceeds your maximum upload bandwidth. To determine the cause of excessive buffering, perform the following tests:
Upload/Download speed test
WinMTR network test
Using data from these tests, we can help you diagnose connectivity problems. Please include the results of these tests, as well as your public IP address, when communicating with us regarding any connectivity issues.
 
Upload/Download Speed Test

 

This speed test will evaluate the actual bandwidth available to you to upload your stream to our server. It is best to perform this test when you are experience buffering problems AND with all of your streams disabled. This test takes less than one minute to perform.
To be safe, you should have 20-30% upload bandwidth above than the total bitrate of your streams. If you have a 600kbps stream and an 200kbps stream, your maximum bandwidth should around 1000kbps of upload capacity. Any other internet traffic on the encoding computer or on your local network can interfere with the encoder.

 

WinMTR Network test


WinMTR is a network testing utility that reports packet loss for each hop between encoder and server. Download and install WinMTR, available for free from http://winmtr.net/download-winmtr/

  1. Uncompress the .zip file
  2. Start the program WinMTR.exe
  3. In the Host text box, enter ‘azul.streamguys.com’. Click Start.
  4. This program will run until the user stops. We recommend between 3 and 20 minutes. (If the program does not appear to be working, temporarily disable the Windows Firewall).
  5. Copy the Text to the clipboard, paste into an email, and send the results to you, which you can then forward to support@streamguys.com.
Email the feedback of these two tests to support@streamguys.com. It is also a good idea to present this information to your ISP whenever communicating with them about network issues.

 

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