Testing the commentators' equipment and sound quality before a live broadcast is important to ensure everything runs smoothly. We recommend doing two tests, one a few days before the broadcast and the same steps with the real livestream approximately 30-60 minutes before you go live on-air.
Please follow the steps below to test with the commentator:
- Upload an event to use for testing.
- Start an input feed to the test event. We find it is best to playout a recording as-live similar to the live feed to simulate the look and feel of the live broadcast for the commentator.
- Invite the commentator to the event.
- Test the commentator's internet connection. If the commentator's internet connection is too poor, they will not be able to commentate. Spalk recommends a stable connection with at least 10 MB/s Download & Upload and a Ping below 100ms.
- (Optional) If they are using Windows, have them turn off Automatic Gain Control (AGC) as it can change volume levels to mid-commentary. You can find detailed instructions here.
- Ask them to login to the commentary studio where they will need to click the play button on the screen. We generally find it is best for them to "test" commentate for around 10 minutes. During this time, listen to them using the Listen page, and verify the audio quality is acceptable, and practise setting the mix correctly. It is also good to practise communicating with them like you will during live - either in the producer studio, or via text chat in the dashboard.
- Repeat steps 3 and 5, but with the commentator connecting via their backup 4G mobile phone connection to ensure there is a working backup network connection.
Remind all commentators to put their phones on silent and to only have necessary applications / browser tabs running on their computers.
If you have encountered any problems during the commentator testing, please see the following troubleshooting articles:
Comments
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.