HD Webcast Low Download Bandwidth Issue

Thanks to David Mills, (Stuart Stake), for his help with this issue

Based on events from a multi stake webcast on Sunday night, 28Apr2013

Updated: 29Apr2013

This was the first time a high definition (HD) webcast was sent to twelve (12) meetinghouses and several appeared to have low download bandwidth issues

Also, this was first time in the Orlando Florida Region that we have had an issue with webcast receiving meetinghouses having low download bandwidth issue

If your meetinghouse has low (minimum) bandwidth issue then you will need to disable wireless and other Internet activity in the meetinghouse or after receiving a webcast for a while you will have issues with buffering (etc.)

You can verify your Internet bandwidth for your meetinghouse by using speedtest.lds.org

High Definition (HD) Webcast Stream:
Receiving meetinghouse needs to have an Internet download bandwidth in the range of 2.5 Mbps, (the minimum download is 1.80 Mpbs)

High Webcast Stream:
Receiving meetinghouse needs to have an Internet download bandwidth in the range of 1.22 Mbps (the minimum download is 0.868 Mpbs)

Medium Webcast Stream:
Receiving meetinghouse needs to have an Internet download bandwidth in the range of 0.60 Mbps (the minimum download is 0.452 Mpbs)

Test Stream from Headquarters
Receiving meetinghouse needs to have an Internet download bandwidth in the range of 0.575 Mbps (the minimum download is 0.411 Mpbs)

We also streamed our stake conference yesterday, and because of a recent upgrade to our building's bandwidth, we were able to use the HD setting for the first time. It went quite well. I'll post more details in another thread.

I'm not sure how you derived your numbers above, but Meetinghouse Webcast software is pretty clear in specifying the minimum recommended bandwidth for a given video quality as follows:

High Definition: 3.6M up, 2.7M down
High: 1.7M up, 1.3M down
Medium: 896K up, 672K down
Low: 448K up, 336K down
Minimum: 284K up, 213K down

Granted, these numbers are close to yours, but I think sticking with one set of numbers is important for perspective users.

The numbers came from doing properties on the Windows Media Player, Version 12.0.7601.17514, while the stream was running

For both of you...were your video sources HD? If so, which one 720p, 1080i or 1080p? Or did you use composite video and just upload the stream with the better settings? Was there any perceivable increase in picture quality?

michaelfish wrote:For both of you...were your video sources HD? If so, which one 720p, 1080i or 1080p? Or did you use composite video and just upload the stream with the better settings? Was there any perceivable increase in picture quality?

Our 2 cameras and 2 projectors were all 1080i, but let's not take this thread too far afield from the original low DL BW issues. Once it's compiled, I'll be posting on our stake's setup and overall experience in another thread.

We also had a large webcast this past weekend. I'm assuming a youth fireside from a visiting authority? Anyway... our webcast we pretty brutal up front... in our area there isn't a hope in heaven that we could do anything more than the lowest upload/download, but this was the first time I've personally been on the receiving end of a webcast.

Prior I had disabled wireless, but still had the 881W antenna on (it doesn't reach to our chapel)... for the first 20 minutes or so stakes all over reported issues that seemed to clear up about 20-30 minutes into the meeting. I ran around, turning off clerk computers that might have been on, removed the antenna (I didn't check TM because I was in firefighting mode)

I can only speculate on what happened... I reaching out to the uploading stake for details, but I don't know if they made a change, SLC had issues, or I did, but the one meetinghouse in our stake that has a decent connection 10D/1U received the broadcast just fine, most did not (1.5Md/.3U)

How disappointing it is that our minimilistic approach results in so much tinkering being necessary to only really have a hope and a prayer that it works well -->

I've hosted 5-6 multi-stake webcasts without as many issues.... I have webcast stake conference 5-6 times to 9 meetinghouses with extremely minimal download, but my upload is always the LOW on the Webcaster.

John, my heart goes out to you with your low BW issues. Until recently, I had one building in that situation and I fought those difficult battles of trying to stream to it with any kind of consistency. One thing I found that really helped in these situations (and YES, it's a "grey" policy area) was to bypass the church firewall and connect the receiving PC directly to the ISP's modem. This is forbidden by GSC, but recommended by the webcasting group for those situations where, because of limited BW, other users on the network could possibly disrupt an important webcast. Granted, this may not be possible in all cases, but it's my personal opinion that this is an acceptable procedure, as long as the firewall gets wired back inline once the webcast has concluded.

Mikerowaved wrote:bypass the church firewall and connect the receiving PC directly to the ISP's modem.

I wouldn't do that unless the receiving PC was fully patched and had a personal firewall. Otherwise, it would likely get hacked before the broadcast started, much less before it was over.

The following is what we are now trying:

It is now suggested that to limit upload and download bandwidth usage in meetinghouses try the following process, until we have the ability to disable wireless using TM.lds.org:
1) The Cisco 1041 N Access Points (APs), remove the power to the wireless power injector modules to disable them
2) The Cisco 881W firewall requires that you remove (unscrew) the antennas
Then use inSSIDer (download from www.metageek.net) on a laptop (or another tool) or use an Android tablet (with inSSIDer or WiFi Analyzer by Kevin Yuan) to see if you have any access points still active
3) After the webcast, reinstate wireless access in the meetinghouses
4) You can verify your Internet bandwidth for your meetinghouse by using speedtest.lds.org