How Do I Start My Encoder Early?

Updated September 05, 2023 17:32

When scheduling an event, you can have your encoder begin capturing content before your broadcast goes live. You can use that time to run tests and make sure your setup is ready to go. It could also be beneficial if you’re conducting a rehearsal prior to the broadcast and want to see how it will look and sound. Your event will not go live to viewers during this time.

You can configure it for as long as you want provided the encoder doesn’t run more than 12 hours total. We recommend scheduling the encoder to start 30-60 minutes early to make sure your audio and video signals are configured properly and give you time to fix any issues before broadcasting.

How Do I Start My Encoder Early?

Navigate to the Schedule page.
Click +Add Event.
Configure the event details, including the start date, start time, and duration you want the event to run.
Select Live Encoder as the Content Source.
Configure the encoder details. Learn more
Set the encoder stream time.

Total encoder run time cannot exceed 12 hours for a scheduled event.

Configure your Content Destinations. You’ll need to configure each web and social media destination individually. Learn more

Starting your encoder early will not impact nesting multiple web destinations, social destinations or broadcast start/end times in one long encoder event (Learn more). For example, if you’re broadcasting several web events while the encoder captures content the entire time without stopping. It will also not affect having a single web and social destination under one encoder event.

In both cases, the encoder will begin capturing data at the time you select (30 minutes before in the above example), but your web video(s) will only broadcast to viewers for the time you configured in its destination(s).

When configuring content destinations, check to make sure each destination is set to begin when you want to go live to viewers. It will default to the time frame you selected for the encoder to run, without the early encoder start time. If needed, configure the broadcast time to adjust when your broadcast goes live. Learn more.

You cannot use the broadcast time slider to begin broadcasting during the time you start your encoder early. Instead, use the broadcast time slider to adjust one or more destinations on the fly if you want to adjust your broadcast time. Learn more

Click Add for each content destination.
Once you’ve finished configuring content destinations, click Save.
Your event will show up on the Schedule page and the encoder will begin capturing data prior to the event.

The event in the Schedule page displays when it will start and doesn’t include the early encoder start time. For example, in the screenshot above, the event displays that it will start at 4:00 PM, however we configured in a 30-minute buffer. The encoder will begin capturing data at 3:30 PM.

When the encoder begins capturing data, Studio will create a video in the Encoder Videos tab you can view to make sure your audio and video signals are set up and working properly.

Case Study

An organization wants to have its encoder begin capturing data 30 minutes prior to its web and social media broadcast to viewers to test their setup and make sure the audio and video is configured correctly. It wants the broadcast to go live at 4:00 PM.

The organization navigates to the Schedule page and clicks +Add Event.
It configures the details for the event, including the start date, start time, and duration it wants the video to broadcast to viewers.
The organization sets the encoder stream time for 30 minutes.
It configures the Content Destinations (Learn more). When configuring the Content Destinations, it checks to make sure the broadcast is scheduled to start at 4:00 PM.
The organization clicks Add.
When it has configured all its content destinations, it clicks Save.
The event now appears on the Schedule page.
The encoder will begin encoding data at 3:30 PM and the broadcast will go live to viewers at 4:00 AM in the example above.