LIVE - Frequently Asked Questions

LIVE - Frequently Asked Questions click here to close

1. What is LIVE?

LIVE is the internet broadcast solution. it is easy to learn and easy to use, no matter if you are in the viewing audience or behind the camera.
LIVE provides the broadcaster with the functionality to send LIVE audio/video, even "Power Point" type support graphics, LIVE poll question to your viewing audience using the equipment you already have. While many gadgets and online companies boast how easy it is to hold an internet broadcast session, the process baffles most consumers. Why? Because these same companies have a cumbersome and confusing process to follow in order to broadcast. Most products offer non-streaming solutions, other require a battery of expensive equipment and software (not to mention: a degree in rocket science).
Only LIVE gives you the freedom to broadcast your meeting, sales presentation, LIVE video of your kids and family to your target audience whenever you desire.

2. What are the LIVE system requirements?

Minimum System Requirements for LIVE V4.0 Viewers:

Microsoft® Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 or XP operating system; Apple Macintosh OS X 10.2 Jaguar or higher;
Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.0 and higher, Netscape® Navigator 4.7 and higher;
Windows Media Player 7.0 or higher, Windows Media Player 9 series strongly recommended;
JavaScript Version 1.1 must be enabled;
Cookies must be enabled;
Pop-up Windows must be enabled;

Minimum System Requirements for LIVE V4.0 Broadcaster Account:

Microsoft® Windows XP operating system;
Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5.5 and higher, Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6 recommended;
Windows Media Player 9 series or higher
JavaScript Version 1.1 must be enabled;
Cookies must be enabled;
Pop-up Windows must be enabled;
Correctly installed and functioning USB web cam device (Logitech Quickcam Web & Quickcam Messenger USB cameras. Other USB web cams may work but do not meet the requirements for support.) and a microphone;
The latest available drivers for your USB web cam and audio capturing device.

Download Windows Media Player
To download Windows Media Player, visit the Microsoft Download Center , select the 9 series Player version for your operating system. The correct download will be displayed underneath the selection menu on that page.

Download Internet Explorer 6 SP1
To download Internet Explorer 6 SP1, visit the Microsoft Download Center or visit Microsoft Windows Update.

3. Do I need any special software to use LIVE?

Most of the software required comes already with today's computer packages and operating systems.
As a LIVE broadcaster all you need is a current Microsoft® Windows installation, Windows Media Player 9 series, an installed and functioning USB web cam and you out of the gate (please see minimum system requirements). A broadband internet connection (like ADSL/SDSL/Cable) is highly recommended.

4. Do viewers of my LIVE Presentations need special software to view/participate?

Most of the software required comes already with today's computer packages and operating systems.
As a viewer all you need is a Microsoft® Windows installation (please see minimum system requirements) and Windows Media Player 7 or better.

5. How do I access my LIVE account?

LIVE as an integrated component:
If your LIVE account comes integrated in a suite of components use your main admin center login, then click on the LIVE icon or link. If you logged in correctly in your main admin center, you will enter your LIVE admin center in the logged in state and will be ready roll.

LIVE as a stand-alone component:
If your LIVE is a stand-alone product (mostly for business users) please go to your admin center login page. Enter your UserID and password that was assigned to your account and click the login button. At this point you will be logged in to your LIVE admin center.

6. How do I broadcast a LIVE Presentation and announce my LIVE broadcast to my viewers?

Since LIVE has an array of features and those features are based on your access plan level, we are using a simple example to get you LIVE and going. Before continuing please check that your setup meets the system requirements, and that your USB web cam drivers are installed correctly and that your cam and microphone are working properly. Please take a moment to confirm.

Now that you confirmed that all is well please follow the instructions below. You may want to print this page so you can refer to it while setting up your first LIVE broadcast.

After successfully logging in to your LIVE admin center, click with your mouse on the Broadcast link in the main navigation tool bar.
Now look at the STREAM NOW without scheduling a LIVE Event using section on this screen.
Locate the Profile pull down menu, click on it and select Default.
Since features vary by access plan level let's keep it simple. If you have the option to customize your broadcast select the No option, then click the Go button.
The next step is to let people know that you are holding a LIVE Presentation. Even though the Announcement Step is optional (you can skip it by clicking the Skip Announcement button, bottom left of the screen), let's send a quick Announcement to your own e-mail address so you can see how it works.
Even though the Announcement screen offers a variety of options, we are going to concentrate mainly on the tools on the left side of your screen. Please type a topic for your Announcement e-mail in the designated text box.
Please type a short text message in the designated text area.
Please type your own e-mail address in the designated text area. (You can send your announcement to multiple e-mail addresses by entering more addresses in this text area, one e-mail address per line.)
To preview your announcement message click the Preview E-Mail button.
Once you are satisfied with your announcement message click the Send and Continue button, bottom right of the announcement screen.
At this point your announcement message is being sent to the recipients specified (in this case, you), and the LIVE Broadcaster screen appears.
If this is the first time that you are on this screen the necessary LIVE broadcasting software has to download and install on your system. This may take some time depending on your internet connection speed. Please be patient.
Once the LIVE broadcasting software has been downloaded and installed you should see in the broadcast viewer your camera's video stream. If this is not the case please be sure that the correct video and audio drivers are selected. These controls are in form of pull down menus under the broadcast viewer screen. If you only see a blank screen make sure that your camera is connected properly and turned on. Now select the video and audio drivers for your camera and microphone from the pull down menus.
If your camera drivers and camera has been installed correctly and if the correct drivers are selected, you should now see the video from your camera in the broadcast preview screen.
Depending your internet connection speed you are limited to the quality of your LIVE A/V Stream. For the first time, no matter if you are a dial-up or broadband user, we will use the system default encoding setting. You can change the A/V Stream encoding setting by using the A/V Stream pull down menu in the upper right area of the broadcaster screen.
Now click with your mouse on the LIVE button, right top next to the broadcast viewer screen.

That's it. You are now LIVE. The announcement e-mail that was send contains a direct link to the viewer screen of your LIVE account viewer section. When the viewer clicks on the link in the announcement message a browser window will open on the viewer's system with the viewer screen of your LIVE Presentation.

7. How can I announce a LIVE or Recorded Presentation to my viewers?

You actually have several announcement opportunities.

Right before a LIVE Presentation Broadcast: No matter if you are about to start a STREAM NOW LIVE Presentations, or if you are getting ready to start one of your scheduled LIVE Presentations, the announcement screen will always appear prior to the system taking you to the broadcaster screen. For basic information on how to use the Announcement screen please click here and see steps 5 - 10.
After Scheduling a LIVE Presentation: Right after reviewing and saving your scheduled LIVE Presentation you will be presented with the Announcement screen. At this point you may compose and send an announcement message to let your target audience know that you are having a LIVE Presentation scheduled on the set date to make sure that your viewer audience mark this event in their calendar. For basic information on how to use the Announcement screen please click here and see steps 5 - 10.
Announcing a Recorded Presentation (recorded presentations may not be available to all access plan levels): To announce a Recorded Presentation either locate the recorded presentation in the Video Vault's folder list view screen using the folder tree menu by clicking on the folder you recorded your presentation in that you would like to announce, and click the announce link directly under the recorded presentation in the list. Or you may navigate to the recorded presentation detail screen in your Video Vault by clicking on the details link in the Video Vault folder list view to go to the recorded presentation detail screen and click the Send Announcement button. For basic information on how to use the Announcement screen please click here and see steps 5 - 10.

The Announcement screen offers a wealth of options on how to address your announcement message. The basic way is described here in steps 5 - 10. If you are an advanced user you can also upload a plain-text e-mail list file as an addressing option. Such plain-text e-mail list file, and the e-mail addresses contained in this file are not stored on our servers! The plain-text e-mail list file needs to have the .txt extension and requires that each e-mail address is written on it's own line. For more details on the list file format please click here.

If you have set up Users and Groups using the User Manager (may not be available in all access plan levels) you can choose to send your announcement to the Users and/or User Groups in your User and Groups database by ctrl clicking the desired Users and/or User Groups in the list menus on the announcement screen.

You can of course use a combination of addressing options in the announcement screen.

8. How do I know if my LIVE Presentation is viewed?

No matter what your access plan level is, you have a set of tools to your disposal that you can access during your LIVE Presentation broadcast without interrupting your LIVE broadcast. In the top left area of your broadcaster screen (usually where the system default logo is displayed) you will have a summary of your Real-time LIVE User Stats. These statistics will provide you with following information:

Current: - This bar graph is based on the by access plan level maximum allowed number of viewers. For example, if your access plan allows you to have 10 viewers watch your LIVE Presentation, and 8 people are currently participating, the bar graph will indicate the 80% mark. To make is easy for you the actual number of viewers is indicated inside the bar graph.
High #: - This bar graph is also based on the by access plan level maximum allowed number of viewers (see 1.). This bar graph indicates the peek number of viewers during your LIVE Presentation broadcast.
Maximum: - This bar graph shows the maximum number of viewers allowed determined by your access plan level.
Problems: - This graph indicates if your viewers are experiencing any problems with either audio, video, or both. This viewer feedback is a very important feature to you, the broadcaster. The rule of thumb is: if you see green across the board = all is well; If you see yellow or red in any one of the three columns = you may want to switch the A/V Stream encoding settings to a lower settings. Example: Let's assume you are in the midst of a LIVE broadcast that, and you initially selected to encode your A/V Stream for Modem and Broadband viewers. Now you see that some viewers report A=audio, V=video, and AV=audio and video related problems. The reasons for these trouble reports can vary from you, the broadcaster, not having enough bandwidth available to successfully send your LIVE broadcast stream to the LIVE server for distribution to your viewers having bandwidth problems with their current internet connection. No matter what, you have the tools to fix this issue. Use the A/V Stream encoding settings pull down menu and change your A/V Stream encoding settings to Modem.

In addition to these on-screen graphs you have the ability to click with your mouse on Details. A pop-up window (so that you don't interrupt your LIVE broadcast) will open with detailed user statistics.

9. Do my viewers or I need high speed Internet access?

The general answer to this question is no. But having that said, it is highly recommended for the LIVE broadcaster to have a high speed internet connection with plenty of upload bandwidth. The rules are to set your A/V Stream encoding to:

No higher than your upload bandwidth available through your internet connection allows it (if you are a dial-up Modem user and were to try to set your A/V Stream encoding settings for a multi-stream setting (like Broadband/Dial-Up Modem) your internet would not support such setting.
No higher than the lowest common denominator of your viewing audience. If you know that your mom and dad only have a dial-up connection you wouldn't want to set your A/V Stream encoding settings for a Broadband only stream. If you have a viewing audience that has a mixed array of internet connection speeds available, and you have the upload bandwidth available to support a multi A/V Stream encoding setting (like Dial-Up Modem / ISDN / Broadband) you may want to try this setting first. If your upload speed starts to reduce you may need to switch to an A/V Stream encoding setting that uses less bandwidth.

The bad news is that upload speeds as well as download streams will vary from user to use, so you need to be prepared to switch your A/V Stream encoding setting.
The good news however is that you can do that on-the-fly with LIVE.

10. Can I use the camera I already have to broadcast LIVE?

As long as the camera you own meets our minimum requirements, you will have no trouble using it to broadcast LIVE. If you have any questions or trouble, send an email to support@vmdirect.com.

11. I connect to the internet via a dial-up modem. Can I encode my LIVE A/V Stream for Cable/DSL/Broadband viewers?

No. However, you still will be able to deliver your LIVE broadcast to your audience. You need to set your A/V Stream encoding settings according to your available internet connection/upload bandwidth. For more information click here.

Peer to Peer LIVE broadcasts:
All LIVE broadcast access plans come with the peer to peer function. This means that the advanced LIVE servers will simply reflect your LIVE A/V Stream to the viewer, essentially establishing a direct connection between you, the broadcaster and your viewer(s). Peer-to-Peer broadcasts are not deducted from your access plan minutes because you are using your bandwidth to replicate your A/V Stream. Peer-to-Peer LIVE broadcasts are in most cases restricted to one broadcaster and one viewer. This is a great way to have a simple "video surveillance" in your home by using your computer, web cam, and lets say dial-up connection at home to start a Peer-to-Peer LIVE broadcast and accessing the viewer section of this broadcast from your computer connected to a dial-up modem or broadband connection at the office. Even though you may have all the bandwidth available at the office due to a broadband connection, you will still only see the dial-up mode encoded A/V Stream from your broadcasting computer, because your internet connection at home only allows to send out audio/video packets encoded for dial-up modem speed. Let's say you walk over to your colleagues computer at work and would try to connect to the currently running Peer-to-Peer LIVE broadcast your dial-up modem connection at home wouldn't be able to handle the additional peer-to-peer connection and is therefore not possible.

Multi-Cast LIVE broadcasts:
LIVE uses an advanced, high bandwidth multi-cast server farm able to broadcast many different LIVE broadcasts to thousands of viewers at the same time. This requires you, the broadcaster, to only send one stream to the LIVE servers (when using the multi-cast setting in your LIVE broadcaster interface). Your LIVE A/V Stream is replicated on the server and sent to your viewer audience based on your account level. This enables you to broadcast to as many people at one time as your access plan level permits as long as you have enough upload bandwidth to get your LIVE A/V Stream to the server.

12. I'm using a Macintosh. Can I use LIVE?

At the current time Mac OS X users can only view LIVE or Recorded Presentations. For more information please consult the minimum system requirements for LIVE.

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