Planning a live broadcast from a place like a school, church, club, or some other external location? Take a look at these lists ahead of time—they'll help to make sure that things go smoothly when the cameras go live.
Internet connection
It's a good idea to check for these things related to the location's Internet connection:
- To connect your SlingStudio unit to the Internet, make sure that the location can provide you with an Internet connection either via Wi-Fi or using an Ethernet cable.
Important: If Internet service is provided via Ethernet cable, remember that you need the optional SlingStudio USB-C Expander product to connect an Ethernet cable to your SlingStudio unit. The USB-C Expander product provides an Ethernet port for the SlingStudio unit. - SlingStudio Console for Mac: Connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot using Internet Settings under the Internet icon in the lower-left corner of SlingStudio Console for Mac. You can also confirm your Ethernet connection here.
- SlingStudio Console for iPad: Connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot by going to Settings (on the left edge of the Console app) and tapping Internet Settings. Choose a Wi-Fi network to connect to. You can also confirm your Ethernet connection here.
When you've finished with these setup steps, you should see that the SlingStudio unit's Internet LED indicator is glowing green.
- If the Internet LED indicator is glowing amber, then your SlingStudio is connected to a network but not to the Internet itself. You'll need to investigate your network to determine the problem.
- If the Internet LED indicator is off, then double-check the Wi-Fi connection or the Ethernet cable, whichever you're using.
- Not sure what the problem is? If possible, use a computer or iPad and connect to the network that you're trying to use for Internet service. Open a browser window and see if you can connect to www.google.com or www.facebook.com. If not, then the problem is with the network that you're being asked to use.
Connection Error
Even if the SlingStudio unit is properly connected to Internet, you might see a connection error if SlingStudio is not able to do any of these things:
- Connect to myip.sling.com
- Connect to Internet Port 1935 for live-broadcasting to YouTube, Vimeo, or a custom RTMP destination. Often Port 1935 is used for this purpose, but it can be blocked by some routers or firewall software.
- Connect to Internet Port 80 for live-broadcasting to Facebook or some custom RTMP destinations. As above, sometimes access to Port 80 (which is a commonly-used webpage port) is restricted.
Before you need to connect to a network for live broadcasting, especially a network that you haven't used before, it's strongly recommended that you check with the network's administrators to make sure that their router(s) and/or firewall software allow access to these connections.
Error message: Speed test not available
Because successful streaming requires that your Internet connection provide a good upload data speed, SlingStudio Console automatically tests your Internet connection for this important parameter.
SlingStudio Console does this by attempting to connect to the URL speed.myslingstudio.com. But if the Internet connection that your SlingStudio unit is using doesn't allow access to this URL, then the speed test can't be performed.
The best thing to do, if possible, is work with the network's administrators to determine why there is no access to the URL speed.myslingstudio.com. Often the reason is simply that the URL needs to be "whitelisted" within the network's firewall or other protective software.
If this can't be resolved, you can still go ahead and do your live broadcast, but there won't be any way to make sure that the network's upload speed is sufficient for reasonable streaming quality.
YouTube/Facebook/Vimeo broadcasting error message
Sometimes when setting up a destination for your live broadcast via YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo—or via an RTMP destination—you might get a warning or an error message. This can happen either:
- When SlingStudio Console cannot access Internet Port 1935 (for YouTube, Vimeo, or for some custom RTMP destinations) or Internet Port 80 (for Facebook and for some custom RTMP destinations).
- It can also happen when a specific domain (such as youtube.com or facebook.com) or an RTMP URL is blocked by your router.
If this happens, ask the network's administrators to review their router settings to make sure that you have access to:
- Internet Port 1935 and/or Port 80
- The domain/URL to which you are live-broadcasting
