Streaming Help

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St James’ Live Streaming system

If you watch the live streaming system regularly, you will be aware that the service is not always perfect.  The normal problem is that your picture freezes and a buffering symbol is displayed.  Sometimes this is just for a second or two, but often it can persist long enough to spoil one’s participation in a Mass or other ceremony.

When you experience buffering, it is best to wait for a minute to see if the service resumes.

If it doesn’t then you should first try reloading the page.  How you do that will depend on what sort of computer and web browser you are using.  You will probably see an icon looking something like somewhere near the top of your browser screen, and this is what you need to click or tap.  You will be returned to the St James’ live stream home page, the one which shows the church building.  Click or tap the Play button and the stream should resume.

If it doesn’t, the next step is to exit your browser and re-enter it.  On some devices, e.g. iPhone, iPad, you should double click the home key and swipe away the app before restarting it.  Sometimes you can shortcut this step by adding / to the end of the link in the URL entry field, i.e. https://www.churchservices.tv/pettswood/

There are many reasons why buffering occurs, some of them because of what might be happening in your house.  If you share the broadband service with others using facilities like Netflix, gaming, etc., then sometimes there will be conflict because of bandwidth capacity.  Your Wi-Fi might not be effective in all parts of the house, and this will affect some devices more than others.  Other reasons include the bandwidth capacity of connections in your street.

The CSTV service has been quite reliable except for one major problem on 29 March and a lesser one on 17 May.  Apart from 29 March the recordings have been intact meaning the transmission from St James’ webcam to the CSTV server was working perfectly.

There have been occasions when recordings couldn’t be viewed by clicking/tapping the Play button after selecting one of them.  If this happens it is worth clicking/tapping the Download Video bar, and then using your computer’s video playback app (probably automatic on smartphones).

If you have any queries about the above, or want to enquire about the current status of the system, or just want to know more about any aspect of live streaming at St James’, please email me at roger.wright@stjamespettswood.org and I will do my best to help.

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