Please follow this link to read our post on troubleshooting problems with the live stream and/or archive videos.
Feel free to send us an email at support@bonsaimirai.com if you have a question after reading through the blog post.
If we have technical issues that require an announcement, we will post the information here.
Does anyone else have issues with freezing, degraded video, etc. during the live streams? Didn’t seem to be a problem a few months back, but now I almost can’t watch live because the video freezes and lags so much. This is with more than one computer in my house, and my internet connection is blazing fast. I just wonder if it has something to do with the stream itself. If it’s just me, apologies. It’s just frustrating to wait until the stream starts and then have to give up part way through. I suppose having the archive is the perk of Tiers 2 and 3. Just curious if anyone else has experienced this. I have read the post from Kendall on tech issues, but this doesn’t seem to help. Perhaps it’s strictly on my end.
mm1313: same issues. Haven’t had much luck with the tech issue help either and have great cnxn speed as well. I have just started watching the streams later in the week. If I get to the point I want to be asking questions ( less need with the forum) during stream, will find this frustrating! I like watching later now anyway as can pause and take a note or two.
where are you located? And when you experience these issues can you send me your data via this url - http://wowzaprod121-i.akamaihd.net.t1.re/
It seems like I’ve been having more problems lately with stream quality going down and intermittent freezing up, etc. Connection speed isn’t a problem on my end.
@Sheltone, agreed with watching later in the week. I’ve started to do the same, too. But I still try to watch live, as there tends to be some content, minimal as it may be, cut out in the edit that gets posted. Plus, it’s like catching a TV show airing for the first time. Haha. But, yes, my concerns are also with being able to ask questions at some point. Good to know I’m not the only one, and there are at least three of us. @Kendall, I am located in Annapolis, Maryland. Very fast connection internet speed, and no problems streaming anything else. Sure, I can send information via that link. Thank you for the effort to address this. Regardless of this issue, Mirai Live is epic, and I have zero complaints. I hope it ALWAYS exists.
The live streaming issues have become so annoying I don’t even bother with live content any longer. Not worth the aggravation. I just wait for for the archives and watch later. Shame that Tier 3 members have to pay an upcharge for a feature I (and others) cannot take advantage.
I feel like I need to chime in and try to support the Mirai team here as this type of thing is part of my day job.
There are a lot of variables to consider in this scenario of which most folks may not be aware (I’m making a few assumptions based on how we’ve deployed things at work). First, let’s consider the data path:
Mirai -> Service Provider -> Content Distribution Network (CDN) -> CDN nodes -> client Service Provider -> Client Operating System (Windows/Mac/Mobile) -> Browser -> Video Player App
Now if any of those things goes wonky, then the client will have a poor experience. There’s also the possibility that certain combinations of variables causes poor experience. Since this is an intermittent issue that only affects some users, I think it’s safe to say that the issue is not between Mirai and the CDN.
My guess is that the CDN is also pretty reputable (Akamai if I had to guess) which leaves the client Service Provider and the actual client configuration. Since the Live Stream and the Archive use different video players, my impulse is to think that some client combinations (Windows+Chrome) have issues with JW Player.
@Kendall, would it be possible to set up some static content through JW Player that is always available to use as a test feed?
I’m in Corvallis. Checked now at 73Mb/sec , 110 on second try. Will check next week at time of stream. Thanks
Hey Everyone - Chuck is right in that while internet speed is important, there are many more connection points where issues can occur. We are working diligently with the streaming dev team to pinpoint where hiccups could be happening for you all in the delivery of the data. The more data sets we get from you guys when the problems occur, the better.
Why it is so important for us to get the data from the url - http://wowzaprod121-i.akamaihd.net.t1.re/ - while we are actually live is we can see the different connection points that you, as the user in your particular location and setup, are connecting to our feed - this allows us to get a better path in mind to locate if there are issues and we’re not just shooting in the dark.
I’m sure you’ve all read the tech troubleshooting blog post, but I would first remind and ask everyone to please update their computer or device operating system to the latest available, update their browser to the latest version, when you are having troubles, try to switch browsers to see if that makes a difference, also please enable hardware acceleration and ensure that your cache is cleared. After doing all these steps and then still having issues and reaching out, it makes our job easier. - all these steps are given a detailed how-to in that blog post - https://bonsaimirai.com/node/715
@chuckwheat - We have a staging environment where we can test this, but we wouldn’t make that available to the public.
Thanks guys - appreciate you reaching out and helping us make the service better. Also, I moved this thread to an already existing post to consolidate.
Thanks Kendall. Will check speed when live is happening and let you know. Honestly? Not a big deal for my end as it usually works out to watch later. I love the content and am so happy you guys are doing Mirai Live.
I know this topic is way old, but I wanted to see if others are still having issues to this day. Since we initially started this topic, I have figured out a few ways to improve my experience with the live stream, by following the steps and suggestions in the link and from @Kendall, but I still have issues. Every minute or so, sometimes more often, the video pauses for about a second and the video quality sometimes downgrades and then catches back up to optimal quality. I have used Windows 7 with Firefox, up-to-date, and Mac with Safari and Firefox. Seems to be best on Firefox, but the issues persist. Is anyone else still having issues, or is it only me? If it’s just me, then I’ll accept it’s something on my end. If not, does anyone have any other suggestions aside from update everything? I’m not blaming Mirai, I’m not complaining, and I know there are many factors, as mentioned above. I just want to see what I can do to hopefully stop these glitches/freezes.
Thanks
UPDATE:
Just refreshed in the middle of the live stream (20180828) and I received this error. I’m not a computer/networking person, so this is foreign to me. Does this help explain the issue?
I am constantly having problems for the last 2 months, before that I very rarely had any but now it is like you say. Last night the chat was showing around 120 people connected (I guess these are only the Tier 3 as Tier 2 don’t have access to the chat) and the buffering problems were horrible. During the last 25% of the stream there were around 65 T3’s connected and the stream was stable. I don’t know if the people providing technical support for the Mirai streaming have access to all the relevant data but if they do, it might be possible to show a statistically significant correlation between buffering problems and the number of people connected. If this is the case, it might help pinpoint the problem and a potential solution.
@rafi, yes I can completely back up what you saw. I too noticed that the stream was much more stable about 75% through. I had to refresh, and experienced buffering problems, much less. I also had a few times where the video would pause to buffer and I would get a message that said “Mirai Live is offline”. Interesting that you noticed the number of people online, as I can’t see that because I’m only T2. It seemed like that error message I posted above had something to do with the number of people online.
I’ve been having the same problems as @rafi and @mm1313. I’m on Windows 10 and using Chrome normally, but I tried Edge last night but it made no difference. I also noticed that the stream improved towards the end after many people had given up and left. I hope @kendall and the crew can get with their tech people and solve this problem.
I don’t get to watch many live streams, but when I did, I never had an issue. I have been able to catch the last three weeks and they are unwatchable. I left last night and watched a video on a different site. I don’t get to do the Q&As either. I have some questions regarding how much work I can do to my rmj this time of year but with the streaming issues, I am not even going to bother attending.
I rarely have significant problems with the stream (win 10 running firefox though I’ve also used edge at times) but last night was very choppy for the first hour to hour and a half. Definitely better later, whether that was due to there being fewer users or whether that was just coincidence I don’t know. Wasn’t unwatchable by any means, but definitely choppy.
I have some questions that might lead us to a solution if it hasn’t already been discussed amongst the Mirai team.
First, the website crash over the web sale weekend, was the cause to much traffic?
I couldn’t access Mirai live, also the forum wouldn’t load as normal with the pic of copper wire at the top of the page and the forum topic below. I could access the forum through my notifications pull down menu.
My wife has experienced this with a young business that has an annual sale on dahlia bulbs and flower seeds, their server power couldn’t handle the surge in network traffic. Solution, more server power.
Which leads to my next question, Has Mirai added more server power? Is your network server able to handle the influx of new users that you have gained since the first live stream.
I am assuming that everyone here has the original graphics card running on their systems. So it could be on our end.
I have been thinking and researching GPU’s to purchase for some time, it might be time to update since we all stream content from Amazon to Youtube…Haha…I couldn’t think of a streaming web page that started with a “Z”
Just my thoughts/input
Keep calm and Bonsai on!!!
I just remembered something else that could be on our end.
How much RAM does everyone have installed on their systems. It does play a role in buffering and connection speed.
The number of users signed-in may have played a role.
We get this problem with our laboratory interface when there are too many users logged-on. Slows the interface and resulting down then crashes. The entire system had to be purged and rebooted.
As for RAM or buffering, try clearing the cache and reboot your computer before going to the live stream. I dont go to live streams a lot, and if i do, i’m on my cellphone or tablet, using public wifi.