Troubleshooting

I can't see my stream!

First make sure your stream is actually making it to the server, by watching the Statistics or looking for the live thumbnail on the main page. From here, try a test stream under Engine Control.

If the test stream works but yours still doesn't it might be an issue with the codec or encoding parameters you are sending. See Streaming for more but the quick things to check are for H264 video, AAC audio, a 1 or 2 second keyframe interval, and no use of B-frames or 'high' profile.

If the test stream does not work, there is likely an issue with your port forwarding or server networking.

My stream is blocky / choppy!

Unlike a regular streaming service, Streamwell runs on your own gear and does not transcode the video track of your incoming stream. In addition, since there is no delay like regular streaming services, there is also very little buffer and therefore less tolerance for network faults like packet loss. In short, your viewers need enough bandwidth to pull down whatever it is you are sending up. But they get it in real-time, and oh boy does it look good 👍

But we have a 10 Gigabit T3 line!

The most likely point of network congestion and packet loss is the "last mile" from your modem / router to your computer, especially if you are connecting over WiFi. Please use a cable if you are able, otherwise if you must use WiFi please ensure you are on a modern 802.11ac or ax network with a strong signal. In the end, missing bits of the picture in the Stream means the viewer's computer didn't pull the bits down fast enough to play it back in time. If this is a chronic issue for some viewers, try lowering your input bitrate / resolution to 1Mb / 480p.

But the stream is choppy for all viewers!

In this case the server bandwidth has likely become overwhelmed. As a rule of thumb for available bandwidth, consider anticipated throughput + some buffer for spikes in demand and changes in bitrate. For example... if you are running 5 streams at 5Mbps each, with 5 viewers watching each stream, you'll need more than 25Mbps download speed on the server (40-50 Mbps recommended) and more than 125Mbps upload speed (200-250 Mbps recommended). The numbers work out the same if you are running 1 stream at 5Mbps with 25 viewers.

But there is tons of bandwidth available!

If you've verified that the server itself is not bottlenecked in terms of CPU or network connectivity, try looking back to whatever is encoding the stream itself. If you are using software like OBS on a computer to do the streaming, make sure the computer is not struggling to keep the stream going consistently - or consider moving up to a hardware encoder to take the quality and reliability to the max. You can always test with the open Streamwell Test Drive server for a quick sanity check.

It works fine on the Test Drive. That's great, but now what?

At this point, for your own sanity's sake please contact support and let us run some tests with you!