Pseudo-live streaming works by broadcasting an uploaded video. Clevercast starts broadcasting the video at the scheduled time.
The only difference with a ‘real’ live stream is that Clevercast takes care of the broadcast instead of you. Live streaming is done using the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, in exactly the same way as a ‘real’ live stream. This also means that a source file must contain an intro and an outro, just like a ‘real’ live stream would.
An intro and outro of at least two minutes long is required to ensure that all viewers will see the actual video in full under all circumstances.
This is necessary because of the following reasons:
- First of all, there is a certain latency associated with HTTP Live Streaming, which may differ depending on device and internet connection of the viewer. To ensure smooth streaming for all viewers, Clevercast player will buffer a number of seconds of the live stream, before starting to play the video (hence the intro).
- Clevercast player automatically shows a custom image or message before and after the live stream. This ensures that viewers do not see a spinner. It may take a couple of seconds before the player detects that the live stream status has changed.
- On most browsers and devices, there will be a latency of 15-30 seconds. But the HLS implementation on iOS devices allows a player to buffer up to two minutes of video. If you don’t provide an outro of two minutes (after the actual content has finished) this can lead to the ended image/message being shown while the actual live stream is still playing.
Note: because of this requirement you shouldn’t use source videos with a total duration of less than 4 minutes, even for testing.