Does your/your guest's video look clear inside the StreamYard studio while streaming, and blurry on the live broadcast/recording? Issues like this are usually due to a poor or unstable internet connection.
On StreamYard the quality of each person's video/audio feed is dependent on their own individual internet connection. This way, if the host of the stream has a poor connection, it will not impact the guests (and vice versa). This also means if a certain participant in the studio is suffering from quality issues, they will need to troubleshoot their own connection on their end.
- Connect directly to your router via ethernet to ensure the most stable connection. If you are unable to, bring the router as close to your computer as possible.
- Test your camera on a different site. Are there any quality issues when testing here? If so, the issue may be with your device/browser.
- Restart your router and computer fully. This step fixes many issues.
- Close fully out of any extra tabs/apps you may have open. This will help improve the performance of your computer.
- Use StreamYard in an incognito window in your browser. This window works without any added extensions or cached files you may have in your browser that could affect StreamYard. Instructions for Chrome and Firefox. Skip this step if you are using Local Recordings, as a private window can affect your browser's storage allocation.
- Check your camera settings to ensure it's set to the highest resolution available.
- Try a different browser. Our recommended browsers are Google Chrome and Firefox. If you are using Google Chrome, try using Firefox instead (or vice versa).
- Try a different USB port. Sometimes, USB ports can cause connection issues to devices.
- Disable any firewall/proxy or VPN, as these could cause issues connecting properly into the studio!
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Try a different network/device. Sometimes your network/device itself may just be having issues. Try switching to a different network or device to see if your quality improves.
Test your Internet
In order to stream with StreamYard we recommend a minimum of 5-10 mb/s upload and download speed. Also- it's important to note that a stable connection is much more important than a quick one while streaming. If your connection is unstable and drops out or becomes slower at times, you may still encounter quality issues in your stream even if you have good speeds.
Speed Test
Head to this internet speed test site: https://www.speedtest.net/ , and click "Go". Once the test is done running, your results will appear. Take note of your Upload/Download speed. You will want to be sure they are at least 5-10mb/s.
Stability Test
Speeds looking good? Test your packet-loss next.
A packet-loss test measures 2 things. Firstly, it measure how much of the information (packets) that your computer sends to our servers is dropped/lost, and how much of it arrives late. Ideally, your packet loss is as close to 0 as possible. Dropped or lost packets will cause quality related issues in your stream. Secondly, this test will also measure the latency in your connection. Latency is the amount of time that it takes for information sent from your network to reach our servers. Ideally, your latency should be at or below 100ms.
Click on this packet-loss test link here: https://packetlosstest.com/
- Scroll down the Test Settings section, and click on the drop down menu next to "Or select a Preset Approximation".
- From the menu that appears, choose "720p H264 WebRTC Stream". This will make sure that the packet-loss test correctly tests internet conditions for live streaming video.
- For your server option, ensure that "Georgia" or "New Jersey" are chosen. StreamYard's servers are all US based, so choosing one of these will give the most accurate picture of the health of your connection to our servers.
- Click Start! Your test will run. If done correctly, it will send and receive 2840 packets. Here is an example of what good results from the test look like. The packet-loss numbers say 0, and the latency remains below 100ms (represented by that red horizontal line).
- Here is what bad results look like. Notice the packet-loss, and the latency spikes above 100ms. This would indicate instability in the connection.
Contact your Internet Service Provider.
If everything seems as it should be, but your speed and packet-loss test results are still indicating poor stability/speed in your connection, there may be an issue with your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Try reaching out to them to see if there may be outages or high throttling detected in your local area!
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