Why You'll Love BoxCast’s Low-Latency Preview

There’s a lot on the line when it comes to live video streaming. First you have to do the work required to make sure your in-person event goes off without a hitch. Then you've got to ensure that everyone tuning in online has a good experience, too.

A lot of one-to-many streaming solutions have an inherent latency that exists between when something happens in real life and when it's shown in the broadcast.

What causes latency?

It takes time (usually 30–60 seconds) for the raw image captured by your camera to be converted into a compressed format suitable for transmission across the internet and then configured into a medium that will play on your viewers’ screens. (For more information, check out this post.)

But that latency meant it wasn’t possible for you to see what your broadcast looks like until it was the version shared with your viewers.

We’re changing that.

Enter Preview.

Preview is a BoxCast feature that lets you see exactly what will be broadcast to the world. But instead of the normal 30–60 second delay it takes to prepare your video to be streamed, Preview shows you what your broadcast will look like to your viewers with only a few seconds of latency.

How Does it Work?

With Preview, your footage is still sent to the cloud to be transcoded, but there’s a simultaneous step that reflects a version of your footage right back to you. That way, you can see exactly what your BoxCaster is sending to the cloud. Think of it like a mirror in the cloud that shoots the video back to your phone.

Note: The Preview footage will not include any overlays you’ve added to your broadcast, since those are all added while your footage is transcoded.

Overlays aside, however, Preview gives you a peek at exactly what your viewers will see and hear — just ahead of when they do.

Why is it Important?

Preview allows broadcasters to troubleshoot their broadcasts in a much shorter timeframe than before. When you opt to preview your broadcast, you can determine whether the audio sounds right, if the lighting looks good, and if the camera captures your intended angle — all before having to wait for your stream to go through the entire transcoding process.

Photo Credit: Gavin Whitner

Where Can You See Your Preview?

To take advantage of this feature, download our Broadcaster app for iOs. There, you’ll easily be able to toggle back and forth between previewing your broadcast and seeing what your viewers are seeing in real-time.

If you have any questions, reach out to us at questions@boxcast.com

Recommended Reading:

Preview isn’t the only thing you can do with the Broadcaster app ... check out this post for additional ideas!