we’ve been using Xibo for some time now and we’re using a live stream from YouTube for Sky News Live.
We’ve come across a problem where all the streams stay on a constant buffer, sometimes they work but mostly they’re buffering, we cannot figure out why, i’ve tried many things including running the stream outside of Xibo and it works perfectly fine, so its something to do with the software or our setup.
I’d like to know if anyone has experienced this problem before? And i’d also like to know if its possible to get Xibo to use Google Chrome as its browser when streaming these videos instead of IE11 default?
Another problem I’ve noticed is that when the whole client refreshes the stream also restarts and flickers after a few minutes, is there a way to stop the client from flickering when its updating the videos we’ve got on the client and have it running smoothly?
We’re currently using version 1.7.8 (We’re planning on upgrading all clients and the server this summer)
In 1.7 series, you can set it to use CEF (in Windows display profile), although CEF is generally not recommended and not supported in 1.8 series, streams should work fine with the default IE11 (assuming that it’s set correctly in the registry).
As for layout refresh, it will reload whole layout when the longest running region (region with the longest duration) ends.
If you have ‘Expire modified layouts’ enabled in display profile and make changes to the layout, it may also cut the playback and reload the layout once it downloaded any new files/changes etc.
I’ve made sure the Xibo clients have the correct reg keys and the streams still seem to buffer for long periods of time, it was working fine for along time until the past 2 days ish, which i can’t really explain!
That’s rather odd, unless there are connection issue, although you’ve mentioned that in the browser it plays them fine (would be good to confirm that’s the case in IE11 as well).
Are there any other items on the layout? Anything in the status window?
It is very strange, we thought windows update may have caused an issue as they was pending to be downloaded and its around the time Windows release their monthly updates.
We’ve got two streams on to separate devices, in two separate locations and strangely enough they both recently started to do it at the same time?
The main concern is the one in our reception, it has a ticker from BBC news, a stream from youtube (Sky News) And rollup text containing a bunch of information.
Its never been an issue until recently, i’ve tried the stream on IE11 and it works fine. The reception TV is being run through a 100mb switch, however the other digital signage with a stream currently has a 1GB connection to the network.
Now thinking about it i think i might try a fresh install of Xibo, see if that resolves the problem (I’ve also tried a fresh install of flash player since YouTube requires it.
I’ve done more tests, i’ve tried other streams, reducing the amount of content on the page to the point where its just one text box with “test test test” inside and still no joy.
I’ve noticed it usually buffers after a client refresh, then it stays buffering until the next refresh if that makes sense. I’m running out of ideas.
Sorry i’m not making it easy to follow! im finding it hard to describe, i’ve got a stream and a text box both on the same layout and the video is stuck on the loading screen (Buffer) after the Xibo client has refreshed if that makes sense?
I’ve also tried other websites hosting Sky News streams and they do the same.
To give you a better understanding i’ll send you a screen shot! I’ve had to cover some items but it gives you a good idea. The stream is on the left and the text is on the right, the rest is just the background So there’s 3 regions on the original layout with the ticker under the stream and text.
This is its original state where it did work for a long period of time.
I think there are a few things we could try - firstly and most easily, some other video content from YouTube. Reason being that it is possible for publishers to prevent their streams being embedded in other applications and I wonder if Sky News have enabled that option.
If that is the case, then there is very little we can do unfortunately.
If other YouTube content also doesn’t work, we can try a completely different website - xibo.org.uk for example to prove that web content in general works.
If it does, we can try another statically uploaded video, and a HLS stream to see if it is a problem with video generally.
I suspect that some of those things mentioned above will work (perhaps even all of them) and it might come down to Sky protecting their feed.
Failing that - if you can share your embed code for the widget, we can try and take a look at it for you.
I’ve tried a few of your suggestions, other websites ect, websites without videos work fine.
I’ve tried another streaming website but the streams are lower down the page, i used to be able to edit the embedded code to move the page down so the stream will fit but that doesn’t seem to work anymore.
heres the current embedded code im using:
I also found that Youtube has recently started to display this message: Image of Error
Do you know any good streaming websites i could use?i’ve tried using Tvguide.co.uk ect… but the videos are too far down the page which means it can’t be displayed on the region.
As for statically uploaded videos, i’ve uploaded .MP4’s and they work fine,
I have had an issue getting .net client on IE11 to play nice with an HTML5 video player in Iframe… My solution was to schedule a shell command script to launch IE in kiosk mode outside of xibo…kill xibo and xibowatchdog… play my video… wait for a predetermined amount of time(length of video/timeslot)… kill IE … relaunch xibowatchdog.
This only came after many attempts to change the IE BROWSER_EMULATION modes, and disabling Shockwave Flash in IE… I can get youtube embeds to play through xibo but a BLOB:HTTP:// video doesn’t seem to want to play right in the IE frame .net uses
(I’ve also tried a fresh install of flash player since YouTube requires it.