FIRST Chesapeake Knowledgebase

Event Streaming — FAQ and Glossary

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Contents

Glossary
Frequently Asked Questions

Terms and short answers that come up across all three audiences in this section. If a term has a
longer explanation elsewhere, this page links to it rather than repeating it.

Glossary

  • Client — the platform’s word for a tenant organization’s account (for example, your FRC/FTC
    program or league). Every user, stream key, event, and setting belongs to exactly one Client,
    except system-wide settings, which apply platform-wide. See
    Members and Roles.
  • Client Admin / Client User / Client Readonly — the three roles a Client Member can have,
    shown in the dashboard as Client Admin, User and Readonly. Readonly watches
    (including the live preview), User operates the event day, and Client Admin configures and
    undoes. See What Each Role Can Actually Do.
  • Stream key — the credential your encoder (OBS, directly or through the plugin) uses to send
    video into the platform for a given event. User and above can reveal and copy one; only
    system admins add, edit, rotate or delete stream keys. See
    Stream Keys and Restream Keys.
  • Restream key — a separate credential (your destination’s own RTMP key, e.g. YouTube’s) used
    for the manual-restream-target path, distinct from the stream key used for ingest. Unlike stream
    keys, a Client Admin can create and delete these themselves. Rotating or deleting one is refused
    while an event using it has a live broadcast or a running push. See
    Stream Keys and Restream Keys.
  • Push vs. broadcast — “pushing” is sending your already-ingested stream onward toward YouTube
    (the Start Push / Stop Push controls); “broadcast” is the YouTube Live broadcast itself
    that viewers watch, controlled separately with Go Live / Stop Broadcast once the push is
    active. The push goes to today’s broadcast and stays pinned to it until it’s stopped. See
    Running a Live Event.
  • Discovered vs. configured — a discovered event is one the platform found automatically
    from the FIRST Events APIs but nobody has set up yet (no stream key, no other settings). It
    becomes configured once a Client Admin fills in its stream key and other settings. See
    Managing Events.
  • Operation mode — a system-wide setting (record_only, lite_mode, or full_power) that
    gates how much of the pipeline runs platform-wide. See
    System Settings Reference.
  • Test event — a synthetic event with fake matches that a system admin can create to rehearse
    the full pipeline (a real stream still has to be sent in) without touching real event data. Only
    system admins create or unconfigure test events; client members can then configure and run one
    like any other event, except for its stream window. See
    System Admins and Test Mode.
  • OBS Test Clock — an unauthenticated browser-source URL a system admin can hand to any
    operator to sanity-check their OBS video/audio pipeline before a stream, without needing a test
    event. See
    System Admins and Test Mode.
  • Signage — physical or web-based displays (pit, queueing, audience, wait-time, or a custom
    URL) that the platform can drive on a per-event basis. See
    Clips, Uploads and Signage.
  • Pre-event test (status pre_live) — video is coming in before the event’s start time. The
    event shows a “Pre-event test” badge, doesn’t restream (unless the event has a setup-day test
    video), and becomes live at the start time. See
    Troubleshooting.
  • Setup-day test video — an optional unlisted YouTube video for the day before the event, so
    a pre-event test can be pushed all the way to YouTube without touching the broadcast days. It
    takes video on that day only. See
    The Setup-Day Test Video.
  • YouTube preview — YouTube’s private preview of a broadcast (its monitor stream), shown as
    Preview (not public). When system admins turn it on, a new broadcast enters the preview by
    itself once the push is running, so it can be checked in YouTube Studio before Go Live. See
    The YouTube Preview.
  • Push failing — retrying — the push to YouTube keeps stopping while OBS is still connected.
    It retries by itself up to five times, then becomes a Push error. See
    Running a Live Event.
  • Stream window — Stream start and Stream end on the event configuration page: when the
    event’s stream key may publish, plus one day before as a pre-event test. Its times are shown in
    the event’s timezone, and Hide past events hides an event once its window has ended. See
    Event Configuration Reference.
  • Completed — an event that’s over. Someone clicks Complete, or an in-progress event
    completes itself a grace period (120 minutes by default) after its stream window ends, when
    nothing is recording. A completed event refuses OBS publishes until a Client Admin clicks
    Reopen. See
    When an Event Completes.
  • Holding / standby slate — “Holding — standby slate on YouTube”. If OBS drops during a push,
    the push keeps YouTube fed with a black slate while OBS reconnects, and gives up after the hold
    timeout. See
    Running a Live Event.
  • Today’s broadcast — the current, non-replaced YouTube broadcast for today’s date in the
    event’s timezone. Start Push and Go Live use it. See
    YouTube Broadcasts.
  • Broadcast day — a date listed under Broadcast days on the event’s Livestream tab. See
    YouTube Broadcasts.
  • Replaced broadcast — an older broadcast for a day, shown as “Replaced” in the broadcast
    history. It stays on YouTube until a Client Admin uses Delete on YouTube. See
    YouTube Broadcasts.
  • Action reason / 🔒 — a greyed-out control shows why you can’t use it. A 🔒 means a role or
    system policy; no 🔒 means the event’s current state. A 🔒 next to a field label means the field
    is locked. See What Each Role Can Actually Do.
  • Invite expiry — an invite link works for 7 days. See
    Members and Roles.

Frequently Asked Questions

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