3. Running a Live Event

Contents

The Event Status Panel
Starting and Stopping the Push
Going Live and Stopping the Broadcast
Signage Controls
Live Preview and Pipeline Progress
Health Warnings
When the Event Ends

Open a configured event from its row on the Events page to reach its control center — the page
you’ll use to monitor and operate it during the event itself. The header shows the event’s stream
window in the event’s timezone (for example “Mar 26, 8:00 AM EDT – Mar 26, 6:00 PM EDT”), and has
an Edit link to the event’s full configuration page (it reads View settings if you can’t
change the configuration). Everything below applies whether you’re using the OBS plugin’s dock or
the web dashboard; the plugin dock is a live mirror of this same page (see
OBS Plugin Guide). It shows the same
buttons, dimmed for the same reasons; in the dock the reason shows as the button’s tooltip.

Start/Stop Push, Go Live/Stop Broadcast and signage need User or above. Readonly members
see the same buttons dimmed with ”🔒 Needs User or above”, and can watch the preview. Hover over a
dimmed button to see why it’s unavailable (or tap it, and the reason shows as a message); primary
buttons also show the reason on a line under the button.

The Event Status Panel

Three status rows, each with a colored dot:

• Incoming Stream — gray “Offline” until the platform is actively receiving your OBS/RTMP
  stream; then “Online” plus resolution, bitrate, and codec. If the stream has video but no audio
  track, the dot turns amber and the audio line reads “No audio track from OBS — YouTube may not
  start playback without audio” (see Health Warnings).

• YT Restream — the push to YouTube; see below for the
  full set of states. With no restream target it reads Not configured with a Set a target
  link. One line under the row gives more detail:

  • “Today’s broadcast: status” — today’s broadcast’s YouTube status, in plain words (see the
    table below). If it stays Starting on YouTube or Starting preview for over a minute,
    an amber warning follows it (see Health Warnings);
  • “Setup-day test (unlisted): status” — on the day before the event, when the event has a
    setup-day test video and the push and Go Live act on that instead (see
    The Setup-Day Test Video).
    The OBS dock labels this line “Today’s broadcast:” as on any other day;
  • “No broadcast for today yet. Create one” (the link opens the event’s Livestream settings);
  • “Manual RTMP key mode” when the event pushes to a restream key instead of a
    platform-managed broadcast.

  Status	YouTube’s own name	Meaning
  Created	created	Created, not ready yet
  Ready	ready	Ready to receive the push
  Starting preview	testStarting	Moving into YouTube’s private preview
  Preview (not public)	testing	In YouTube’s private preview; viewers can’t see it yet
  Starting on YouTube	liveStarting	Go Live was clicked; YouTube is starting the broadcast
  Live	live	Live to viewers
  Ended	complete	Ended; it can’t receive video again
  Removed	revoked	Removed on YouTube

  The two preview statuses appear only on broadcasts created with the YouTube preview turned on
  (see The YouTube Preview). After Go Live is clicked on such a broadcast, the line
  reads “Going live — starting YouTube preview” or “Going live — preview ready, starting
  broadcast” until the broadcast is live.

• Signage — “Unavailable” (no stream key), “Not controlling”, “Controlling signage”, or
  “Controlled by “another event"" if a sign this event would use is currently driven by a
  different event.

Starting and Stopping the Push

The Start Push / Stop Push buttons appear when the event has a restream target set (a
YouTube channel or a manual RTMP key). Sending your incoming stream onward is a separate step from
publishing it to viewers.

In YouTube-channel mode the push sends video from the event’s current stream key to today’s
broadcast (today in the event’s timezone), and it stays on that broadcast until you stop it,
even past midnight. If there’s no broadcast for today, Start Push is refused; it never falls back
to another broadcast. See
YouTube Broadcasts for creating
broadcasts.

The one exception is the setup day, the day before the event. If the event has a setup-day
test video and that date isn’t a broadcast day, Start Push sends your pre-event test feed to the
test video, before the event’s start time. That push is stopped at midnight in the event’s
timezone; see
The Setup-Day Test Video.

Start Push has no confirmation prompt. When the push can’t start, the button is dimmed with
its reason under it; if the push is refused when you click, a “Failed to start push” dialog shows
the reason. The reasons are:

• “Configure this event first”
• “Set a restream target in the Livestream config section first”
• “Push is already running”
• “Wait for the push to stop”
• “Pushing opens at the event’s start time. Video coming in now is a pre-event test feed.”
• “No stream is coming in: the stream is not live on this event’s stream key. Start streaming,
  then start the push.”
• “No YouTube broadcast for today (date, timezone) — create one on the event page”
• “The YouTube broadcast for date has ended (status: status) and can’t receive video again —
  replace it with a new broadcast on the event page to push again”
• “The setup-day YouTube video has ended and can’t receive video again. Create a new one to test
  again.”
• ”🔒 Turned off by system administrators”

Stop Push always asks first, both here and in the OBS dock. The dialog is titled Stop
Push? with a Stop Push button, and its message depends on what the push is doing:

• While holding: “The push is holding on a standby slate and will resume by itself when OBS
  reconnects. Stop anyway?”
• While the push is failing and retrying: “The push keeps failing and is retrying by itself. Stop
  it?”
• While today’s broadcast is live: “Today’s broadcast is live on YouTube — viewers will see the
  stream end.”
• Otherwise: “Stop sending the stream to YouTube?”

Stop Push is never dimmed for a state reason; you can always stop a push.

The YT Restream row shows one of these states:

State	Colour	Meaning
Not configured	gray	No restream target is set
Idle	gray	Not pushing; the line under it gives the last stop reason, e.g. “Stopped by operator”
Starting push…	blue	The push is starting
Holding — standby slate on YouTube	amber	OBS disconnected; see below. The line under it reads “Resumes automatically when OBS reconnects · gives up in m:ss”
Push failing — retrying	red	The push to YouTube keeps stopping and is being retried by itself; see below. The line under it gives the reason and the next attempt
Pushing	green	Manual RTMP key mode only: the push is running
Pushing — waiting for YouTube	amber	Pushing, but YouTube isn’t receiving it on today’s broadcast yet
Pushing — YouTube ingest health: health	amber	YouTube receives the push but doesn’t rate it good. health is fair, poor, no data or degraded. You can still Go Live
Ready for Live	green	YouTube is receiving the push and rates it good (YouTube-channel mode); you can Go Live
Live to YouTube	green	Today’s broadcast is live
Stopping push…	amber	The push is stopping
Push error	red	The line under it gives the error detail; Readonly members see “The push failed”

Holding. When OBS drops after the push has started, the push keeps YouTube’s broadcast open
with a generated standby slate — a plain black picture with silence and no text — so YouTube
doesn’t end the broadcast for lack of data. Viewers see the black slate. The push resumes by
itself when OBS reconnects, so reconnect OBS rather than pressing Stop Push. If OBS doesn’t come
back within the system’s Restream Hold Timeout (10 minutes by default), the push gives up with
an error ending “Source did not return within Ns — giving up”. A push whose source never
started publishing gives up the same way, with “Source never started publishing within the
configured hold timeout — giving up”.

Push failing. When OBS is still connected but the push to YouTube itself stops — YouTube
closes the connection, or the video can’t be handed on — the row turns red and reads Push
failing — retrying. The line under it gives the reason and the retry, for example “YouTube
closed the connection after 4s (source video codec AV1). Attempt 2 of 5 failed; trying again in
15s”. The push retries by itself, waiting 5, 15, 30 and then 60 seconds between attempts, and
YouTube gets the standby slate in the meantime. A push that then runs steadily for three minutes
starts the count over. After five failed attempts in a row the push gives up: the row reads Push
error, with the reason followed by “Gave up after 5 attempts in a row”. It doesn’t retry after
that; fix the cause, then click Start Push again. See
Troubleshooting.

Warning

Ready for Live and Live to YouTube mean YouTube is receiving the push, not that
viewers can play it. The only playback check is the warning when YouTube is still starting the
broadcast after a minute (see Health Warnings). See
YouTube Shows Healthy but Won’t Play.

Going Live and Stopping the Broadcast

In YouTube-channel mode two more buttons act on today’s broadcast:

• Go Live — publishes today’s broadcast to viewers. No confirmation prompt. It always shows;
  when it can’t be used it’s dimmed with the reason under it. It needs the push to be active
  and YouTube to be receiving it on today’s broadcast (today in the event’s timezone).
  YouTube’s health rating doesn’t have to be “good”. The reasons are:

  • “Today is not a broadcast day — add it under Broadcast days on the Livestream tab”
  • “Create today’s broadcast on the Livestream tab first”
  • “This YouTube broadcast has ended — replace it to go live again”
  • “Wait for the push to go active”
  • “Start Push and wait for it to go active”
  • “Wait for YouTube to start receiving the push” — the push is running, but YouTube isn’t
    receiving it on today’s broadcast yet
  • “Going live: YouTube is starting its preview first. This can take up to a minute.” — Go Live
    was already clicked and is finishing by itself (see The YouTube Preview)
  • ”🔒 Turned off by system administrators”

  If YouTube itself refuses, you’ll see: “The stream isn’t receiving data from the push yet
  (YouTube reports ‘status’, needs ‘active’). Make sure Start Push is running and healthy, then
  try Go Live again.”

• Stop Broadcast — takes Go Live’s place while today’s broadcast is live or starting on
  YouTube. It confirms first
  with a Stop this broadcast? dialog: “Stop this broadcast? This is irreversible on YouTube —
  the broadcast cannot be resumed.” Use this deliberately — there’s no way to resume the same
  broadcast afterward.

In short: start streaming in OBS and confirm the Incoming Stream row reads Online, then
Start Push and wait for the YT Restream row to read Ready for Live, then Go Live;
the row reads Live to YouTube once live. To end the stream, reverse it — Stop Broadcast
first, then Stop Push (which asks for confirmation), then stop streaming in OBS.

The YouTube Preview

System administrators can turn on a YouTube preview for new broadcasts (it’s off by default). A
broadcast created while it’s on gets YouTube’s private preview, which you can watch in YouTube
Studio before any viewer sees the stream:

• The preview starts by itself. Once the push is running and YouTube is receiving it, today’s
  broadcast moves from Ready through Starting preview to Preview (not public). You
  don’t click anything, and viewers see nothing yet. It doesn’t start while the push is holding
  on the standby slate.
• Check it before you go live. Open the broadcast in YouTube Studio and confirm picture and
  sound in the preview.
• Go Live is still one click. With the preview up, Go Live takes the broadcast public
  straight away. If you click it before the preview is up, the status line reads “Going live —
  starting YouTube preview”, then “Going live — preview ready, starting broadcast”, and the
  broadcast goes live by itself. Meanwhile Go Live is dimmed with “Going live: YouTube is starting
  its preview first. This can take up to a minute.”
• A waiting Go Live doesn’t wait forever. It finishes only while the push is running, and
  only within 3 minutes of your click. After that the status line goes back to the plain status
  and you can click Go Live again. Stop Push or Start Push cancels a waiting Go Live,
  so click Go Live again after restarting the push.
• End preview shows next to Go Live while the broadcast is Starting preview or
  Preview (not public), here and in the OBS dock. It ends the broadcast without it ever going
  public, after an End this preview? dialog: “End this preview without going live? This is
  irreversible on YouTube.” The broadcast then reads Ended and has to be replaced before the
  day can go live. While YouTube is still starting the preview it’s refused with “YouTube is
  still starting the preview — it can be ended once the preview is up”. It needs User or
  above.
• Leftover previews are cleaned up. A broadcast still in preview when the event completes, or
  when the broadcast is replaced, is ended for you.

A broadcast created while the setting was off has no preview: Go Live takes it from Ready
straight to Live, and End preview never shows. Changing the setting doesn’t change
broadcasts that already exist; replace a broadcast to pick up the new setting, bearing in mind
that a replacement has a new link.

Replacing Today’s Broadcast

A broadcast that has ended on YouTube can’t go live or receive video again. You can replace it
from the Broadcast days section of the event’s Livestream settings. Replacing asks for
confirmation first and creates a new YouTube video with a new public link — viewers with the
link you already announced won’t see it. It’s refused while the broadcast is live. See
Replacing a Broadcast
before you do it.

Signage Controls

If the event has a stream key, Enable Signage / Disable Signage buttons appear. Both need
User or above. Turning signage on is allowed from the event’s setup day (the day before
the event starts) through its last day, in the event’s timezone; turning it off is allowed on any
day. System admins aren’t limited by the dates. The refusals you may see are:

• “Signage can be turned on only on the setup day and event days (setup day to last day)”
• “Signs are controlled by “other event” — turn signage off there first”
• “Assign a stream key to this event first”

Disabling confirms first with a Disable signage control? dialog: “Disable signage control for
this event? Signs on its stream key will return to the idle page.” and a Disable button. See
Clips, Uploads and Signage
for assigning signs and switching what they display.

Live Preview and Pipeline Progress

The control center includes a live preview. Any member can watch it unless system administrators
have turned previews off. The System Feed tab plays the incoming stream (it works during a
pre-event test too); the YouTube tab embeds today’s YouTube broadcast.

When the preview isn’t available, the reason shows in the video box: ”🔒 Live preview turned off
by system administrators” or “The stream isn’t live — there’s no incoming feed to preview”. If the
player itself fails you may see:

• “Preview access was refused — the preview link may have expired. Reopen the preview to try
  again.”
• “Stream unavailable — ensure the event is live and actively streaming.”

Below the preview, a pipeline section shows each match’s progress through recording, clipping,
and uploading. Clip creation and YouTube publishing happen automatically as matches are detected —
there’s no manual “publish” step during the event. A clip held for review sits in its own Needs
Review stage alongside pending/processing/failed, so it isn’t mistaken for a pipeline error; see
Clips, Uploads and Signage
for what to check afterward and how to approve or discard it.

Between the pipeline and the clips table, the match list shows the event’s schedule from FIRST,
grouped by level under “level Matches” headings. Every member of a Client sees it, Readonly
included, for events in the Client’s own region and for events the Client owns — test events
too. It may read:

• “No match data available from the FIRST API for this event yet.”
• “Couldn’t refresh match data. Showing the list from time ago.” — the latest refresh failed, so
  the list on screen is the last one that loaded.
• “Failed to load match data.” — nothing could be loaded. If it stays, see
  Troubleshooting.

Health Warnings

Warning banners appear on the status panel when something needs attention — for example, an
incompatible video or audio codec, a keyframe interval that’s too long for reliable clipping, or
an issue YouTube itself reports about the incoming stream. See
Troubleshooting
for the exact wording and thresholds behind each one.

Two warnings are about whether YouTube can play the stream:

• No audio from OBS — “No audio track from OBS — YouTube may not start playback without
  audio” replaces the audio line on the Incoming Stream row when your stream has video but no
  audio track. Add an audio source in OBS.
• Playback not starting — when today’s broadcast has been Starting on YouTube or
  Starting preview for more than 60 seconds, an amber line under “Today’s broadcast” reads either
  “YouTube hasn’t started playback after time. It is receiving our stream (ingest health:
  health) but not playing it; viewers see a spinner. Check the preview in YouTube Studio.” or
  “YouTube hasn’t started playback after time, and it isn’t receiving our stream. Check that
  the push is running.”

Both show in the OBS dock too. A stream can still pass every check and not play (for example,
audio that’s present but silent). See
YouTube Shows Healthy but Won’t Play.

When the Event Ends

If the dashboard still shows the event as 🔴 LIVE after your stream has stopped, wait: it heals
itself within about 2 minutes. There’s no manual step for this.

The Events list has Complete (needs User; marks an in-progress or live event as
completed). An in-progress event also completes itself once its stream window has ended by more
than a grace period (120 minutes by default) and nothing is recording; a running feed is never
cut. A completed event refuses OBS publishes, and Reopen (needs Client Admin; only on
completed events) returns it to In Progress. See
When an Event Completes.

Completing an event doesn’t stop a YouTube broadcast or push; use Stop Broadcast and Stop
Push above. It doesn’t delete anything already recorded or clipped.