Ustream Help Center

One question we get a lot is "What is the difference between Premium Membership, Pro Broadcasting and Producer Pro?"

Premium Membership

A Ustream Premium Membership allows you to view streams without ads and browse the sites without seeing any banner ads. If you are a broadcaster, your viewers still see ads. A premium membership only allows one person (the premium membership account owner) to view without ads while this person is logged into their premium account.

Pro Broadcasting

A Pro Broadcasting account allows you as a broadcaster to deliver a stream to viewers without ads. Pro Broadcasting is priced based on how many people watch your stream and for how long they watch. This measurement is called "viewer hours." Even if you only broadcast one hour, if 10 people watch for the entire time, then you have racked up 10 viewer hours.

In addition to being able to broadcast without ads, there are other features of Pro Broadcasting accounts, which are described here.

Producer Pro

Producer Pro is a desktop broadcasting application that allows you to broadcast to Ustream. It has no relation to ads on your stream. The only way to remove ads from appearing on streams you broadcast is through a Pro Broadcasting account.

Jittery Video | Flash Player Hardware Acceleration Issues
Problem: Video playback is jittering back and forth.

Reason: Flash Player Hardware Acceleration has kicked in to assist with video decoding and your video card is incompatible. Most problematic are Nvidia graphics cards installed in Macbook laptops from 2009-2010.
Solution: Disable Flash Player Hardware Acceleration - Right click on the video and select Settings... click the far left 'Display' tab and uncheck Enable Hardware Acceleration. Close the Flash Player settings and refresh your page.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/C7YUs95jdQk

Video never loads w/ Digital Rapids encoder |Flash Player Hardware Acceleration Issue

Digital Rapids has their own H.264 codec(DRAVC) built into their encoders. The same Nvidia graphics cards that will playback jittery video if Hardware Acceleration is enabled fail completely when trying to help decode video that was encoded using the DRAVC codec.
Solution: If you are the broadcaster, setting the encoder to use Baseline Profile instead of Main Profile encoding will prevent the hardware acceleration from kicking in. If you are the viewer, disable Flash Player Hardware acceleration. Right click on the video and select Settings... click the far left 'Display' tab and uncheck Enable Hardware Acceleration. Close the Flash Player settings and refresh your page.

iSight camera not recognized by Flash Player
December 2010
Problem: On Mac OS X, iSight camera is not recognized by the latest Flash Player update  10.1.102.64
>http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/flashplayer10.html
A workaround is to install a previous FP version.
Here is a link to archived FP versions: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/142/tn_14266.html

Skype 5.0 blocks iSight camera
January 2011
Problem: The Skype 5 application will monopolize the iSight camera even if Skype is not video conferencing.
Solution: Quit Skype to use the iSight camera prior to your Broadcast.
Additional current info: https://jira.skype.com/browse/SCM-721
Skype is aware of the issue.

Audio / Video Sync Issues
Problem: During a published Broadcast, Viewers can experience a loss of A/V sync.
Reason:  Adobe's Flash Player renders all A/V streams and uses audio messages in the stream as a timing base to sync video with audio. Syncronization of audio and video is done through the audio reference clock. So, if your audio is experiencing issues such as subpar quality, noise or pauses or there is no audio track included, then video will either go out of sync or will drop frames.  If audio messages drop out momentarily, the Flash Player can incur a slight sync offset and this can accumulate over time.
We also have reports of sync issues with mismatched camera and encoder framerate.
Solution: When Broadcasting, ensure suitable audio levels and a continuous audio stream. After audio levels are set, re-start your encoder before you begin your Broadcast.
Ensure that you camera and encoder framerates match.
If you are encoding with Adobe's Flash Media Live Encoder, there is a configuration setting that might improve sync: Enable the 'dvsyncfeature' from the config.xml. The downside of setting dvsyncfeature to 'true' is that encoding at higher sizes (1024x768 and above) is not smooth. Video stalling and audio glitches might be observed at HD sizes.

What are Subscriptions?
Subscriptions are optional, paid access to a Ustream Broadcast channel. Channels typically provide a series of Broadcasts that are created by the Broadcaster of that channel.
 
Do I have to register for Ustream to subscribe?
Yes, a Ustream account is required in order to subscribe to any subscription based channels.
 
Can I watch a subscription based channel for free?
Typically no.  All subscription based channels require you to pay for a subscription in order to gain access to their content. However, a subscription based channel may make some recorded videos available for free, but this is entirely up to the broadcaster’s discretion.
 
How do I subscribe to a subscription channel?
You can do so by going to the channel you’d like to subscribe to.  Then, within the overlay panel (the window that’s opened partially at the bottom of the video player), hit the Subscribe button.  From there, follow the instructions, which include, choosing a plan, inputting your payment information, and logging in if you aren’t already or registering if you aren’t already an user.  Once that’s payment is confirmation, you will be available to start enjoying the content.
 
How am I billed for a subscription?
For all subscriptions, you are billed upfront for each billing period in order to gain access for the duration of your plan.  For example, if you subscribe to a 3 monthly (quarterly) plan on the 14th, you will be billed the same day you subscribe and have access for the next 3 months.  Once those three months pass, you will be billed again for three months, which will give you access for the next 3 months, unless you’ve canceled prior to the re-billing date.
 
What does recurring and recurred mean?
In your Payment History, you may see “recurring” or “recurred” as a status.  If you see recurring, this means your subscription is active, and is scheduled to be re-billed on the next billing date.  If you do not wish to be re-billed at the next billing date, you can cancel recurrence by clicking on “recurring” in the status column.  If you see recurred, this means that at the end of that billing cycle, you were rebilled for another period.
 
How often am I billed?
That depends on the package you have chosen.  Upon subscription, you are billed the same day, which gives you access to the content for the duration your package indicated.  To see what package you’ve purchased, log into your Ustream account -> Dashboard (click on your username in the upper right hand corner) -> Purchased Content -> Payment History -> Subscriptions.
 
How do I update my credit card?
You can update your credit card by logging into your Ustream account -> Dashboard (click on your username in the upper right hand corner) -> Purchased Content -> Payment History -> Subscriptions -> Update Payment Info.
 
How do I cancel my subscription?
You can cancel your subscription by logging into your Ustream account -> Dashboard (click on your username in the upper right hand corner) -> Purchased Content -> Payment History -> Subscriptions and click on the line item that says “Recurring”.  It should update and say ‘canceled’.  Once this happens, you will not be re-billed once your billing cycle ends.  This also means, once your billing cycle ends, you will no longer have access to the channel’s content.
 
What if I missed the live show?
With subscriptions, you should have access to all recorded content by the broadcaster.  So if you missed a live show the broadcaster aired, check out their recorded content to find what you may have missed.
 
Do I have access to archived content?
Yes, with most subscriptions, you should have access to all archived content, unless otherwise mentioned.
 
What payment methods can I pay with?
We currently accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover.
 
Can I see my payment history?
Yes, you can see your payment history by loggging into your Ustream account -> Dashboard (click on your username in the upper right hand corner) -> Purchased Content -> Payment History -> Subscriptions.
 

What is a premium membership?

Ustream Premium memberships let you get the most out of your viewing experience. With
a Premium Membership, you’ll never see commercials or advertisements when you are
watching your favorite Ustream shows. You also get nifty premium member icons that make
you stand out in the crowd. You can find more information about the service here: ustream.tv/premium-membership

Why do I have to pay for this?

Premium Memberships are an optional upgrade for Ustream users. While we wish we could
offer these perks for free, running the best live video site on the web isn’t cheap, so charging for
the removal of ads lets us offset the costs while improving the viewing experience.

How much does it cost?

At $3.99, A Premium Membership costs less than 2 cups of coffee per month.

How do I cancel?

Please don’t go! Well, if you insist… you can go to your dashboard (click your username at the top of the site), then go to the "Premium Memberships" section, click the “Payment” tab and then click on “Cancel My Subscription”. Once you cancel, you will no longer be charged and you will continue to receive your premium benefits until the end of your billing cycle.

Do I have to buy a Premium Membership to start a broadcast?

Nope! Viewing and Broadcasting will always remain free on Ustream. This service simply
enhances the viewing experience.

I am a broadcaster – Will a Premium Membership remove ads from my channel?

No, Premium Memberships are a viewer-only feature. If you are interested in Ad-Free
Broadcasting, you can find more information here: ustream.tv/ad-free

I purchased a Premium Membership but people still see ads on my channel page!

Oops! Premium Memberships only remove ads for you as a viewer, it does not remove ads
on your Ustream channel. If you are interested in Ad-Free Broadcasting, you can find more
information here: ustream.tv/ad-free

To embed a Ustream video player on another website:

1. Go to the channel page

2. Scroll down and look underneath the video player which is in the middle of the page.

3. There you will see a tab that says Embed. Click this to expose the embed codes.

4. Take that code and paste it on your blog or anywhere that accepts HTML code.

If the new code does not work for you, click on the box that says "use the old embed code instead" and that will give you an embed code in a different format.

Cannot connect to the RTMP/Flash server at the given IP address

You may see this message or a similar message when you are unable to connect to Ustream.  This may be caused by your internet connection cutting out or because your first attempt to connect to Ustream was unsuccessful. 

Because there are many servers in between your connection and Ustream, this is quite common. 

The best course of action is to continue to try to reconnect.  Sometimes it may take 5 or more attempts to connect. 

If you still cannot connect after many attempts, check your internet connection again, by doing a Speedtest at http://www.speedtest.net and ensure that the bitrate you are broadcasting at is 50% or lower of your available upload bandwidth. 

If you are still having trouble after many attempts, please file a support ticket and let us know.

Many issues can be resolved by refreshing the player (click the circular arrow icon in the lower left of the player) or refreshing your page in your browser. 

Also, make sure you are connected to the internet with a solid connection and have an updated browswer and flash player version. 

Choose the problem you are experiencing in the list below

I can't see anything. 

Do you have Adobe Flash installed?  To watch Ustream live and recorded videos, you will need to have flash installed.  Download Adobe Flash here.

If you are trying to watch from a mobile device, we have iOS and Android apps available to download for your mobile device. See http://www.ustream.tv/mobile for links to currently available mobile apps.

The video looks "choppy," I am experiencing "lag", or the video is "pausing" or "stop and go."

There are many possible causes of this. 

The most common is insufficient bandwidth on the broadcaster's side or on the viewer's side.  To see what your bandwidth is, go to http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest and click "Los Angeles"  We recommend having an upload speed of 1-2Mbps for broadcasting, and a download speed of at least 1Mbps for smooth playback.  You may be able to broadcast and watch with download speeds much less than these, but some broadcasts have very high bitrates and in order to watch them, you will need a faster connection. 

Another possible cause of choppiness or pausing playback is insufficient CPU resources on the broadcaster or the viewer side.  Older computer's graphics cards may have a difficult time encoding and decoding live and recorded video.  We recommend shutting down all other applications and browser tabs / windows while broadcasting and viewing if you are experiencing playback problems. 

The video looks like its "Jittering" or "Skipping"

There is a known issue with certain graphics cards where "hardware acceleration" enabled within flash will cause Jittery or skipping playback. Nvidia graphics cards installed in Macbooks from 2009-2010 are particularly problematic.

To remedy this:

Disable Flash Player Hardware Acceleration - Right click on the video and select Settings... click the far left 'Display' tab and uncheck Enable Hardware Acceleration. Close the Flash Player settings and refresh your page.

This video demonstrates this: 

http://www.youtube.com/embed/C7YUs95jdQk

Please, watch our short tutorial video on "How To Create Ustream Account"

To broadcast on Ustream:

1. Create an Account

2. Create a show

3. Choose your cameras and encoding method

See our best practices guide here.