For publishers, our recommend stream settings for Vmix are shown. Depending on the CDN provider the upout mload bit rate should be 2.5Mbps or 1.5Mbps. Ensure you run a speedtest to check your actual upload speed.

Check the dacast website for optimum details : https://www.dacast.com/support/knowledgebase/live-encoder-configuration

We previously used multiple upload streams to allow users to cope with higher or lower quality connections, however, that is now handled by the CDN and one upload stream is fine. What this means now the Video Player option settings will give the user the option (if needed) to select manually the preferred download value. For example if you are on a mobile with smaller screen and you experience buffering you can select say the 480p or lower connection speed.

There are other settings that should be checked on the Streaming Quality icon (to the right of the popup).
Key items to set:

1. Keyframe Frequency set to 3 seconds. (NOTE change from 2)
2. Threads. 4 or increase to 10 on systems that can support
3. Keyframe Aligned - tick
4. strict CBR - UNTICK (new)
5. Profile - High (important)
6. Audio rate - set to 128
7. for 720p use 1.5Mbps rate (wifi and dongles recommended)
8. for 1080p use 2.5Mbps rate (for good LAN connections)

July 2023: We are changing our advice for CBR to change to unticked. We feel it can cause some customers to have occassional buffering. Please evaluate the use of ticked and unticked on customer streams.

November 2022, Dacast now recommend :
-- 3s keyframe interval - not having this will cause streaming issues like long load times, choppy playback, random pauses, etc.
-- Integer FPS only, use 30 fps not 29.97 fps - this will also cause choppy and inconsistent playback

Additional backup stream option - not always available
We had setup this a second test stream, where each live stream had a backup stream running in parallel. As it transpired, that day was the first time that one live stream broke down due to the CDN provider. We were quickly able to inform users to use the live backup stream within a few minutes and then another two minutes we restored the main stream.

Dacast is currently our main stream output for season 2022-2023, due to costs we are not currently using the Vimeo CDN (backup is performed by the Dacast backup stream)

Stream 1 : The stream output to Dacast, a 720p stream at 1.5Mbps (using dacast URL 1)

Stream 2 : The backup stream output to Dacast (normally off - but ready to be started at a moments notice), a 720p stream at 1.5Mbps (using Dacast backup URL 2)

We recommend starting Stream 1, leaving stream 2 switched off. Stream 2 will only be used if Stream 1 disconnects and cannot be connected.

When Stream 1 from vmix is used it will be available on Stream A. If Stream 2 is used then they will be matched to Stream D.

If only dacast stream used then they will be assigned to Stream A and Stream C buttons on the live video player.

Another option is to have a 480p stream running as well in background. This is for users who experience buffering issues and also as an additional live back stream

Should a user detect problems with a stream they can select one of the Stream buttons A to D options underneath the video player on the Live Stream page. Some buttons have different settings and may work better for some devices.

CASTR vmix stream settings