If a camera loses its connection, your stream stays online at the platform. What your viewers see during that time depends on whether you have set up a fallback scene:
- With a fallback scene and “Automatisch umschalten” (switch automatically) the studio cuts to your image, your video or your web page by itself, “be right back” for instance, and back by itself as soon as the camera has been sending stably for about two seconds again.
- Without a fallback scene the overlay keeps running. The camera's picture is missing until it sends again or you cut to another source by hand.
The fallback scene is off until you set it up. How that works is in Switching to “be right back” automatically.
What exactly happens
| Part | Without a fallback scene | Fallback scene on air |
|---|---|---|
| Stream to the platform | Stays online. Twitch, YouTube or Kick keep getting a signal from the studio. | Stays online. |
| Overlay | Keeps running, with its sound. Alerts and chat box stay visible. | Is hidden, its sound too. The fallback scene is shown alone. |
| The camera's picture | Missing as long as the camera does not send. | Replaced by your image, your video or your web page. |
| The camera's sound | Missing as well. | Is not heard. A video runs with its own sound. |
| Other inputs | Are not affected and keep running. | Are not affected and keep running. |
| Choice of scene | Stays as it is. The studio does not cut by itself. | The studio has cut and cuts back by itself. |
The reason the stream stays online: it is not your camera that sends to the platform, but your studio. The connection between studio and platform does not depend on your mobile or Wi-Fi link. If you send straight from the phone to the platform instead, the platform ends the stream when the connection has been gone for a while.
With a fallback scene: when the studio switches
With “Automatisch umschalten” the studio watches the connection of the input that is on air right now. It cuts to the fallback scene when
- the bitrate arriving from it falls below the “Bitrate-Schwelle” (bitrate threshold) you set for a moment, or
- packets are lost for good.
Once the camera's stream has been stable for about two seconds again, it cuts back. You do not have to do anything.
Three things you should know here:
- Gone completely is something else than bad. If nobody sends to the input any more, the studio shows the fallback scene only if the switch “Auch ohne Zuspieler” (also without a source) is on. Without it, with a camera that is gone completely, the last picture stays, and then the picture is missing, as without a fallback scene.
- A cut by hand takes precedence. If you cut yourself, the studio leaves the program where you put it.
- A web page needs a few seconds until it appears after the cut. An uploaded image or video is there at once.
Without “Automatisch umschalten” the fallback scene is a scene like any other on the desk: you cut to it by hand.
Without a fallback scene: what you do
- Recognize the dropout. The picture is missing in the program, and no sound comes from the camera any more. On the “Eingänge” (inputs) tab the link quality display shows that nothing arrives from this input.
- Cut to another source. Click “Schneiden” (cut) on a scene that has a signal. It is in the program at once, because all inputs keep running in the background.
- Bring the camera back. Usually the app reconnects by itself as soon as the network is there again. If not, start sending in the app once more.
- Cut back. As soon as the camera sends again, its picture is back without anything further. Put it on preview, check picture and level, and change with “Take”.
You do not have to restart anything in the studio for this. The input's address stays the same.
If you have only one camera
Then there is no other camera to cut to. The stream stays online all the same. Without a fallback scene your viewers see the overlay without a camera picture until you are back. That is better than a channel going offline, but it is no break screen.
Two things help:
- A fallback scene. Upload an image or a video on the “Szenen” (scenes) page or enter a web page, and switch on “Automatisch umschalten” and “Auch ohne Zuspieler”. Then the studio shows your “be right back” by itself, also when your camera loses the connection completely. The steps are in Switching to “be right back” automatically.
- An overlay that can stand by itself. If you use no fallback scene and your overlay page shows chat and alerts, the viewers at least see during a dead spot that the stream goes on.
Who cuts when you are out and about
With a fallback scene and “Automatisch umschalten” nobody has to cut for the break screen. For changing to another camera, or if you are on air without a fallback scene: the desk runs in the browser, on the phone too. There are three ways:
- You cut yourself on the phone. That requires your phone to still have a network while the camera has none.
- Somebody else operates a remote control for you. The studio speaks the OBS WebSocket protocol. Apps such as OBS Blade, Bitfocus Companion or Stream Deck plugins for OBS can change scenes with it. The connection details are on the “Remote Control” page.
- A Twitch chat bot with commands for you and your mods is being built.
Preventing dropouts
Dead spots cannot be avoided completely, but you can make the link more stable:
- Choose a bitrate your network manages safely. See The right encoder settings.
- Give SRT more time for retransmissions on mobile data. See Setting the SRT latency.
- Bundling several mobile connections (SRTLA) is not supported by the studio yet. It is planned.
The background is explained in Why your Twitch stream goes offline in a dead spot (in German).