Help - Brentwood Borough Webcasting

Help / FAQ

Player Overview

The Webcast Player

The Webcast Player allows you to watch, pause and stop live and archived webcasts. If you've watched videos on YouTube or Facebook before, the controls will be very familiar

Webcasts that haven't started yet display a Timeline, and if the meeting has Agenda points, these will be listed here in their planned order of inclusion. If there are no Agenda points, the Timeline only displays the webcast starting time.

Archived webcasts will list the Agenda (if one was created for the meeting). If the webcast includes Agenda points, click on these to jump to that part of the meeting; if it includes Speaker Profiles, you can also click on a name to jump to the point in the webcast when that person speaks.

Finding webcasts

The main home page displays an overview of live, future and recent webcasts in a panel on the right of the page. If the feature has been turned on, this panel may also display two 'We recommend' webcasts. You can watch any of these webcasts by clicking on them.

To see every webcast, click on the Webcast library button and scroll through the list. Alternatively, find specific webcasts by using the Search box, which lets you search by title, description, agenda points or date.

In addition, most webcasts are tagged with a key word or phrase when they're created - for example 'Scrutiny' or 'Council Meeting' - so you can easily find all the webcasts that relate to a particular topic by clicking the relevant tag; tags also provide visual clues - the larger the word in the Tag cloud, the more webcasts you'll find that are tagged with that word.

Note: you can only search for one tag at a time.

Watching webcasts

Click on the title of the webcast you want to watch in the Webcast overview list or the main Webcast library. The Webcast player will open a new window, and after a few seconds begin playing the webcast.

Live & archived webcasts

Live webcasts display only the information being sent out during the webcast, so it's not possible - for example - to skip backwards to an earlier part of a meeting.

Archived webcasts enable the viewer to navigate to any point of the webcast using index points or by dragging the horizontal scroll bar below the video window.

Note: Speaker Profiles are only displayed for archived webcasts.

Accessibility : Can I use the keyboard to control the player?

Yes, so long as the player is 'in focus'. Use the Tab key to select the player and then continue using Tab to move between the video player controls.

Shortcut keys

Shortcut key	Action
Space bar	Starts and stops playback
Left and right arrow keys	Skips forwards and backwards through the video
Up and down arrow keys	Increases and decreases audio volume
F key	Switches full screen playback on and off
M key	Mutes and unmutes audio
S key	Switches subtitles on and off

Video player controls

Selected control	Keystroke	Action
Play button	Space bar	Starts and stops playback
Speaker	Space bar	Mutes and unmutes audio
Progress bar	Left and right arrow keys	Skips forwards and backwards through the video
HD	Space bar	Switches to the HD version of the webcast, if available
Settings	Space bar	Opens and closes the Settings panel
Full screen	Space bar	Switches to full screen playback - press Esc to close full-screen playback

Navigating through a webcast

You can skip to a different part of a webcast by dragging the horizontal scroll bar below the video to the left or right; alternatively, if the webcast includes Agenda Points and/or Speaker Names you can click on these index points to jump to a topic of interest or to the point when a particular person is speaking.

Feedback Form

On the Webcast Player page there's a Feedback tab. Use the form here to comment on a particular webcast or to let us know if you're experiencing technical problems.

Sharing

It's possible to share entire pages via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, or by pasting a link directly into an email message. Just click the green Share button, then select the service you want to use or copy the link in the Share link box.

Entire Agendas and individual Agenda Points also have their own Share buttons which work in the same way.

Note: Choosing to share an Agenda Point will automatically set the video start point accordingly; you can turn this off or alter the start point manually in the dialogue box.

How do I download a webcast?

Some meetings may be downloaded for viewing offline.

Click the Download icon at the bottom of the video window and then follow the instructions in the pop-up window.

Webcast agenda items tagged with a map location

Agenda items which are associated with a particular geographical location will display a map pin and a link. Clicking on the link will open the Map tab and display the location, together with the Agenda point and a link to play the webcast from that point.

Getting notified of new webcasts

If you'd like to stay up to date with those webcasts that interest you there are two ways:

- the easiest way is to click the Subscribe button, select the topics that interest you and and then click the Subscribe button

- alternatively, you can use the RSS button and follow the instructions to paste the link into your favourite RSS newsreader

Tag Cloud

The tag cloud shows the tags (or keywords) assigned to any webcast, with the most popular ones appearing proportionally larger.

Clicking on a tag will filter the list of webcasts accordingly. To remove the filter, click the 'Remove tag filter' link at top of the page.

Note: You can only filter the webcast list one tag at a time.

Technical specifications

Supported web browsers

For best results, please make sure you're using the following web browsers.

Device	Browser support
Desktop and laptop PCs	Internet Explorer 11 (Win 7), Internet Explorer 11 (Win 8.1+), Edge, Chrome 8+, Firefox 6+, Opera 15+, Vivaldi, Safari 8+
Mobile devices	Chrome for Android, Firefox for Android, Opera for Android, Safari for iOS, Chrome for iOS, Opera for iOS, Internet Explorer for Windows Phone 8.1+, Edge for Windows Phone 10+

The Webcast player doesn't require a plugin, it runs out of the box using open standards (HTML5).

Troubleshooting FAQ

Why can't I hear the webcast?

This commonly happens because the person speaking hasn't turned on their microphone. If you think that's the case, please let us know via the Feedback form.

Other things to check are:

Make sure your computer can play sound and that you have either speakers or a pair of headphones plugged in
Make sure the volume control on your computer and/or speakers is turned up
The Webcast player has a volume control next to the 'play' button - make sure that isn't muted and then try dragging the volume slider to the right

Note: Some webcasts use audio systems that are inherently quiet, so you may have to compensate by turning up the volume at your end.

Why can't I see the webcast?

There are a number of reasons why you might not be able to see a webcast, including:

You're trying to watch it at work and your company blocks streaming video.
You're trying to watch a webcast which isn't available yet
There's a problem with the webcast itself (if you think that's the case, please let us know by using the Feedback form).

Why is the webcast picture blurred or frozen?

This is usually due to a slow Internet connection. We work hard to make sure our webcasts can be viewed by everyone, but a slow connection may result in some buffering. You can often improve performance by closing down any other programs which may be using your Internet connection, for example Skype, Dropbox, Facebook and YouTube.

Why does my player keep buffering?

Although our webcasts are encoded in a way that allows them to stream smoothly for most people, if you're using an Internet connection that's shared with lots of other people - which is common - performance will drop at busy times. Close any programs that may be using the Internet and/or try again at a less busy time of the day.

How can I view in full-screen?

The size of the video window in the Player has been selected to provide the optimum balance between performance and picture quality. However, the video can be put into full-screen mode, by selecting the enlarge icon at the bottom right of the video window.

Why will the webcasts not play on my work computer?

If you're using a computer at work it's possible that your company does not allow the viewing of external webcasts. Please contact your network administrator if you're experiencing any difficulties.