Help - East Sussex County Council Webcasts

Help & FAQ 

Player Overview

Technical specifications

Troubleshooting 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. 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 will only display the webcast starting time.

Archived webcasts will list the Agenda if one was used 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 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. Turning this feature on allows the panel to 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. You can also find specific webcasts by using the Search box. This lets you search by title, description, agenda points or date.

Most webcasts are tagged with a key word or phrase - for example, 'Scrutiny' or 'Council Meeting'. You can find all the webcasts that relate to a particular topic by clicking the relevant tag. Tags also provide visual clues. The larger the word is in the Tag cloud, the more webcasts you'll find 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 only display the information sent out during the webcast. This means it's not possible, for example, to skip backwards to an earlier part of a meeting.

You can navigate to any point of an archived webcast using index points. You can also drag 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 different parts of a webcast by dragging the horizontal scroll bar below the video to the left or right. If the webcast includes Agenda Points and/or Speaker Names, you can click on these to jump to a specific point in the meeting or to when a particular person speaks.

Feedback Form

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

Sharing

You can share entire pages via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. You can also paste a link into an email message. To share, click the green Share button, then select the service you want to use or copy the link in the Share link box.

Agendas and individual Agenda Points 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. You can turn this off or manually alter the start point in the dialogue box.

How do I download a webcast?

You can download some meetings for viewing offline.

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

Webcast agenda items tagged with a map location

Agenda items associated with a geographical location will display a map pin and a link. Click on the link to open the Map tab and display the location. This will also display the Agenda point and a link to play the webcast from that point.

Getting notified of new webcasts

There are two ways to stay up to date with webcasts that interest you:

- click the Subscribe button, select the relevant topics and then click the Subscribe button

- use the RSS button and follow the instructions to paste the link into your preferred RSS newsreader

Tag Cloud

The tag cloud shows the tags (or keywords) assigned to any webcast. The most popular ones appear in the largest font.

Clicking on a tag will filter the list of webcasts. 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 often 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:

1.     Make sure your computer can play sound and that you have either speakers or a pair of headphones plugged in

2.     Make sure the volume control on your computer and/or speakers is turned up

3.     The Webcast player has a volume control next to the 'play' button. Make sure this isn't muted and then try dragging the volume slider to the right

Note: Some webcasts use audio systems that are quiet, so you may have to turn the volume up on your device.

Why can't I see the webcast?

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

1.     You're trying to watch it at work and your company blocks streaming video.

2.     You're trying to watch a webcast which isn't available yet.

3.     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 that everyone can view our webcasts. However, a slow connection may result in some buffering. You can often improve performance by closing any other programs using your Internet connection. For example, Skype, Dropbox, Facebook and YouTube.

Why does my player keep buffering?

If you're using an Internet connection that's shared with lots of other people, 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 should provide the best balance between performance and picture quality. However, you can put the video into full-screen mode. To do this, select 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, your company may not allow the viewing of external webcasts. Please contact your network administrator if you're experiencing any difficulties.


This page is edited by East Sussex County Council.