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Stream Issues

Quick fixes for the most common live streaming problems.

Streaming is local-first

OBS sends your video to the Church Admin desktop app running on the same laptop. Only the finished segments travel to your cloud storage. There's no remote server to whitelist in your firewall — everything between OBS and the Church Admin app stays on your machine.

Stream won't start​

Symptom​

OBS shows "Failed to connect" when you click Start Streaming, or the Church Admin app shows nothing when you tap Go Live.

Check​

  1. Both apps on the same laptop OBS and Church Admin must run on the same device. Streaming from a second laptop pointed at the first machine's IP is not supported.

  2. Server URL is exactly rtmp://localhost:1935/live A typo here is the #1 cause. Copy-paste from the Church Admin app to avoid mistakes.

  3. Stream key is fresh and correct Paste the key you copied when you created it. If you lost it, create a new one in Live Streaming → Stream Keys.

  4. Your church is verified Unverified churches can't stream. Check status in Settings → Church Profile.

  5. Cloud storage (BYOS) is configured Live Streaming → Storage Settings — without it, there's nowhere to upload the recorded segments, so streams won't start.

Stream starts but nothing appears in the member app​

Symptom​

OBS shows "Live" but members see "Stream not available" or a loading spinner.

Cause​

The first portion of video needs to upload to your cloud storage before members can play it. This usually takes 10-15 seconds.

Fix​

Wait 30 seconds, then have the member pull-to-refresh. If it still doesn't appear:

  1. In Church Admin, open Live Streaming
  2. Look at the Upload Health card — Segments should be ticking up and Speed should be non-zero
  3. If those numbers are stuck at zero, your cloud storage credentials may be wrong — reconfigure in Storage Settings
  4. Open your cloud storage dashboard (Cloudflare R2, AWS S3, or Google Cloud Storage). Look for new files appearing under your live-stream folder every few seconds. If the folder is empty, it's a credentials issue

Stream buffers or drops frames​

Symptom​

Viewers see frequent buffering, or OBS shows a rising "Dropped Frames" counter.

Cause​

Almost always your internet upload speed. OBS → the local app doesn't use internet at all, but the local app → your cloud storage does — and it needs 2× your OBS bitrate as headroom to avoid drops.

Fix​

  1. Test upload speed at fast.com — you need at least 2× your OBS bitrate
  2. If upload is below 5 Mbps, drop OBS to 720p at 2500 Kbps
  3. If on Wi-Fi, try ethernet — Wi-Fi is often the bottleneck
  4. Lower the OBS encoder preset — veryfast or ultrafast on x264, Performance on NVENC
  5. Close other apps using bandwidth (cloud sync, video calls, large downloads)

Audio delay / lip sync off​

Symptom​

Pastor's mouth moves before you hear the words (or vice versa).

Fix​

In OBS:

  1. Right-click the audio source in the Audio Mixer
  2. Choose Advanced Audio Properties
  3. Adjust Sync Offset until audio lines up with video
  4. Positive values delay audio; negative values advance audio

For PTZ cameras with HDMI latency, a typical offset is +200ms to +400ms.

Previous sermon recording stuck at 10%​

Symptom​

You clicked Optimize Recording on a past sermon and the progress bar sat at 10% forever.

Fix​

This was resolved in a recent release. If you're still seeing it:

  1. Update your Church Admin desktop app to the latest version
  2. Restart the app
  3. Open the sermon again, three-dot menu → Optimize Recording
  4. It should complete in a few minutes depending on length

"Optimize" button keeps appearing after a successful optimize​

Symptom​

You optimized a sermon successfully, but the Optimize Recording button still shows on that sermon.

Fix​

  1. Close and reopen the Church Admin desktop app
  2. Pull down on the sermon list to refresh
  3. The button should disappear for sermons that are already optimized

This was a stale-cache bug fixed in a recent release — update if it keeps happening.

Duplicate sermons in the list after optimizing​

Symptom​

After optimizing a sermon, the same sermon appears twice in the list.

Fix​

New optimizations no longer create duplicates. If you have duplicates from before the fix:

  1. Identify the older duplicate (typically the one whose thumbnail hasn't updated)
  2. Three-dot menu → Delete
  3. Keep the newer, optimized copy

Can't drag the app window while a sermon is playing​

Fixed in a recent release. The sermon player now has a drag area at the top of the window — click and hold there to move the window. Update your app if you're still on an older version.

Still stuck?​

  • Check the main troubleshooting guide
  • Email support@nlarj.app
  • Include:
    • Your Church ID
    • The sermon title and date (if relevant)
    • A screenshot of the error (redact tokens and passwords)
    • Your OBS log (Help → Log Files → View Current Log in OBS — copy the last 100 lines)