Watching
You do not need an account to watch. Signing in adds following, and chatting where the streamer asks for it.
The dashboard
The front page lists who is live now, with a preview image of each stream. If you follow channels, a Following list shows them, live or offline. Streams from other instances this one is connected to appear here too, marked "on" the instance they come from (see below).
The player
Open a stream to watch it. The player starts on the lowest-latency path your browser and network allow -- usually under a second behind the streamer -- and falls back on its own when that path is blocked.
The stream menu offers:
- Auto -- the player picks the quality your connection can carry.
- A fixed quality -- each size the instance makes (for example 720p or 1080p). Nothing is ever larger than what the streamer sends.
- Audio only -- sound without video, for listening with the screen off or on a poor connection.
The count under the player is how many people are watching right now.
Seeking through a live stream
While a stream is live you can go back to any moment of it, from its very start: move the pointer over the player and drag the bar along its bottom. The time shows where you are and how long the stream has been going. Live -- red when you are watching live -- takes you back to the present, and so does dragging to the end of the bar.
Going back plays a version of the stream made for seeking, a little behind the live one; the live picture comes back when you return. When the stream ends it becomes a past broadcast if the streamer keeps theirs, and otherwise it is gone. An instance's admin can turn seeking off.
Past broadcasts
Some streams are kept after they end, when the instance offers it and the streamer chose to keep theirs. The newest five are listed under Past broadcasts on the streamer's page, live or not, and All past broadcasts below them opens the whole list, newest first, with Show more at the bottom. Each one plays like any video, from the start, and you can jump anywhere in it. A streamer may also share one by its link without listing it; those are on neither list.
Casting to a TV
Cast sends the stream to a Chromecast or Google TV on your network. The TV plays a version made for it, a few seconds behind the browser -- that is how casting works, not a problem with your connection. Stop casting returns to watching in the browser.
Following
Follow on a channel page puts it in your Following list, and -- if you allow notifications when your browser asks -- tells you when it goes live.
- If notifications are blocked, allow them for this site in your browser's settings.
- On an iPhone, add the site to your home screen first; Safari only delivers notifications to installed web apps.
You can also follow a channel from Mastodon or any fediverse account: search for the streamer's handle (shown on their page) from your fediverse app, and their "went live" posts arrive in your timeline.
Streams from other instances
An instance can be connected to others, and when both sides' admins allow
it, streams from over there appear on this dashboard, with how many are
watching. Watching one is the same as watching a local stream; the video
comes from the other instance. The page shows the streamer as
@name@their.instance, linking to their profile there, and a Watch on
their.instance link to the stream's own page.
The chat beside it is the streamer's own, on their instance, shown
here. Signed in here, you write in it as @you@this.instance where the two
instances exchange chat, and the streamer sees you among their viewers.
Otherwise you can read it, and the chat says why you cannot write.
To chat on an instance this one is not connected to, you can sign in there with the account you already have -- if its admin allows it.