Quicktime Broadcaster Stuck at “Prerolling”
Problem: Quicktime Broadcaster gets stuck on “Prerolling” and never starts Broadcasting.
Solution:
Add “:554″ to the end of the “Host Name” field.
Notes:
This was a puzzler. I tested on multiple machines under multiple conditions and got mixed results before I found the fix.
- MacBook behind firewall - failed
- MacBook direct to router - failed
- Mac Mini G4 1.4Ghz behind firewall & DMZ’d - failed
- Mac Pro behind firewall - successful
- eMac behind firewall - successful, but too slow
- PowerBook G4 1.4 Ghz behind firewall - successful
I took the PowerBook G4 to the broadcast site (behind uncontrolled firewall) and started the broadcast successfully. I stopped the broadcast to change audio settings, and then got the “Prerolling” issue again. Tried all combinations of settings and still no luck.
Finally called Akamai (our CDN provider), and they suggested adding “:554″ to the end of our entry point IP address, so the host name looks like:
72.246.3.2:554
Worked fine. Went back and tried it on two MacBooks behind firewalls, also worked. Strange, since the default port is 554 if you check “Broadcast over TCP” (which I had), but I guess this forces past a QuickTime bug related to firewalls.