I know what you’re thinking… “Mark, didn’t you say guest chat was terrible and never coming back?”

Yes I did, person reading this blog post. Since removing guest chat almost four years ago, a lot of you have expressed your dislike of its removal. Through many live streams and open discussions, we came to a middle ground: Guest chat can come back, but with more limitations and only available to those on the mobile app.

Fast forward to today and you’ll see some of those decisions have been modified. Because the new chat server software and chat clients are nowhere near completion, I decided to bring back the Classic Guest Chat until the new system has been completed. That means guest chat can be enabled by broadcasters in their channels and anybody can chat, no mobile app needed. Ironically the Classic Guest Chat isn’t available in the current Android app. So if you want to chat as a guest, you’ll need to do it from a browser.

But not so fast, it’s called Classic Guest Chat but some things have been changed. There are no longer infinite guest names. They are now tied to your IP address. VPNs are of course not allowed (we didn’t have a VPN filtering system in place during the original guest chat days.) And if you’re a broadcaster, you are still responsible for moderating those that chat as guests. If at any time we feel a broadcaster is not correctly moderating their guest chat, we will revoke their guest chat from their channel. Though, admittedly I don’t see that happening unless in extreme scenarios.

So there you have it, Classic Guest Chat is back on Vaughn Live (sorry Breakers.TV, no guest chat for you.) It’s off by default in all channels. Have fun and say something nice!

-Mark

Added a new stream tool: Chat Overlay

Add your live chat to your stream. This can be done using a browser source within OBS Studio, XSplit, or any other encoding software that supports displaying web pages.

This can be found under Channel Settings -> Chat Overlay
https://vaughn.live/settings/chat_overlay

-Mark

If you are using the Vaughn Live Android app, make sure to update to the latest version. There is a critical chat bug fix in the recent update.

And, if you’re using the Breakers.TV Android app and wondering where the updates are, it will be brought up to date once we’ve reached version 1.2 on the main branch. At that point both Vaughn Live and Breakers.TV Android apps will match in bug fixes and features.

Before anybody asks, yes there will be an iOS app. No, I don’t know when it will be ready lol.

-Mark

After several years of chasing the cause of the random buffering that would sometimes happen after watching a stream for a few minutes, we have finally resolved it! There is nothing more frustrating than watching a live stream and it buffering right when something happens. As of yesterday, this issue is no more. With the exception of rare ingest issues, scheduled automated restarts (at 5am central,) and of course broadcaster issues. If a stream is buffering, there’s a good chance it’s the person broadcasting causing it. Whether it be their encoder settings, their computer hardware, or them having internet issues.

This is a big step for us and a huge relief. Now we can better focus our attention other issues and features.

-Mark

Starting December 1st: warning messages will appear on streams that have bad/incorrect encoder settings. Notifications will be going out to broadcasters via the website outlining what encoder software is supported as well as what encoder settings are considered correct.

If you are using old and outdated encoder software to broadcast, you will be affected by this. To ensure best possible results, use the latest version of OBS Studio. If you do not use the recommended encoder software and settings, then that is done so at your own risk.

If you use the Go LIVE Now broadcaster in the Android app or on the desktop browser, you will not be affected by these changes.

Watch it LIVE on Sunday December 19th, 6pm CST / 7pm EST / 4pm PST / 12am GMT

URL: https://vaughn.live/vaughnmas

Where do you send your submission?

Due to abuse of the Dropbox upload link, please send us an email to contact@vaughnsoft.com with subject “Vaughnmas 2021 Upload” and we will reply with a link for you to upload your video and/or greeting card. Thank you for your understanding!

September 17th, 2021 at 8pm central (6pm pacific, 9pm eastern) there will be a live stream discussing the current state of Vaughn Live, Breakers.TV, and other projects. We’ll be talking about where we’re at, where we’ve been, and where we want to take things.

Be there!

Live stream will happen at https://vaughn.live/community

– Mark

On July 31st, 2021, we will be disabling the chat embed on both Vaughn Live and Breakers.TV. There are several reasons for this but the two main reasons are due to functionality and our focus shift toward apps. In recent years browser security has increased quite a bit which has left our chat embed somewhat broken. Specifically the sign in function is broken, you cannot sign in using the chat embed even if you use the correct username/password. This is due to a security change in browsers. As this would require significant development time to address, we decided it’s not something we wish to put resources toward seeing as we’re shifting focus toward mobile and desktop apps for our two live streaming platforms.

If you have any questions, send them to contact@vaughnsoft.com

-Mark

After several years of delays, jokes, and ridicule… the Android apps are finally here for Vaughn Live and for Breakers.TV

Download them now from the Google Play store, or from the following links:

Vaughn Live: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vaughnsoft.vaughnlive

Breakers.TV https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vaughnsoft.breakers

There are still many features yet to be added, the apps are Early Access Beta’s. Don’t forget to join the #android channel on my personal Discord server: https://discord.gg/S2kVPzj

Also, you can broadcast directly from the apps: Right menu -> Go LIVE Now

– Mark

Beta testing of the upcoming Android app for Vaughn Live is underway. Beta testing for the Breakers.TV Android app will be starting soon, too. If you’d like to beta test the Android app, join my personal Discord server and send me a DM to gain access to the private #android channel.

Join my personal Discord server here: https://vaug.hn/discord

-Mark