Broadcasting constantly freezing / buffering

[PaPa Carlos]

For the past few days me and my friends (in several different countries) can't watch each others broadcasts for longer than 1:17min, doesnt matter who watches who, when the timer hits 1:17 exactly, stream starts buffering and reloads itself in about 20-30seconds me or my friends are able to see the gameplay again for .... exactly 1:17min, and the cycle repeats.

anyone encountered this?

[mehee8]

Me too.
In addition, if I click the cog icon(usually shows vodeo resolution options) while it's buffering the following error message is shown;

Error: "Cannot read property 'GetVideoRepresentations' of null"   (x) Dismiss
TypeError: Cannot read property 'GetVideoRepresentations' of null
    at e.GetVideoRepresentations (https://steamcommunity-a.akamaihd.net/public/javascript/webui/friends.js?v=zfYLIafaFszW&l=japanese:14:513707)
    at e.render (https://steamcommunity-a.akamaihd.net/public/javascript/webui/friends.js?v=zfYLIafaFszW&l=japanese:14:1114264)
    at Zo (https://steamcommunity-a.akamaihd.net/public/javascript/webui/libraries.js?v=e06mIQW0GIVr&l=japanese:108:57603)
    at Xo (https://steamcommunity-a.akamaihd.net/public/javascript/webui/libraries.js?v=e06mIQW0GIVr&l=japanese:108:57445)
    at ti (https://steamcommunity-a.akamaihd.net/public/javascript/webui/libraries.js?v=e06mIQW0GIVr&l=japanese:108:60042)
    at Pi (https://steamcommunity-a.akamaihd.net/public/javascript/webui/libraries.js?v=e06mIQW0GIVr&l=japanese:108:74036)
    at Ri (https://steamcommunity-a.akamaihd.net/public/javascript/webui/libraries.js?v=e06mIQW0GIVr&l=japanese:108:74382)
    at fa (https://steamcommunity-a.akamaihd.net/public/javascript/webui/libraries.js?v=e06mIQW0GIVr&l=japanese:108:79032)
    at ca (https://steamcommunity-a.akamaihd.net/public/javascript/webui/libraries.js?v=e06mIQW0GIVr&l=japanese:108:78694)
    at ga (https://steamcommunity-a.akamaihd.net/public/javascript/webui/libraries.js?v=e06mIQW0GIVr&l=japanese:108:84909)
The error occurred while rendering:
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[Kragore]

Same issue for me as well. About 1:17 and after 10 cycles of this my broadcast shutoff.

[Kinny]

Unfortunately it doesn't work in client.

You'll see intermittent freezing and a green screen every so often.

Current workaround is using the browser option:
https://steamcommunity.com/broadcast/watch/[STEAM ID]

You'll have to login through the browser version, and where it says [STEAM ID] obviously remove the square brackets and paste the Steam ID.

This won't solve any audio issues, but it should give you (hopefully) seamless video playback!

[VeeKay]

Hej!
We have the same problem. ftm we fixed it with "inviting to watch the game". Its the good old delay-problem then, but at least it runs without buffering.

GL

[BUSTER]

For me the only chance to watch broadcast without freezing/buffering is through Chrome. In Steam it's buffering all the time, no matter what bitrate or resolution are set.

[Mr Funny Shoes]

Same here: 1 min 17 secs every time. Buffers, stream starts again, I get another 1 min 17 secs then buffers etc.

I don't understand how Valve can break one of Steam's strongest social features. This used to work flawlessly about 6 months ago. Ever since introduction of new chat system it's trash. Not just chat, steam itself. Store/chat randomly goes black.

I have dual monitors, dragging store/chat windows between monitors of different resolutions it just can't cope. Again this used to work flawlessly.

Stop 'fixing' things that don't need fixing. Also properly test your software.

[Celtic-Soul]

Hey. Just a little message to say "same here" and to follow this thread.
Steam broadcasting is awesome btw nice job valve but how can we improve connection stability ?

[Embrykins]

Just confirming here that my friends and I are also unable to watch broadcasts through Steam App without the 1 min 17 sec buffer halt/reload. We are, however, able to watch through Steam in browser. Chrome is working fine for me.

[Caralantha]

For me, the constant cyclic bufferi/play/buffer is every 5-10 seconds, and it starts sooner than the 1m17s. I would also like to add that any time I open a game, it pauses the stream, which is annoying since I want both happening at once, particularly because that means it' buffering again!

[PaPa Carlos]

There are 2 problems, and both of them have workarounds, broadcasting is possible through steam by doing this:
1.Go to game library
2. Select any game that you both, you and the friend you want to spectate, own
3.Where it says "players who also play the game" select your friend, right-click and select watch game
4. This will launch the old streaming service version :) Thats where the second problem comes in (altho it's very minor)
5. When the stream launches and you see the view, it will be frozen still, at this point you need to "rewind" with the slider a few seconds back and press live again, these steps will make it unfreeze

[Mr Funny Shoes]

Thanks for the workarounds :) I guess my ultimate point is that this used to work flawlessly...and doesn't work any more....and Valve don't seem interested in fixing it. As I've already said, this WAS one of Steam's strongest social features and quite possibly drove quite a few sales as a result. It's just mind-boggling why Valve, (and Microsoft, Apple, Google etc) just keep hiring utterly inept UX designers, let them break perfectly functional systems and then can't be bothered to fix them.

[Roach]

Tried some of the fixes listed here and the issue persists.

Steam Broadcast is currently in an unusable state.

I used to love being able to watch anyone play a game without them having to set up any streaming programs at all! Steam is just pushing people over to twitch, it's a bummer to see the mistakes they're making in a rush to (unsuccessfully) surpass discord as social media. Steam, that's not what we want, stop over-reaching, please.

[N3tRunn3r]

Yet for days again watching Broadcasts has been impossible to enjoy. This stutter every few seconds, since pre-loading/buffering hasn't applied as intended. I cannot even remember anymore when this crappy Steam Broadcasting Service has functioned correctly.

Fix your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Broadcasting Servce or declare it as a Beta state and put this into your Steam Beta Participation. So I can be rid off this non-functional service. This has been all an angry mess yet.

Instead to enjoy and to keep calm, your crappy Broadcasting Service makes me super aggressive. Thanks a lot in advance. And in meantime I stream FullHD Television without any issues.

BTW, I also wonder why only a handful Broadcasters are listed with something like 5 viewers only, while such DOTA2 crap is pushed and on top with 2k+ viewers. Do there really only a handful Broadcasters exist worldwide or let even alone in Europe?

It is like a buffed DOTA2 Broadcast, a handful Broadcasters with about 5 viewers only and 98% else just Broadcasters with 0 viewers. This issues hasn't been fixed during that whole time yet, too.

[fenixblue]

New in-chat broadcaster viewer is absolute garbage and I would never want to use it over the old broadcasting which worked fairly flawlessly. Half the time the new one will buffer or drop the connection completely, the other half the time it will put the broadcast in a loop of the past minute until the window is closed and reopened. Only works about 1% of the time as it's supposed to.

[76561198958600324]

add me