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SimLive FAQ

A practical, no-fluff Q&A based on real questions our team answers across support channels, customer threads, and onboarding sessions. If you are new to SimLive — or you just want to double-check something before going live — this is the fastest path to an answer.

This FAQ covers Standard SimLive, Advanced SimLive, and the workflows around them: assets, publishing profiles, pre-roll, social destinations, and the most common reasons broadcasts behave unexpectedly.

 

Setup and Requirements

Q: What is SimLive in one sentence?

SimLive (short for Simulated Live) is a feature that lets you broadcast a pre-recorded video file as if it were a live event — scheduled, streamed to your players and social platforms, and experienced by viewers exactly like a real-time broadcast.

Q: What is the difference between SimLive and Advanced SimLive?

SimLive Standard streams an HLS asset (H.264, up to 4K) directly to the Sardius Player. Advanced SimLive streams an MP4 asset (H.264, HD only) to the Sardius Player AND to social platforms like Facebook Live and YouTube Live simultaneously. See the companion article 'Standard SimLive vs Advanced SimLive' for the full breakdown.

Q: Do I have access to Advanced SimLive?

Not by default. Advanced SimLive is enabled per-account by your Sardius account manager. If you do not see an Advanced option when scheduling a SimLive event, contact your account manager to have it activated on your plan.

Q: What file type or publishing profile should my asset be?

Short answer:

  • For SimLive Standard: HLS rendition (H.264, up to 4K).
  • For Advanced SimLive: MP4 rendition (H.264, HD only).

HLS will sometimes appear to work for Advanced SimLive, but it is not reliable. We have seen audio corruption and dropped frames on YouTube and Facebook when an MP4 is not present. Make MP4 your default for any SimLive that touches social media.

Q: How do I change my account default to publish MP4?

Inside the Control Panel, open your Default Publishing Profile and switch it to include MP4 (the MP4 or MP4 Enhanced option, depending on your plan). From that point on, new assets will be published as MP4 automatically — no need to remember to do it per upload.

Q: Do I need a feed, or can I just pick a single asset?

You can do either. A single asset is fine for a one-time SimLive event. A feed is what you want for any recurring schedule (weekly service, daily devotional, replay series). A feed groups assets by metadata category and automates the rotation so each scheduled event picks the next asset in line.

Pre-Roll and Event Timing

Q: Why does my SimLive event start a few minutes before the scheduled time on the back-end?

That is pre-roll TIME — a 3 to 5 minute warm-up window when the virtual encoder spins up, validates your asset, and (for Advanced SimLive) establishes the RTMP connections to Facebook, YouTube, and any other social destinations. None of this is visible to viewers. They see content only after the scheduled start time.

Q: Is pre-roll TIME the same as a pre-roll bumper video?

No. Pre-roll TIME is system warm-up; viewers get early access to the live experience in the process. A pre-roll BUMPER is a video clip (countdown, welcome graphic, worship loop) that plays at the start of your broadcast and is visible to your audience whether or not pre-roll time is used. See the 'Understanding Pre-Roll' article for the full distinction — confusing these two is one of the most common sources of trouble.

Q: Can I shorten or skip pre-roll time?

No. It is a system requirement, not a setting you can override. The encoder needs that window to come up cleanly.

Q: How long should my pre-roll bumper be?

Creative call. Most broadcasts land between 90 seconds and 10 minutes. Long enough that late-arriving viewers can settle in, short enough that on-time viewers do not lose interest.

Q: What happens if I delete a SimLive event right before pre-roll starts?

Our system likely already spun up the virtual encoder and might not be able to delete it. Report it Sardius Support with the event ID and timestamp.

Social Destinations (Facebook, YouTube, etc.)

Q: How do I connect Facebook Live or YouTube Live to my SimLive event?

Inside the Control Panel, set up Facebook Outputs and YouTube Outputs on the channel you want to broadcast from. You will need to be added to the Facebook Page or YouTube channel as a manager so Sardius can connect on your behalf. Once outputs are configured, Advanced SimLive events on that channel will push to those destinations automatically.

Q: Why is my YouTube/Facebook stream showing corrupted audio or video?

Nine times out of ten, the asset was not finished publishing as MP4 before the event started. The fix:

  • Set your default publishing profile to include MP4.
  • Wait for the MP4 rendition to finish processing before the event starts.
  • Confirm the MP4 rendition exists on the asset's Media tab before going live.
Q: Why did my clipped asset fail to publish to social platforms?

Same root cause as the question above — the clipping tool produces a new asset, and that new asset needs an MP4 rendition before it can be reliably distributed to YouTube and Facebook. Always confirm the clip has an MP4 in its Media tab before scheduling it for social broadcast. And, if you are using a feed to power your SimLive, verify that your asset was approved.

Q: Why did one social destination stream successfully while another failed?

Usually a platform-side problem: a revoked or expired auth token, a deleted/archived page, a YouTube channel that is throttled, or a Facebook page permission change. Open the affected Output inside the Control Panel and re-authorize. The broadcast continues to all destinations that handshake successfully — the failure is isolated to the destination.

Q: Can I use Advanced SimLive to stream to other RTMP destinations besides Facebook and YouTube?

In most cases yes, as long as the destination accepts RTMP push and your account manager has it configured.

Assets, Publishing, and Workflow

Q: I uploaded my asset. Why does the Publishing column show blank?

After a metadata edit, the column can momentarily lag behind. Check the Media tab on the asset itself — if your renditions (HLS, MP4, MP3) are listed there, you are fine. The list view will catch up. If renditions are missing entirely, the asset is still publishing or has a transcode error; contact support if it has been more than an hour.

Q: Can my SimLive asset be longer than my live service usually is?

Yes. SimLive, however, will play as much of the asset as it can inside of the scheduled window. For example, if your asset is 70 minutes long, and your event is only scheduled for an hour, it will only play 1 hour of that asset.

Q: Can I use the same asset for multiple SimLive events?

Absolutely. An asset can be used as the source for as many SimLive events as you schedule. This is especially common for feeds where the same asset cycles through a recurring schedule.

Troubleshooting Snapshots

Q: My SimLive event did not start at all.

Check first: was the event scheduled to the right time zone? Was the asset Approved? Was the MP4 rendition (for Advanced SimLive) finished publishing? Any one of those misses can stop the event from going out.

Q: My SimLive stream started, but viewers complain it began late.

If the delay is a few seconds, that is normal final-sync time after pre-roll. If it is more than 60–90 seconds, escalate. Look at: pre-roll TIME duration, asset readiness at T-0, and any error messages in the Control Panel's event details.

Q: My SimLive event played the bumper but did not transition to the main content.

This usually points to an issue inside the asset itself — corrupted MP4, mid-file encoding error, or a playlist sequencing issue. Try playing the asset locally end-to-end before re-using it in a SimLive event.

Q: My event shows 'Please stand by' or 'Thanks for watching' but I did not configure that.

The Sardius Player shows those default messages between scheduled events. If you are seeing them during a SimLive window, the event may not have actually started — check the Control Panel event details. If it shows the event is running, contact support; that is a state mismatch worth reporting.

Q: Where do I look for SimLive event logs and diagnostics?

Inside the Control Panel, open the event itself — there is a status and history panel that shows scheduled times, pre-roll start, destination handshakes, and any error states. For deeper diagnostics, ask your account manager to pull encoder logs.

Best Practices Checklist

Before any important SimLive event, run through this list:

  • Asset is Approved and has the right rendition (HLS for Standard, MP4 for Advanced).
  • Default publishing profile is set to include MP4 if you use Advanced SimLive.
  • Feed (if used) is configured with the correct category and rotation order.
  • Social Outputs are authenticated and show as connected in the Control Panel.
  • Pre-roll bumper is included at the start of the asset (if you want one).
  • Event is scheduled at least 30 minutes in advance to give the platform full standby time.
  • A test event has been run to a private destination, especially if anything in the workflow changed.

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