Stream speech for live translation from your browser.

Stream from a browser in six steps

Most of the work is before the day: access, a good position and a rehearsal.

1. 1

   Check that a browser is the right tool for the room

   The browser streamer does the desk app’s job from a browser tab: it takes a microphone and starts the event. This is the organiser’s streaming device; the audience opens a separate listening link on their own phones. It suits these rooms:

   • A room with no sound desk, where a laptop, tablet or phone is what you have.
   • A computer that is not running Windows.
   • A machine you cannot install software on.
   • One speaker in a small room, where a phone on the lectern hears them well.

   For a room with a mixing desk and a Windows computer at it, the desk app is the better tool: it remembers the input, shows the full transcript and shows every link and code. The table under the steps compares the two.

   Speaker close to the device

   Phone or tablet the streaming page in a browser

   internet

   SpanVoice

   the words

   Audience phones each in its own language

2. 2

   Make sure the person streaming has access

   The streaming page is for people the venue has given access to: a streamer for that venue, or an owner, administrator or venue administrator. Add a streamer on the venue’s People tab in the admin with the role Stream on this venue. They receive an invitation email and choose their own password.

   To open the page, sign in to the SpanVoice admin, open Venues and press Browser streaming beside the venue; or on the venue’s page, under Go live, press Open the streamer. The page’s address is spanvoice.com/s/ followed by the venue code, and it does not change, so you can bookmark it. The browser remembers the sign-in for 30 days, so on the day you can open the bookmark directly. If it asks you to sign in again, the sign-in has expired or the access has changed.

   Do this on the device you will use, a few days before, not at the lectern as people arrive.

3. 3

   Set up the device

   The device is the sound source for the whole event, so give it a good position:

   • Close to the speaker. A phone on the lectern, or a laptop beside a seated speaker. A device on the operator’s table hears the operator. Test in the real position.
   • Plugged in. It will be streaming for the whole event.
   • On a steady connection. Wi-Fi is fine when it is good. If the device has a wired option, use it. Check the signal inside the room, not at the entrance.
   • An up-to-date browser, opened in the device’s normal browser app, not inside an email or messaging app. How well it works depends on the device and the browser version, and this guide has not been tested on every combination, so rehearse the whole session on the exact device you will use.
   • Left alone. Keep the streaming page visible and the device awake. Do not use the device for anything else while it is on air, and check its screen-timeout and battery-saver settings.

   The page lists every audio input the browser offers. A microphone plugged into the device, such as a headset or a USB microphone on a laptop, is usually better than the device’s own. Use a microphone and adapter that are compatible with the device: some adapters carry headphones but not a microphone, and a phone with one port may need an adapter that carries both audio and charging. Connect the microphone before you start, then confirm that speaking into it moves the meter and produces words. The page turns off the browser’s own noise suppression, echo cancellation and automatic gain, so what the microphone hears is what is sent. The audio level guide covers what to check once it is running.

4. 4

   Open the page and allow the microphone

   Open the streaming page. The first time, the browser asks to use the microphone: allow it for this page. Then choose what to listen for:

   • Microphone: choose the right one if the device has more than one. The list is locked while you are live, so choose before you start.
   • Language spoken in the room: pick the language, or leave Detect automatically. You can change it while live and it switches straight away.

   If the microphone is blocked, there are two permissions to check: the browser’s permission for this page, and the device’s own setting that allows the browser to use the microphone. Allow both, check the microphone is connected and chosen in the list, close any other app that may be using it, and try again.

5. 5

   Start streaming, check, and share the link

   Press Start streaming. The status shows Connecting, then Live, and the caption under the button reads “You are on air — keep this tab open.” While live, the page shows a level meter and a box with the latest words heard in the room.

   Talk, or have the speaker talk, and watch the meter move and the words appear. Press Share the listening link to show a QR code and the audience link on the device’s screen, then open the link on a second phone and read the words there.

   Rehearse the whole thing once with the room empty: start, talk, watch the meter, open the link on another phone, stop.

6. 6

   Keep it running, then stop it

   Keep the streaming page visible and the device awake. The page asks the browser to keep the screen on, but the device’s power settings can override that. It also asks the browser to confirm before the tab is closed while live, but browsers, especially on phones, may not show that, so do not rely on it. Locking the phone or switching to another app can interrupt streaming, so leave it on the page.

   • Pause audio pauses translation for everyone while the connection stays open; listeners see that it is paused. Paused time still counts towards what you are charged, so use Stop streaming for a long break. Press Resume audio to carry on. A moderator can pause and resume too.
   • A single run stops by itself at three hours. Ten minutes before, the page offers Keep going for 60 more minutes. A run with nothing heard and nobody reading stops after 45 minutes of that.
   • If the connection drops, the page tries to reconnect every few seconds. Nothing is sent while it is down, and speech during the outage is not recovered. When the connection returns, check that the status is Live again and that new words appear on an audience phone.

   Press Stop streaming when you finish and confirm Yes, stop streaming. Anyone listening loses the translation straight away.