Guide

Getting started with hoopcast.tv

Streaming a live basketball game with hoopcast takes three steps: set up your matchup, check your destination, slide to go live. This guide walks the two screens you will use, the Home console and the Studio, and the remote desk your bench can run.

The Home console

  1. READY strip: the line under the header tells you at a glance whether you are ready to stream: destination, resolution and frame rate. Green means go.
  2. The matchup card: your two teams, side by side. Tap a crest to upload a club logo (until you do, hoopcast shows a default crest, on the home screen and on air). Tap COLOR to set each team's colour; it is used on the scoreboard's side panels and foul indicators. Type the team names directly on the card.
  3. International mode: streaming national teams? In Settings → Competition settings, switch from Club to International. The matchup card now shows country flags: tap a flag to open the country browser (250+ countries, searchable by name or code). Team names become official three-letter codes, and team colours are picked automatically from each flag. You can still override them.
  4. Scoreboard card: toggle the live scoreboard overlay on or off, and set the quarter length in Settings, from 1 to 60 minutes.
  5. Broadcast card: tap Destination to enter your RTMP(S) URL, and Stream key for your key from YouTube or any streaming service.
  6. TEST: checks that your destination is reachable. Honest note: RTMP servers only verify the stream key when you actually go live, so no app can test a key in advance. TEST proves the address; going live proves the key.
  7. Channel & video card: your channel logo (shown as a small badge on your broadcast; hoopcast's own badge is used until you upload one, and you can switch it off entirely) plus video quality, frame rate and bitrate.
Which frame rate? Match the gym's lights, not the camera. Mains electricity runs at 50 Hz in Europe and most of the world and at 60 Hz in the United States, Canada and a few other countries, and gym lighting flickers at that rate. A frame rate that does not divide into it produces a visible pulsing on the stream. So choose 50 fps (or 25) in 50 Hz countries and 60 fps (or 30) in 60 Hz countries. For slow-motion replays, prefer the higher of the two.
  1. Slide to go live: when everything is set, slide the dock. The Studio opens.

The Studio

  1. Go-live button: the red button on the right edge starts and stops your broadcast.
  2. Status messages: when you go live, hoopcast narrates the connection in the centre of the screen: Connecting → Host reachable, starting stream → Live, sending video (which fades out once you are rolling). If anything needs your attention, a wrong stream key or a struggling connection, the message comes back and stays until it is resolved.
  3. FPS & KBPS indicators: top corner, live performance numbers. Green: healthy. Orange: the stream is adapting, usually a network dip; viewers may notice a softer image, not buffering. Red: sustained problem, check your connection. During timeouts and calm scenes the number naturally drops; the colour, not the number, is the health verdict.
  4. Score controls: bottom corners, one cluster per team. Tap + and choose +1, +2 or +3; the points land on the scoreboard with an on-air animation. − corrects mistakes one point at a time.
  5. Team fouls: F+ and F− count team fouls; the scoreboard shows foul indicators that turn red when a team reaches the bonus (5 fouls for FIBA and NBA, 7 for US college and FIBA 3x3, chosen in Settings). Fouls reset automatically each quarter.
  6. Clock & quarter: tap the timer to set time and quarter; the stopwatch button starts and pauses the clock. You control the clock, the app never assumes.
  7. Camera & sound: switch front and back camera, mute the microphone, and watch the VU meter to confirm audio is flowing.
  8. Zoom: pinch the preview, or use the slider.
  9. Leaving: the ✕ asks for confirmation if you are still live. Come back within three hours and hoopcast offers to resume the game where it stood.

The remote desk

  1. Open it: in the Studio, tap the Remote chip on the left edge. A sheet shows a QR code, the address and a 4-digit PIN.
  2. Join from the bench: scan the QR code with any phone, tablet or laptop on the same Wi-Fi, or on the iPhone's Personal Hotspot. No app to install; the desk is a web page served by the iPhone. The connection between the two never needs the internet.
  3. Run the game: +1, +2, +3, −1, fouls, period, and the clock. Every action shows an Undo for five seconds. The header shows whether the stream is live and how the phone's battery is doing.
  4. Fire a replay: turn on Instant replay in Settings → Production first. On the desk, the REPLAY button puts the last 8 seconds on air at half speed and cuts back on its own; tap it again to cut back early. The three frames under it show where the replay will start.
The recorder for replays runs only while a desk is connected, and it uses more battery. Pick a 50 or 60 fps preset for smooth slow motion.

If something goes wrong

  • "Can't reach host": check the RTMP URL (typos, or venue Wi-Fi blocking streaming ports).
  • "Stream rejected, check your stream key": the key is wrong or expired; copy a fresh one from your streaming service.
  • "Host reachable, but the stream isn't starting": usually the stream key. Some services, YouTube among them, accept any key silently; if in doubt, verify in your service's dashboard that it is receiving data.
  • "Connection lost, reconnecting": the app retries automatically up to 5 times. If the venue network is hopeless, switch to cellular and go again.
  • Camera or microphone blocked: hoopcast will point you to Settings; broadcasting needs both.
  • The desk says "Wrong PIN": the PIN changes each time the Studio opens. Read the current one from the pairing sheet.