Troubleshooting livestreams remotely via collaboration in Cacoo

We talked with Adarsh Mohan, Operations Director and co-founder of VStream Media. Adarsh manages the team responsible for the technical planning and production of livestreams for clients. In our conversation, he shared how Cacoo helped his team collaborate on diagrams and troubleshoot issues while working from different locations.

Why did you decide that your company needed a tool like Cacoo?

Our work requires us to deal with multiple [types of] equipment and different devices, like video cameras, laptops, monitor screens, network switches, routers, audio interfaces/consoles, etc. All of which are connected with different cables: HDMI, SDI, NDI, XLR, DVI, etc.

Hence, it is absolutely necessary for our streaming operators and specialists to plan and fully understand our equipment network and signal flow before the show begins. Because with live shows, there is no room for errors and uncertainty. This is where Cacoo plays a vital role.

We needed a solution where we can show our clients our envisioned plan for them, and we can easily share our equipment network diagrams with our team, make changes or comments, and work together in real-time.

VStream team 1 on location. From left: Streaming Specialist Islam bin Mohamad Falmi, Operations Director Adarsh Mohan, and Streaming Specialist Senthil Ramiah Pillai.

Some of our clients do not understand technical drawings, and they need simpler visuals. That’s where Cacoo helped. We can insert graphics/images in the diagrams and really show [it to] them. And when explaining [it] to them, it’s much easier for them to understand because they can easily view the diagram online. If a little change is needed, it can also be done directly; they don’t have to wait for us.

What do you enjoy most about using Cacoo?

I'm a very technical person, and troubleshooting is the core thing when it comes to technical setups. And, for some reason, the process of using Cacoo makes it so easy for us to do troubleshooting. My livestream operator and I can just draw things out and discuss them in real-time via video call. Sometimes, we may not even need to use video calls because there's a chatbox for sending messages.

It works and helps a lot, especially during the Covid lockdown period where there are restrictions on the number of people allowed on the ground. For example, the client may have different requirements that crop up, or there are troubleshooting issues, our operator on the ground will send over the new requirements, and then without being physically there, we can troubleshoot it together.

How did Cacoo help the team with their work?

Cacoo allows us to draw our show diagrams and signal flow with ease. And the diagrams are easily accessible to the whole team. There are many useful features like icons that help speed up the drawing process, and the storing of different diagrams is easy and neatly organized with folders.

With the large drawing canvas, there is also more than sufficient space for drawing big shows that involve multiple routing and devices in our work.

Can you share some of your Cacoo diagrams?

This is a hybrid livestream diagram for a conference:

Diagrams help us to better visualize our show, as we are working with a number of companies, vendors, and the client’s in-house tech team. We can clearly communicate the audio routing with the in-house audio engineer, and show in detail the network routing for the vendors’ and clients’ laptops.

Diagram of an awards livestream show with multiple routing from remote callers all over the world:

This was a large-scale livestream event that involved streaming to multiple breakout locations, and we had to carefully plan the routing from one location to another.

Livestream diagram with cameras in two rooms:

By using Cacoo to visualize the routing process and workflow, it allows new team members to understand the signal flow clearly. This helps our team to clear any doubts before the execution of the live show and eliminate technical errors on show day.

Cacoo has helped a lot in our operations. We can work in real-time and troubleshoot issues remotely via video calls and online diagrams. Being able to draw out diagrams easily has also helped us to be more efficient in our work.

All in all, it has been very useful to our team, and we have integrated it into our workflow for future productions. We hope that Cacoo will continue to expand and create more cool and interesting features.

VStream team 2 at work. From left: R & D Associate Prabowo, Streaming Specialist Dillion Low, and Operations Manager Abigail Tan.