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To investigate a YouTube stream that ended unexpectedly through Castr, open Stream Session History in the Castr dashboard, select the session’s date range, and click Show Details. Then open Bitrate or Analytics and use Show Metrics Between to inspect the charts around the time the stream stopped. Castr documents these historical health charts—not a raw event-log viewer—and they can point to a connection or encoding problem without proving why YouTube ended the broadcast. Castr says chart data is retained for 10 days (Castr, 2026).
Find the ended session and inspect its charts
- Open Stream Session History. In the Castr dashboard, locate the session that ended. Select the date range covering the broadcast and click Show Details.
- Open the health charts. Choose Bitrate or Analytics for that session.
- Isolate the interruption. Use Show Metrics Between to focus on the period just before and after the stream ended.
- Check the chart trends. Review video bitrate, audio bitrate, and frame rate. A sudden video-bitrate drop can indicate a connection issue; dropped frames can point to encoder or connection strain. These are clues, not a definitive account of YouTube’s decision.
Castr states that health data is retained for 10 days (Castr, 2026). If the session is older, its data may no longer be available in this chart view.
What the health charts can—and cannot—tell you
Use the charts to establish whether the feed’s measured behavior changed near the interruption. A bitrate drop or frame-rate disruption gives you a time to compare against your encoder and network conditions. The documented charts do not identify YouTube’s exact termination reason, and Castr’s published guidance does not establish a direct mapping between a chart pattern and YouTube’s decision to end a broadcast.
Compare the same time window across the layers you can inspect: the feed entering Castr, the encoder and network producing it, Castr’s YouTube destination configuration, and the status or messages in YouTube Live Control Room. Castr’s published material does not document a separate raw event-log interface that names YouTube’s exact reason.
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Check the source, encoder, and network
Review encoder settings
In its March 2026 troubleshooting guidance, Castr recommends H.264 video, AAC audio, constant bitrate (CBR), and a 2-second keyframe interval. It suggests 3,500–6,500 Kbps video for 1080p or 2,500–4,000 Kbps for 720p, plus 128 Kbps stereo audio. Treat these as Castr’s recommendations, not universal guarantees; check that your encoder is actually sending the settings you intended.
Check upload capacity and stability
Castr recommends upload speed of at least 1.5 times the stream bitrate. By its example, a 5,000 Kbps stream calls for at least 7,500 Kbps (7.5 Mbps) upload. A speed test is only a snapshot, so consider whether the connection remained stable during the stream, not just whether it reached the target once.
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Castr recommends wired Ethernet because Wi-Fi can introduce packet loss and latency spikes. If practical, test over Ethernet and compare the chart behavior; changing the connection is a diagnostic step, not a guaranteed fix.
Verify the YouTube destination and run a controlled test
Check the destination configuration
If the destination may be misconfigured or its key no longer works, Castr’s YouTube troubleshooting guidance describes deleting and reconnecting the YouTube destination and generating a fresh stream key. Confirm the stream URL and key in YouTube Live Control Room, and check whether YouTube requires a destination-side action to start the broadcast. The connection guidance dates to 2022, so dashboard labels may have changed.
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Test with a private or unlisted stream
Castr recommends testing with a private or unlisted YouTube stream and monitoring Analytics > Input Health. This lets you check the feed reaching Castr without making the test public. It can help distinguish an unhealthy incoming feed from an issue farther along the destination path, but the cited guidance does not provide a complete diagnostic decision tree. Castr’s test workflow was published in 2022, so current labels may differ.
If the charts still do not explain the interruption
- Note the session date and the narrow time window when the stream ended.
- Compare Castr’s chart or input-health behavior with the status and messages shown in YouTube Live Control Room for that same period.
- Capture relevant screenshots and contact Castr support with the session time and what you observed in each view.
A chart can help locate when a problem appeared; it does not by itself establish whether the encoder, network, Castr configuration, or YouTube caused the end.
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Get an alert when a stream goes down
Castr documents SMS alerts for stream-down events on Premium or higher plans. Its July 2026 alert article states a maximum of 20 alerts per month and one configured phone number per account. Check the plan details in your own account before relying on alert availability.
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