™When the picture, the stream, or the comments misbehave.
These are the failures people hit in the first week, including the ones OBS and StreamYard write whole articles about: a camera another app already took, a preview that was never taken, and a chat that never starts just because you went live.
I clicked the camera. Viewers still see nothing.
The camera is on Preview. Preview is the next shot. Press TAKE. Program is the only picture that goes to viewers, to RECORD, and to GO LIVE. If you never take, Program can stay empty while Preview looks perfect.
The monitor says SOURCE OFFLINE.
That box is still pointed at a camera or a guest that is not sending a frame. Right-click the tile or the Preview monitor and choose Take off Preview, then TAKE so Program updates. If it is your own webcam, close Zoom, Teams, OBS, or any browser tab that already grabbed the camera, then click the camera tile again.
My colored background never shows, even when I shrink the box.
The color paints behind the boxes. A box that still believes a camera belongs there draws a solid plate over the color, so shrinking the color layer does not help. Take that box off Preview. The color should fill Preview. Program stays as it was until you TAKE.
I want the camera off the shot, not deleted.
Right-click → Take off Preview, then TAKE. The tile stays in the strip. Remove or Drop is the command that gets rid of the source or hangs up the guest.
GO LIVE will not start, or the site shows a black player.
Demo Mode cannot go live. On a paid account, check three things. Program actually has a picture (TAKE). The server URL and stream key were copied from a live event you just created. The key was not reset on that site after you pasted it. Facebook gives a different key for a profile, a Page, and a group. The card label has to match the key. A bad key fails quietly on their side and looks like a black player.
The title I typed is not the title on YouTube or Facebook.
That box is the show title guests see on the welcome card. A stream key does not include a title, and ProdHQ does not log into YouTube or Facebook to set one. Type the title in YouTube Studio or Facebook Live Producer when you create the stream. Use the same words in both places if you want them to match.
I still only see “Facebook Live”. Where are Profile, Page and Group?
Select the Facebook card. Profile, Page and Group show on the card you selected. The Add button hides once all 8 slots are full, which is why it looked unchanged. Pick the one that matches the Live Producer key you pasted. Old cards named “Facebook Live” are treated as a Page.
I went live and no comments came in.
GO LIVE only sends video. It does not know your chat. Room questions appear when a room is open. Twitch needs the channel name, typed once, and the channel turned on in Audience. YouTube needs the @handle plus one YouTube Data API key, then the channel turned on. Facebook comments are not shown inside ProdHQ. Do not paste a stream key into the channel-name field. Comment steps.
The guest has no picture or no sound.
They have to allow the camera and the microphone in the browser, and you have to admit them from the lobby. A denied permission looks like a dead tile. Ask them to reload the guest link and press Allow for both. Their welcome card should show the show title. If the status says they left, they closed the tab.
Export or GO LIVE is locked.
Demo Mode is three 30-minute sessions so you can edit, mix and build the show. Export, GO LIVE and cloud publishing turn on with a subscription.
The webcam says it is busy, or the picture is frozen.
One app owns the camera. Close the other one. A second ProdHQ window, a browser preview, and OBS are the usual holders. Then select the camera again in the switcher.
Audio is on the wrong side, or the pan knob looks stuck.
Double-click the pan knob to center it. Right-click the knob to type a value: C, L 20, or R 40. Hovering says Pan. Dragging shows how far left or right you are.
The WideOrbit file will not import at the station.
Export WideOrbit WAV, not a plain WAV and not an MP3. That write is 44.1 kHz, 16-bit, stereo, and it carries the cart data plus the intro and end markers you set with I and E. A file exported from Demo Mode does not exist. Subscribe first.
Where are the longer steps?
The cheat sheet is one page. Go live, guests, comments and a promo are the step-by-steps. The Help Center inside the product searches every control. A person answers at Support.