This article explains every card on a channel's Settings tab, with advice on quality, server load, and delay. Each card has its own Save button, which saves only that card's settings.
Channel settings
Name is the channel's display name. It's shown in the panel, on the public page, in the programming guides, and as the default Roku app name. Renaming the channel doesn't change its stream URL.
Schedule Timezone
All start and end times on the Scheduler use this timezone. Daylight saving time is applied automatically. The current time in the selected zone is shown below the dropdown, so you can confirm it's right.
Input Encoding Format
Every scheduled item, including uploads, folders, remote URLs, station IDs, and ads, is converted to exactly this format before it airs. Using one format keeps the cuts between items clean, with no jumps in size, smoothness, or volume.
| Field | Typical values | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Width × Height | 1280×720 or 1920×1080 | Media with a different shape gets black bars rather than being stretched. |
| Frame rate | 30 (25 in PAL regions), or 60 for sport | 15–60 fps. 60 fps roughly doubles the server load. |
| Video kbps | 720p: 2500–3500 1080p: 4500–6000 |
Higher means better quality, but more bandwidth for every viewer and simulcast target. |
| Audio kbps | 128–192 | |
| Audio sample rate | 48000 Hz | Use 44100 Hz only if most of your sources use it. |
| Audio channels | Stereo | Mono halves the audio bandwidth for talk-only channels. |
| Encoding speed | Superfast | See below. |
Encoding speed
This setting balances server load against efficiency:
- Ultrafast: lowest server load, largest files.
- Superfast: recommended.
- Veryfast: balanced.
- Faster and Fast: better quality for the bitrate, but a higher server load.
If viewers see buffering, or CPU in the monitor bar stays near 100%, choose a faster preset or lower the resolution or bitrate.
Broadcast Delivery
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Reduced Latency | Reduces the delay before viewers see the stream. Playback can be slightly less smooth on poor connections. |
| Roku Compatibility Mode | Uses stricter encoding settings that fix occasional skipping or freezing on Roku. When you turn it on, the channel's library is re-optimized once in the background, so the server load is higher until that finishes. |
| nDVR Rewind window | Off, 5, 15, 30, or 60 minutes. Lets viewers pause and rewind the live stream. The panel estimates how much disk space this uses. |
These settings apply to scheduled programming. Live broadcasts use fixed settings.
Live Recording
- Record live streams: saves every live session to the Media Library.
- Automatically add recordings to VOD on save: when this is off (the default), recordings are saved hidden from the public on-demand list until you make them visible. When it's on, they're published as soon as they're saved.
Click Save recording settings to apply. For details, see Going live and recording live streams.
Danger zone
Delete channel permanently removes the channel along with its playlists, schedule, and its media library files. Other channels aren't affected. Take a backup first. See Backing up and restoring your panel.
