In the Fun Time Live Show from IBC, they mentioned a "stream delay" feature for the upcoming vMix 26 Alpha. I'd like to request an expansion of this feature into a broadcast delay (AKA deferred live) with a "dump button" that can skip ahead a few seconds in the delayed stream.

This is similar to how TV networks use a brief delay on their live feeds, which enables them to instantly cut out anything slanderous or illegal before it reaches the airwaves.

I've read of a few workarounds to achieve a similar effect but they usually involve complicated setups with multiple PCs connected together. If vMix 26 can manage a stream delay, it shouldn't be too complex to add a quick "jump ahead 3 seconds in the delay" command and a shortcut trigger for surfaces like the Streamdeck.

So here's the thing.

A traditional dump button works by dropping the cache while maintaining the delay. It literally dumps it (hence the name).

Since it dumps the cache while maintaining the delay (otherwise you can only use it once), on the most common, budget systems it results in dead air.

Some will give you a placeholder, but those are a lot more complicated.

Dead air on an analog broadcast (which is generally where you find these systems in the US, because the FCC regulations that necessitate them don't apply to non-OTA distributors) is possible because the transmitter is transmitting whether it's getting a signal or not. The signal can stop and restart with absolutely no ill effects.

That's not possible while streaming. If the server stops receiving a signal, things break. Something has to be sent to maintain the stream, which pushes this out of "standard dump button" territory and into "really fancy and really complicated" territory.

Only dropping some of the cache, like you seem to be suggesting, still strikes me as requiring a massive programming effort on top of implementing the standard, fixed delay, and, honestly, I'm not sure it's really worth the effort.

I see a lot of people talking about wanting a dump button, but almost none of them ever seem to have had to use a dump button.

Speaking as someone who (unfortunately) has had to use a dump button or risk FCC fines, it's a lot harder than a lot of people think it is.

You don't want the drop to be excruciating for the viewer, especially if the cause is a fleeting word or gesture. Let's say it jumps ahead 10 seconds--and even that's cutting it, because 10 seconds is a lot of time for context to where you're at now.

But it's manageable, so we'll go with 10 seconds.

Since it skips ahead 10 seconds, that means that you'd have 10 seconds from the word or gesture or whatever you want to cut to hit the button before you lose that chance.

For as long as 10 seconds is to lose, it's an extremely short amount of time to process whatever was said or done, stop what you're doing, and hit the button.

Unless you have someone with the sole responsibility of focusing on that content and hitting that button if things go south, you're probably not going to find the feature as useful as you think you will.

I genuinely believe that very few people who request this feature will actually end up using it once they find out how difficult it actually is in practice.