> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://start.hitorino.tv/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Configure Your Hitorino Stream Settings and Schedule

> Customize stream quality, latency mode, chat rules, VOD settings, and scheduling. Fine-tune every aspect of your Hitorino broadcast before you go live.

Your stream settings control everything about how your broadcast looks, how your audience interacts with it, and when it happens. Getting these dialed in before you go live means fewer interruptions mid-stream and a more consistent experience for your viewers. You can adjust most settings while live without restarting your broadcast, but it's easier to configure everything in advance.

Access all stream settings at [**Dashboard → Settings → Stream**](https://hitorino.tv/settings/stream).

***

## Stream Quality Settings

Hitorino accepts any ingest resolution and bitrate within the limits below and automatically transcodes your stream into multiple quality levels for adaptive bitrate playback. Viewers see the highest quality their connection supports.

### Ingest Limits

| Setting           | Maximum              |
| ----------------- | -------------------- |
| Resolution        | 4K (3840×2160)       |
| Frame rate        | 60 fps               |
| Video bitrate     | 40,000 Kbps          |
| Audio bitrate     | 320 Kbps             |
| Keyframe interval | 2 seconds (required) |

<Warning>
  Always set your keyframe interval to exactly **2 seconds** in your streaming software. A longer keyframe interval causes choppy playback and delays in the Hitorino player. In OBS: **Settings → Output → Streaming → Keyframe Interval = 2**.
</Warning>

### Recommended Encoding Presets

Choose a target output quality based on the type of content you stream. These are suggested settings for your encoder — not restrictions imposed by Hitorino.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Gaming (1080p60)">
    ```
    Resolution:        1920×1080
    Frame Rate:        60 fps
    Video Bitrate:     6,000 Kbps (CBR)
    Audio Bitrate:     160 Kbps
    Encoder:           x264 (veryfast) or NVENC (Quality)
    Keyframe Interval: 2 seconds
    Profile:           High
    ```

    Fast motion and particle effects in games benefit from the higher frame rate and bitrate headroom. Drop to 720p60 if your CPU or GPU struggles to maintain stable encoding.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Just Chatting / Talking Head">
    ```
    Resolution:        1920×1080
    Frame Rate:        30 fps
    Video Bitrate:     3,000 Kbps (CBR)
    Audio Bitrate:     128 Kbps
    Encoder:           x264 (faster) or NVENC (Performance)
    Keyframe Interval: 2 seconds
    Profile:           High
    ```

    Talking-head and low-motion content is much more efficient to encode. 30 fps at 3,000 Kbps looks clean and leaves CPU headroom for other applications.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Music / Art (High Quality)">
    ```
    Resolution:        1920×1080
    Frame Rate:        30 fps (60 fps for performance streams)
    Video Bitrate:     8,000–12,000 Kbps (CBR)
    Audio Bitrate:     320 Kbps
    Encoder:           x264 (slow) or NVENC (Quality)
    Keyframe Interval: 2 seconds
    Profile:           High
    ```

    Music and digital art streams benefit from the highest available audio bitrate and a slightly slower encoder preset for better detail retention in fine linework and gradients.

    <Tip>
      For music streams, set your audio sample rate to **48 kHz** in OBS (**Settings → Audio → Sample Rate**). Hitorino's audio pipeline is optimized for 48 kHz input.
    </Tip>
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

***

## Latency Mode

Latency mode controls the trade-off between stream delay and stability. Choose based on how interactive your stream is.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Normal Latency" icon="clock">
    **Delay:** 10–20 seconds

    Best for pre-planned content, watch-alongs, or streams where real-time chat interaction isn't critical. More buffering headroom means fewer quality drops and stalls for viewers on unstable connections.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Low Latency" icon="bolt">
    **Delay:** 3–6 seconds

    Best for interactive streams where you read and respond to chat constantly — Q\&As, multiplayer games with viewer participation, live coding, or community events. Requires a stable, high-upload-speed connection to perform reliably.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

Change your latency mode under **Stream Settings → Latency Mode**. The change takes effect the next time you go live.

<Note>
  Low latency mode increases the chance of rebuffering events for viewers on slow connections. If your audience is global or you notice viewer complaints about buffering, switch to Normal Latency for a smoother experience across all connection qualities.
</Note>

***

## Chat Settings

Configure how chat behaves on your channel under **Stream Settings → Chat**.

### Basic Chat Controls

<Steps>
  <Step title="Enable or Disable Chat">
    Toggle **Enable Chat** on or off. When chat is disabled, the chat panel is hidden from your channel page entirely and viewers see a message indicating chat is turned off for this stream.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set Minimum Account Age">
    Choose how old a viewer's account must be before they can chat. Options range from **None** (any account) to **30 days**. This reduces the effectiveness of throwaway troll accounts.

    * None
    * 10 minutes
    * 1 hour
    * 1 day
    * 7 days
    * 30 days
  </Step>

  <Step title="Require Email Verification">
    Enable **Verified Emails Only** to require that chatters have confirmed their email address. Combined with a minimum account age, this significantly reduces spam and harassment from new accounts.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Access Modes

Restrict who can send messages in your chat:

| Mode                 | Who Can Chat                                            |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Everyone**         | Any viewer who meets the account age and email settings |
| **Followers Only**   | Viewers who follow your channel                         |
| **Subscribers Only** | Active paying subscribers                               |

<Tip>
  Switch between modes mid-stream from the **Chat Controls** panel in Stream Manager — you don't need to end your broadcast to change the chat mode.
</Tip>

### Slow Mode

Slow mode adds a cooldown between messages per user, reducing the rate of chat during high-viewership streams so you can read messages without them flying past.

Enable **Slow Mode** and choose a cooldown interval:

* 3 seconds
* 5 seconds
* 10 seconds
* 30 seconds
* 60 seconds (1 minute)
* 120 seconds (2 minutes)

Subscribers are exempt from slow mode by default. Toggle **Apply Slow Mode to Subscribers** if you want it to apply universally.

### Emote-Only Mode

Enable **Emote-Only Mode** to restrict chat to Hitorino emotes only — no text messages. This mode is useful for high-energy moments in streams where you want collective expression without having to read text.

***

## Stream Scheduling

Scheduling a stream creates a public listing on your channel so followers know when you're going live next, and lets Hitorino send advance notifications on your behalf.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Scheduler">
    Go to **Dashboard → Schedule** or click **Schedule a Stream** from the Creator Dashboard home panel.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Fill In Stream Details">
    Enter the same details you'd set for a live stream: title, category, tags, and thumbnail. You can update these later, even after the event is published.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the Date and Time">
    Use the date-time picker to set your planned start time. Times are shown in your local timezone. Hitorino converts and displays the time in each viewer's local timezone automatically on the event page.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set a Duration Estimate">
    Enter an estimated duration (optional). This appears on your schedule listing so viewers know roughly how long the stream will run. It doesn't impose a hard stop on your broadcast.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Publish the Event">
    Click **Publish Schedule**. The event appears immediately on your channel's **Schedule** tab and is eligible for follower notifications.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Info>
  Scheduled streams do not start automatically. You still need to go live manually using your browser or streaming software at the scheduled time. If you're running late, the event listing updates to show a "Starting Soon" badge automatically 30 minutes after the scheduled time.
</Info>

***

## Follower Notifications

Control when and how Hitorino notifies your followers under **Stream Settings → Notifications**.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Go Live Notification" icon="bell">
    Send a push notification and email to followers who have notifications enabled when you start a broadcast. Toggle this on or off globally, or disable it for individual streams from the Stream Manager before going live.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Scheduled Stream Reminder" icon="calendar">
    Hitorino sends a reminder notification to followers 15 minutes before a scheduled stream. This is enabled automatically for any published schedule event. Disable it per-event in the Schedule settings.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Video Upload Notification" icon="upload">
    Notify followers when you publish a new video to your library. Configure this per-upload during the upload flow, or set a default under **Notification Defaults**.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Notification Cooldown" icon="hourglass">
    If you go live multiple times in a day, Hitorino enforces a 4-hour cooldown between go-live notifications to prevent over-notifying your followers. Scheduled stream reminders are exempt from the cooldown.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

***

## VOD and Replay Settings

Control how your streams are saved and displayed after they end under **Stream Settings → VOD**.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Auto-Save Streams as VODs">
    Enable **Auto-Save Streams** to automatically save every broadcast as a VOD without a prompt when you end the stream. If disabled, you'll be asked whether to save each time you end a broadcast.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set Default VOD Privacy">
    Choose the default privacy level for saved VODs:

    * **Same as Stream** — VOD inherits the privacy setting of the live stream.
    * **Public** — VOD is always public regardless of who could watch the live stream.
    * **Subscribers Only** — VOD is always subscriber-gated even if the live stream was public.

    You can override this per-VOD after saving.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set VOD Expiry">
    Choose how long Hitorino stores your VODs:

    | Plan            | Max VOD Storage |
    | --------------- | --------------- |
    | Creator Starter | 14 days per VOD |
    | Creator Pro     | 60 days per VOD |
    | Creator Studio  | Unlimited       |

    After the retention period, VODs are permanently deleted. Download any VODs you want to keep before they expire from **Library → VODs → Download**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enable Highlight Clipping">
    Toggle **Allow Viewers to Clip** to let your viewers create short clips (30 seconds – 3 minutes) from your live stream or VODs. Clips appear in the **Clips** tab on your channel page. You can review and delete any clip from your Library.
  </Step>
</Steps>