Audience: Viewers Status: User Guide
This guide covers what it is like to watch an episode on Third Coast TV. It explains the player and its controls, how access works for different episodes, and the ways you can react to what you watch.
Playing an episode
Open any show, pick an episode, and the player loads on the episode page. Playback starts on its own, and the episode thumbnail shows while the video gets ready.
The player streams adaptively. It picks the right quality for your connection and screen and adjusts as you watch, so you do not choose a resolution by hand. On a slower connection it steps down to keep playing without long pauses, and it steps back up when there is room.
Player controls
The controls sit along the bottom of the player.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Play / Pause | Starts and stops playback. |
| Next | Skips ahead to the next item. |
| Mute | Silences and unsilences the audio. |
| Volume | A slider next to mute sets how loud the audio is. |
| Settings | A gear icon for playback settings. |
| Theater mode | Widens the player for a larger view. |
| Fullscreen | Fills your whole screen with the video. |
For recorded episodes a progress bar above the controls shows how far along you are, with the current time and the total length shown next to the volume control.
Theater mode and fullscreen
Theater mode gives the video a larger frame while keeping the rest of the page in view. You can switch it on from the theater mode button, or press the T key.
Fullscreen hands the entire screen to the video. Use the fullscreen button to enter it, and your browser’s usual exit key (often Esc) to leave.
Watching a live episode
When an episode is broadcasting live, the player shows a LIVE badge in the corner along with a viewer count so you can see how many people are watching with you. Live episodes play as the broadcast happens. When the broadcast ends, the recording stays on the episode page so you can watch it later. For more on live broadcasts, see live-streaming-public.
Getting access to an episode
Not every episode is open to everyone. Each episode has an access setting that the creator chooses:
- Free to watch. Public episodes are open to anyone. Unlisted episodes are also open, but only to people who have the direct link.
- Subscription. Some episodes are for subscribers. A subscription to the creator unlocks their subscriber episodes. Some episodes are limited to a specific tier, so you need a subscription on that tier.
- Perk. Some episodes are limited to viewers who hold a particular perk.
- One-time purchase or rental. Some episodes are sold on their own. A purchase can be permanent, so you keep access, or it can be a rental that lasts for a set time after you buy it. Some of these episodes also unlock with an active subscription.
If you do not yet have access, the episode page tells you what is needed instead of playing the video. To learn how memberships and purchases work, see subscriptions-public.
Reacting to an episode
Once you are signed in, there are a few ways to respond to an episode.
Liking
When the creator turns on voting, the episode shows a thumbs up and a thumbs down. Choose one to register your vote, and choose it again to remove it. If an episode has no voting buttons, the creator has left voting off for it.
Favoriting
You can favorite an episode to mark it as one you care about. Use the favorite control on the episode page, and use it again to remove the favorite. Favoriting is always available when you are signed in.
Commenting
Many episodes have comments where you can join the conversation. Comments support Markdown, so you can format your text. For how comments work and how to format them, see comments-public.