Create or Schedule a QCLF YouTube Watch Party

A QCLF Watch Party creates one durable forum Topic with a YouTube media source, live chat session, and optional Host-synchronized playback. The Topic keeps the same identity before, during, and after the live event.

Creation requires Max/All Access plus the Category Watch Party feature and action permissions.

Create the Watch Party

  1. Open an accessible real Category and choose New Topic → Watch Party.
  2. Enter the Topic title and permanent opening Message.
  3. Choose Start Now or Schedule if your Category action permissions allow that mode.
  4. Choose the duration, enter the future scheduled start when scheduling, and provide the supported YouTube source.
  5. Choose Independent playback or Host synchronized playback, then submit the Topic.

Duration and Time

The current form offers 1, 1.5, 2, 3, and 4 hour choices with 2 hours selected by default. The server accepts 5–720 minutes. Scheduled time is entered in the signed-in user/Joomla timezone, converted to UTC, and must be in the future.

Playback and Archive Options

Independent playback is the default. Synchronized playback creates server-side synchronization state controlled by the Host. The composer also defaults to capturing media position with live chat Messages and keeping the YouTube media embedded after the Watch Party.

What Creation Stores

QCLF creates the durable Topic, a watch_party live-session row, a validated YouTube media-source row, and—when synchronized mode is selected—an initial media sync-state row. The creator is automatically subscribed to live notifications for the Topic.

Start Now vs Schedule

Start Now sets the session live immediately with actual start populated. Schedule stores a future start/end and leaves the session scheduled until the Host starts it or lifecycle reconciliation reaches the scheduled time.

Community Discussion

Want to compare forum workflows, share practical QCLF tips, or discuss how other Joomla site owners use this feature? Visit the QC Live Forum Community. For private support, bug reports, account-specific entitlement problems, or feature requests, use the QuantaCade support system.