diff --git a/src/output/output.cpp b/src/output/output.cpp
index bf93e9d1..e660db78 100644
--- a/src/output/output.cpp
+++ b/src/output/output.cpp
@@ -487,6 +487,14 @@ namespace Mist {
       statsPage.keepAlive();
     }
     int tNum = 0;
+    if (!playerConn.getData()){
+      playerConn = IPC::sharedClient(streamName + "_users", 30, true);
+      if (!playerConn.getData()){
+        DEBUG_MSG(DLVL_WARN, "Player connection failure - aborting output");
+        myConn.close();
+        return;
+      }
+    }
     for (std::set<unsigned long>::iterator it = selectedTracks.begin(); it != selectedTracks.end() && tNum < 5; it++){
       char thisData[6];
       thisData[0] = ((*it >> 24) & 0xFF);
diff --git a/src/output/output_rtmp.cpp b/src/output/output_rtmp.cpp
index 54ba23c6..5dec2a71 100644
--- a/src/output/output_rtmp.cpp
+++ b/src/output/output_rtmp.cpp
@@ -7,10 +7,9 @@
 
 namespace Mist {
   OutRTMP::OutRTMP(Socket::Connection & conn) : Output(conn) {
-    setBlocking(false);
+    setBlocking(true);
     while (!conn.Received().available(1537) && conn.connected()) {
       conn.spool();
-      Util::sleep(5);
     }
     if (!conn){
       return;
@@ -22,7 +21,6 @@ namespace Mist {
       conn.SendNow(RTMPStream::handshake_out);
       while (!conn.Received().available(1536) && conn.connected()) {
         conn.spool();
-        Util::sleep(5);
       }
       conn.Received().remove(1536);
       RTMPStream::rec_cnt += 1536;
@@ -30,6 +28,7 @@ namespace Mist {
     } else {
       DEBUG_MSG(DLVL_DEVEL, "Handshake fail!");
     }
+    setBlocking(false);
     counter = 0;
     sending = false;
     streamReset = false;