Newbie wants to broadcast

[mikehende]

Hi all, I read through the introduction of Shoutcast but for my purpose have to ask some questions please. I have a following of people who would like to hear my DJ group DJ live from my home but we can only do this for about 8-12 hours or so on a Saturday and/or Sunday evening every now and then so we can't have a regular schedule.

Can we do this using shoutcast please or are we required to have a set schedule or a minimum amount of playing hours? Also, are we required to use commercials or can simply play non-stop music for 8-12 hours?

[fc*uk]

you can do what ever you wish. SHOUTcast provides the software to stream, it does not dictate minimum hours or adverts...

[mikehende]

Thanks, when you guys DJ over the net, do you use DJ hardware equipment [like Dual DJ CD Players, turntables, mixer e.t.c]or pc DJ softwares to broadcast? If you use Hardware DJ equiment, how do you connect it to the pc, what's the configuration please?

[fc*uk]

I beleve people do it both ways around here depending upon how much money they want to spend.

Being as how I ao not DJ (just stream), I would image that everything gets fed into the line-in of the sound card...

[mikehende]

Ok, so all I have to do now is purchase the latest winamp,use the Shoutcast plugin and I'm ready to broadcast? Is that all there is to it?

[Sawg]

You don't need to purchase Winamp, the free version works fine with the DSP.

[mikehende]

Thanks, I've downloaded the latest free version of winamp and the DSP and I am going through the Readme and it says I need my own serverZ? How do you guys handle this please or simply where/how can I get a server for this?

[tuckerm]

Click SC101 below in my sig to get started...

[mikehende]

Appreciate it, will do.

[mikehende]

Hey, can I use shoutcast without winamp to broadcast, meaning use my own DJ software on my pc?

[DrO]

you just need to use software that can act as a valid SHOUTcast source i.e. can connect to the DNAS server and provide the stream in the data format required. if that is present in the DJ software you want to use, you'd need to check their feature set or find something else which does if you don't want to be using Winamp + Source DSP.

[mikehende]

Yes, thanks! That is very accurate and as luck would have it, my DJ software OTSAV does integrate with Shoutcast but one potential problem I am seeing is the shoutcast plugin settings show port "8000", I am guessing this means port "80"? If yes, this port is already in use by my Remote Control's Receiver, any ideas please?

[DrO]

8000 is not the same as 80.

[mikehende]

Yep, thanks, just found that out, trying to find out right now exactly which port my receiver is using to make sure they are not both using the same port so there will be no future conflicts.

[mikehende]

I cannot seem to find a way to see what the port number is fro my remote receiver so let me move on. I have followed the OTSAV with shoutcast tutorial to the letter but how does it work from here? According to the tutorial below it would seem that I am now connected to Shoucast's server? If so, can anyone tell me what's my next steps please to start broadcasting? Would I first need to sign up for any particular plan from SHoutcast and what would I need to do to have my interested listeners start tuning into my station?

You are able to configure OtsAV to spawn the SHOUTcast plug-in from startup. This feature coupled with the SHOUTcast plug-in Connect at Startup feature, enables instant broadcasting to a SHOUTcast server from application start up. This is a great feature for the internet broadcaster who uses OtsAV as a dedicated broadcasting tool.

To enable spawn from startup go to Options -> SHOUTcast -> and enable the Spawn at Program Startup option.

To enable the SHOUTcast Source Connect at Startup feature, go to Options -> SHOUTcast -> and select SHOUTcast enabled. This will open the SHOUTcast Source dialog box.

In the Output tab select the Connect at Startup option.

Tip: If you place your OtsAV icon in the Windows Startup menu, and configure the spawn the SHOUTcast plug-in feature, when your system goes down and restarts, OtsAV will startup and begin broadcasting automatically.

[DrO]

if the source is connected to the DNAS (you'd be able to tell that by looking at the DNAS server summary page i.e. going to <server_ip> : <server_port> / index.html and looking at the 'status' line. if that is not showing up and public or up and private, then you've not got your source connected.

as for broadcasting, as soon as you have the source connected then you are. as for costs, completely depends on what / how you're running things though you really need to be ensuring you're licensed for internet broadcasting with the appropriate authorities in your country (that is not something SHOUTcast does for you). then is down to you if you are listed in the SHOUTcast Directory or not and how you get listeners is either luck or you need to promote it to people.

[mikehende]

Thanks for the info! No, it is not connected as the attached screenshot shows, I will take this up with OTSAV support and get back to you. Meantime, I am confused, is Shoutcast "free"? Also, there is a site named "shoutcheap", when I try to post the link here it is not showing, is this legit and will handle all legal issues?

[DrO]

that's an old / unsupported version of the Source DSP so that could be part of the issue, though i doubt OTSAV provides what is needed by the v2 Source DSP plug-in (which is all that is supported on here). so would be best to take that up with them.

SHOUTcast is free as in the tools (though if using sc_trans there is a small license fee for mp3 encoding) and being listed in the Directory.

bandwidth costs, royalty / performance payments, etc are something you need to sort out or make use of a host provider who will do that all for you.

[mikehende]

ok, will inquire on this issue with the OTSAV members. Meantime so is that website shoutcheap dot com legit? I am very skeptical about this becuase whenever I try to link to that site here some letters get blocked which is why I had to spell it that way.

[DrO]

they are not affiliated with SHOUTcast directly but then pretty much most of the SHOUTcast hosting providers are not. you'd need to find out what other users think about their service or look for other suggestions (is likely to be a few a few threads down in this sub-forum).

and the name is part blocked since it just happens to match with one of the forum spam filter strings (more of a coincidence than them being dodgy but then they could be - i just don't know).

[mikehende]

Ok, what I will do is ask the guys using OTSAV with shoutcast about all of these issues, right now I am getting help from one of them which is requiring me to use "Edcast client", will keep you posted, appreciate the help!

[mikehende]

What I am being told is:

Your bandwidth with a MP3 stream of 128Kbps will be about 6 x 128 Kbps => 768 Kbps (=> 1 Mb)
So you need a upload speed of minimum of about 1 Mb.

With Edcast you can stream in AAC+. The advantage is that a AAC+ stream of 64 Kbps sounds the same (in quality) as a 128 Kbps MP3 stream.

Also you need to install the Shoutcast Server on your system.
At last your listeners need to connect to your server, so best is a fixed IP address (with many ISP's you get a different IP address everytime you connect to the internet)
Better check first with your internet provider, because there are ways to overcome this issue.

Last, but very important, you need to configure your internet router (NAT routing table).

There is a lot of networking configuration to do, if you run your own Streaming Audio Server.

It is certainly not for the 'normal man' to install all this. (With all respect)

So maybe I should go try live365 as that would cover the legal issues plus I won't have to deal with all of this setup technical stuff but I really appreciate your help!

[DrO]

the Source DSP can do AAC as long as it has the correct encoders to use. you're trying to re-use something in the 3rd party plug-in so is not a surprise it's not an option (you'd need to check the encoder options in the old version of the plug-in you're using).

to a lot of people it's not 'simple' to setup as that's just the nature of networking at times and is why most people use a hosting provider and they then just have to connect to the DNAS server or make use of an 'autodj' which means you don't have to keep your own machine running to keep the stream alive.

there are countless SHOUTcast hosts but i cannot recommend one or the other as they often provide different feature sets, prices, royalty handling, etc. at the end of it, it's your stream so you need to go with what you think is best for you.

[mikehende]

I think live365 may be best, just called them, they have support for OTSAV, costs only $10 per month for up to 10 listeners at the same time and I am covered with all copyright and legal issues, I can pay month to month, they stream at 128 so quality should not be an issue, will give it a shot so next thing I would need to look into now would be listener call in and mic setup.