Stream jumps/skips at beginning of song

[bigjohn85]

Hi all,

I searched and could not find a solution to this problem. I am playing my Shoutcast stream from an embedded WindowsMedia player, and after a few seconds of playing each song, the stream skips a few seconds in the song.

I assume this isn't a buffer issue, since it only happens at the beginning of new songs in the stream.

I am using an 8 second crossfader - the default one built into Winamp.

My guess is that this is the song title data being streamed from Shoutcast. It seems to just be a blip in the stream. Is there a way to fix this?

Thanks for your help.

[hackerdork]

Whats the link to your stream, someone should test it with winamp and see if its it buffering. Are you sure you are using shoutcast server since you said you have an embedded windows mediaplayer?

buffering and skipping can happen if your internet connection does not a fast enought UPLOAD speed for the stream and for each user . If you are streaming to only one listeners at 128k and your upload speed is 384kbps, you can only support 2 listeners, since each listener will take the same bit rate.

UPLOAD / Bitrate = n users you can have tune in

Not sure how fast your upload is ? http://www.speakeasy.net/speed

~ D

[bigjohn85]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Embedded Player: http://stations.loudcity.com/648/loudcity.html

Shoutcast Stream: http://s2.viastreaming.net:7540/listen.pls

I am streaming from my comp to a stream host so listeners shouldn't be a problem.

Upload speed: 609Kbps

Hope this can help us resolve this. Thanks again.

[bigjohn85]

I am pretty sure this skipping problem does not happen if you listen via Winamp. It is only WindowsMedia.

I should also mention this is happening on 3 separate computers, so it is a global issue.

[Nick@ss]

I am using an 8 second crossfader - the default one built into Winamp.

i would be fairly sure this is the problem.....

turn it off and test...

[bigjohn85]

I think that worked! Is there a crossfader I can use that will not cause this problem?

Thanks so much for your help.

[Nick@ss]

it may work in soundcard mode.... not something i have tested,

give it a go and see what happens

[ClassicRox]

Is there a crossfader I can use that will not cause this problem?

Big John,

I've been using SqrSoft crossfader with my station for over 3 years now, and haven't had too many problems with it. Occasionally it'll skip a 1/2 second at the beginning of the song, but I think it's mostly on my end when listening to my own stream, since crossfaders DO take up system memory.



SqrSoft Crossfader

[bigjohn85]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

[bigjohn85]

I tried SqrSoft Crossfader and had some problems.

#1 I cannot mute my Winamp. It relays the mute to the stream

#2 My stream is very choppy and distorted.

Any suggestions? Maybe I should just toy with the settings more.

[Nick@ss]

what results did you get testing in soundcard mode?

[bigjohn85]

I haven't tried soundcard mode yet. I am streaming from my personal computer and needed to mute winamp to play other files. This most likely would not be a good solution for me. I listen to a lot of music on the same comp that is streaming the station.

[Nick@ss]

then the bad news is i have not seen a winamp crossfader that will work as you want it to...

spacial audio's sam may be a better option for you..

[bigjohn85]

Thanks for your help nick! I have been looking at SAM for a while and may move that direction soon.

[hackerdork]

hope you have a fast enough PC to encode the mp3 stream, and you are not doing this over a wireless connection either.

~ D