Winamp 2.xx and ogg streaming

ripdude · 26th April 2003, 06:01

I am a broadcaster and have been streaming many differnet streams since 1998. I am in the process of trying to switch all my material over from mp3 to ogg. I have several directories of ogg files rendered from my wav originals. It seems that I can get streamer and oddcast to work from the server side (Win 2K) but on going to any winamp version (tried 2.6 - 3.0). I get only "error syncing to mpeg. I've read all the forums on this and tried all the mentioned fixes.

PC ECS K7S5A Mother board
Athlon 1100+ CPU
SDRam 133 768 MB (
C-Media on-board AC97 sound
SIS 300/305 Dislay Adapter AGP 2.0
SIS 900 Fast Ethernet (on-board)

Windows 2000 SP3 all patches

I used to use schoutcast for months on end with no problems at all, even with multiple streams.

I can play all ogg files locally or even mapped through my network places. If I try and conect to a location or any files in winamp on a client I only recive the dreaded " error syncing to mpeg" message, and thats even with the /.ogg appended to the location. Maybe I'm missing something here but I've tried many different mount points and differently encoded streams and they all return the same message from all the PCs on my LAN

Is it not posswible to use the "Play directory" option. I've even tried making a playlist in both .pls and .m3u out of the files and still the same problem

I don't want to stop trying winamp as this is the best player for ogg files. Still stumped

FesterHead · 26th April 2003, 18:47

Check out the results from a SHOUTcast forum search on 'stream ogg'.

Note: Other search criteria may yield more results.

ripdude · 27th April 2003, 05:48

O;K; I checked out all the other forums. I then tried to boot into xp (I have dual boot xp/98 SE) and try to install winamp 3.0 as well as wa3update. This yeilded the same results "error syncing to mpeg" no matter if I was playing a directory or tried to make a .pls or .m3u.playlist. I then used the new diskwriter plug-in with winamp 3.0 to render .ogg files hoping that when I returned to my main OS (win 98 SE) I could use those files in winamp 2.91 full. Still all I get is a "Connect" in winamp and then nothing. So then from all PC's in my LAN, two different OS's and many differnet rendering programs, including Winamp 3.0 I am still not able to playt the ogg streams from my server. The server is using streamer / oddcast combo. The streamer says "broadcasting ogg 67kbps", and the oddcast DSP is scrolling, and winamp 2.81 is playing the ogg directory. I can hear the server stream just fine on the speakers of the server's soundcard line out. Maybe I don't have the proper mount point set in the DSP. I use ****** on the server my TCP audio port is set at the default of 8000 so http://firecloud.******.com:8000 is what I'm trying to use for location. I've tried appending /*.ogg, /.ogg, .ogg to that, and still no help. This all worked for years straight with shoutcast and mp3 files for sources. I do hope that ogg streaming is in the works for shoutcast 2.0, as I can see the "royalties" and big music will no doubt be digging into our pockets soon. I'm sorry if I sound off a bit here but I've been streaming my self produced music since 1998 and a move to "license" mp3 would kill my business altogether. So then my only recourse is an open source alternative. Shoutcast has done an awesome job so far, but the need to switch is more apparent. I read the news clipping that (dare I say) Real one player is going to incorporate ogg streaming and decoding in their player via downloadable plug-in. Please tell me you guys can do this better.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Dean Drennan of
FireCloud Productions

27th April 2003, 08:20

The SHOUTcast server does not support the streaming of Ogg Vorbis currently.

Oddcast with Ogg Vorbis is meant to stream to an IceCast server. If it was an Icecast stream there should be a mount point specified in Oddcast that the Icecast server uses. The URL would be of the form:
http://ip_addy:8000/mountpoint.ogg

Any form of Ogg Vorbis streaming is flat out broke in Winamp3.

ripdude · 28th April 2003, 17:58

I'm not understanding your reply. As I stated above I am not using Shoutcast at the present. I am trying to switch my broastcasts and samples to ogg vorbis. The excursion into winamp 3 was only another desperate test, after reading the forums.I am using winamp 2.91 full on both server and clients. From the server perspective all is apparently O. K. it's only trying to play the broadcast of the clients from winamp 2.91 that just says "connecting" then freezes. I have tried many different mount points and directories. I'm trying to play a directory if possible by using the "location" feature. Do I specifically have to have a single file e.g. firecloud_playlist.ogg of can I play the dicectory contents. However a direct path to the actual files will play. But I can play all songs local or even mapped through the LAN. I've even tried the IP instead of http://firecloud.******.com.

Can someone try to play my stream and let me know

my server is http://firecloud.******.com broadcast is at streamer/oddcast TCP port 8000 the files are in the folder c:\ogg. There must be a way to play the folder. This all worked for years with the shoutcast/mp3 setup. Any help here...?

Dean Drennan
FireCloud Productions

28th April 2003, 18:36

If you are not using SHOUTcast then I suggest you contact the maker of your server for support.

ripdude · 29th April 2003, 17:34

O. K. one more time. The server side is functioning just fine. The problem is the way that winamp on the clients is responding. I can enter the complete path and play only one .ogg file (or a playlist rendered into one file) at a time, this almost defeats the whole purpose of streaming. At no point does the TCP port (8000)work. There must be others out there that are broadcasting in vorbis... Perhaps winamp doesn't support the "play Directory" feature for ogg streams; at least thats what I'm seeing in which case this needs to be documented. There will be an increase in people trying to switch from mp3 to vorbis like me. I believe we need an answer to this... or (God forbid) join the Real/Helix solution for streaming ogg files. It is a lot of work rendering playlist files as I have 65 songs samples in my list. And without the "play Directory" feature I won't be able to tag the separate files with info on each file, just one big file. This can be done without a server / client setup. Still the problem is the way winamp is still trying to use the mp3 encoder and not able to distiguish that the stream is vorbis. One file at a time defeats the whole purpose. Perhaps I can get in touch with others trying to do this?

Dean Drennan
FireCloud Productions

mioi · 29th April 2003, 19:24

hi dean, i stream in ogg format. are you using an icecast2 server to serve the stream? i do, on a freebsd machine, and it works just fine for me. if you want a windows version, you can download it at:

http://www.oddsock.org/tools/icecast2/

i then use "ices" to provide the ogg source for the icecast2 server, but i guess you can use winamp with oddcast DSP on windows or something i guess...

if you already have all of this, then i can't help you since i'm not familiar with audio streaming from windows...

ripdude · 30th April 2003, 04:00

Thanks for your concern and input mioi:

No I'm using streamer and the oddcast pligin for winamp; but I do have a copy of Icecast2 on deck. I on the otherhand am not real proficient in the unix and wannabes world. I may need some serious help with how to configure Icecast2's icecast.xml. I get the general idea but I don't want to botch this thing up now.

Can you play an entire folder, with shuffle??? That what I'm after.

Maybe someone will build a more straight forward frontend for config of the xml. I got real close to making this work with foobar and the oddcast DSP, but it just bombs and them closes every time I try and connect to the DSP.

Jay · 30th April 2003, 04:25

just read the Icecast2 win32 help docs they do a decent job of explaining the config xml sheet.

It's just a matter of changing the existing values to match what you want.

One thing to note: Icecast2 win32 IMO is still very buggy, we couldn't get it to run for more then a day without crashing on us so we had to switch to FreeBSD and compile from their CVS at icecast.org

As for streamer, the connecting issue is most likely between their client and winamp, the ogg input plugin works great on icecast2 streams though.

slavas · 30th April 2003, 11:18

can u provide full link which u r trying to play

ripdude · 30th April 2003, 18:44

The problem now is that I have gone back to the shoutcast service along with a windows media stream. I was down for so long trying to get this ogg streaming thing going. I just wanted to get back on the air.

I have my ogg folder web shared out from Internet Information Server (IIS)with browsing of directory enabled. So anyone can get to the separate files. (http://firecloud.******.com/ogg)I just need a reliable way to stream.

It appears thate winamp can't even work right even with the folder web shared to the public, and even if you call each file separately.
It looks like the play from location doesn't work at all from what I can see even with manual path input.

I've tried messing with the icecast.xml file but still I'm not real clear on the needed changes.

I was interested in using winamp for the player because of the large install base. Most people have winamp on there systems. Windows Media Player won't even support ogg, and neither does musicmatch.

At this point I don't know what to do. I don't want to take the active streams down for to long.

Maybe I should just wait it out and see what developments come along on the windows side.

It would be so sweet if shoutcast would just add ogg streming!

If anyone can find a way to get the files to stream, and especially if you can repeat and randomize please let me know.

I realize that the oggvorbis technology is still in the infancy stage, I just want to dump all the hassles of mp3.

Dean Drennan
FireCloud Productions

30th April 2003, 19:10

Open Location only works with a direct link. It does not support folders. Create a m3u or pls of all the files in the folder, put it in there and then link to that.

mioi · 30th April 2003, 23:22

i never noticed that you can't play a remote ogg file in winamp. odd. it's too bad ogg isnt supported more in the major audio players, because the ogg sound quality is much better. anyway, i've written a PHP script which will allow my icecast2 server to randomly select an ogg file from a folder and play it. it's cool becuz with icecast2, you can specify if you want it to play a playlist (a file w/ a list of the ogg files you want it to play), you can specify if you want it to randomize the list, or you can tell it to run a script everytime it needs to play a new song, and if you know how to write little scripts, it can be very powerful and suit your needs. i'm sorry this is pretty much off-topic (not about shoutcast).

here is the xml file i use:

<icecast>
<location>Not Currently Used</location>
<admin>Not Currently Used</admin>

<limits>
<clients>15</clients>
<sources>2</sources>
<threadpool>5</threadpool>
<client-timeout>30</client-timeout>
<header-timeout>15</header-timeout>
<source-timeout>10</source-timeout>
</limits>

<source-password>password</source-password>
<relay-password>password</relay-password>

<directory>


</directory>

<hostname>your-host-name.com</hostname>
<port>8000</port>

<fileserve>1</fileserve>

<paths>
<basedir>/usr/local/icecast2</basedir>
<logdir>/usr/local/icecast2/logs</logdir>
<webroot>/usr/local/icecast2/web</webroot>
</paths>

<logging>
<accesslog>access.log</accesslog>
<errorlog>error.log</errorlog>
<loglevel>4</loglevel> 
</logging>

<security>

<chroot>0</chroot>
<changeowner>
<user>iceuser</user>
<group>iceuser</group>
</changeowner>
</security>
</icecast>

ripdude · 2nd May 2003, 01:01

Thanks for the help. I have tried the .pls and .m3u technique. However that does not allow for file tagging and info, only one big stream file.

And again all the linux style lingo I'm not too well versed in and certainly not ready for "prime time playing".

Jeez why cant this xml file be as easy to edit as the scoutcast.ini is. Besides I don't think I'm having a server problem. This appears to be a shortcoming of winamp's abilty to determine an ogg stream from the "location" field.

26th April 2003, 06:01	#1
ripdude Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Vancouver, WA USA Posts: 8	Winamp 2.xx and ogg streaming I am a broadcaster and have been streaming many differnet streams since 1998. I am in the process of trying to switch all my material over from mp3 to ogg. I have several directories of ogg files rendered from my wav originals. It seems that I can get streamer and oddcast to work from the server side (Win 2K) but on going to any winamp version (tried 2.6 - 3.0). I get only "error syncing to mpeg. I've read all the forums on this and tried all the mentioned fixes. PC ECS K7S5A Mother board Athlon 1100+ CPU SDRam 133 768 MB ( C-Media on-board AC97 sound SIS 300/305 Dislay Adapter AGP 2.0 SIS 900 Fast Ethernet (on-board) Windows 2000 SP3 all patches I used to use schoutcast for months on end with no problems at all, even with multiple streams. I can play all ogg files locally or even mapped through my network places. If I try and conect to a location or any files in winamp on a client I only recive the dreaded " error syncing to mpeg" message, and thats even with the /.ogg appended to the location. Maybe I'm missing something here but I've tried many different mount points and differently encoded streams and they all return the same message from all the PCs on my LAN Is it not posswible to use the "Play directory" option. I've even tried making a playlist in both .pls and .m3u out of the files and still the same problem I don't want to stop trying winamp as this is the best player for ogg files. Still stumped

30th April 2003, 04:25	#10
Jay Moderator Alumni Join Date: May 2000 Location: Next Door Posts: 8,942	just read the Icecast2 win32 help docs they do a decent job of explaining the config xml sheet. It's just a matter of changing the existing values to match what you want. One thing to note: Icecast2 win32 IMO is still very buggy, we couldn't get it to run for more then a day without crashing on us so we had to switch to FreeBSD and compile from their CVS at icecast.org As for streamer, the connecting issue is most likely between their client and winamp, the ogg input plugin works great on icecast2 streams though. -Jay \| Radio Toolbox.com

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26th April 2003, 18:47	#2
FesterHead Alumni Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Maui, Hawaii Posts: 14,108	Check out the results from a SHOUTcast forum search on 'stream ogg'. Note: Other search criteria may yield more results.

27th April 2003, 05:48	#3
ripdude Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Vancouver, WA USA Posts: 8	O;K; I checked out all the other forums. I then tried to boot into xp (I have dual boot xp/98 SE) and try to install winamp 3.0 as well as wa3update. This yeilded the same results "error syncing to mpeg" no matter if I was playing a directory or tried to make a .pls or .m3u.playlist. I then used the new diskwriter plug-in with winamp 3.0 to render .ogg files hoping that when I returned to my main OS (win 98 SE) I could use those files in winamp 2.91 full. Still all I get is a "Connect" in winamp and then nothing. So then from all PC's in my LAN, two different OS's and many differnet rendering programs, including Winamp 3.0 I am still not able to playt the ogg streams from my server. The server is using streamer / oddcast combo. The streamer says "broadcasting ogg 67kbps", and the oddcast DSP is scrolling, and winamp 2.81 is playing the ogg directory. I can hear the server stream just fine on the speakers of the server's soundcard line out. Maybe I don't have the proper mount point set in the DSP. I use **** on the server my TCP audio port is set at the default of 8000 so http://firecloud.***.com:8000 is what I'm trying to use for location. I've tried appending /.ogg, /.ogg, .ogg to that, and still no help. This all worked for years straight with shoutcast and mp3 files for sources. I do hope that ogg streaming is in the works for shoutcast 2.0, as I can see the "royalties" and big music will no doubt be digging into our pockets soon. I'm sorry if I sound off a bit here but I've been streaming my self produced music since 1998 and a move to "license" mp3 would kill my business altogether. So then my only recourse is an open source alternative. Shoutcast has done an awesome job so far, but the need to switch is more apparent. I read the news clipping that (dare I say) Real one player is going to incorporate ogg streaming and decoding in their player via downloadable plug-in. Please tell me you guys can do this better. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Dean Drennan of FireCloud Productions

27th April 2003, 08:20	#4
Sawg Guest Posts: n/a	The SHOUTcast server does not support the streaming of Ogg Vorbis currently. Oddcast with Ogg Vorbis is meant to stream to an IceCast server. If it was an Icecast stream there should be a mount point specified in Oddcast that the Icecast server uses. The URL would be of the form: http://ip_addy:8000/mountpoint.ogg Any form of Ogg Vorbis streaming is flat out broke in Winamp3.

28th April 2003, 17:58	#5
ripdude Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Vancouver, WA USA Posts: 8	I'm not understanding your reply. As I stated above I am not using Shoutcast at the present. I am trying to switch my broastcasts and samples to ogg vorbis. The excursion into winamp 3 was only another desperate test, after reading the forums.I am using winamp 2.91 full on both server and clients. From the server perspective all is apparently O. K. it's only trying to play the broadcast of the clients from winamp 2.91 that just says "connecting" then freezes. I have tried many different mount points and directories. I'm trying to play a directory if possible by using the "location" feature. Do I specifically have to have a single file e.g. firecloud_playlist.ogg of can I play the dicectory contents. However a direct path to the actual files will play. But I can play all songs local or even mapped through the LAN. I've even tried the IP instead of http://firecloud.****.com. Can someone try to play my stream and let me know my server is http://firecloud.****.com broadcast is at streamer/oddcast TCP port 8000 the files are in the folder c:\ogg. There must be a way to play the folder. This all worked for years with the shoutcast/mp3 setup. Any help here...? Dean Drennan FireCloud Productions

28th April 2003, 18:36	#6
Sawg Guest Posts: n/a	If you are not using SHOUTcast then I suggest you contact the maker of your server for support.

29th April 2003, 17:34	#7
ripdude Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Vancouver, WA USA Posts: 8	O. K. one more time. The server side is functioning just fine. The problem is the way that winamp on the clients is responding. I can enter the complete path and play only one .ogg file (or a playlist rendered into one file) at a time, this almost defeats the whole purpose of streaming. At no point does the TCP port (8000)work. There must be others out there that are broadcasting in vorbis... Perhaps winamp doesn't support the "play Directory" feature for ogg streams; at least thats what I'm seeing in which case this needs to be documented. There will be an increase in people trying to switch from mp3 to vorbis like me. I believe we need an answer to this... or (God forbid) join the Real/Helix solution for streaming ogg files. It is a lot of work rendering playlist files as I have 65 songs samples in my list. And without the "play Directory" feature I won't be able to tag the separate files with info on each file, just one big file. This can be done without a server / client setup. Still the problem is the way winamp is still trying to use the mp3 encoder and not able to distiguish that the stream is vorbis. One file at a time defeats the whole purpose. Perhaps I can get in touch with others trying to do this? Dean Drennan FireCloud Productions

29th April 2003, 19:24	#8
mioi Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 4	hi dean, i stream in ogg format. are you using an icecast2 server to serve the stream? i do, on a freebsd machine, and it works just fine for me. if you want a windows version, you can download it at: http://www.oddsock.org/tools/icecast2/ i then use "ices" to provide the ogg source for the icecast2 server, but i guess you can use winamp with oddcast DSP on windows or something i guess... if you already have all of this, then i can't help you since i'm not familiar with audio streaming from windows...

30th April 2003, 04:00	#9
ripdude Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Vancouver, WA USA Posts: 8	Thanks for your concern and input mioi: No I'm using streamer and the oddcast pligin for winamp; but I do have a copy of Icecast2 on deck. I on the otherhand am not real proficient in the unix and wannabes world. I may need some serious help with how to configure Icecast2's icecast.xml. I get the general idea but I don't want to botch this thing up now. Can you play an entire folder, with shuffle??? That what I'm after. Maybe someone will build a more straight forward frontend for config of the xml. I got real close to making this work with foobar and the oddcast DSP, but it just bombs and them closes every time I try and connect to the DSP.

30th April 2003, 11:18	#11
slavas Major Dude Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: kaimas Å¡alia AnykÅ¡ÄiÅ³ Posts: 680	can u provide full link which u r trying to play

30th April 2003, 18:44	#12
ripdude Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Vancouver, WA USA Posts: 8	The problem now is that I have gone back to the shoutcast service along with a windows media stream. I was down for so long trying to get this ogg streaming thing going. I just wanted to get back on the air. I have my ogg folder web shared out from Internet Information Server (IIS)with browsing of directory enabled. So anyone can get to the separate files. (http://firecloud.******.com/ogg)I just need a reliable way to stream. It appears thate winamp can't even work right even with the folder web shared to the public, and even if you call each file separately. It looks like the play from location doesn't work at all from what I can see even with manual path input. I've tried messing with the icecast.xml file but still I'm not real clear on the needed changes. I was interested in using winamp for the player because of the large install base. Most people have winamp on there systems. Windows Media Player won't even support ogg, and neither does musicmatch. At this point I don't know what to do. I don't want to take the active streams down for to long. Maybe I should just wait it out and see what developments come along on the windows side. It would be so sweet if shoutcast would just add ogg streming! If anyone can find a way to get the files to stream, and especially if you can repeat and randomize please let me know. I realize that the oggvorbis technology is still in the infancy stage, I just want to dump all the hassles of mp3. Dean Drennan FireCloud Productions

30th April 2003, 19:10	#13
Sawg Guest Posts: n/a	Open Location only works with a direct link. It does not support folders. Create a m3u or pls of all the files in the folder, put it in there and then link to that.

30th April 2003, 23:22	#14
mioi Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 4	i never noticed that you can't play a remote ogg file in winamp. odd. it's too bad ogg isnt supported more in the major audio players, because the ogg sound quality is much better. anyway, i've written a PHP script which will allow my icecast2 server to randomly select an ogg file from a folder and play it. it's cool becuz with icecast2, you can specify if you want it to play a playlist (a file w/ a list of the ogg files you want it to play), you can specify if you want it to randomize the list, or you can tell it to run a script everytime it needs to play a new song, and if you know how to write little scripts, it can be very powerful and suit your needs. i'm sorry this is pretty much off-topic (not about shoutcast). here is the xml file i use: <icecast> <location>Not Currently Used</location> <admin>Not Currently Used</admin> <limits> <clients>15</clients> <sources>2</sources> <threadpool>5</threadpool> <client-timeout>30</client-timeout> <header-timeout>15</header-timeout> <source-timeout>10</source-timeout> </limits> <source-password>password</source-password> <relay-password>password</relay-password> <directory> <!-- uncomment if you want directory listing --> <!-- <yp-url>http://www.oddsock.org/cgi-bin/yp-cgi</yp-url>--> </directory> <hostname>your-host-name.com</hostname> <port>8000</port> <fileserve>1</fileserve> <paths> <basedir>/usr/local/icecast2</basedir> <logdir>/usr/local/icecast2/logs</logdir> <webroot>/usr/local/icecast2/web</webroot> </paths> <logging> <accesslog>access.log</accesslog> <errorlog>error.log</errorlog> <loglevel>4</loglevel> <!-- 4 Debug, 3 Info, 2 Warn, 1 Error --> </logging> <security> <!-- i don't think this applies to windows icecast2 --> <chroot>0</chroot> <changeowner> <user>iceuser</user> <group>iceuser</group> </changeowner> </security> </icecast>

2nd May 2003, 01:01	#15
ripdude Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Vancouver, WA USA Posts: 8	Thanks for the help. I have tried the .pls and .m3u technique. However that does not allow for file tagging and info, only one big stream file. And again all the linux style lingo I'm not too well versed in and certainly not ready for "prime time playing". Jeez why cant this xml file be as easy to edit as the scoutcast.ini is. Besides I don't think I'm having a server problem. This appears to be a shortcoming of winamp's abilty to determine an ogg stream from the "location" field.