What streaming format do you prefer?

[shorty.xs]

Well not all has to be for FREE, but basicly I'm with you, especially on SAM.

I think SAM and mAirlist do have 1 thing in common. Either you love it or you hate it, there is nothing in between.

mAirList is very complex, but you can set it up exactly to your demands, but this is why it is that complex 
RadioDJ is very simple to get startet, if you get used to the layout. I don't get (yet) used to it for live assist, but for Automation. I also love the touchscreen usable interface.

I'm asked very often, what Playout software I'd suggest. My answer always is: I suggest the one that fits your needs.

This is getting really off topic, maybe somone should split this topic into a new one...

[joelriv8]

I'm using 128kpbs mp3 

[djwolf8]

listen2myradio.com with edcast standalone.

[garybaldy72uk]

listen2myradio.com

Shudder! Listen2myradio the shoutcast streams they provide for free really don't hold up that well.

[djwolf8]

Hello djgarybaldy, I also use 2 more. I use caster fm and live365 too.

[radioradio66]

im running 64 kpbs mp3 using radio caster and its always stable and i recommend it has its not also expensive like other streaming software

[EdFm]

Hi,
I have 2 radiostations running RDJ (2 sep databases), 2 times audio processing (breakaway), 2 times edcast and all on one machine running for a couple of years now. (with every month "or 2" a quick reboot)
Both stations have an mp3 128kb upstream from the studio to a remote server, on that remote server i have installed a transcoder for both streams to transcode them also into 32kb aac+ or whatever else i want.
I noticed that mp3 streams in general atract more listeners than the aac ones.
For RDJ in my situation i would not use a build-in encoder unless it will give me the posibility to choose the input (virtual cable from my broadcast processing), just as now i chosen the output of RDJ to go with virtual cable towards processing input. "Pipelines" as they are called by breakaway software.

Cheers 

Ed.

[Chris Diack]

We use AAC Plus/44.1/32k/Shoutcast/Edcast.   Works for us.  We have hardware processing however with a Dominator 723.  http://www.classicgold.co.nz/

[PhilC]

Just stumbled on to this OPUS encoder (acutally its a BUTT hack ) http://kradradio.com/?p=285

Can anyone verify that its working ?

[arkadas]

Yep this is working on icecast 2.4 beta and icecast kh branch from version 5 and up!

Just stumbled on to this OPUS encoder (acutally its a BUTT hack ) http://kradradio.com/?p=285

Can anyone verify that its working ?

[arkadas]

Maybe you are intrested in my setup:

Souceclient edcast standalone streaming to my main icecast (privat) server.
On this server also resides transcoding software called liquidsoap.
Liquidsoap transcodes the delivered stream to 4 types of audio streams and also manipulates the metadata for the streams. On schedules times the name of the program is inserted in the metadata of the stream.
The 4 streams are feeded / mounted again as streams in the main (privat) server.
I keep the server private to keep the bandwith i need to feed the server and to be able to put all cpu energy into this transcoding.

After all above this server is relayed by two public icecast servers where the listereners connect to.

The source stream from the studio to my main icecast server is currently in OGG quality 6.5 or 7 or 8 (expirimenting with that) i wanted to stream in oggFLAC, but the metadata is not delivered to the server in this format currently. bandwith for a flac stream is between 860 to 1100 KBps. I wanted to send the title and artist to the mainserver so i decided to return to OGG at high quality giving at the highest quality a bitrate around 450 to 550 KBps. This should be pretty tranparant for a audio stream, so after delivery on my mainserver i transcode this stream for the listener into 4 streams in lower bitrate.

- mp3 80 KBps joint stereo 44.1 KHz quality 0
- AAC+ 64 KBps stereo v2 44.1 KHz
- Ogg Quality 0 (gives a bitrate of 64 KBps) 2 channnels (stereo) 44.1 KHz
- OPUS 64 KBps vbr="constrained", application="audio", complexity=5, max_bandwidth="super_wide_band", samplerate=48000, frame_size=40., channels=2, signal="music"

Every codec has it's pro's and con's. But in short:

- Mp3 is the most adapted stream type (also the oldest codec), but eating the most bandwith to get a decent sound quality. NOT OPENSOURCE
- AAC+ is performing best at low bitrates gives the impression to sound good, while in reality it fakes a lot. NOT OPENSOURCE
- OGG sounds better then mp3 at same bitrates, but is not that adapted as mp3 and almost as old as mp3. OPENSOURCE
- OPUS a new promessing encoding format, sounds like a mix of aac+ and Ogg. Could be the futher since it's adaptation for several standards on the internet (see http://www.opus-codec.org/). OPENSOURCE

My 2 cents,

Arkadas

[PhilC]

I have been experimenting with OPUS using a modified BUTT encoder (a BUTT crack )  and Icecast 2.4 . on 44000khz and 56 kps . The sound is outstanding and I cant get over how good the stereo seperation is .

The station I am involved with here plans to run its online stream using  OPUS as well as AAC plus .

I will put up a link once I have it going 

[Marius]

I like your setup Arkadas, and i think that it gives you more stability than using many streams directly from the playout software.
I tested many programs with built in encoders and over 90% of them have performance issues when internet connection is slow or when a encoder is trying to re-connect to the server.

[arkadas]

Thanks!

if anyone is interested in the config file for liquidsoap, i am happy to give that to the community!

Regards,

Arkadas

[DJ Garybaldy]

I've found my 2 perfect streams with Shoutcast are

1 stream  mp3 @128 kbps and another stream AAC+ @48 kbps both streams being ran off the encoding plugin version 1.4. (Cheers SnowHow) Plus i don't even need any external sound processing with the on board Sound processing  everything is crystal clear.