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mawtn

Apr 19 2005, 15:29

hi

i'm experimenting with audio streaming from my home lan.
i have 2 computers connected to internet through edimax router...
my download bandwidht is 1.5 mbit and upload 96 kbit...

i use icecast and shoutcast as servers and oddcast as source client installed as
plugin in foobar2000.
on home lan music play continuesly without any interrupts.
But when user connects from internet then his connection breaks after couple of seconds of listening and if he resumes it then it breaks again.

I did little cross-testing to see what side (client or server) might be a problematic one with same result...

1. different audio players for listening: foobar and windows media player.
- connection/stream always breaks...
2. different servers: icecast or shoutcast
- connection/stream always breaks...
3. different computers(i have two on my lan): pII 400 with 200 mg of ram
and amd 3600 with 1gb of ram
- connection/stream always breaks...

here is some log dumps from icecast:

QUOTE

[2005-04-19 15:48:44] INFO main/main.c Icecast 2.2.0 server started
[2005-04-19 15:48:44] INFO yp/yp.c Adding new YP server "http://dir.xiph.org/cgi-bin/yp-cgi" (timeout 15s, default interval 30s)
[2005-04-19 15:48:44] INFO yp/yp.c YP update thread started
[2005-04-19 15:48:51] INFO connection/connection.c Source logging in at mountpoint "/stream"
[2005-04-19 15:49:08] INFO source/source.c listener count on /stream now 1
[2005-04-19 15:49:11] INFO source/source.c listener count on /stream now 0
[2005-04-19 16:01:12] INFO source/source.c listener count on /stream now 1
[2005-04-19 16:01:14] INFO source/source.c listener count on /stream now 0
[2005-04-19 16:01:20] INFO source/source.c listener count on /stream now 1
[2005-04-19 16:01:26] INFO source/source.c listener count on /stream now 0
[2005-04-19 16:01:47] INFO source/source.c listener count on /stream now 1
[2005-04-19 16:01:54] INFO source/source.c listener count on /stream now 0
[2005-04-19 16:02:16] INFO source/source.c Source "/stream" exiting
[2005-04-19 16:02:16] INFO connection/connection.c All connection threads down
[2005-04-19 16:02:16] INFO main/main.c Shutting down
[2005-04-19 16:02:16] INFO yp/yp.c clearing up YP entry for /stream
[2005-04-19 16:02:16] INFO slave/slave.c Slave thread shutdown complete
[2005-04-19 16:02:17] INFO yp/yp.c YP thread down
[2005-04-19 16:02:18] INFO stats/stats.c stats thread finished

you can see zeroes and ones

does anyone has an idea what could be wrong ?

dev0

Apr 19 2005, 15:32

At what bitrate are you trying to stream?
If your upstream is limited to 96kbps, I'd strongly advise you to not use a higher bitrate than 64kbps (- for 1 listener; 32kbps - for 2 listeners etc.).
Your 96kbps upstream does not include the various protocol overheads, so you can't stream a 96kbps stream.

mawtn

Apr 19 2005, 15:41

QUOTE

[2005-04-18 17:26:52] WARN source/source.c Disconnecting source due to socket timeout

this another interesting line taken from icecast log from another computer...

source client serves 128kbit stream

dev0

Apr 19 2005, 15:46

How's that supposed to work, if you only have 96kbps upstream?
Black magic?

mawtn

Apr 19 2005, 16:04

you are right
i did 64 kbit and no interrupts at all:)

i'll try 96 later...
thanks for you advice

dev0

Apr 19 2005, 16:24

96kbps will most likely produce interrupts as well (protocol overhead[s]).

freakngoat

Apr 19 2005, 21:17

What's going is your client buffer is being depleted faster than it is being filled up. Once it is depleted playback stops until it is filled up again, and the process repeats. This is why you must use a bit rate lower than your maximum throughput rate.

Cool Dog

Apr 19 2005, 22:25

QUOTE (mawtn @ Apr 19 2005, 08:29 AM)

my download bandwidht is 1.5 mbit and upload 96 kbit...

Your upload bandwidth is very low..

The only way that you could stream is in 32 kbps, but only to 2 users: 32x2=64kbps, the rest of the bandwidth (32 kbps) will be used for to be sure that a possible fluctuation in your bandwidth will not cause a dropout in the audio stream.

Another solution could be stream in 24 kbps, With this you will transmit to only 3 persons (24x3=72 kbps), and the rest bandwidth (only 24 kbps) will be used for to avoid dropouts.

The best solution IMO for you is stream with Peercast. Peercast is a stream p2p server, which with a low bandwidth you could (IN THEORY) stream to many users. The Peercast developer says that you need upload AT LEAST two or three streams. In your case you could stream to 24 kbps (with 24 kbps is possible upload 3 streams) but now you will be able of stream to many users, probably 30 or more... for more and detailed information visit this web site: Peercast

Another good thing of peercast server is that you can to use of oddcast plugin without problems.

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