cheap ip audio solutions

[gc985radio]

I have been thinking about putting a part 15 community radio station on air. Here's the catch,the transmitter will be over 300 miles away from the studio,my problem is getting the audio from my studio to the transmitter.I know I could stream it but it will take up too much bandwith and I'm worried about quality and buffering,Isdn is too expensive both monthly and the cost of the gear,telos,comrex,ect.Ip codecs are out of my price range,recently I found a couple harris intraplex ip"s on ebay both as-is,they stayed at $50 until the end of the auction,one unit sold for $900 and the other$700.The same happened with a two Mayah centauri codecs. Telos Zeypher's and Tielines are perfect if I had a couple thousand to spend or more. what I need is a way to transport this audio over ip without using too much bandwith,secondly I want the most reliable unit with quality audio and low latency.Any suggestions?

[clairedodin]

To my knowledge, there isn't any cheap ip solution.

it's either source connect or audio TX which will demand big bandwith or ISDN which does cost a lot.

I believe that audio TX doubles as an ISDN codec (without the need for a box, you'd just need to buy a card for your PC).

 

You could try skype, but I was told that it tends to drop, so it's not great.

[clairedodin]

Maybe something else to consider is to record the show then just send the wav file via yousendit.com or ftp.

This would be by far the cheapest solution, if it's possible.

It doesn't really look like you need to do remote recordings. (I may be wrong here). ISDN and ip recordings allow you to talk into your microphone on one end and make the recording on the other end, is it what you want to do?

[chq]

This may help you

http://www.broadcast.co.uk/remote-broadcasts-audioiplink-p-93.html

http://www.barix.com/Overview/771/

[spot]

Hello there.

I would suggest you take a look on the Barix Instreamer and Exstreamer.

 

There are 2 ways to go.

Setup 1.

on your end, a pc with winamp +shoutcast plugin.

on the transmiter end, a Barix exstreamer (and a dsl with static IP)

Your pc, encodes with winamp and shoutcast plugin, and streams to the static IP, where the Exstreamer listens, decodes and sends to the transmiter.

Advantage : you pay just for a Barix Exstreamer (new should cost around 300$ i think).

Disadvantage : shoutcast lag

 

Setup 2.

On your end, a Barix Instreamer.

On the transmiter end, a Barix Exstreamer.

Advantage : very little lag (1 or 2 seconds).

Disadvantage : cost of the two Barix boxes.

 

General advantage : the barix exstreamer that would be on the transmiter end, can connect to a usb flash drive or external disk, and if the dsl goes down, or if the setup on your end does not transmit, the Exstreamer starts to play music from the usb flash drive that is attached to it. Very useful.

 

We have 2 Barix Instreamers. We bought one new from the UK (aroound 300 euros), and just after we ordered it, I found on ebay a used one, and bought it for around 100 euros. For the last 18 months we are streaming our radio station with the used one, the new is brand new in it's box.

We are VERY pleased with this box !

[m3gab0y]

Hello there.

I would suggest you take a look on the Barix Instreamer and Exstreamer.

 

There are 2 ways to go.

Setup 1.

on your end, a pc with winamp +shoutcast plugin.

on the transmiter end, a Barix exstreamer (and a dsl with static IP)

Your pc, encodes with winamp and shoutcast plugin, and streams to the static IP, where the Exstreamer listens, decodes and sends to the transmiter.

Advantage : you pay just for a Barix Exstreamer (new should cost around 300$ i think).

Disadvantage : shoutcast lag

 

Setup 2.

On your end, a Barix Instreamer.

On the transmiter end, a Barix Exstreamer.

Advantage : very little lag (1 or 2 seconds).

Disadvantage : cost of the two Barix boxes.

 

General advantage : the barix exstreamer that would be on the transmiter end, can connect to a usb flash drive or external disk, and if the dsl goes down, or if the setup on your end does not transmit, the Exstreamer starts to play music from the usb flash drive that is attached to it. Very useful.

 

We have 2 Barix Instreamers. We bought one new from the UK (aroound 300 euros), and just after we ordered it, I found on ebay a used one, and bought it for around 100 euros. For the last 18 months we are streaming our radio station with the used one, the new is brand new in it's box.

We are VERY pleased with this box !

 

 

Here's a simmular setup that you can try:

 

Get a cheap (but stable) PC and a stable Internet connection at the transmiter site. Install Linux and VideoLAN player, configure the player with minimal buffering (Open VLC > Tools > Preferences > down at the bottom check to show all settings > Input / Codecs > Access Modules > HTTP(s) > Caching value - set it to 0), or insall XMMS and configure it with minimal buffering (it's simular as Winamp config - see below). Or Install (last resort!) Winamp under Linux (using LATEST WINE) and set it as i wrote below.

 

Or if you have Windows, you can Install Windows and install Winamp and setup the Stream Data Buffer for the mp3 decoder (Open Winamp preferences > input > Nullsoft MPEG Decoder in_mp3.dll) to 16k (this is located in the Streaming TAB and it's 64k by default). Also make sure to set the streaming prebuffers at 0%

 

Next: Get a static IP for yourself and Setup an Icecast server. When setting the Server, make sure that in the config file you set to 0 and to 0.

 

Start the Icecast server on your static IP and make sure it's visible (this can be and it's best to be the AIR pc).

 

Next: If your software supports DSP plugins, install EDCAST dsp plug-in and install the latest Winamp! If not - install EDCAST STANDALONE on the PC that's playing the music. Edcast standalone WILL introduce additional LAG of about 1 second! But Edcast AS DSP plug-in WON'T If you install Edcast Standalone, choose to install the LAME codec for MP3 encoding.

 

Next: Connect Edcast to the Icecast Server and then connect Winamp to the Icecast server. The lag will be vary from less than 1sec to up to 5sec.

 

 

Typical lag for Edcast DSP over 2 fiber internet points with ping ~1ms - less than 1sec.

Typical lag for Edcast DSP over 2 ADSL's located at the 2 ends of Europe and average ping around 80ms - 2sec.

Typical lag for Edcast DSP over 2 GPRS'es located at each end of the world and average ping 2000ms - 5 sec.

 

 

Typical lag for Edcast Standalone over 2 fiberpoints @ 1ms average - less than 2sec.

Typical lag for Edcast Standalone over 2 ADSL's average ping 80ms - 4sec.

Typical lag for Edcast Standalone over 2 ADSL's across the World with ping 500ms - 5 sec.

 

 

I hope this helps you I used this setup (with the DSP) for pirate FM radios located all over the country at optical fiber points and the average lag was around 1 sec at most times.

 

It's really important to have STABLE Internet connection and good Jitter. If the connection is shared/unstable with speed/ping, this can cause additional lag and build lag over time.