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App Streaming

C

chriscollins

Since we had a streaming thread and I did not want to hijack it, I will pose my question here.

For you guys that have smartphone apps, etc... What are you using for your encoding machine software?

I would really like to know.


1. What software you use to do the encoding.

2. What codec & bit rate you use.

3. What company handles your server side stuff?
 
1. We use Simplecast to encode
2. Our app was developed by http://counity.at who does great work. They implemented 2 different streams on ours (64k & 128k). It's nice to have the 64k available for 2g areas, which, even at that low of a bitrate can buffer due to available bandwidth.
3. I have my own streaming company and provide streams for others as well as us (Spry Group Multimedia, LLC). You can email me to inquire rates (that are very reasonable), etc., if you have interest, at [email protected]

You can find our app on the Windows Phone 7 market as well as the Android market to see how it works. Just do a search for ClassX Radio. So far our listeners love it. We have counity also developing a new iPhone app as well.
 
So what codec are you using with simplecast? aac or mp3?

If you don't mind (pm if you do). What did the app company charge you for development?

I can continue to serve it from here (as I do now), so that isn't so much of an issue as finding out what codec's are used for these apps.

For example, I use wma now and run a Win2008R2 Server to serve it up. I have about 20 meg allocated to streaming from my connection (100 Meg/bidirectional).
 
chriscollins said:
So what codec are you using with simplecast? aac or mp3?

If you don't mind (pm if you do). What did the app company charge you for development?

I can continue to serve it from here (as I do now), so that isn't so much of an issue as finding out what codec's are used for these apps.

For example, I use wma now and run a Win2008R2 Server to serve it up. I have about 20 meg allocated to streaming from my connection (100 Meg/bidirectional).
Click to expand...

Well Counity did it Pro Bono for our non-profit/non-comms. So I am not sure what they charge. But they do great work. Worth a quote request, for sure. We use mp3 on our streams but Simplecast is capable of both wma and mp3. It seems that most phone stream players seem to be happier with mp3.
 
Yes, I sent them an email already. Thanks for the simplecast tip. A very reasonably priced piece of software. I want to keep my wma, since that infrastructure is in place and then I was hoping to do aac for the phones. AAC sounds so much better at low bitrates. I know iPhone & Android supports aac. I am unsure on blackberry.

At any rate, thank you very much. You pointed me in the right direction and hopefully one day, I can return the favor.
 
As mentioned in my previous email, Abacast is our provider. They have a "home built" encoder that streams 32k aac for the desktop and iPhone as well as 32k mp3 for the Android. Abacast uses JackApps (I think) for development of mobile apps. I wasn't impressed and wouldn't recommend. Constant delays and even lost our sent files more than once.
 
I use a Barix Instreamer 100 for the coder and I use www.viastreaming.com for our provider. This combo has been very, very reliable. We collectively made a decision several years ago to start treating the stream with the importance of OTA...
 
I've used both Orban Opticodec and Omnia A/XE for the stream processing and encoding. For low bitrate stream 48 kbps HE AAC and for high bitrate stream 128 kbps AAC LC (this one gives better than FM quality). Delivery to desktops is via Flash player integrated in the web page, which works on all platforms (Win/Mac/Linux) and doesn't require a separate player the be installed on the PC. A local company developed iPhone app that lists and can play all radio station streams available in my country.


Regards,
Goran Tomas
 
Goran Tomas said:
I've used both Orban Opticodec and Omnia A/XE for the stream processing and encoding. For low bitrate stream 48 kbps HE AAC and for high bitrate stream 128 kbps AAC LC (this one gives better than FM quality). Delivery to desktops is via Flash player integrated in the web page, which works on all platforms (Win/Mac/Linux) and doesn't require a separate player the be installed on the PC. A local company developed iPhone app that lists and can play all radio station streams available in my country.


Regards,
Goran Tomas
Click to expand...

My objective is to keep the main stream in house. I am going to buy the above mentioned program and have it do an aac and a wma, so I can leave my Windows Server doing our website streams.

Then, I will just pay someone to write the app for me.

How do I 'serve' an AAC stream? Can I do that from my windows server or will I need to build another box?
 
chriscollins said:
How do I 'serve' an AAC stream? Can I do that from my windows server or will I need to build another box?
Click to expand...

Codec that you are using and ways of distributing stream (stream serving) are two separate things... You can serve AAC in a Flash stream, IceCast/SHOUTcast stream, Apple HTTP stream, 3GG stream, etc.

Windows Media has always been very closed-in and supported only Microsoft codecs and Microsoft platforms. But even M$ had to include such widespread codec and I believe that the latest Expression Encoder 4 does support AAC LC audio codec, but only in the Pro version. The Windows Media Player doesn't support it though so the only way to get it to your listeners M$ way is via Silverlight client.

To cut the long story short, no, your current server does not support AAC. To stream AAC to iPhones, set-up a IceCast or SHOUTcast server on your server and use that.


Regards,
Goran Tomas
 
Thanks Goran... I know I am cheating by letting all of you help me. I just have so many projects going on, my time to google is limited at the moment.
 
It's all about sharing the info. I for one have learned a lot by reading this thing over the course of time. I find it actually much more useful than publications.
 
Okay... So it looks like the only real benefit of Shoutcast is a directory listing.

Can someone point into whether I should do shoutcast or icecast?

I am thinking shoutcast.

I guess this can just go on top of Win2008 Server R2? If needed, I can use HyperV and virtualize Linux. I have a dedicated NIC I could give to a VM. Even when my stations are at heavy load, I am only using 2-3% of my 8 cores.
 
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