Icecast Streaming Media Server

[Anonymous]

Hi, I am trying to get ices2.0 to read from my soundcard.
I have my mp3 player plugged into the line_in port of the pc,
I have alsamixer configured to record all from the line in to the soundcard.
I can confirm that my soundcard is receiving the feed by both plugging my headphones in and physically listening to it and by running:
cat < /dev/dsp2

Here is my ices.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ices>

<!-- run in background -->
<background>0</background>
<!-- where logs go. -->
<logpath>/usr/local/etc</logpath>
<logfile>ices.log</logfile>
<logsize>2048</logsize>
<!-- 1=error, 2=warn, 3=infoa ,4=debug -->
<loglevel>4</loglevel>
<!-- logfile is ignored if this is set to 1 -->
<consolelog>0</consolelog>

<!-- optional filename to write process id to -->
<!-- <pidfile>/home/ices/ices.pid</pidfile> -->

<stream>
<!-- metadata used for stream listing -->
<metadata>
<name>NAME OF STREAM (TEXT)</name>
<genre>NAME OF GENRE</genre>
<description>NICE DESC</description>
<url>URL FOR PUBLIC TO SEE</url>
</metadata>

<input>
<module>oss</module>
<param name="rate">44100</param>
<param name="channels">2</param>
<param name="device">/dev/dsp2</param>
<param name="buffer-time">500</param>
<!-- Read metadata (from stdin by default, or -->
<!-- filename defined below (if the latter, only on SIGUSR1) -->
<param name="metadata">0</param>
</input>

<instance>
<!-- Server details.

You define hostname and port for the server here, along
with the source password and mountpoint. -->

<hostname>localhost</hostname>
<port>8000</port>
<password>hackme</password>
<mount>/stream.ogg</mount>

<!-- Live encoding/reencoding:

channels and samplerate currently MUST match the channels
and samplerate given in the parameters to the oss input
module above or the remsaple/downmix section below. -->

<encode>
<quality>2</quality>
<samplerate>44100</samplerate>
<channels>2</channels>
<nominal-bitrate>65536</nominal-bitrate>
<maximum-bitrate>131072</maximum-bitrate>
<minimum-bitrate>0</minimum-bitrate>
<managed>0</managed>
</encode>

<!-- stereo->mono downmixing, enabled by setting this to 1
<downmix>1</downmix>
<savefile>/usr/local/etc/leigh/stream1.ogg</savefile>
-->
</instance>

</stream>
</ices>


My icecast server is working fine as i had ices0.4 and was able to stream a static playlist to it. I can also connect to it via Windows based players and stream successfully.
I am kind of lost for options at the moment so if anybody could help me out it would be great.

Oh and ices.log shows up nothing unusual, it shows that it connects successfully to the server and that it successfully opens the audio device.

Thanks in advance,
Leigh.

[karlH]

but what is the actual problem, playback, connection, a silent stream? use quality or bitrate, not both

karl.

[Anonymous]

I am just not getting any sound coming through at all.
As you said its like a silent stream, but i can confirm that the soundsource is playing and is coming through my soundcard.
I will try changing the bitrate/quality line's and see if that makes a difference.

[karlH]

The best way to verify that the dsp is capturing the audio is to record a wav file then play it back. A silent stream is very typical of the mixer not capturing what want want or at the level at what you want.

karl.

[Anonymous]

I recorded the stream to an output file, called it stream.ogg and placed its path into a playlist.txt.
I then invoked ices with the standard ices-playlist.xml and it connects fine to the server and attempts to play the file. it does its buffering and then plays, but there is no sound.
It recorded a silent stream and that is what it is playing back.
Any more thoughts? Your help and time is much appreciated.
leigh.

[Anonymous]

Oh and i am not limiting myself to ices, if anybody can recommend a good player to do a similar job of ripping from the soundcard i am all ears. I just downloaded darkice to see if i can get any joy out of that.

[karlH]

from what you are describing, the capture isn't set correctly. Whether that is because it's /dev/dsp2 or that the mixer isn't set correctly I can't say as I don't have the information to work on.

karl.

[Anonymous]

ok scratch my 2nd last post, I recorded the stream and downloaded a new player specifically for .ogg files, and the stream played perfectly.
I am beginning to suspect that it could be the icecast server.
Its config looks like this:

<icecast>
<limits>
<clients>100</clients>
<sources>3</sources>
<threadpool>5</threadpool>
<queue-size>524288</queue-size>
<client-timeout>30</client-timeout>
<header-timeout>15</header-timeout>
<source-timeout>10</source-timeout>
<burst-on-connect>1</burst-on-connect>
<burst-size>65535</burst-size>
</limits>

<authentication>
<!-- Sources log in with username 'source' -->
<source-password>hackme</source-password>
<!-- Relays log in username 'relay' -->
<relay-password>hackme</relay-password>

<!-- Admin logs in with the username given below -->
<admin-user>admin</admin-user>
<admin-password>hackme</admin-password>
</authentication>
<hostname>localhost</hostname>
<listen-socket>
<port>8000</port>
<!-- <bind-address>127.0.0.1</bind-address> -->
</listen-socket>

<paths>
<logdir>/usr/local/var/log/icecast</logdir>
<webroot>/usr/local/share/icecast/web</webroot>
<adminroot>/usr/local/share/icecast/admin</adminroot>
<alias source="/" dest="/status.xsl"/>
</paths>

<logging>
<accesslog>access.log</accesslog>
<errorlog>error.log</errorlog>
<!-- <playlistlog>playlist.log</playlistlog> -->
<loglevel>4</loglevel> <!-- 4 Debug, 3 Info, 2 Warn, 1 Error -->
<logsize>10000</logsize> <!-- Max size of a logfile -->
</logging>

<security>
<chroot>0</chroot>
</security>
</icecast>


Sorry for being such a pain, i am relatively new to Linux as well as streaming

[karlH]

why a problem icecast, if changing the player makes the playback work, then the problem is down to the original player not decoding ogg.

karl.

[Anonymous]

I could not play the ogg file by streaming it to the icecast server.
I had to take the ogg file off of the linux box and play it in a standalone player in Windows. When i try to use this player to open the stream from icecast i still get no joy. That is why i am thinking maybe my icecast is configured wrong.
i will forget about it for the weekend and give it another go monday,
thanks for the input thus far,
/leigh

[Anonymous]

It was a player problem after all!
i had to do a bit of tweaking with the encoding rates and bang it played no problem. i had to download the latest winamp version and it played.
Thanks karl for the help, I would not have even though of changing the player, I was convinced it was a server side problem.
Many thanks once again,
/leigh