Luke122
04-24-2007, 06:39 PM
Ever wonder how to stream audio to multiple computers on your network (hehe), or setup your own radio station online? Maybe you just want to be able to access your home music archive while you are at work. Well, this guide should help you get all these things (and more ) up and running.
We’ll start with downloading the Windows Media Encoder.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5691ba02-e496-465a-bba9-b2f1182cdf24&displaylang=en
It’s only 9.45mb so it’s not too bad of a wait to download. Maybe I’m just paranoid, but I scan everything I download before I open it. You can skip this step if you want. :D
As usual, XP will prompt you to confirm running it. I’m assuming you’d like to do this, since you are taking the time to download it, and read this thing. Click next, and then if you accept the terms (which you probably wont even read), press next.
Next is the install directory.. I’ll stick with default for this, just for simplicity’s sake.
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Components\Encoder\
Just hit install, and we are good to go.
:banana:
Ok, so now it’s installed… how the eff do we use it? Fret not Opie, it’s easier than you think.
When you open the encoder, a “New Session” screen will start. Choose “Broadcast a Live Event” and click ok.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut1.jpg
On the next screen, it will ask you what device you want to use. In the drop box, select the audio device that you want to broadcast. In my case, I’ll select the SoundMax audio.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut2.jpg
On the next screen it’ll ask you if you want to push to a Windows Media Server, or Pull from the encoder. If you HAVE a Windows Media Server, obviously you would select that one. Since we are setting up to broadcast directly to a client, we’ll select the “Pull from Encoder” option. (I’ll explain the other option in more detail later.)
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut3.jpg
On the Broadcast connection screen, you can choose the port that you want to use to broadcast the audio. Default is 8080, and unless you have something else using this port, it’s fine to select it. I’ll use the default of 8080 for simplicity again.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut4.jpg
Now for the “fun” part… selecting the bitrate. Depending on the number of clients you want to have connected (WMEncoder supports a maximum of 10 clients I believe) and the bandwidth available, you have some options here. 70kbps will get you CD quality sound, which should be plenty for most people, and wont eat up too much of your bandwidth.
In the audio drop box, select CD Quality Audio, and then click NEXT.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut5.jpg
Archive File? No thanks, that takes up space on the computer, and I don’t need a copy of stuff I already have. Next again will bring up the disply info.. customize this to your hearts content… or just leave it blank. Next again brings up the final screen, “Settings Review.”
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut6.jpg
At this point, confirm that the settings are correct, and click the check box “Begin broadcasting when I click Finish”. Then, click finish.
You may get a warning after this, seen here. Read it.. it’s good advice. (You can set client restrictions in the firewall properties)
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut7.jpg
Ok, you are now broadcasting.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut8.jpg
Next, firewall settings. On your Windows Firewall, open the exceptions tab, and add a port. If you selected port 8080 for your broadcast, then enter it here. Alternately, you could choose “add program” and select Windows Media Encoder from the list. Mine was added automatically during the setup, your mileage may vary.
Now, fire up any program that plays audio. I’m using Winamp, as that’s my music player of choice, and the playlists are easy to generate and manage.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut9.jpg
Ah yes, Pirates of the Caribbean.. great soundtrack!
With winamp playing, I’ll now bring the WMEncoder window back up to check the levels.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut10.jpg
Whoops! Red is bad.. clipping means the mix is turned up too high, and the sound quality on the clients will SUCK. Hit the mixer button to adjust it.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut11.jpg
On the mixer, the “Wave Out Mix” slider is the one you want to adjust here.
*NOTE: The volume on your source program (ie: winamp) can be turned down also to help with this level. In fact, I’d leave Winamp’s volume below half, and then adjust the wave out mix to prevent reds on the meter. Yellow is fine, but red = craptastic sound. Train yourself to use your speakers volume control instead of the program’s volume control!!!*
One last thing.. SAVE YOUR SESSION or you’ll have to repeat these steps every time you want to broadcast something. Click on the little diskette icon on the encoder (Save Session), and enter a name for the session and choose a save location! Then you can just double click that saved file to open the encoder with all the same settings! Just click “Start Encoding” to begin broadcasting with all the same settings!
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut13.jpg
Ok, we are done. :D
CLIENT CONNECTIONS!
So how do you connect a client to it now? On your client machine, open your Run command, and type in : mms://Host_IP_Address:Port_Number , or in my case, mms://192.168.0.101:8080
This should open Windows media player, and start playing whatever is playing on the host computer. If you like, you can create a shortcut to it on the desktop, then it’s just a double click away at any time.
Before you ask, yes, this broadcast can be played in Winamp also. On the main winamp screen, right click the load button, and select “Open URL” and enter the same info as above. You can even save this as a bookmark from within winamp to open it quickly in the future.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut12.jpg
Hopefully this answers some questions for everyone! If you need help with any of this, or need more detail, just let me know. :D
We’ll start with downloading the Windows Media Encoder.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5691ba02-e496-465a-bba9-b2f1182cdf24&displaylang=en
It’s only 9.45mb so it’s not too bad of a wait to download. Maybe I’m just paranoid, but I scan everything I download before I open it. You can skip this step if you want. :D
As usual, XP will prompt you to confirm running it. I’m assuming you’d like to do this, since you are taking the time to download it, and read this thing. Click next, and then if you accept the terms (which you probably wont even read), press next.
Next is the install directory.. I’ll stick with default for this, just for simplicity’s sake.
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Components\Encoder\
Just hit install, and we are good to go.
:banana:
Ok, so now it’s installed… how the eff do we use it? Fret not Opie, it’s easier than you think.
When you open the encoder, a “New Session” screen will start. Choose “Broadcast a Live Event” and click ok.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut1.jpg
On the next screen, it will ask you what device you want to use. In the drop box, select the audio device that you want to broadcast. In my case, I’ll select the SoundMax audio.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut2.jpg
On the next screen it’ll ask you if you want to push to a Windows Media Server, or Pull from the encoder. If you HAVE a Windows Media Server, obviously you would select that one. Since we are setting up to broadcast directly to a client, we’ll select the “Pull from Encoder” option. (I’ll explain the other option in more detail later.)
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut3.jpg
On the Broadcast connection screen, you can choose the port that you want to use to broadcast the audio. Default is 8080, and unless you have something else using this port, it’s fine to select it. I’ll use the default of 8080 for simplicity again.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut4.jpg
Now for the “fun” part… selecting the bitrate. Depending on the number of clients you want to have connected (WMEncoder supports a maximum of 10 clients I believe) and the bandwidth available, you have some options here. 70kbps will get you CD quality sound, which should be plenty for most people, and wont eat up too much of your bandwidth.
In the audio drop box, select CD Quality Audio, and then click NEXT.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut5.jpg
Archive File? No thanks, that takes up space on the computer, and I don’t need a copy of stuff I already have. Next again will bring up the disply info.. customize this to your hearts content… or just leave it blank. Next again brings up the final screen, “Settings Review.”
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut6.jpg
At this point, confirm that the settings are correct, and click the check box “Begin broadcasting when I click Finish”. Then, click finish.
You may get a warning after this, seen here. Read it.. it’s good advice. (You can set client restrictions in the firewall properties)
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut7.jpg
Ok, you are now broadcasting.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut8.jpg
Next, firewall settings. On your Windows Firewall, open the exceptions tab, and add a port. If you selected port 8080 for your broadcast, then enter it here. Alternately, you could choose “add program” and select Windows Media Encoder from the list. Mine was added automatically during the setup, your mileage may vary.
Now, fire up any program that plays audio. I’m using Winamp, as that’s my music player of choice, and the playlists are easy to generate and manage.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut9.jpg
Ah yes, Pirates of the Caribbean.. great soundtrack!
With winamp playing, I’ll now bring the WMEncoder window back up to check the levels.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut10.jpg
Whoops! Red is bad.. clipping means the mix is turned up too high, and the sound quality on the clients will SUCK. Hit the mixer button to adjust it.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut11.jpg
On the mixer, the “Wave Out Mix” slider is the one you want to adjust here.
*NOTE: The volume on your source program (ie: winamp) can be turned down also to help with this level. In fact, I’d leave Winamp’s volume below half, and then adjust the wave out mix to prevent reds on the meter. Yellow is fine, but red = craptastic sound. Train yourself to use your speakers volume control instead of the program’s volume control!!!*
One last thing.. SAVE YOUR SESSION or you’ll have to repeat these steps every time you want to broadcast something. Click on the little diskette icon on the encoder (Save Session), and enter a name for the session and choose a save location! Then you can just double click that saved file to open the encoder with all the same settings! Just click “Start Encoding” to begin broadcasting with all the same settings!
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut13.jpg
Ok, we are done. :D
CLIENT CONNECTIONS!
So how do you connect a client to it now? On your client machine, open your Run command, and type in : mms://Host_IP_Address:Port_Number , or in my case, mms://192.168.0.101:8080
This should open Windows media player, and start playing whatever is playing on the host computer. If you like, you can create a shortcut to it on the desktop, then it’s just a double click away at any time.
Before you ask, yes, this broadcast can be played in Winamp also. On the main winamp screen, right click the load button, and select “Open URL” and enter the same info as above. You can even save this as a bookmark from within winamp to open it quickly in the future.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/lukifer122/tut12.jpg
Hopefully this answers some questions for everyone! If you need help with any of this, or need more detail, just let me know. :D