Broadcasting audio

From TheBestCaseScenario

[edit] WARNING

Broadcasting audio can be classified as transmitting copyrighted material without permission. If you are only transmitting it internally within your own home, you should be ok, but over the internet is a different matter. Check your local laws regarding this if you are unsure! TBCS does not support piracy, and as such will not and can not be held liable if you misuse this information!

[edit] Welcome

Ever wonder how to stream audio to multiple computers on your network? Well, this guide will get you on the right track!

[edit] What you need

• Windows Media Encoder (WME)
• Windows media player (Or other media player)
• Audio files

[edit] Installing WME

Begin setup and confirm you have read and agreed with the EULA, next select where you would like WME to be installed to, the default is "X:\Program files\Windows Media Components\Encoder\" (Where X: is you system drive)

[edit] Setting up WME

When you open the encoder, a “New Session” screen will start. Choose “Broadcast a Live Event” and click ok.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

The warning following this just tells you that some clients might not be able to connect with WME if firewalls interfere, to stop this you should add WME to your firewalls allowed list for incoming and out going on port 8080 or which ever port you used, normally windows will do this for you when you install WME.

You are now broadcasting your machines audio, now fire up your media player of choice on the server machine (Where you just installed WME) and start playing your music.

Now go back to WME to check the audio levels.

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.

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!

[edit] Connecting to your broadcast

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.

[edit] Credits

This was written by Luke122 of TBCS and edited by XcOM