StreamSolutions Quick Guide to Getting Started.
Welcome to the world of Internet Radio and TV.
If all you want to do is sign up for our services here is a quick start guide for you to get going straight away.
- Register Here for your streamsolutions Account.
- Confirm your account in the Email that is sent to your chosen address.
- Log in to the Stream Panel here.
- Scroll down to the Purchase Panel and select server type you want to use.
- Fill in all the required information and choose your payment method.
- Once you have paid you can then start your server in the Stream Panel.
- Download your chosen software.
- Check your email for all the information we have sent you to put into your encoders.
- Check our Tutorials page for help on how to configure your settings.
- 10. Start streaming and enjoy watching your station grow.
Quick Guides To Advertising Your Station Courtesy of www.scvi.net
- Internet Video Station Directory Guide (PDF)
- Search Engine Optimization Guide (PDF)
- Promoting Your Website For Free (PDF)
Below is a more comprehensive guide to give you some of the information you need when learning about internet radio.
Operating an internet radio station can be a lot of fun. Here’s a guide to help you get started.
Determining format and bit rate.
One of the first steps is deciding what kind of station, or webcast, you plan to offer. The decision about content and presentation can make the difference between a station that grows, and one that doesn’t. Presentation and content go hand in hand, because the listener experience is what will determine the success of your station.
Music Radio.
If you plan to have music on your station, there are a number of factors to consider. First, you need plenty of music so that listeners aren’t hearing the same songs over and over. Second, you have to find the right bit rate to use. The streaming bit rate directly affects the quality of your stream. The higher the bit rate (bits per second) the higher the fidelity of the audio. Suggested bit rates include 128kbps stereo, 64kbps stereo and 64kbps mono
Talk Radio.
Talk radio has become increasingly popular. With a talk-only format, royalties are a non-issue. Because voice uses the middle range of frequencies, a lower bit rate can be used resulting in lower costs. Suggested bit rates include 56kbps mono, and 24kbps mono.
To Host, or Not To Host.
Hosting your own station creates a myriad of technical challenges. First, you have to be confident that you can configure a server to run on your computer and allow rights to that server from the Internet. Granting rights will usually include configuring routers, firewalls and built in Windows security software to allow Internet traffic into your home computer. Many ISPs discourage hosting a server, and some even cap the amount of traffic you’re allowed each month. Careful calculations must be made based on upstream speed tests to determine how many listeners, and at what bit rate, your station can support. In the vast majority of cases, a home Internet connection can support only two listeners at 128kbps, or four at 64kbps.
If you would prefer not to allow strangers from the Internet to access your computer, or you’d prefer to have more than two or three listeners at a time connected to your station, then serving your listeners from a professional, high speed data center is the answer.
High speed data centers allow potentially hundreds of concurrent connections to your station, and provide a more reliable and stable platform than hosting at home. When you’ve worked so hard to put together a format, content and/or playlists for your station, finding reliable delivery is critical. Listeners that experience frequent outages and buffering/skips are not likely to return.
streamsolutions locate servers in quality centers where bandwidth is allocated carefully to make sure that quality of service is a priority. The result is that webcasts flow smoothly to the connected players, and listeners have a good experience - an essential part of building a station that grows over time.
Understanding the Flow.
There are two parts to a webcast. A Source and a Server. Put simply, the Source generates the content. The Server is responsible for delivering that content to the listeners. Depending on your preferences, the Source of your station can be your home computer, a system at StreamSolutions (Content Delivery System or CDS), or a mix of the two. Deciding how to source your webcast depends on several factors:
- Do you need to interact with your audience? If you do, source from home.
- Do you plan to have live DJs? If you do, source from home
- Do you want to turn your home computer off at night? If you do, source from StreamSolutions CDS
- Are you concerned about bandwidth and transfer charges from your ISP? If you are, source from StreamSolutions CDS
If you want to do live DJ sets, but still turn your computer off at night, you can run your station as a blend of CDS and home-sourcing.
Selecting a Platform.
You have a few choices when it comes to a platform for your station. The most popular platforms are SHOUTcast (MP3 streaming) and Windows Media (WMA streaming). Selecting the right platform depends in part on your audience, there are also other types of server such as Icecast2 and Nsv but not used as widely as the above.
MP3 streaming is supported by many players including iTunes, Winamp, RealPlayer and Windows Media Player. Because of the wide player support, MP3 streaming is a good option if you want listeners to be able to tune in no matter what media player they prefer to use.
All versions of Microsoft Windows come with Windows Media Player. For this reason, offering a Windows Media station is also a possibility. streamsolutions provides full support for streaming on either platform. The one you select depends on personal preference but if you’re not sure, we’d suggest SHOUTcast as being the best one to start with.
Setting Up Your Source.
It’s time to start building your station. If you have elected to source from home full or part time, step one is downloading the tools you need to create the source for your station. If you are on a budget, you can download Winamp and the free SHOUTcast DSP. Once downloaded, you can begin setting up playlists and testing your audio. Don’t worry about the DSP for now. We’ll get to that.
If you are webcasting music and you want a more professional solution for your source, we suggest SAM Broadcaster from SpacialAudio. Expect to spend a few hours learning how to use it, but once you have mastered the basics, you’ll find SAM is one of the best station automation systems on the market.
Setting Up Your Server.
If you are sourcing from home and you have completed step one above, or if you plan to use streamsolutions CDS for your source, the next step is purchasing the server that will feed the station to listeners. With streamsolutions, server activation is fully automated and, unless payment is by e-check, you can expect your server to be active within seconds of purchase by your preferred payment method.
Follow this link to select the server location, bit rate, and number of slots. The number of slots is the maximum number of concurrently connected listeners your station can support. Select a location that you feel is closest to the majority of your target audience. During setup, you will also be asked for a password to use when sending a stream to the server. Write that password down - you will need to enter it later.
Once your server is set up, if you are sourcing from home, you will need to set up your home software to send the stream to the server. If using SAM3, you would create an encoder under Desktop B and enter the IP address, Port and Password of your server at streamsolutions. If using the Winamp DSP, you would plug this same information into the Encoders section of the DSP Plugin.
You will find all of our helpful tutorials here
In both cases, once you have entered the necessary information, you should be able to play a track on the source software and see data being sent to the server at streamsolutions.
Important:
streamsolutions servers are carefully provisioned. You may send a stream lower than your purchased bit rate, but never higher. If you send a stream at a higher bit rate than the bit rate you purchased (overstreaming) your server will be shut down by automated systems.
Setting up CDS.
If you are sourcing exclusively from streamsolutions, or wish to have your station run overnight without your computer being turned on, then you need to set up CDS for your station.
Ordering CDS is the same procedure you used to order your server. Once set up, you can use any FTP client (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer) to upload your files. Your files must be encoded to match the bitrate of your purchased server. There are several available tools that will allow you to convert, for example, a 128kbps MP3 file into a 48kbps file before uploading. Controlling your CDS server can be done from any computer that has Internet access.
If you need help you can see our Online FAQ For streamsolutions Services or use the Contact Us form on the site.
