[General Topics] Menneisyys:
1.4.2.2 Oddsock.org apps

Oddsock.org is the most important source of both MP3- (for Symbian users, the best solution) and HE-AAC v2- (for WM users) compliant encoding / transcoding server with direct output to Icecast.

Note that for some of them (except for the most recommended WinAMP plug-in version) to work with HE-AAC v2, you’ll need to copy two DLL’s to the home of the app (and NOT to the WinAMP home directory, no matter what the installer states): enc_aacplus.dll and nscrt.dll from the WinAMP plugins directory and home, respectively, if you’ve already installed WinAMP (you don’t need to install it for these apps to work). You’ll find all the two DLL’s (along with libfaac.dll – see next paragraph) in THIS RAR file. After decompressing, just copy the DLL’s to the home (c:\Program Files\StreamTranscoderV3\ or C :\Program Files\OddcastV3 if installed on the c: drive in an English-language Windows).

For simple AAC(-LC), you’ll only need libfaac.dll if you plan to use it at all. I wouldn’t – it doesn’t seem to work with mobile clients. TCPMP announces it’s plain incompatible with the stream; CorePlayer and Nokia Internet Radio just endlessly buffer it – without playing anything. With desktop clients (for example, WinAMP) that do play it back, the sound is seriously distorted and is MUCH worse than with even MP3, let alone Ogg. I, however, have included it in the RAR file, should you still want to play with it. (Again, it’s not recommended.)

For MP3 streaming under OddcastV3, you’ll need to acquire the Lame MP3. I haven't included it in the RAR file.

1.4.2.2.1 StreamTranscoderV3

One of the most useful, albeit in no way flawless Icecast2 source clients is StreamTranscoderV3, which, as the name implies, transcodes an input radio stream to another format. Note that the input stream must be either an MP3 or an OGG one. That is, it can’t transcode RealAudio and WMA streams at all. For the latter two, you must use other alternatives: Orb (if the problems – lack of HE-AAC v2 and MP3 etc. – aren’t an issue), OddcastV3 or WME (the latter if RealAudio is the source).

1.4.2.2.1.1 Installation, configuration

After installing the app, go to c:\Program Files\StreamTranscoderV3\ and, after you’ve copied the AAC DLL’s in there (if you want to transcode into HE-AAC v2), start streamTranscoderUIv3.exe. (Note that you can also do the same by clicking the streamTranscoderUIv3 icon on the desktop. It isn’t put in the Start menu.)

Using the ST3 is pretty straightforward. All you need to do is giving it the (source) stream URL (for example, http://81.175.250.3:8000/) in the uppermost text input field, pressing the upper arrow in “Num encoders” so that it becomes at least 1 and double-clicking the resulting, just-displayed “Disconnected” row in the main text area. An instance of Notepad pops up with an XML configuration file. In there, first, you must set the source password in the fifth row (ServerPassword=sourcepwd in the screenshot below) and the mount point to your choice (in the example, /iskelma) in the (sixth) row just under it.

Then, set the “Encode” attribute in the “# Output codec selection” section to “AAC Plus” and set BitrateNominal to, say, 32 (corresponding to 32 kbps). Note that you don’t need to alter the BitrateMin and BitrateMax parameters at all – the HE-AAC v2 encoder doesn’t take their value into account. Also note that you don’t need to touch the parameters in the “# AAC (FAAC) specific settings” section either. It’s only with streaming in AAC-LC (that is, using the old faac.dll) that these values have any meaning. For ~32 kbps streams, then, you’ll need to use AACQuality about 10 instead of 100. Again, streaming plain AAC-LC with ST3 is in no way recommended – even MP3 produces far better results at these low, GPRS-friendly bit speeds.

The above configuration assumes you want to stream HE-AAC v2 contents. If you’d prefer MP3 (because, for example, you’d like to stream to Nokia Internet Radio, which, currently, doesn’t support HE-AAC v2 – or, for that matter, would like to use a non-HE-AAC v2-compliant Windows Mobile radio app), of course, you’ll need to use the string “MP3” in the Encode attribute. Then, in addition, you will want to reduce the sampling frequency as well. You shouldn’t do the same with HE-AAC v2: there, you must use the default 44.1kHz; otherwise, the encoder will fail right at connecting.

Note that you may also want to change at least the “ServerName=This is my server name” attribute so that meaningful values are displayed as the server name in your clients, instead of “This is my server name”.

After this, you can press the Start button and the streaming to Icecast2 will start:

You can easily check this with the Icecast2 console:

As can clearly be seen, Icecast2 is already broadcasting the stream coming from the stream source; in this case, StreamTranscoderV3.

1.4.2.2.1.2 Problems with ST3

Most importantly, it doesn’t seem to have a (working) dynamic volume limiter. This means some sources will be far too loud, which results in very annoying distortion in the transcoded stream. Some affected radio streams are as follows: Basso, Iskelmä, and, to a lesser degree, Radio Voima. You will NOT want to transcode these (and similar) radio stations with ST3 but go for an alternative solution; for example, OddcastV3 or, if low-bitrate MP3 is sufficient / preferable (instead of HE-AAC v2), VLC.

Second, the transcoded version of original OGG streams (as opposed to MP3 ones), like Radio Suomipop or Radio Classic will have heavy skips, while their MP3 stream (HERE and HERE, respectively) of the same stations work OK. It seems ST3 has similar problems with other OGG sources as well. If you encounter cases like these, go for an alternative solution - fortunately, there’re several of them.

1.4.2.2.2 OddcastV3

It’s the WinAMP plug-in version of OddcastV3 that I recommend the most of all these transcoders, particularly when you are a Windows Mobile user and only have GPRS access and, therefore, would like to prefer HE-AAC v2 all the way. It has unmatched capabilities, which, paired with the excellent remote controllability features of WinAMP, make OddcastV3 without doubt the best solution for transcoding.

First, I explain the usage of the WinAMP plug-in; after this, the standalone one. You can download both HERE. Select either the WinAMP or the Standalone version. I heavily recommend the former; only go for the standalone version if you know, for some strange reason, you hate WinAMP and would never touch it because it can be used with any sound source, not only WinAMP.