What is streaming?

Streaming Media is the term used to describe the real-time delivery of audio and video over the internet. Streaming Media allows for live transmission of audio or video over the internet, transforming the internet into a broadcasting medium. Content can also be archived in streaming file formats? , allowing internet users to experience recordings of events after they happen.

Varieties of Streaming

There are three types of delivery of audio and video data over the internet: Download and Play, Progressive Download, and True Streaming.

Download and play

To experience Download and Play media you must first download the entire media file to your hard disk before you can play it. For this reason Download and Play media cannot be used for live broadcasts, however it is often a good way to deliver high quality media content over any bandwidth. A high quality movie, for example, can be downloaded over any internet connection. However because you cannot play the movie until you have downloaded the entire file, download time becomes a factor. To download a DVD movie (usually about 4.6 GB in size) over a dial-up modem (56kbps) it would take over 8 days! Most people would find this quite tedious!
Download and Play media is not streaming media (more on this later) but it is a lot more popular than streaming. File sharing networks are Download and Play mechanisms, and this is an extremely popular activity on the internet. As many countries make high bandwidth connections more accesible there is an increasing popularity of trading Download and Play movies on these networks.

Progressive download

This enables you to experience media as it downloads to your harddrive. Progressive Download is useful but is less efficient than True Streaming and cannot provide some functionality such as multiple bitrate encoding. However this method has an advantage over Download and Play as you do not have to wait for the file to finish downloading before you can start playing it. There are some constraints - for example, if the file does not download as fast as you are playing it, then you will find that playback will stop while you wait for more of the file to download. This can be annoying and it is often the reason why some choose True Streaming as a preferred method of delivery.
Quicktime (Apple's suite of streaming technologies) calls Progressive Download "Fast Start". This highlights one of the difficulties of learning streaming - in the effort to differentiate technologies, each technology provider has made up their own jargon. However throughout this manual I will stick to the more generic terminologies wherever possible.

True streaming

This enables the user to view or listen to the media as it is delivered over the internet in real-time. True Streaming is the only variety of streaming that allows for live broadcasting, and it also supports more advanced functionality than Progressive Download, enabling the user to control the media experience by pausing, skipping forward, or rewinding. Although different terms have been used to describe True Streaming, including webcasting, livecasting, web tv, or net.radio, the term that has prevailed is "streaming media" (more often it is just refered to as "streaming").
The difference between Progressive Download and True Streaming is not always obvious. If, for example, a user has a very fast connection to the internet then Progressive Download may appear to behave in exactly the same way as True Streaming.

Within Download and Play, Progressive Download, and True Streaming there are two distinct varieties : static file streaming and live streaming.

Static file streaming

The delivery of pre-recorded media files over the internet in real time. Typically when we refer to archives of online media we are discussing static file streaming. A large archive of video art encoded into streaming files is an example of a collection of static file streaming files. This content is also known as on-demand or archived content. This content can be delivered by Download and Play, Progressive Download, or True Streaming processes.

Live streaming

The delivery of live audio and/or video over the internet. This allows the user to experience an event as it occurs in realtime. There are many examples of this such as online radio or viewing live performances. Only True Streaming supports live streaming.
This manual will mainly deal with True Streaming of both live and archived content.

Encoding

To stream static files over the internet the files must be compressed and encoded into a 'streaming format'. Ripping CDs into MP3 is doing just this and is done using encoding softwares. In this process a CD audio recording is converted by the encoding software from a CD (Compact Disc) audio format into a 'streaming audio format' (MP3). This will involve compressing the data, which reduces its quality and file size, and converting the data into a 'streaming format' (for example MP3).

Compression

There are two forms of compression - lossy, and lossless compression.
When the encoding process compresses the source file so that it can be delivered over internet connections in real-time this process degrades the quality of the audio and video. The more a file is compressed, the lower bandwidth required to be able to play the file, but the more the quality is reduced. A compromise has to be achieved whereby the level of compression achieves an acceptable audio and video experience, while reducing the amount of data enough to enable delivery over the internet.

Live encoding is similar except that an audio or video (or both) input is encoded instead of a file. With this process the encoding software delivers the encoded data in a continuous stream to the streaming server.

Lossless compression

This is the process of compressing data information into a smaller size without removing data. To visualise this process imagine a paper bag with an object in it. When you remove the air in the bag by creating a vacuum the object in the bag is not affected even tough the total size of the bag is reduced

Lossy compression

Sometimes called 'Perceptual Encoding', this is the process of 'throwing away' data to reduce the file size. The compression algorithms used are complex and try to preserve the qualitative perceptual experience as much as possible while discarding as much data as necessary.
Lossy compression is a very fine art. The algorithms that enable this take into account how the brain precieves sounds and images and then discards information from the audio or video file while maintaining an aural and visual experience resembling the original source material. To do this the process follows Psychoacoustic and Psychovisual modelling principles.

Codecs

The algorithms used to compress and encode audio and video and create the file format are known as "codecs". The word is made from two common terms compress and decompress. The encoding software uses a codec to 'compress' the streaming content for delivery over the net, and the player softwares use a codec to 'decompress' the content for replay.
The codec is mathematical wizardry and is the heart and soul of streaming. It is on this ground that we have the various technology providers battling it out for dominance. Each codec has its own unique way of doing things depending on what the developer believes is best, and some come with their own minefield of licencing issues too.

Bitrate

Compression is the process of reducing the amount of data
Multiple bitrate encoding allows the server and player to negotiate the best quality (highest bandwidth) stream to be delivered from a single static file or live stream. Hence the player is delivered the best quality stream possible over the user's internet connection. Multiple bitrate? encoding produces only one encoded stream.

Choosing the bitrate(s) will require the consideration of several factors, including: The target audience's connectivity; The desirable frame size of the video (if including video); The amount of movement in the frame (if including video); The level of video contrast (if including video); The type of audio encoded (e.g. ambient noise/voice/stereo music);The amount of camera movement (if including video); The quality of the camera and camera lens (if including video).

Delivery

Streaming static ("archived") files can be achieved using a normal web server. This is often the cheapest way to deliver content on a small scale. This method cannot be used for live streaming and does not allow for the advanced features of True Streaming such as multiple bitrate encoding. This method will also enhance the likelihood for time-outs ('buffering') and cannot deliver the same amount of simultaneous player connections as True Streaming.

To enable live streaming and to gain full functionality and efficiency a streaming media server is required. This server is usually standard server hardware but with the necessary streaming server softwares installed. It is quite normal to install a streaming server on the same machine as an existing web server.

Streaming servers

Perhaps a good way to understand what a streaming server does is to imagine a radio station. A radio station comprises of three components - a studio, a transmitter, and the receivers that your audience has.

Above is a basic diagram showing how a transmitting radio station works. The radio studio is the source of the audio. In this space there are usually mixing desks, cd-players, minidisc players, turntables etc. Then from the studio an audio signal is sent to the transmitter. This can be sent from the studio to the transmitter by either a cable (sometimes called a "landline") or by a microwave link. Then the transmitter sends the audio via FM so that radio receivers (tuners) can pick it up and play it.

Radio works this way because it is trying to distribute the studio audio to as many people as possible. If you imagine the radio studio without the transmitter then the station would have have a fairly reduced audience! Essentially only people that could fit into the studio would be able to listen. So the transmitter works as a distributer, allowing more people to connect via their radio receivers and hence the potential audience is enlarged.

This is a close analogy to why streaming exists and how it works. If you were just playing audio on a computer in your room then the audience isn't going to be so big... so, we utilise streaming to distribute this audio to more people.

The analogy is obvious....the computer replaces the radio studio, the streaming server replaces the transmitter, and your listeners connect by computers to the server rather than with radio receivers to the broadcast signal. The analog can be taken quite a long way. Having a bigger radio transmitter is like having more bandwidth available at the streaming server - both allow more people to connect.

Installing from Source

Software name : Multiple Streaming Engine (MuSE)
Homepage : http://muse.dyne.org
Software version used for this installation : 0.9
Operating System used for this installation : Debian 3.1 (Sarge)
Recommended Hardware : 200 MHz CPU or greater
Requirements : internet connection, root password (also known as the admin or superuser password)

Installing from source' means that you download the actual source code for an application and you compile it into a binary. A "binary" is often refered to as an "executable" , "application" or "program". The source code is what the programmers actually create, its a series of text files that contain program code. These files don't actually do anything until you compile them. "Compiling" is the process by which you convert the text files containing the program code into a binary. In this case you take the MuSE source code and compile it into a binary. It is then this binary that you then use.

Downloading the sources

Please visit http://muse.dyne.org and download the latest source distribution of MuSE, at the time of writing the latest version is 0.9, so I will download the "MuSE-0.9.tar.gz" file. You will need to first visit http://muse.dyne.org and then click on the download link:

You will now see a list of ftp sites where you can get the source code:

Click on the link labeled:

[ftp] Dyne.org software archive

Now you can see a list of files and directories looking something like this:

Click on the bottom directory called "sources". You will now see a list of files like this:

Scroll down to the lastest version of the software (in this case the name of that file is "MuSE-0.9.tar.gz") and click on that file name. If all is working correctly the download should begin automatically from your browser.

Compiling

Once it has downloaded you need to open a terminal, use the cd command to change working directories so you are in the same directory as your downloaded source. If you haven't used a terminal before it would be good first to read up something about this otherwise you are not going to get very far. If you are not sure what a terminal looks like, it looks something like this:

Assuming you have a terminal open you need to change directories to where you downloaded the MuSE sources. Forgot where you put them? A common error - use slocate or locate to find the file, you may have to do an updatedb first. For example, I would type

slocate MuSE-0.9.tar.gz

and this would output to the terminal where my file is located and I would then use cd to get there.

Okedoke... now unpack the archive by typing tar zxvf followed by the name of the file you just downloaded, I would type the following:

tar zxvf MuSE-0.9.tar.gz

And the file would unpack nicely to a new directory within the directory I am currently in. Typing a ls will show this. In my case there is a new directory called "MuSE-0.9" . This directory could be named differently to what you have, depending on what version of the software you downloaded.

Now cd to the new directory. Again in my case I would type:

cd MuSE-0.9

This would place me in the MuSE source directory. If I type ls I get this:

cool! these files are all the files you need (hopefully) to install MuSE

Now proceed by typing :

./configure --with-gtk2 --with-x --x-includes /usr/include --x-libraries /usr/lib

This should start the configure process. Now, having said you need all the files in this directory to install MuSE, this is indeed true but without some specific extra software MuSE is not much more than a simple mp3 player. So check the output of your configure script... it will look something like this:

====================================================
config.status: creating src/resample/Makefile
config.status: creating intl/Makefile
config.status: creating config.h
config.status: executing depfiles commands
config.status: executing default-1 commands

== MuSE build configuration =====================================
:: Building on i686-pc-linux-gnu (kernel Linux267)
:: Linking OggVorbis libraries for OGG encoding
:: Linking SndFile libraries for WAV/AIFF/VOC/etc encoding
:: Linking Lame libraries for MP3 encoding
:: Building the GTK-2 user interface
:: Building the NCURSES user interface
:: DEBUG informations OFF
:: PROFILING informations OFF (see man gprof)
:: CFLAGS = -pipe -D_REENTRANT -O3 -fomit-frame-pointer
:: CXXFLAGS = -pipe -D_REENTRANT -O3 -fomit-frame-pointer
bash-2.05b#
:: LIBS = -lncurses
====================================================

now type make, may the source be with you! The bit you need to look at is the end part which gives a nice summary of what libraries are installed that MuSE will work with. In the case of the output above the configure script has reported that I have all the possible libraries installed, i.e. I have OggVorbis, SndFile, Lame, GTK-2, and NCURSES

Dependencies

If I read the "README" file (use your favourite editor from the section above to open this file) in the MuSE directory, the file tells me this:

====================================================
- LAME (optional)
  Lame can be installed but is no more needed, in particular
  libmp3lame and the header lame.h must be properly installed.

- OGG VORBIS (optional)
  You can compile and install libogg and libvorbis on your machine
  before compiling MuSE; the configure script will recognise them and
  include support for decoding and mixing of .ogg files.

- GTK+ (optional)
  if libgtk and all the related libraries are present, MuSE will
  compile the GTK+ graphic user interface for interactive use and
  additional fun.

- NCURSES (optional)
  if libncurses is present, MuSE will compile a text console
  interactive interface to be used into ASCII terminals.

- SNDFILE (optional)
  if libsndfile is present then you'll be able to play uncompressed
  sound files like wav, aiff, snd, voc, pvf, mat, au, sf etc.
====================================================

So I can do everything possible with MuSE because I have all the libraries installed. However if the output from your configure script says something is missing then you need to consider whether you should install it or not. The basic minimum I would hope that you have installed is: GTK, Lame

If you have these two libraries installed you can at least have a graphical user interface on MuSE (provided by GTK) and you can stream MP3 (provided by the Lame) library. If you don't have these libraries get them from here:

Lame
http://lame.sourceforge.net/
The libraries required if you wish to stream mp3.

GTK
http://www.gtk.org/
Note : I would be surprised if you didn't have GTK installed. Its possible, but unlikely as most distributions of Linux have this library as it contains many libraries needed by other softwares commonly found on Linux. If you don't have GTK it can be very tricky to install so I would recommend you get some help for this.

Ogg
If you also want to stream Ogg then you must first install "libogg" and "libvorbis" ( http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/index.html )
If you need any of these libraries and the configure script says you don't have them installed download them first, run through the install process as outlined in the section above, and after each install run the ldconfig command to update the library database. Then once you have done this for each one, start again with the ./configure process in this section.

Now, lets assume your configure script now gives you the output you want, indicating that all the required libraries are installed. Cool!

Now you just want to type the make command as so:

make
make install

If all has gone well you should just need to type :

muse

and the application will open as so:

Live streaming with MuSE

Software name : MuSE^?
Software version : 0.9

_{One of the many conferences streamed by RIXC (http://www.rixc.lv) using MuSE.}

For this section I am going to make the assumption that you already have access to a streaming server and that someone has given you the details. Specifically you need to know:

The hostname (IP address or URL) of the streaming server
The login type of server being used (shoutcast/ Icecast / Icecast2 etc)
The password of the server
The mountpoint you should use (more on this later)
The port you will stream to (usually 8000)

Ask the person that administrate the streaming server for this information. If on the other-hand you intend to run your own server, as explained later in this manual, then you will get these details yourself.

Opening the configuration window

Press the configuration button (first button)

so, under Linux you will you see this:

Configuring

We need to enter here all the information relevant to the stream we want to begin. Lets start with streaming MP3...so the panel that is to the front here is the panel for setting up a MP3 stream. if you want to do an Ogg stream then click on the panel "Ogg/Vorbis Streaming" at the back, and jump forward in this section to where this is covered... for now we will just do MP3.

For now leave the top part of this form alone... the top sets the bitrate and quality of the outgoing stream, we will first just get the stream going then we will tweak this part a bit. ok... we have some information fields that need filling in, these all have to do with the streaming server that you are streaming to. We will assume that you are using an Icecast2 server. If you are using a different streaming server then everything will be the same except you will need to know what kind of Login Type the server is... I will let you know more about this when we come to fill in this field.

The next section gives a field by field account of the MuSE configuration panel.

Host

Enter here the URL or IP address of the server you will be streaming to. If you are running a server on your own machine (where you are also encoding from) then you need to enter "localhost" in this field. Other wise you need to enter everything including the "http://" section. For example, if my server was located at "http://icecast.streamingsuitcase.com" then I would enter exactly that into this field, i.e.:

http://icecast.streamingsuitcase.com

The host information will be given to you by the person running the server.

Port

This is usually by default port 8000. The person running your server will give you this port number and you should enter it in this field, if they haven't given you a port number try 8000 first and if this doesn't work then call them and ask them for it.

Mount

A mountpoint is the unique point on the server that your stream will connect to. This means if you are running a streaming server and there are (for example) 20 people sending individual streams to the server then each can be identified by the mount point. It is also used in the playlist file you will create later so that you can link to the stream from your web-page. It doesn't matter what the name of your mountpoint is, although sometimes the server administrator will give you a specific one to use. To make sure you won't conflict with another stream don't use obvious mountpoint names like "test" etc... also make sure your point point has a preceding " / " as indicated in the example screen shot above.

Name

The name that will appear in the media player of your listeners when they connect to your stream... using something more descriptive than just "my stream" or some such.

URL

This is not the URL of the streaming server, its just a URL that sometimes also gets displayed in the clients player. Its for displaying the URL of the associated web page.

Description

Pretty much the same as the name field except you can fit in more information.

LoginType

This is the type of authentication your server uses, here is a table to help you choose the correct one:

SERVER TYPE	LOGIN TYPE
Darwin	icecast 1
Icecast 2	icecast 2
Icecast 1	icecast 1
Shoutcast	shoutcast

Pass

Enter your password for the server here. This should be given to you by the system administrator for the streaming server.

Now start your stream by starting some audio from your mixing desk (or whatever you have plugged into your sound card), make sure your software mixer is turned up, then press "connect" on this form and away you go!

License

All chapters copyright of the authors (see below). Unless otherwise stated all chapters in this manual licensed with GNU General Public License version 2

This documentation is free documentation; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this documentation; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.

Authors

CREDITS
© adam hyde 2006, 2007
Modifications:
Aleksandar Erkalović 2007

GLOSSARY
© adam hyde 2007

LINUX (SOURCE)
© adam hyde 2006, 2007
Modifications:
Salvatore Lionetti 2010
Thomas Middleton 2008

INTRODUCTION
© adam hyde 2006, 2007
Modifications:
Thomas Middleton 2008

LINKS
© adam hyde 2005, 2006, 2007
Modifications:
Stella Brennan 2005
Thomas Middleton 2008
Zita Joyce 2008

LIVE STREAMING
© adam hyde 2005, 2006, 2007
Modifications:
Stella Brennan 2005
Thomas Middleton 2008

PLAYLIST STREAMING
© adam hyde 2006, 2007
Modifications:
Thomas Middleton 2008

WHAT IS STREAMING?
© adam hyde 2005, 2006, 2007
Modifications:
Ruckert Martin 2006
Stella Brennan 2005
Thomas Middleton 2008
Zita Joyce 2008

TOOLBAR
© adam hyde 2006, 2007
Modifications:
Thomas Middleton 2008

_{Free manuals for free software}

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8. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the original copyright holder who places the Program under this License may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of this License.

9. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions of the General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.

Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and "any later version", you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that version or of any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.

10. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes make exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by the two goals of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.

NO WARRANTY

11. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

12. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

License

All chapters copyright of the authors (see below). Unless otherwise stated all chapters in this manual licensed with GNU General Public License version 2

Authors

CREDITS
© adam hyde 2006, 2007
Modifications:
Aleksandar Erkalović 2007

GLOSSARY
© adam hyde 2007

LINUX (SOURCE)
© adam hyde 2006, 2007
Modifications:
Salvatore Lionetti 2010
Thomas Middleton 2008

INTRODUCTION
© adam hyde 2006, 2007
Modifications:
Thomas Middleton 2008

LINKS
© adam hyde 2005, 2006, 2007
Modifications:
Stella Brennan 2005
Thomas Middleton 2008
Zita Joyce 2008

LIVE STREAMING
© adam hyde 2005, 2006, 2007
Modifications:
Stella Brennan 2005
Thomas Middleton 2008

PLAYLIST STREAMING
© adam hyde 2006, 2007
Modifications:
Thomas Middleton 2008

WHAT IS STREAMING?
© adam hyde 2005, 2006, 2007
Modifications:
Ruckert Martin 2006
Stella Brennan 2005
Thomas Middleton 2008
Zita Joyce 2008

TOOLBAR
© adam hyde 2006, 2007
Modifications:
Thomas Middleton 2008

_{Free manuals for free software}

General Public License

Version 2, June 1991

Preamble

We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the software.

The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification follow.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION

You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.

: a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.
: b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this License.
: c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively when run, you must cause it, when started running for such interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on the Program is not required to print an announcement.)

: a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
: b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
: c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received the program in object code or executable form with such an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)

This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to be a consequence of the rest of this License.

NO WARRANTY

END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Installing from Source

Downloading the sources

You will now see a list of ftp sites where you can get the source code:

Click on the link labeled:

[ftp] Dyne.org software archive

Now you can see a list of files and directories looking something like this:

Click on the bottom directory called "sources". You will now see a list of files like this:

Compiling

slocate MuSE-0.9.tar.gz

and this would output to the terminal where my file is located and I would then use cd to get there.

Okedoke... now unpack the archive by typing tar zxvf followed by the name of the file you just downloaded, I would type the following:

tar zxvf MuSE-0.9.tar.gz

Now cd to the new directory. Again in my case I would type:

cd MuSE-0.9

This would place me in the MuSE source directory. If I type ls I get this:

cool! these files are all the files you need (hopefully) to install MuSE

Now proceed by typing :

./configure --with-gtk2 --with-x --x-includes /usr/include --x-libraries /usr/lib

====================================================
config.status: creating src/resample/Makefile
config.status: creating intl/Makefile
config.status: creating config.h
config.status: executing depfiles commands
config.status: executing default-1 commands

== MuSE build configuration =====================================
:: Building on i686-pc-linux-gnu (kernel Linux267)
:: Linking OggVorbis libraries for OGG encoding
:: Linking SndFile libraries for WAV/AIFF/VOC/etc encoding
:: Linking Lame libraries for MP3 encoding
:: Building the GTK-2 user interface
:: Building the NCURSES user interface
:: DEBUG informations OFF
:: PROFILING informations OFF (see man gprof)
:: CFLAGS = -pipe -D_REENTRANT -O3 -fomit-frame-pointer
:: CXXFLAGS = -pipe -D_REENTRANT -O3 -fomit-frame-pointer
bash-2.05b#
:: LIBS = -lncurses
====================================================

Dependencies

If I read the "README" file (use your favourite editor from the section above to open this file) in the MuSE directory, the file tells me this:

====================================================
- LAME (optional)
  Lame can be installed but is no more needed, in particular
  libmp3lame and the header lame.h must be properly installed.

- OGG VORBIS (optional)
  You can compile and install libogg and libvorbis on your machine
  before compiling MuSE; the configure script will recognise them and
  include support for decoding and mixing of .ogg files.

- GTK+ (optional)
  if libgtk and all the related libraries are present, MuSE will
  compile the GTK+ graphic user interface for interactive use and
  additional fun.

- NCURSES (optional)
  if libncurses is present, MuSE will compile a text console
  interactive interface to be used into ASCII terminals.

- SNDFILE (optional)
  if libsndfile is present then you'll be able to play uncompressed
  sound files like wav, aiff, snd, voc, pvf, mat, au, sf etc.
====================================================

Lame
http://lame.sourceforge.net/
The libraries required if you wish to stream mp3.

GTK
http://www.gtk.org/
Note : I would be surprised if you didn't have GTK installed. Its possible, but unlikely as most distributions of Linux have this library as it contains many libraries needed by other softwares commonly found on Linux. If you don't have GTK it can be very tricky to install so I would recommend you get some help for this.

Ogg
If you also want to stream Ogg then you must first install "libogg" and "libvorbis" ( http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/index.html )
If you need any of these libraries and the configure script says you don't have them installed download them first, run through the install process as outlined in the section above, and after each install run the ldconfig command to update the library database. Then once you have done this for each one, start again with the ./configure process in this section.

Now, lets assume your configure script now gives you the output you want, indicating that all the required libraries are installed. Cool!

Now you just want to type the make command as so:

make
make install

If all has gone well you should just need to type :

muse

and the application will open as so:

Live streaming with MuSE

Software name : MuSE^?
Software version : 0.9

_{One of the many conferences streamed by RIXC (http://www.rixc.lv) using MuSE.}

For this section I am going to make the assumption that you already have access to a streaming server and that someone has given you the details. Specifically you need to know:

The hostname (IP address or URL) of the streaming server
The login type of server being used (shoutcast/ Icecast / Icecast2 etc)
The password of the server
The mountpoint you should use (more on this later)
The port you will stream to (usually 8000)

Opening the configuration window

Press the configuration button (first button)

so, under Linux you will you see this:

Configuring

The next section gives a field by field account of the MuSE configuration panel.

Host

http://icecast.streamingsuitcase.com

The host information will be given to you by the person running the server.

Port

Mount

Name

The name that will appear in the media player of your listeners when they connect to your stream... using something more descriptive than just "my stream" or some such.

URL

This is not the URL of the streaming server, its just a URL that sometimes also gets displayed in the clients player. Its for displaying the URL of the associated web page.

Description

Pretty much the same as the name field except you can fit in more information.

LoginType

This is the type of authentication your server uses, here is a table to help you choose the correct one:

SERVER TYPE	LOGIN TYPE
Darwin	icecast 1
Icecast 2	icecast 2
Icecast 1	icecast 1
Shoutcast	shoutcast

Pass

Enter your password for the server here. This should be given to you by the system administrator for the streaming server.

What is streaming?

Varieties of Streaming

There are three types of delivery of audio and video data over the internet: Download and Play, Progressive Download, and True Streaming.

Download and play

To experience Download and Play media you must first download the entire media file to your hard disk before you can play it. For this reason Download and Play media cannot be used for live broadcasts, however it is often a good way to deliver high quality media content over any bandwidth. A high quality movie, for example, can be downloaded over any internet connection. However because you cannot play the movie until you have downloaded the entire file, download time becomes a factor. To download a DVD movie (usually about 4.6 GB in size) over a dial-up modem (56kbps) it would take over 8 days! Most people would find this quite tedious!
Download and Play media is not streaming media (more on this later) but it is a lot more popular than streaming. File sharing networks are Download and Play mechanisms, and this is an extremely popular activity on the internet. As many countries make high bandwidth connections more accesible there is an increasing popularity of trading Download and Play movies on these networks.

Progressive download

This enables you to experience media as it downloads to your harddrive. Progressive Download is useful but is less efficient than True Streaming and cannot provide some functionality such as multiple bitrate encoding. However this method has an advantage over Download and Play as you do not have to wait for the file to finish downloading before you can start playing it. There are some constraints - for example, if the file does not download as fast as you are playing it, then you will find that playback will stop while you wait for more of the file to download. This can be annoying and it is often the reason why some choose True Streaming as a preferred method of delivery.
Quicktime (Apple's suite of streaming technologies) calls Progressive Download "Fast Start". This highlights one of the difficulties of learning streaming - in the effort to differentiate technologies, each technology provider has made up their own jargon. However throughout this manual I will stick to the more generic terminologies wherever possible.

True streaming

This enables the user to view or listen to the media as it is delivered over the internet in real-time. True Streaming is the only variety of streaming that allows for live broadcasting, and it also supports more advanced functionality than Progressive Download, enabling the user to control the media experience by pausing, skipping forward, or rewinding. Although different terms have been used to describe True Streaming, including webcasting, livecasting, web tv, or net.radio, the term that has prevailed is "streaming media" (more often it is just refered to as "streaming").
The difference between Progressive Download and True Streaming is not always obvious. If, for example, a user has a very fast connection to the internet then Progressive Download may appear to behave in exactly the same way as True Streaming.

Within Download and Play, Progressive Download, and True Streaming there are two distinct varieties : static file streaming and live streaming.

Static file streaming

The delivery of pre-recorded media files over the internet in real time. Typically when we refer to archives of online media we are discussing static file streaming. A large archive of video art encoded into streaming files is an example of a collection of static file streaming files. This content is also known as on-demand or archived content. This content can be delivered by Download and Play, Progressive Download, or True Streaming processes.

Live streaming

The delivery of live audio and/or video over the internet. This allows the user to experience an event as it occurs in realtime. There are many examples of this such as online radio or viewing live performances. Only True Streaming supports live streaming.
This manual will mainly deal with True Streaming of both live and archived content.

Encoding

Compression

There are two forms of compression - lossy, and lossless compression.
When the encoding process compresses the source file so that it can be delivered over internet connections in real-time this process degrades the quality of the audio and video. The more a file is compressed, the lower bandwidth required to be able to play the file, but the more the quality is reduced. A compromise has to be achieved whereby the level of compression achieves an acceptable audio and video experience, while reducing the amount of data enough to enable delivery over the internet.

Live encoding is similar except that an audio or video (or both) input is encoded instead of a file. With this process the encoding software delivers the encoded data in a continuous stream to the streaming server.

Lossless compression

This is the process of compressing data information into a smaller size without removing data. To visualise this process imagine a paper bag with an object in it. When you remove the air in the bag by creating a vacuum the object in the bag is not affected even tough the total size of the bag is reduced

Lossy compression

Sometimes called 'Perceptual Encoding', this is the process of 'throwing away' data to reduce the file size. The compression algorithms used are complex and try to preserve the qualitative perceptual experience as much as possible while discarding as much data as necessary.
Lossy compression is a very fine art. The algorithms that enable this take into account how the brain precieves sounds and images and then discards information from the audio or video file while maintaining an aural and visual experience resembling the original source material. To do this the process follows Psychoacoustic and Psychovisual modelling principles.

Codecs

The algorithms used to compress and encode audio and video and create the file format are known as "codecs". The word is made from two common terms compress and decompress. The encoding software uses a codec to 'compress' the streaming content for delivery over the net, and the player softwares use a codec to 'decompress' the content for replay.
The codec is mathematical wizardry and is the heart and soul of streaming. It is on this ground that we have the various technology providers battling it out for dominance. Each codec has its own unique way of doing things depending on what the developer believes is best, and some come with their own minefield of licencing issues too.

Bitrate

Compression is the process of reducing the amount of data
Multiple bitrate encoding allows the server and player to negotiate the best quality (highest bandwidth) stream to be delivered from a single static file or live stream. Hence the player is delivered the best quality stream possible over the user's internet connection. Multiple bitrate? encoding produces only one encoded stream.

Choosing the bitrate(s) will require the consideration of several factors, including: The target audience's connectivity; The desirable frame size of the video (if including video); The amount of movement in the frame (if including video); The level of video contrast (if including video); The type of audio encoded (e.g. ambient noise/voice/stereo music);The amount of camera movement (if including video); The quality of the camera and camera lens (if including video).

Delivery

Streaming servers

Perhaps a good way to understand what a streaming server does is to imagine a radio station. A radio station comprises of three components - a studio, a transmitter, and the receivers that your audience has.

Above is a basic diagram showing how a transmitting radio station works. The radio studio is the source of the audio. In this space there are usually mixing desks, cd-players, minidisc players, turntables etc. Then from the studio an audio signal is sent to the transmitter. This can be sent from the studio to the transmitter by either a cable (sometimes called a "landline") or by a microwave link. Then the transmitter sends the audio via FM so that radio receivers (tuners) can pick it up and play it.

Radio works this way because it is trying to distribute the studio audio to as many people as possible. If you imagine the radio studio without the transmitter then the station would have have a fairly reduced audience! Essentially only people that could fit into the studio would be able to listen. So the transmitter works as a distributer, allowing more people to connect via their radio receivers and hence the potential audience is enlarged.

This is a close analogy to why streaming exists and how it works. If you were just playing audio on a computer in your room then the audience isn't going to be so big... so, we utilise streaming to distribute this audio to more people.

The analogy is obvious....the computer replaces the radio studio, the streaming server replaces the transmitter, and your listeners connect by computers to the server rather than with radio receivers to the broadcast signal. The analog can be taken quite a long way. Having a bigger radio transmitter is like having more bandwidth available at the streaming server - both allow more people to connect.

What is streaming?

Varieties of Streaming

Download and play

Progressive download

True streaming

Static file streaming

Live streaming

Encoding

Compression

Lossless compression

Lossy compression

Codecs

Bitrate

Delivery

Streaming servers

Installing from Source

Downloading the sources

Compiling

Dependencies

Lame

GTK

Ogg

The Tool Bar

Button descriptions

Live streaming with MuSE

Opening the configuration window

Configuring

Host

Port

Mount

Name

URL

Description

LoginType

Pass

Streaming playlists with MuSE

Loading the playlist

Starting the stream

Related Links

Manuals

Center for Independent Journalism

Spot

Encoders

MuSE (Linux / OSX)

Oddcast (Windows)

ostream (Windows / Linux)

oggment (Linux)

oggcaster (Linux)

Soma (Linux)

darkice (Linux)

liveice (Linux)

IceS (Linux)

Oddcast (Windows)

MPEG4IP (Linux)

Players

VLC (Windows / Linux / OSX)

zinf (Windows / Linux)

soundplay (beOS)

snackAmp (Linux/ Windows)

sonic-rainbow (Linux)

impish (Linux)

xmms (Linux)

mplayer (Linux / Windows / OSX)

Embedded Players

Flam

Make your own flash mp3 player

Flow

Streaming Servers

Icecast

Quicktime / Darwin Streaming Server

gini

Oyez

oggserv

litestream

ample

edna

gnump3d

Software Repositories

Dyne

Oddsock