Systems Zephyr Livewire-Mpeg Gateway User's Manual
STREAMING | 15
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Streaming
When used with an appropriate server, the iPort can be used as a simple, reliable encoder
for Internet or internal audio distribution. Because the iPort generates standards-based
MPEG streams, a wide variety of PC-hosted and hardware players can be used for listen-
ing.
e iPort is only an encoder, which can generate only a few output streams. To feed a large
number of listeners, a server is required. SHOUTcast (yes, that is the way it is spelled),
Steamcast, or other SHOUTcast protocol compatible servers are commonly used for this
application.
For delivering audio over a LAN or private network, the encoder and server can be together
in the same rack. For public streaming over the Internet, the encoder typically runs in the
place where the audio is generated (e.g. a studio) and the server is in a place where a lot of
bandwidth is available such as an Internet co-location site.
For those whose streaming requirements are more modest, or who prefer a PC-based
solution, we oer a software product that runs on Windows PCs. This provides inte-
grated Omnia processing and MPEG/WMA encoding.
Streams that are served by SHOUTcast protocol servers can be heard on Winamp, Apple
iTunes, XMMS, VLC, Foobar, MS Windows Media Player, and many other PC software
players. Many hardware players are also on the market. Among the most popular are
Logitech’s SlimPlayer, and Freecom’s network player.
e diagram above shows a simple set-up. A Livewire Node provides live audio input,
which connects directly to the Livewire Ethernet jack on the iPort. e iPort’s WAN
jack goes to a LAN that connects to a link that leads to a remotely located server, which
provides streams to listeners over the Internet. Many variants are possible. For example,
a Livewire PC driver could provide the source audio rather than a hardware Node. (But