TELOS iPort Livewire-MPEG Gateway USER’S MANUAL Manual Version 1.1 for software version 1.
Telos iPort Manual © 2008 TLS Corporation. Published by Telos Systems/TLS Corporation. All rights reserved. Trademarks Telos Systems, the Telos logo, iPort, Livewire, Zephyr, ZephyrExpress, Zephyr Xstream, Nx12, TWOx12, Series 2101, Desktop Director, and Status Symbols are trademarks of TLS Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Notice All versions, claims of compatibility, trademarks, etc.
Telos Systems USA 2101 Superior Avenue Cleveland, OH 44114 USA Telos Europe Johannisstraße 6 85354 Freising Germany Notices and Cautions This symbol, wherever it appears, alerts you to the presence of uninsulated, dangerous voltage inside the enclosure – voltage which may be sufficient to constitute a risk of shock. This symbol, wherever it appears, alerts you to important operating and maintenance instructions. read the manual.
iv | Table of Contents We support you.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i 1 Introduction 1 Welcome to the iPort. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Features & Benefits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Connections . . . . . . . . . .
Telos iPort manual | SHOUTcast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Stream and Track Names. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Using a PC Player to Listen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Hardware Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
| 1 1 Introduction Welcome to the iPort The Telos iPort is designed to help you achieve one of two objectives: ♦♦ Connect two Livewire-equipped facilities over a wide-area network, such that they appear to be local to each other. As many as 8 bi-directional channels are possible. In the simplest case, a single Livewire 8x8 interface Node and an iPort at each end provide 8x bi-directional codec links over an IP channel.
2 | Section 1 loss is routine such as on the public Internet. There are configurable buffers to accommodate jitter, but longer buffer lengths add to delay. When you need to use non-QoS-controlled links, the Telos Z/IP family products are a better choice because they have adaptive mechanisms to deal with network problems. Features & Benefits The iPort is an innovative approach to providing MPEG codec functionality, made possible by the use of Livewire for its audio interface.
introduction | 3 The jack labeled 100/1000 is for the compressed streams, which is normally connected to a Wide Area Network link. It automatically adapts its rate to the port at the other end of the connection. For both jacks, the iPort’s Ethernet mode is set permanently to AUTO, so the other end must be, as well. (Problems can result if the other end is set to 100BT or 1000BT.
4 | Section 1 factory defaults. Firmware setup. Restart. ♦♦ Diagnostics - View and capture system diagnostics info. The first step is going to be to configure the network parameters, so click on the Network link to open that page. Host Name This is the Linux host name that is used for device identification, such as, for example, when system logs are being sent to an external machine.
introduction | 5 However, if you do want only one connection to the iPort, then it’s OK to enter the same subnet for both fields. In this case, both the Livewire and codec streams will be on whichever single physical port you connect. The other should remain unconnected. Changing Passcodes This may be done on the System page. You can do this for both the front panel LCD/knob and Web access. Default for the LCD/knob is , meaning no password is needed. Default for the Web interface is also .
6 | Section 1 To install new firmware, the first step is to download it to your PC. You might receive this via email from our support department, or you might find it on our website. After it is on your PC, browse to locate it, then click the Upload button to install it into the iPort. It will be stored the in bank checked in the ‘radio button’ above. For a unit in active use, you would store this in the bank that is not currently active.
| 2 7 Livewire-WAN Link Livewire is a professional-grade IP Audio system, used over controlled local area networks. As a modern replacement for older analog or TDM digital systems, it offers very low delay and high audio fidelity.
8 | Section 2 equipment, you’d have a rack full of codec boxes, expensive router interface cards, and a plethora of cables. If you don’t already have a Livewire installation, no problem. You can use an audio interface Node, or two, and still benefit from the iPort’s simplicity and low cost. Getting Started A simple installation would look like the one in the block diagram above. In this case, a LW Node is providing the audio interface. Both analog and AES3 Nodes are available.
Livewire-WAN Link | 9 Network Click on the Network link, and you will see this page: Host Name Enter a convenient name, if you want to change from the Zephyr default. (Advanced note: This is the Linux host name, used for network identification.) Livewire port If you have not already done so via the front panel LCD interface, enter the IP number you would like the iPort to have within your LW network. Enter the netmask value used in your system.
10 | Section 2 Codec configuration Global Options Confirm that the factory default is set for 8 encoder / decoder channels. (The 16-channel encode-only option is used for streaming applications.) Codec and Channel Settings Usually, the first step will be to click the Options button for the channel you are configuring to set the details of the codec and protocol parameters.
Livewire-WAN Link | 11 Decoder The Buffering drop-down box lets you choose how much buffer is applied to the received streams. A lower value gives lower delay, but depends upon the network to have low jitter. There are a range of values, so that you can experiment to find the optimum for your network conditions. The usual procedure is to try successively lower values until you hear audio interruptions. Then back off to a higher value with a bit of margin.
12 | Section 2 selected on the Diagnostics page. These are mostly intended for our engineers. Should you have a problem that might be diagnosable via these logs, our support people will ask you to download and email us the files. FAQs Do all the channels need to go to a single unit at the other end? No. Each of the iPort’s channels are independent and may be used individually. Simply enter the IP numbers/ports for the unit you want to use at the other end.
Livewire-WAN Link | 13 ♦♦ AAC-LD has the lowest delay of the codecs, so is the choice when inter-activity is important, such as for intercoms. It has about 30% less efficiency than AAC, which means that for equal quality, you would need to use 30% higher bitrate. Its packetloss concealment is good, but not as good as AAC. ♦♦ MP3 (MPEG layer 3) is not as efficient as AAC and has the worst packet-loss concealment.
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Streaming 3 | 15 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 listening. The iPort is only an encoder, which can generate only a few output streams. To feed a large number of listeners, a server is required.
16 | Section 3 there must be a hardware Node somewhere on the network to provide the timing clock.) An installation which already has Livewire equipment would not need a Node dedicated to the iPort - you would just select the channels you want to stream directly from the Livewire network. The original idea for the SHOUTcast server is that it was to accept an audio input from the Winamp player which has a special ‘DSP’plug-in.
Streaming | 17 5. Select ‘TCP’ as the protocol (used for the iPort to server link) 6. Click the box Enable SHOUTcast and enter a password that will be used by the server to authenticate the stream Install, configure, and start the server (Steamcast for our example) 7. Install Steamcast and its support files the host PC 8. Edit the config file (as described below) 9. Start the Steamcast server 10.
18 | Section 3 Clicking on Options gets us to the page that lets us enter the codec details. For this first stream, we’ve chosen the MP3 encoder, and a high-quality 128kbps bitrate. For communication with streaming servers, the Protocol type will be TCP. Click the Enable SHOUTcast protocol box and enter a password. This password will be used by the server to check that the stream is authorised. For this example we will enter ‘telos1’. Enter a stream name. Here we have entered ‘stream1’.
Streaming | 19 web broadcast. Steamcast’s backend XML sheets are supported by other services such as LoudCity for royalty requirements and the interface is also utilized by several IRC and PHP projects to include stats in varying listener locations. Installing and Using Steamcast Download the server software from www.steamcast.com. Windows Installation Procedure: Simply extract the .zip file to a folder (C:\Program Files\ Steamcast\). Once extracted, you can create a shortcut to steamcast.
20 | Section 3 ; Steamcast Configuration File ; ================================ ; This is the default Steamcast server configuration file, feel free to use ; it as a template for your server’s configuration. All lines beginning with ; ; or blank are ignored by the server’s configuration parser.
Streaming | 21 ; also enables steamcast’s auto extension feature so that the server will assign the correct ; extension to your mount points based on the audio format/codec in use. MimeFile=mime.types ; BanFile [None|*steamcast.ban]: Use this variable to specify the location of your ban file. The ; ban file contains information about pre-existing bans. If the ban file does not exist, steamcast ; will attempt to create it. A setting of None disables saving or loading of ban information. BanFile=steamcast.
22 | Section 3 ; ClientTimeout [*30]: Number of seconds a listener/viewer should stay connected while no ; source exists for thier mount. ClientTimeout=30 ; User Configuration ; ================== ; AdminUser & Admin Pass: This is the credentials that allow full control of the server remotely ; so be very careful in determining what to put here.
Streaming | 23 ; UserMaxes combined exceed the global UserMax then the UserMax takes presedence. SourceUserMax=5 ; SourceRelay: This particular mount will pull data from the location specified below. ; If you publish both servers on yp.shoutcast.com and wish that they cluster at that ; yp server then enter your relay url without http:// or trailing path or slashes ; like the example below.
24 | Section 3 ; publishing outlets. You can use %s anywhere in the title to have the encoder’s option included ; into the final stream name. ; SourceNameFormat=%s powered by Steamcast ; SourceIsDefault [*Yes|No]: Setting this to Yes will make this particular ; mount available globally. There can be only one global mount. This ; is also the only mount that will be able to list at shoutcast.
Streaming | 25 ; services. ; SourcePublicRelays=Yes ; SourceRawKey: Set this variable to the key you would like passed in a parameter string to ; access the raw data stream in HTTP form. This is great for things such as Flash. If you use ; the example below then access to the raw data stream (unprotected by user-agent filters) can ; be obtained by passing http://localhost:8000/mountname.mp3?rawdata to the player, as always ; substitute the address with your specific implementation.
26 | Section 3 ; ServIP=ANY ; SrcIP [*Any]: SrcIP is the IP that Steamcast will listen for source connections. For ; instance setting this option to 127.0.0.1 will limit SHOUTcast source connection attempts ; to only from the the machine steamcast resides on. ANY (case sensitive) will allow ; steamcast to bind to all and any ip interfaces available. ; SrcIP=ANY ; ThreadPool [*5]: Set this to control the amount of available threads for incoming clients.
Streaming SourcePass=telos4 SourceUserMax=5 SourceIsDefault=No SourceMount=/stream5.mp3 SourceUser=telos5 SourcePass=telos5 SourceUserMax=5 SourceIsDefault=No SourceMount=/stream6.mp3 SourceUser=telos6 SourcePass=telos6 SourceUserMax=5 SourceIsDefault=No SourceMount=/stream7.mp3 SourceUser=telos7 SourcePass=telos7 SourceUserMax=5 SourceIsDefault=No SourceMount=/stream8.mp3 SourceUser=telos8 SourcePass=telos8 SourceUserMax=5 SourceIsDefault=No SourceMount=/stream9.
28 | Section 3 SourceMount=/stream11.mp3 SourceUser=telos11 SourcePass=telos11 SourceUserMax=5 SourceIsDefault=No SourceMount=/stream12.mp3 SourceUser=telos12 SourcePass=telos12 SourceUserMax=5 SourceIsDefault=No SourceMount=/stream13.mp3 SourceUser=telos13 SourcePass=telos13 SourceUserMax=5 SourceIsDefault=No SourceMount=/stream14.mp3 SourceUser=telos14 SourcePass=telos14 SourceUserMax=5 SourceIsDefault=No SourceMount=/stream15.
Streaming | 29 Web Interface To use the Web interface on the same PC where Steamcast is running, open a Web browser and point it to: http://localhost:9800. The number after the colon is the IP port number, which we have set via the Steamcast configuration file to 9800 in our example. You can also use a browser on a remote machine, by entering the host PC’s IP number in place of ‘localhost’.
30 | Section 3 SHOUTcast Radio DNAS application. UNIX, LINUX, FreeBSD and MAC OSX: 1. Download the SHOUTcast DNAS application version appropriate to your system by proceeding to this link. 2. Unzip the distribution and un-tar the archive. 3. Use a text editor to configure the sc_serv.conf file 4. Note that the user you run the server as requires read access to the config file, and write access for the files you define for file storage and log storage.
Streaming | 31 Using a PC Player to Listen We will use the Windows Media Player 11 for our first test with the Steamcast server configured as above. Open the player, right click, go to the File menu and select Open URL.... This window will appear: Enter the IP and port, then the stream name. Because the player is running on the same machine as the server in this case, ‘localhost’ is entered as the IP number.
32 | Section 3 MPEG License & Music Copyright The MPEG encoders in the iPort are properly licensed for professional, non-public applications such as broadcast remotes, private distribution systems, and the like. We’ve paid the fees as part of the cost of making the iPort (in fact, it is a significant part of our expense), and the use license is passed to you when you buy the equipment. For this kind of application, you have no need to pay any additional fees.
Streaming | 33 on the statutory license and other aspects of webcasting, please visit the following sites: The U.S. Copyright Office http://www.copyright.gov The Recording Industry Association of America http://www.riaa.com/issues/music/webcasting. ASCAP http://www.ascap.com/weblicense/webintro.html BMI http://www.bmi.com/iama/webcaster/index.
