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01 October 2006

Can anyone help fix my radio woes? [More:]
I'm having serious problems broadcasting. Which makes me sad. Here are my specs.

1. IANA techie.
2. I have WinAmp and have playlists to play which sound fine on my own machine.
3. Shoutcast runs all right.
4. BUT, when I hit connect, the broadcast comes out VERY messed up. It's halting/skipping and broken. There are frequent buffering messages. It also gets stuck, almost like an old LP, in mid-track.
5. It sounds terrible.
6. My computer is low on memory. Maybe that's related.

It's running right now while I fiddle around with it and try to figure things out, in case it would help you to hear the problems.

Any thoughts?
posted by Miko 01 October | 13:20
1. What is your bandwidth? Particularly the upspeed. Upspeed is the rate at which you can transmit information TO the Internet (downspeed you're more familiar with; it's how fast you can get files like websites, pictures, and music FROM the Internet). And make sure the plugin is transmitting at no more than 64 kbps.
2. What happens if you have absolutely nothing but winamp running? Coordinate with someone in advance, asking them to listen while you broadcast. Then reboot your computer, opening only winamp. Activate the plugin, broadcast for five minutes or so, and then log on to IRC and ask your listener if they heard everything ok. Also, if you have tons of crap in your system tray (you're running Windows XP, right? Always mention your OS when asking for tech support), CLOSE/UNINSTALL anything not necessary for your computer to stay running (yes, even antivirus programs). Oh, and if I haven't made it clear, do NOT try to listen to your own broadcast. Always always ask someone else how it's doing until you're relatively secure in your DJing prowess.
3. How are you connected to the internet? Are you connected through a router? Do you have a firewall running?

Those are my thoughts at the moment. I'm sure more techie people will have actually answers. I'd love to help you troubleshoot, but not until later tonight at the earliest.
posted by Eideteker 01 October | 13:28
Umm, close your antivirus; don't uninstall it. I meant close OR uninstall. If you have CometCursor type crap running, you should just uninstall that junk (you don't seem like the type, but this is my blanket tech support answer). It's ok if you just close programs you don't need running at the moment but want to keep.

Also, google "Spybot Search & Destroy" and run it (make sure to update the definitions it uses to find virals). You might have some spyware crap clogging your system.
posted by Eideteker 01 October | 13:33
Hm.

Bandwidth is 236 kbps.

I think I'm spyware-free right now; I wiped the whole system a while ago. But I'll run it and check.
posted by Miko 01 October | 13:38
It might also help to tell us just how much RAM you have. In XP, it's under Settings -> Control Panels -> System, and it'll be right there on the General tab (give it a minute to pull up the info if it's not there). The system requirements for the plugin should be on the page where you downloaded it. If your RAM is lower than that number (or right around it), that's probably your answer.

Is the plugin itself configured properly? If you click "Connect" while not actually playing anything, does your information show up on the Radio MeCha page? "Now Broadcasting: Miko" or whatever it's supposed to say. If you're connected but not playing anything, the song that Winamp is currently stopped on will show up on the page (even though you're not playing it). Because you said you were connecting, but the last song I see on the radio page is Box's last song. That says to me you haven't actually connected yet.
posted by Eideteker 01 October | 13:50
OK, ran Spybot. Found a few pcs. of tracking software. Also downloaded the newest version of WinAmp, (went from 5.24 to 5.3).

RAM is 128, which should be fine for ShoutCast.

I'll have to work on this later. I found ShoutCast support forums and maybe I'll just take this there.
posted by Miko 01 October | 14:25
It might just be that your processor isn't up to it? The speed is listed on the page that Eideteker mentioned.
posted by flopsy 01 October | 15:59
Have you checked that all the tubes are seated properly in their sockets, and glowing gently?
posted by Triode 01 October | 18:13
Thanks, Triode.

I put a big aluminum foil cone on top of the CPU, and I think things have improved!
posted by Miko 01 October | 20:48
Follow up to this condo-related AskMe question... || Happy/sad day

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