| Broadcasting live content over the Internet isn't as | | | | listener. To see it in action, listen to the Live Police |
| difficult as people would think. In fact, it's extremely | | | | Scanner at You'll see some text scroll in the Windows |
| easy. All you need is an audio or video source, a way | | | | Media Player. |
| of getting the audio or video to the PC, a free | | | | Once you've typed in the Display Information click |
| software program supplied by Microsoft, and enough | | | | the Finish button instead of the Next button. You'll |
| upload bandwidth to cover the broadcasting of the | | | | get a pop up dialog box that tells you about IP |
| content. | | | | blocking. Just ignore this for now and click OK. |
| In this tutorial, I'll attempt to teach you what you | | | | That wasn't that hard was it. Believe it or not, we're |
| need to know so you can broadcast your content | | | | done. Well, almost. |
| over the Internet. I'll primarily show you audio only, | | | | Windows Media Encoder only allows a maximum of 5 |
| but you'll see how easy it is to do video as you | | | | concurrent listeners by default, so if you want to |
| progress through this tutorial. | | | | have more than 5 you can make a small windows |
| As this is a text only tutorial, you will want to | | | | registry change on your PC which will allow up to 50 |
| download the free software from Microsoft, and go | | | | connections. |
| through the configuration while you read this tutorial. | | | | Warning: Changing the registry can be hazardous to |
| Don't panic though. It's really easy to do. Don't let the | | | | your operating system if you change or delete the |
| length of this tutorial scare you away. The rewards | | | | wrong thing. If you aren't confident doing this |
| of having your live broadcast up and running should | | | | yourself, get someone that knows what they're |
| keep you motivated to stick with it. | | | | doing to help you out. I can't be held responsible if |
| The only slightly complicated part of this tutorial is to | | | | you mess it up, and can't boot back into your |
| do with your firewall. Due to the number of firewalls | | | | operating system. Now, having said that, it's a very |
| out there, I'll be very generic in my approach to | | | | easy to make the change so you shouldn't have a |
| telling you what you need to do. I'll explain this in | | | | problem. Follow the instructions at the end of this |
| further detail later in the tutorial. | | | | document, only if you want to allow more than 5 |
| Let's Start | | | | concurrent listeners. If you're happy with 5 listeners, |
| First things first. You need to set up your audio | | | | then we're almost done. |
| source. In this example I'm using a radio scanner to | | | | If you've followed the tutorial up until now, you will |
| broadcast Live Police from Sydney Australia. If you | | | | have an audio source with a cable going from the |
| want, you can listen to it by going to | | | | headphone socket to the Microphone socket of your |
| I basically have the radio scanner plugged into my | | | | sound card in your PC. You will have your Windows |
| PC's sound card with a cable roughly 2 metres (7 | | | | Media Encoder totally configured and be raring to go. |
| Feet) in length with a 3.5mm mono plug on each end. | | | | Just ensure you save the configuration on the |
| Of course the length of cable is up to you. Note: if | | | | Windows Media Encoder so you can load it at any |
| you are broadcasting music, you'll want to use a | | | | time. |
| cable that has stereo plugs instead of mono plugs. | | | | One more minor speed bump to get over and you'll |
| You'll also want to ensure your plugs on the cable | | | | be broadcasting to the world. This is the part that |
| match the audio device, Some devices may use a | | | | can be a little complicated though. I'll attempt to give |
| 2.5mm plug instead of 3.5mm. If you are broadcasting | | | | you the basics you'll need to get your live broadcast |
| voice only, mono plugs are better as it ensures sound | | | | up and running. |
| comes out of both speakers for the listener. | | | | We'll break this down into two parts. Configuring your |
| Plug the cable in so that one end plugs into the | | | | firewall, and working out your IP address so you can |
| headphone socket of your audio device, and the | | | | give it out to your listeners. |
| other end plugs into the Microphone socket of your | | | | Configuring your firewall |
| sound card on your PC. | | | | If you are using a software firewall such as Zone |
| Now go to the Microsoft website and download the | | | | Alarm, it's dead simple to configure. Basically, you just |
| Windows Media Encoder 9 software. It's free. It's | | | | run the Windows Media Encoder and click the Start |
| approximately 9.5MB.The software is located at | | | | Encoding button. When you do this your firewall |
| Once you've installed the software, go ahead and | | | | should prompt you asking if you will allow the |
| start it. You'll be presented with the setup wizard. | | | | connections. Just choose YES to all the questions. It |
| Highlight the option named Broadcast a Live Event | | | | needs access to the Internet, as well as needs to |
| and click OK. | | | | run as a server. |
| You'll now be in the window where you can choose | | | | If you have a hardware firewall such as one that is |
| your audio source and/or video source. If you were | | | | built into your ADSL modem/router, then it gets a |
| setting up video, you would leave both items ticked, | | | | little more complicated. What you need to do is go |
| however in this example, we're just going to do | | | | into the configuration of the modem/router, and find |
| audio so go ahead and untick the video option. Under | | | | the section labeled Firewall. In that section you'll be |
| the audio option use the drop down box and choose | | | | able to configure firewall rules to either Allow and |
| your sound card from the list. Then click the | | | | Deny connections. The section may be called |
| configure button. | | | | something similar to packet filter. Consult your manual |
| In the audio properties window the only thing you | | | | to find out exactly where you need to make the |
| really need to change is the option called Pin Line. In | | | | changes. |
| the Drop down box, choose Microphone. Of course | | | | Once you've located the correct section, you'll need |
| you can also use Line In, but you need to ensure | | | | to configure it so that the source ports range from 0 |
| you've plugged the cable into the Line In of your | | | | to 65535. The destination port range should be 8080 |
| sound card. | | | | to 8080 if you followed my tutorial. Ensure Inbound |
| So far it's pretty easy right? Believe it or not, there's | | | | and Outbound traffic is also allowed. |
| not a great deal more to do. | | | | Note, some modem/routers might already have port |
| Let's continue shall we | | | | 8080 configured. If your modem/router does already |
| Just click OK and then Next. | | | | have this configured, then ignore the above because |
| If you've followed the tutorial so far, you should be | | | | it sounds like you're already configured to allow the |
| in a window where you can choose a broadcast | | | | necessary connections. |
| method. Click on the radio box next to Pull from the | | | | How to connect to the broadcast |
| encoder and click on the Next button. | | | | The URL to give to people is mms://:8080 where is |
| In the field labeled Http Port, pick a common port like | | | | whatever your public IP address happens to be. You |
| 8080. You'll thank me later. Many firewalls on routers | | | | need to ensure it's the address your ISP gives you, |
| have rules already set up for port 8080 and it makes | | | | since people from the Internet will be connecting to |
| it a lot easier to configure. It also allows maximum | | | | it. If you aren't sure what your IP address is, you can |
| availability to the masses due to it being a common | | | | get your IP address by visiting a site on the internet |
| proxy port number. Go ahead and click Next. | | | | such as As soon as the site loads, your IP address |
| Next we need to configure the encoding options. Go | | | | will be at the top of the page in huge print. Simply |
| to the drop down box and choose Multiple Bit Rates | | | | replace with the actual IP address and your done. |
| audio (CBR). In the Bit rate section, choose 19kb/s. | | | | Ensure you don't use the < and > brackets in the |
| Note: Ensure you untick all the other bit rates. The | | | | URL though. It should look like mms://10.10.10.10:8080 |
| only bit rate you want ticked is 19kb/s. This bit rate | | | | except use your IP address. |
| should be a good compromise between quality and | | | | That's it. I hope your head didn't explode |
| bandwidth consumption for streaming voice quality. If | | | | The only thing left to do now is adjust your audio |
| you want to stream something like music, you may | | | | source levels so that the audio meter stays mainly in |
| want to choose a higher bit rate. MP3 audio tends to | | | | the green. You can experiment by connecting to the |
| be around 128kb/s but remember the higher bit rate | | | | stream yourself, and by putting the mms URL above |
| you use, the more upload bandwidth will be required. | | | | into your browser's address bar and pressing enter. |
| For an idea of bandwidth usage, you can have | | | | Your Windows Media Player should open and try and |
| roughly 40 concurrent listeners on a 1mb/s upload | | | | connect to the broadcast. |
| bandwidth using 19kb/s. This will leave you with about | | | | Note: If you aren't able to connect to the broadcast, |
| 250kb/s for doing other things on the internet. The | | | | only play with the firewall settings, and not the |
| more concurrent listeners you have, the more | | | | encoder. Ensure you have the START ENCODING |
| powerful CPU you'll require, but from experience, you | | | | button pressed on the encoder to ensure its running. |
| don't need a high powered CPU. The Live Police | | | | If all has gone well, you should be listening to your |
| scanner at has a maximum of 40 concurrent listeners | | | | broadcast over the Internet. Give that URL out to |
| on a 1.7GHz CPU with 1 gig of memory and runs | | | | your visitors. |
| beautifully. And yes, I have reached 40 concurrent | | | | To increase the maximum number of direct |
| users at once. | | | | connections |
| Let's continue | | | | 1. In Registry Editor, use the tree view to navigate |
| Click the Next button, and then click it again so we | | | | to the following subkey: |
| skip the Archive section. | | | | s Media Tools\Encoder\MaxClientConnections |
| Here we'll type in some text about the audio. When | | | | 2. Edit the subkey so that it reflects the maximum |
| people listen to the stream using their Windows | | | | number of direct connections you want to allow. The |
| Media Player, it will scroll this information to the | | | | maximum possible number is 50. |