Streaming Software

[ez_duce]

Ok, so i've got the fancy scanner, now i need advice. I'm looking for a way to stream my scanner feed online. I have been listening to LiveATC.net feeds and want to start my own, either police or air. I have a BCD-396t and a way to connect it to the computer. My main question is what software i would need to broadcast online. Also, i've seen some people add alpha tags to their streams depending on which freq is in use. I'm guessing this is possible with the 396 becuase with scannerbase AVC, i can control the scanner and see the active freq. What would be an easy way to do this and add alpha to say, a winamp stream? I've seen some references to Icecast, but have no idea if that's the way to go or not. Anyone ever tried this?

 

[dynamitedjs]

if you're not computer savy than do it like I did. (I had icecast, simplecast etc, but could never get the html code right, also if you stream from your website, that is if you have one, you can only get about 5 to 25 listeners at a time. With IBN you can get up to 100.)

Go to www.incidentbroadcast.com

ask to broadcast a live feed. As long as you do it full time it's a go. If not get you another non digital scanner and broadcast other non digital emergency freqs when you take your 396 with you.

If you want to see and hear the other feeds go to my website, www.dynamite-djs.com

go to the bottom of the page click on the police banner and follow the directions.

I actually broadcast richmond area pd's full time.

 

[KC1UA]

If you care to take the Simplecast/Icecast route and embed alpha tags into a scanner feed, here is the tutorial I wrote on setting it up:

http://scancapecod.us/xoops/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=16

If you want to keep it simple, I agree that the Teamspeak approach via IBN is a viable option.

 

[dimab]

If you care to take the Simplecast/Icecast route and embed alpha tags into a scanner feed, here is the tutorial I wrote on setting it up:

http://scancapecod.us/xoops/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=16

If you want to keep it simple, I agree that the Teamspeak approach via IBN is a viable option.

awesome tutorial/write up!

 

[KC1UA]

Thanks. I need to find some time to update it to reflect the capability of the BC246T and BCD396T scanners also. There's also a "free" way to do this using a program called Oddcast instead of Simplecast, but that leads to another way of sending alpha tags directly to Icecast and is something I haven't tried yet. One of these days when I have nothing better to do....

 

[ez_duce]

Ok guys, thank you VERY much for all the info. Trying to do things the hard way, as always, i chose the IceCast/SimpleCast method. I have everything configed and working fine on that end, thanks to the ScanCapeCod tutorial. However, i am having problems getting the alpha tags. I have monitor.exe, and serproxy running, but no tag info, just (Connected to Scanner, Initializing Scanner) lines. I added the freq info to titles.txt, still no luck. I know my com port works because i can connect with the scanner through other programs(scannerbase, uniden software). Speed is set to 115200 on both scanner and serproxy.cfg, I also tried on lower settings, still no go. Tried reading the README that came with monitor.exe, and ran under verbose mode. Monitor -V. here's what i got: (see picture attached) Any ideas?

 

[Al42]

Thanks. I need to find some time to update it to reflect the capability of the BC246T and BCD396T scanners also. There's also a "free" way to do this using a program called Oddcast instead of Simplecast, but that leads to another way of sending alpha tags directly to Icecast and is something I haven't tried yet. One of these days when I have nothing better to do....

/dcc send Scott <a copy of Metadata Generator>

It's still available on my site, although I don't think I'll be able to get it working on the 246 until I can get my hands on one.

 

[Al42]

However, i am having problems getting the alpha tags. I have monitor.exe, and serproxy running, but no tag info, just (Connected to Scanner, Initializing Scanner) lines.

For the 246 or 396 you need the 246 version of monitor.exe. Or grab a copy of Metadata Generator from my site. It sends the tags directly to the Icecast server, so you can use whichever client you like, Simplecast, Oddcast, whatever.

 

[ez_duce]

Almost there

Yipee! Finally got the tags to work, for the most part. Am using: Icecast2, SimpleCast, monitor(246T), and SerProxy. Monitor connects, and shows tags. However, the tags continually cycle through. For Example, say i only have 2 freqs programmed - it will stop on the one that is transmitting. Good.
However, when both freqs are silent, the monitor program keeps going from one to another, jumping about every second or so. 1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1.... Since the scanner is checking these freqs, the monitor thinks there's activity? It's really annoying, just wondering if anyone else has seen this. Also, on a side note, I CAN get the tags to show up on one computer using winamp, but not on 2 others. Then i used realplayer to double check on the computers that couldnt read and RP can read the tags, just not decode audio correctly. I dont care about the audio on realplayer, so no big deal, but the tags aren't showing up in every winamp. They are all the latest versions too.(maybe a modern vs. classic skin bug?) Oh well, at least i know the tags are being sent. If i can figure out how to fix monitor, i'll be happy. Many thanks to you guys for helping me out with this. I NEVER would have been able to figure it all out. Thank you.

PS. I tried using metagenerator, but no luck with it, so chose to stick to the hard way.
BCD-396t

 

[w2lie]

Anyone able to make this work by using Oddcast??

I use IceCast -> Oddcast -> Winamp to pump my data out.

Streaming is not a problem, its making the metatags work.

I don't want to pay for software, if there may be a free way of doing it.

245MetaGenerator doesn't seem to work.

Thanks!

 

[Tweekerbob]

Anyone able to make this work by using Oddcast??

I use IceCast -> Oddcast -> Winamp to pump my data out.

Streaming is not a problem, its making the metatags work.

I don't want to pay for software, if there may be a free way of doing it.

245MetaGenerator doesn't seem to work.

Thanks!

The only free way is to inject the text data into Icecast directly, as Metagenerator does. If that isn't working for you (most likely a firewall/icecast setting), then you may have to "roll your own" as Al did.

The only other way is to use a program like Simplecast which is able to encode the text data directly into the MP3 stream. It ain't free, but it works.

Ryan

 

[Tweekerbob]

.However, when both freqs are silent, the monitor program keeps going from one to another, jumping about every second or so. 1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1.... Since the scanner is checking these freqs, the monitor thinks there's activity? It's really annoying, just wondering if anyone else has seen this.

Try running Monitor.exe in verbose mode by going to a dos prompt and typing in "monitor.exe -v" Then cut and paste this into a text file for further examination. If you can't determine what the program and scanner are doing, you might try contacting the author of monitor and send him that text file.

Also, on a side note, I CAN get the tags to show up on one computer using winamp, but not on 2 others. Then i used realplayer to double check on the computers that couldnt read and RP can read the tags, just not decode audio correctly. I dont care about the audio on realplayer, so no big deal, but the tags aren't showing up in every winamp. They are all the latest versions too.(maybe a modern vs. classic skin bug?)

You might want to get the text tags working correctly (not doing the 1-2-1...thing) first before giving up hope on the two computers that are running Winamp but for some reason are not receiving the text tags. There is a growing number of feeds utilizing this feature. Perhaps, try connecting to an exisiting feed with functioning text tags on the computers that "aren't" working and see if they work on a different feed.

As for RP not decoding the audio properly, you got me. Are you running an MP3 feed or OGG? All Winamp versions 2.xx or 5.xx should be compatible with MP3 metadata tags.

Ryan

[edit: I forgot to mention that iTunes for both Mac and Windows will decode MP3 metadata as well]

 

[w2lie]

The only free way is to inject the text data into Icecast directly, as Metagenerator does. If that isn't working for you (most likely a firewall/icecast setting), then you may have to "roll your own" as Al did.

The only other way is to use a program like Simplecast which is able to encode the text data directly into the MP3 stream. It ain't free, but it works.

Ryan

I may be forced to go down the Simplecast route.
Metagenerator won't install on my W2K machine. It flopps out on step 7, constantly.

I tried forcing the OCX files to register, and moved all the .dll's into my WINNT/System32 directory. It doesn't look like metagenerator is seeing any data from the radio.

I ran PROXY and Monitor -v for simplecast, and I can see data in Monitor, I just wish there was a way for monitor to push into Oddcast, but I'm guessing that Oddcast and Simplecast go about life differently.

Unfortunately, I have not experience in programming.
Maybe my Icecast string is wrong. I will have to dig into in a bit further.
My WMA info still looks like its defaulting. If I look at my mount in Icecast, it looks to have defaulted data.

Now I remember why I gave up on this project a few months ago!!

 

[Al42]

I may be forced to go down the Simplecast route.
Metagenerator won't install on my W2K machine. It flopps out on step 7, constantly.

I tried forcing the OCX files to register, and moved all the .dll's into my WINNT/System32 directory. It doesn't look like metagenerator is seeing any data from the radio.

Try the Win98 version of Metagenerator. I don't have 2k installed anywhere, so I can't try it out in that configuration.

BTW, if you register a dll, and then move it, Windows will never find it. Unregister it first, move it, then register it again from the new location. (In your case, move them back, unregister them, ...)