oggPRO :: Ogg/Vorbis streaming for Max/MSP - FAQ

   
Below you can find answers to the most commonly asked questions about oggcast~ and oggamp~. If you have some more questions, just let me know at kontakt@nullmedium.de.
   

general questions:

oggcast~ related:

oggamp~ related:


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Q: What servers are supported and where can I get them?

A: oggcast~ and oggamp~ have been tested with Icecast2, JRoar and PeerCast. Additionally they might work with other servers that support the HTTP Base Auth login scheme. To download a server follow the links above.
   

Q: Do I have to run my own server?

A: Well, this depends on what you're planning to do. If you just want to use oggamp~ to listen to your favourite radio stations you don't need a server. To make your own streams with oggcast~ you probably will need one.
There might be places on the web where you could hire access to such a server, but due to the rather high bandwidth requirements that's mostly very expensive. All servers mentioned above are free and it's quite easy to install them on a machine with network access. To easily serve listeners Icecast2 or JRoar should be used. In case your upstream bandwidth is rather limited you should consider using PeerCast. Have a look at their web sites for more detailed information.
   

Q: Are there any online projects where I can see / hear oggPRO in action?

A: Try the following links to get to some projects that are using oggPRO.

 

Q: What do people need to listen to my streams?

A: oggcast~ makes standard Ogg/Vorbis streams that are supported by many players. Have a look at the Ogg/Vorbis web page to find additional information concerning player compatibility.
   

Q: Will people be able to listen to my multichannel streams?

A: Probably not. However, streaming multichannel involves no black magic nor any trade secrets so it should be fairly easy to code multichannel support into any player. By the time of writing there seem to be no players besides oggamp~ that support more than two channels. It's just beyond the needs of any standard user, I guess. In case you find a player with multichannel support, please drop me a line!
   

Q: Can I stream to a PeerCast server with oggcast~?

A: Yes. The message 'connect 127.0.0.1 anymount.ogg 7144' connects you to a PeerCast server running on your machine (localhost) on the default port. Please note that PeerCast assigns it's own stream IDs and does not support mountpoints, so just specify whatever you want as a dummy.
   

Q: Can I play streams from PeerCast with oggamp~?

A: Yes. To do so figure out the ID of the broadcast you want to connect to. Lets say the ID is D11604BA9D552814ED0381981A56B617 then you should do something like this:
'connect 127.0.0.1 stream/D11604BA9D552814ED0381981A56B617.ogg 7144'
Since PeerCast is running locally we connect to 127.0.0.1 (localhost), port 7144 is the PeerCast default for streams. The mountpoint for PeerCast streams is 'stream/<ID>.<TYPE>'. Of course TYPE always has to be of type ogg since oggamp~ does not know how to play mp3 streams.
   

Q: Can I play m3u files with oggamp~?

A: Yes. As of version 1.2 oggamp~ reads in m3u files and parses them to find the actual stream URL. In case the m3u file contains more than one URL it will just play the first one it finds.
   

Q: Can I play mp3 files with oggamp~?

A: No. oggamp~ decodes Ogg/Vorbis only! When attempting to open mp3 encoded streams it will fail with a message saying 'input does not appear to be an ogg bitstream'.


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