Configuring the SHOUTcast DSP Plug-in

You have completed your installation; you are certain there is a CODEC installed; now its time for you to get SHOUTin. Go the Winamp Preferences by clicking on the control box located at the top left hand corner of the Winamp window. Move the cursor through the menu and to the Preferences selection under the Options menu.



In the Preferences window, just click on the DSP/Effect subcategory under the Plug-Ins tree. Highlight the SHOUTcast Source for Winamp v1.10 [dsp_sc.dll] in the right pane. Once you have highlighted it, a dialog box would popup.



To configure settings about your SHOUTcast stream, you would have to click the "Set" button located at the top right corner of the SHOUTcast source window. Make sure you click on the one that is aligned with the "Server:" label. Upon clicking the button, a window should appear that allows you to configure your Stream settings.



Here is an explanation of each window component:

SHOUTcast Server: (default: localhost) - In this field, you would enter the IP number of the machine running the SHOUTcast server software. If the machine running the server software is the same as the machine that you are running this copy of Winamp, enter "localhost" in the field. By default, it is assumed that the SHOUTcast Server is running on the same machine.

Port: (default: 8000) - In this field, you would enter the port number of the SHOUTcast server, by default, the SHOUTcast Server is set to 8000, however, this port can be changed, please contact the Server Administrator.

Password: SHOUTcast servers can have a password specified so that only selected individuals can have the ability to stream via that specific server. Please contact your Server Administrator for the password.

Public Server: (Index server in yp.shoutcast.com) - SHOUTcast has a directory service in which people can browse via a web browser to locate specific streams to listen to. If you wish to have your stream listed on this list, please leave a check in the box to the left of the option.

Description: This is where you would enter a brief description of what you are either calling your Stream, or perhaps some of the types of content you are streaming.

Genre: If you are going to have your stream listed in the SHOUTcast directory, then this field is most important in having people finding your stream. You should only put down a genre that you feel you will be broadcasting, such as: Talk, Comedy, Rock, Alternative, Rap, Classical, Various, Dance, etc. (The SHOUTcast search engine also searches by genre)

URL: If you have a homepage or specific site that you would like to have all listeners perhaps see, you can specify it in this field, and when your listing is displayed in the directory, your entire description will be a link to the URL specified.

The Format window is the most important window of the SHOUTcast Plugin. The reason for this is because of the fact that this is where you set the compression rate for your stream. To open the Format selection window, click on the second "Set" button located on the upper right hand side of the main SHOUTcast plugin window. This is the button aligned directly to the right of the label "Format". When you click the set button, a window will pop up that looks like this:



At this point, SHOUTcast can only stream using MPEG Layer-3 technology. So the Format field will always have to say "MPEG Layer-3" The Attributes field, has the most important role in this plugin. Here is a list of compression rates and the connection speed that would be recommended to hear it.

Quality	Transfer Rate	Attributes
Voice	14.4kbps	8 kBit/s, 11,025 Hz, Mono
Voice	19.2kbps	20 kBit/s, 11,025 Hz, Mono
Radio	28.8kbps	20 kBit/s, 11,025 Hz, Stereo
Radio	33.6kbps	24 kBit/s, 11,025 Hz, Stereo
Record	48.0kpbs	32 kBit/s, 11,025 Hz, Stereo
Cassette Tape	64kbps ISDN	48 kBit/s, 22,050 Hz, Stereo
Cassette Tape	96kbps ISDN	56 kBit/s, 22,050 Hz, Stereo
Concert	128kbps ISDN	64 kBit/s, 44,100 Hz, Stereo
CD Audio	384kbps DSL or Equivilent	128 kBit/s, 44,100 Hz, Stereo

After you have chosen an acceptiple broadcast bandwidth setting, you are now ready to begin your broadcast! Press "OK" and assuming you have entered all the connection information, press "Connect" and you should connect to the SHOUTcast server without any difficulty. That`s it!

Source: http://www.shoutcast.com/support/docs/