Re: Streaming delays (was Raid)

["PatrickLidstone" <patrickl@xxxxxxx>]

--- In ukha_d@y..., "bensbarn2001" <ben_wilkinson@h...>
wrote:
> Thanks for this Patrick.  It's something I hadn't
considered.  Have 
> you heard this effect?   I figured that with a fast LAN,
broadcast 
> streaming and similar client PCs, such things would be
negligible.  
I 
> note that Imerge seem to be doing the same thing (at least using 
> Ethernet to distribute music digitally to clients) so thought that
at 
> least someone who might know what they're doing has been looking at
> this.

The problem isn't so much with the real time delivery of the 
broadcast, but with the variation in buffer sizes at the client 
device. Clients are generally designed for use over poor quality wide 
area networks (e.g. internet, dialup) and take a cautious approach to 
buffering data in order to provide an uninterrupted listening 
experince. Consequently, lag can be of the order of seconds. 
Unfortunately, the human ear is particularly good at detecting the 
slightest delay/phase difference at millisecond resolution (it's how 
we work out the direction sounds come from), so it's likely to drive 
you potty. I suspect that exactly simultaneous delivery of audio on 
multiple devices using a streaming protocol would be fantastically 
difficult to achieve, because it also depends on synchronising the 
decoding of the stream, and the effort involved depends not only on 
the particular music content but also on other stuff like the exact 
capabilities of the particular CPU doing the decoding.

As a workaround, how about having one (or more) centrally distributed 
streams (via Kat5 perhaps), with local amplification, in addition to 
local sited Rio's. Then select between central source or local 
streaming at will. Control of the central source could be via web 
browser.

Patrick

Yahoo! Groups Sponsor

ADVERTISEMENT

For more information: http://www.automatedhome.co.uk
Post message: ukha_d@xxxxxxx 
Subscribe:  ukha_d-subscribe@xxxxxxx 
Unsubscribe:  ukha_d-unsubscribe@xxxxxxx 
List owner:  ukha_d-owner@xxxxxxx

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.