Re: Streaming delays (was Raid)

["PatrickLidstone" <patrickl@xxxxxxx>]

--- In ukha_d@y..., "bensbarn2001" <ben_wilkinson@h...>
wrote:
> Thanks for these suggestions.  MP3 streaming is definitely more
> straightforward as there is timing info in the encoding. 
However, 
> I'd really like to be able to do this with an uncompressed digital
> stream, so as to have highest possible quality at playback.  
> 
> I've seen a bit of stuff on IEEE 1394 which seems to have many of 
the 
> required features for streaming.  At least, as opposed to TCP/IP,
> it's designed with that in mind.  Has anybody used/looked at
this?  
> And is it a possibility for multiple roomed audio?

I don't think you'll be able to get the distance required for multi-
room transmission over a bog-standard firewire link, but, although I 
don't have deep knowledge of the wire format, I believe it is a 
synchronous protocol, which bodes well.

> I also wonder what would happen if you set the buffering to zero or
> nearly zero at the client end to control the delays which occur 
> there.  If the network was guaranteed fast enough (100Mb/sec)
maybe 
> that would work?

It'll improve things, but you still won't get perfect 
synchronisation. Plus, you must have CPU's with enough headroom to be 
capable of coping with real time decoding continously, or you will 
get drop outs.

The fundamental of synchronised, streamed audio is the ability to 
keep multiple CPU's decoding in lock step. Ethernet is not a 
synchronous protocol, and isn't particularly reliable (even in a home 
environment). If you can find a way of accurately synchonising the 
decoders, to millisecond resolution, the problem can be solved. This 
can be independent of the streaming delivery (perhaps by modifying 
the NTP service, or by some other means) -- an interesting challenge!

Patrick

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