[Icecast] Adjusting source->server buffer size

[Antti Näyhä]

Hello,

we're running a radio using Icecast2 and Winamp5/Oddcast as the source. 
  We have several DJ's who broadcast from their homes, which means that 
the quality of the source->server connection varies wildly.

Several of our DJ's have massive problems when broadcasting to Icecast: 
the music constantly goes on a pause, sometimes for a second or two, 
sometimes for long enough to trigger the fallback stream.  The problem 
seems to be a combination of an unstable source->server connection and 
Icecast's small buffer size.  Note that these DJ's can still broadcast 
to Shoutcast server (using the Shoutcast DSP plugin) with very good 
results.  This is true even if they're using much higher bitrates than 
with Icecast - so it's not about the speed of the connection, but the 
stability.  I understand that Shoutcast works better over unstable 
connections simply because of the larger buffer size.

Can Icecast's source-to-server buffer size somehow be adjusted?  Or does 
Oddcast have some hidden internal buffer option?

We're sincerely hoping to avoid switching over to Shoutcast and MP3, so 
any suggestions would be most welcome.

-- 
Antti Näyhä                 "Ich bin der Zorn Gottes;
http://www.sairwas.org/         wer sonst ist mit mir?"