[Icecast] encoder->server->listener lag

[Karl Heyes]

On Wed, 2005-03-09 at 18:49, Mike Whitaker wrote:
> We're running a setup with M3W on a PC in Sri Lanka, encoding to a 
> server in the UK. What factors govern the time delay between things 
> being said to the microphone in SL and heard by a client connecting to 
> the server, and how can we reduce it as much as possible? Currently 
> we're experiencing 20-30 secs or more.

The main 2 factors (which are related) are the prebuffer size of the
listening client (eg 64kbytes) and the burst size in icecast (which is
used to fill the clients prebuffer quickly).

Reduce them both to the smallest you think you can get away with. For
example a burst-size 0 and client prebuffer 8 kbytes will mean icecast
starts the listener at the latest data received and the client will only
wait until 8 kbytes is received before playback.

The problem you have with low latency is that your listeners become more
susceptible to network lag.

karl.