SLMC

Zak Claxton · Joined: 16 Oct 2007 Posts: 2010 Location: Podul/33/243/154/

Who are you folks using for your stream, and what makes them cool?

I have been using a group that shall go nameless. They are nice, but every time I needed to get the stream on a short-term basis, they never responded to my requests. I'm talking for DAYS. I'd have a show on a Tuesday, and start talking to them about re-upping my stream rental on the preceeding Friday, and... nothing. No response from 3-4 different folks all the way through when my show was abot to start, and I'd have to scramble for another resource. I had no choice but to let them go and look for another solution.

So, I think I may have found a good company for this. Their prices seem great, and I spoke to a guy who's been using them 24/7 for months and months, with almost no downtime.

I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, tell me more about your stream provider. Smile

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luketemplar · Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Posts: 314 Location: United Kingdom

I sponsor 2 streams - and I use U Do Shoutcast for this. Udo Tuxing is very good and very prompt with his service. He also takes the initiative to optimise his service for the client. His prices aren't the cheapest but they are pretty competitive - he supplies a 100 user stream/128kbps
Prior to that I used JJ Collingwood's service - again - not the cheapest in SL but damned reliable.
Personally I think you get what you pay for.
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Zak Claxton · Joined: 16 Oct 2007 Posts: 2010 Location: Podul/33/243/154/

RayW · Joined: 05 Sep 2007 Posts: 938 Location: Twin Cities, MN

I use JJ, too. My stream is on Auto DJ 99% of the time, playing my prerecorded 60 minute sampler. Then, I just kick it off and I'm live. Kick that and it's back to the programmed stuff.

And JJ is about the nicest guy to work with that I know (of course, I pay him a bundle).

He's been a little hard to get ahold of the last month because of a RL move. But I think he's back in SL pretty regular-like now.
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Doubledown Tandino · Joined: 07 Sep 2007 Posts: 1684 Location: Second Life

I am a stream provider. I have 3 servers and over 70 renters in SL alone. I, on a regular and daily basis get compliments as to how excellent my streams are. ... and obviously, I use my own streams myself.

My streams are 128kbps stereo max and 100 listeners max for $3800L a month.

I think the main reason people go with my streams and continue month after month is because I am inworld over 40 hours a week, and am always happy to help and troubleshoot if needed. The stream is rarely the problem, but I'm good at hearing the stream and deducing what the problem is and offering suggestions to fix it. September my downtime was an astounding 0%. August was 0.01%
Finally, if for some reason the stream simply is not working and you have an important show, I can offer an emergency stream for the day if one is available.

here's more info: or at least a cool picture:
http://slmc.myfastforum.org/sutra665.php#665

IM me inworld.. Doubledown Tandino if you'd like to begin renting
I also have two shows Sunday if you'd like to come have a listen
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Second Life: The Music, The DJs, The Nightlife, The Art, & The Creativity

My Music: On Reverb Nation: Doubledown Tandino on Twitter
Ravelong on Twitter[/b]

ticious · Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 2571 Location: Chicago

I use the Stream Team for my primary stream and Jamie Otis for my backup stream. I have had good service with both, both are competitively priced.

The Stream Team stream is a 1000 listener stream, the Jamie Otis stream is a 100 listener stream (my venue has a max capacity of 150).

Although there have been times when I had problems with the Stream Team stream and have not been able to get hold of anyone to help me. When I have a stream problem, there is a musician on the stage and an audience popping open the events list see what else is going on. And I may have as many as an additional 7 hours scheduled. I need a solution NOW, not when my provider comes on line). Other times, help has been immediately available and effective within a 'reasonable' length of time (couple hours).

There have also been times when I've had trouble with the Jamie Otis stream. Any time I have ever IM'd Jamie, regardless of the issue (stream down or poor quality, or some non-urgent business matter), whether he was on line or not, he's gotten back to me either immediately or within about 10 minutes and the longest service outage ever was less than 30 minutes.

I incur the expense of two streams from differing providers for the sake of redundancy. IMO, that 30 minute max ever down time (I've been leasing from him 24/7 for 10 months) represents excellent service from Jamie, but is wholly unacceptable to the musician who lost half his scheduled set or the audience who came in expecting to hear it.
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Doubledown Tandino · Joined: 07 Sep 2007 Posts: 1684 Location: Second Life

Basically with any stream provider, it's a very small chance that they can do anything on their end to "fix the stream" I'd say for me, it's been 1 out of 100 times where someone said 'the stream isn't working', and there was a button I could press on my server to fix it.

Most of the time it has to do with the person streaming, whether it be their computer, SL taking up bandwidth, or any of the other million things.
Or, it has to do with the stream provider's ISP at that current moment... which nothing can really be done. This is the reason I have multiple servers on different isps. Nothing short of a tornado coming out of a earthquake with a hurricane above will stop me.

If anyone ever runs into a jam and their stream isn't working properly and you can't reach your provider, just IM me. It's $400L for the day in an emergency (if i have a spare one ready. I don't regularly rent out daily streams.) and free if you're a monthly renter.

PS. I will tell you this though: Its never wise to vent out your frustration on the stream provider. All stream providers know how important having a reliable stream is. They will help where they can. If you happen to have one time where the stream fails during a show and it's not fixed, if you decide to vent your frustration on the provider and then cancel the stream, you're basically quitting a good service because of a fluke and bad luck. The stream provider is NOT OUT TO GET YOU! My best advice is that if your stream fails when you need it most, don't waste your time trying to get the provider to fix it. Instead, IM a friend and borrow their stream, toss em a few hundred lindens for the help. Then at the end of the show, test your own stream again, and i bet you it'll be working again.
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Second Life: The Music, The DJs, The Nightlife, The Art, & The Creativity

My Music: On Reverb Nation: Doubledown Tandino on Twitter
Ravelong on Twitter[/b]

ticious · Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 2571 Location: Chicago

Doubledown Tandino · Joined: 07 Sep 2007 Posts: 1684 Location: Second Life

yes, definitely valid points too. with me personally, I tell all my clients to IM me whenever there's any kind of issue whatsoever, I'm happy to help, and usually curious to find out whats wrong. I pride myself on trying to play "name that buffering sound"

Just from dealing with SL streamers, here's usually the top 5 issues that come up:

1) Person can't connect - says invalid password.
) the connect info is entered wrong
or) the IP numbers need to be used instead of the web address to connect
or) someone else is connected to the stream
or) port/stream needs to be activated (some stream providers offer streams where the streamer can handle the admin themselves. Some, the stream provider will have to reactivate it)

2) Stream is dropping (silence)
) the streamer is trying to download songs on a P2P
or) the streamer has SL's graphics too high
or) the streamer's CPU isn't strong enough to run SL and stream
or) there's some background computer program running that's either sucking up memory or sucking up bandwidth
or) the listener has their SL settings too high, or they don't have enough bandwidth

3) Stream is skipping (weird scratch sound)
) everything in number 2
or) streamer is using SAM and connected with a weblink rather than the IP
or) streamer is streaming too high (128 may be your max stream ability, but your computer or other listeners still may not be able to handle it with SL also running
or) your stream provider's ISP is running slower than normal

4) Someone else is on the stream
) well, that's because you gave out your password before and someone has hyjacked it

5) No one can hear the stream in SL
) play only stays down after you connect to the stream
and) the link in the land is entered improperly.

I think I'll put this is the FAQ section.

Here's some dumb convos I've been a part of (any problem and any question I DO NOT ever consider dumb.... but these are good examples of how a provider may not want your business again):

A: My stream isn't working
Me: Let me check it out, one minute
A: I have a show in 5 minutes, you better hurry
(1 minute goes by)
A: CMON!
Me: I'm sorry for your inconvenience, but I cannot see anything wrong on my end. I know you're about to do a show, but I can go through troubleshooting if you'd like?
A: This service is unacceptable. I want my money back!
(This person will not get their money back, and has now cut off his nose to spite his face)
-----
A: My stream isn't working
Me: Yes, I'm sorry, there have been ISP issues currently. Things should be back to normal soon
A: Do I get compensated for the downtime
Me: (jokingly and sarcastically) Well, lets say it's down for 30 minutes, how much would you like? prorated, that comes to $0.004L, do you have change for a $1L?
(this isn't a nasty customer, just someone nickel and diming. I sometimes remind them that audio servers and SL servers are servers... that's server technology, and I don't remember the last time LL gave money back for poor service.)
-----
A: My stream isn't working
Me: I'm in the middle of a show. but IM me with the problem and I'll help out as soon as I can
A: The server is down
Me: The server is working fine, I'm streaming on it right now
A: Well mine is down. Come and fix it.
Me: I can't now, I'm in the middle of a show, but believe me, yours is the same server as mine and its working fine.
A: (Sends me a TP)
(Duuuuuuuuumb!! He's not dumb because he doesn't get the concept that the server is the same as the one I'm using. He's dumb because he thinks me teleporting to him and talking to him avatar to avatar may induce better results than IM text. Please please please people, you do NOT need to teleport the stream provider to you to talk. The stream provider can solve the problem in IM)

LOL, sorry for my mini rant... it wasn't even a mini rant... more like funny anticdotes about the woes of a stream provider
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Second Life: The Music, The DJs, The Nightlife, The Art, & The Creativity

My Music: On Reverb Nation: Doubledown Tandino on Twitter
Ravelong on Twitter[/b]

ticious · Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 2571 Location: Chicago

I spent a couple years on the customer support desk in a major financial services software company (number one in US for the past 20 years). Believe me, I sooooo understand DD!!! And these were folks with ten of thousands of real dollars on the line (and in some cases hundreds of thousands, our client base included eight of the top ten banks and mutual funds in the US). Here's my sample:

A: <system name> isn't working.
Me: What are you trying to do?
A: I'm trying to get my NAV out. (note, this is the over all purpose one uses <system name> for, not an individual function of <system name>)
Me: What product are you on?
A: <system name>. (note, this would be the generic system name which encompassed many products, some mainframe, some desktop and some web based).
Me: What screen are you trying to access (there are nearly 1,200 possibilities)?
A: I have to get my NAV out in 10 minutes or it's an SLA breach.
Me: I'm able to access your environment just fine, what account number, date and function are you trying to access?
A: I can't get my NAV to the NASDAQ now, you've taken too long to resolve my problem! I want to talk to your manger!!!

Usually, this would turn out to be someone who didn't have the right screen ids or the right access to do what they wanted to do or they were signed in to the wrong environment or any one of dozens of other potential stupid user errors. Of course, I would have no way of knowing what the hell it was they couldn't do or where they couldn't do it. Each of us on the customer service desk generally got at least one call of this nature every single frigging business day that I was in that job.

I have TOTAL sympathy for anyone who provides any form of customer service. You're sitting ducks for anyone's bad day.

*hug*
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Joy is in the ears that hear
- Saltheart Foamfollower
- The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant