TNTCast

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do you offer a control panel to manage my streams?

A: We believe that function comes before form. None of the currently available stream control panels operate in the way that we would like to see, so we have developed our own custom panel which offers both real-time information and statistics about your streams including hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly listener stats with graphs, as well as country stats. Our panel is under active development which gives us the flexibility to add features as requested by our clients.

Q: How long will it take to set my streaming server up?

A: As we prefer everything to be done correctly to our very high standards, we do not use any automatic provisioning or suspension systems. Your server is guaranteed to be professionally setup by a stream engineer within 12 hours of purchase.

Q: Which format and bitrate should I stream at?

A: This can be a difficult question to answer and depends on several things. When choosing a stream format and bitrate, here are some things to keep in mind:

• Compatibility - If you want to be able to support virtually every media player out there, the clear format winner is MP3. While other formats such as Ogg Vorbis and aacPlus sound better than MP3 at lower bitrates (and thus lower your streaming costs), not as many applications natively support those formats at this time so your listeners may have to install special software to tune in. This can be a fair tradeoff though depending on your target audience.
• Type of Programming - If your programming is mainly music, you will want to offer the highest quality sound that you can. 128kbps MP3 is widely used and considered good quality, however if you want your stream to really pack that extra punch, consider 192kbps or above. For talk programming, lower bitrates can be used to save considerably on streaming costs.

Q: What is port 80 streaming and how is yours setup?

A: Streaming on port 80 means that your stream will be accessible on the same port as standard website traffic. This will allow your stream to be listened to behind corporate firewalls which may block streams on other ports and deny legitimate listeners from tuning in.

We achieve this by proxying connections on port 80 and forwarding them to your dedicated Icecast or SHOUTcast instance. Your stream will be available on your own dedicated port as well as port 80 with a similar link to this:
http://server.tntcast.net/Your-Station-Name

Q: My station or main listener base is located outside of the US. Will your streaming servers still sound great across the globe?

A: Our premium streaming network in Chicago has been serving listeners in over 100 countries every month for over 5 years, and we have yet to receive a single complaint about poor stream quality abroad. By using high quality global network providers we can ensure optimal routes around the world.