Spacial Audio Solutions SAM Cast - README

Thank you for choosing SAM Cast
Now that you have this powerful audio encoder, you'll be able to stream events as they're happening! We recommend reading the help documents on our website to get software up and running smoothly. If you don't already have one, create a Spacial profile. It'll keep track of your activities on Spacial, and you'll also get access to exclusive offers and special promotions.

Stream Hosting
For optimal streaming quality, SpacialNet is the recommended stream hosting solution for SAM Cast. SpacialNet gives you complete control over your stream all day, every day. Registration is quick and your streaming server is available immediately.
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Help Center
There are a number of ways to get help if you're experiencing issues with SAM Cast. You can visit the Help Center on our website to see if our help documents answer any of your questions. Alternatively, you can send an email to Spacial Support and one of our representatives will get back to you within the next business day. We also suggest signing up for the Forum, where experienced users can answer most technical questions almost instantly.

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New & Improved

-v2023.3 (24 July 2023)
* Activation system upgrade.

-v2022.6 (14 December 2022)
* Build pipeline improvements.

-v2022.4 (17 August 2022)
* Updated EV CodeSign Certificate and deployment pipeline.
* Fixed auto-updater security check to work with new certificate.

-v2022.2 (11 April 2022)
* Minor fix of some text in this readme file.

-v2022.1 (22 March 2022)
* Fixed SSL support for various components.
* Updated SSL certificate.

-v2021.5 (10 November 2021)
* Upgraded build chain.

-v2021.2 (7 May 2021)
* Updated digital signatures to SHA256.

-v2020.6 (1 September 2020)
* Fixed bug in CheapestStream statistic relay which only affected our internal testing environments.

-v2018.5 (26 June 2018)
* Fixed bug where AGC settings failed to load properly in certain cases.

-v2018.3 (11 April 2018)
* Statistic Relays using new HTTP library.
* Removed obsolete Statistic Relays.

-v2018.2 (28 February 2018)
* Fixed memory leak with updated Wowza statistic relay.
* Better redirect support inside HTTP library.

-v2018.1 (15 January 2018)
* New HTTP library used which adds improvements + SSL/HTTPS support.

-v2017.11 (4 December 2017)
* Ability to label statistic relays to easily identify them. (Right-click on relay and select "Change Label").

-v2017.9 (2 October 2017)
* Ability to label encoders to easily identify them. (Right-click on encoder and select "Change Label")

-v2017.6 (3 July 2017)
* Reverted URLEncode to use "%20" instead of plus ("+") for encoding spaces. This affected Shoutcast v1 titles.

-v2017.5 (30 May 2017)
* Updated Help links to new Help Center location.
* Improved UTF-8 support for CheapestStream and SAMBC Cloud encoders.

-v2017.4 (2 May 2017)
* Removed Dual Channel as option from CheapestStream and SpacialNet encoders due to HTML5 playback incompatibility.
* Removed Dual Channel as option from MP3 (LAME) and SpacialNet encoders.
* Fixed missing images in online changelog.
* Updated CodeSign certificate.

-v2017.2 (21 February 2017)
* Added "graceful back-off" logic to SAMCloud Encoder to avoid stampede scenarios and to allow "kick" functionality to work better.
* Encoder now more gracefully handle case where two tried to DJs connect to same slot at same time.
* CheapestStream Encoder improvements to prevent rare crash when switching users while encoding.

-v2017.1 (19 January 2017)
* Removed unsupported profiles from WM Encoder.
* Improved DEBUG edition code and tracing.
* Upgraded network library.

-v2016.10 (24 November 2016)
* Fix Cloud Encoder listen link on Encoders Window.

-v2016.8 (5 September 2016)
* Upgraded bug and memory tracing in DEBUG builds.
* Fixed various minor memory leaks.

-v2016.7 (1 August 2016)
* Fixed Shoutcast v1 metadata and statistic issue.
* Improved FLV streamer (CheapestStream).
* Fixed index out of bounds errors for VUMeter.

-v2016.6 (18 July 2016)
* Updated user-agent information in Icecast v2 streaming. Also switched from ICE/1.0 to HTTP/1.0 as protocol identifier.

-v2016.5 (13 June 2016)
* Fixed buffering and stream drop issue on CheapestStream encoder.
* Improved installer checking for running application instances.

-v2016.2 (5 April 2016)
* Improved trace logging for easier issue resolution.
* Fixed thread safety on some core objects.

-v2016.1 (17 March 2016)
* Licensing system updates.
* Fix version display on activation window.
* Proper warning if upgrade not allowed.

-v2014.7 (17 December 2014)
* Fix deadlock condition when using HTTP adapters with certain encoders.

-v2014.6 (11 November 2014)
* Fixed crash/freeze related to metadata and event adapters.

-v2014.5 (27 August 2014)
* Fix Race condition in licensing module.

-v2014.3 (18 June 2014)
* Some encoders can now detect when they have not received initial audio data
* Removal of some legacy version terminology
* Fix for 200 error for Live365 streams
* Fix for Unable to edit or remove ROBUST WMA stream encoders

-v2014.2 (29 May 2014)
* Restart encoder when we are "Unable to send data fast enough"

-v2014.1 (16 April 2014)
* Fixed Disapearing Image Display crash in Windows XP SP2, SP3
* Upgraded Lame encoder to latest version.
* Updated About/Splash screens.
* Allow DJ/Username in Icecast2 and SHOUTcast2 encoder configs
* Spruced up GUI
* Fix Wowza statistics relay breaking when no label is specified for mount.

-v2013.6 (7 October 2013)
* URL redirection support added.
* Updated user agent name on all HTTP requests.

-v2013.4 (25 June 2013)
* Licensing bug fixes.
* HTTP Adapter filters unrecognized data.

-v2013.3 (13 May 2013)
* Licensing bug fixes.
* Updated CheapestStream protocol.
* Fixes for Statistical relays.

-v2013.2 (28 February 2013)
* Automatic Reactivation for expiring keys.
* Fix for failed activations due to invalid home path.
* Fix memory leaks in Web calls.

-v2013.0 (12 December 2012)
* Windows 8 compatibility.
* All new product key and activation system.
* Improved stability in multi-CPU environments.


IMPORTANT: SimpleCast has been re-branded as SAM Cast since release v3.3.0

-v3.4.6 (20 August 2012)
* US2238: Improved CheapestStream encoder to allow compatibility with iTunes / Winamp players.
* DE986: Fixed Wowza statistic relay issue. Added support for v3.
* DE1340: Fixed Archive window for Cheapest Stream encoder.

-v3.4.5 (21 May 2012)
* Spacialnet encoders can now send metadata at a defined interval.
* Cheapest Stream Statistic Relay falsely reporting inactivity fixed. (DE1077)

-v3.4.4 (27 March 2012)
* Added CheapestStream Encoder

-v3.4.3 (5 March 2012)
* Fixed Shoutcast v2 metadata issue.
* /INSTANCE= flag could be used to run multiple instances of the software.
* /SHUTDOWNALL flag to shut down all instances.

-v3.4.0 (14 September 2011)
* Added SpacialNet Encoder and SpacialNet Relays for easy configuration of SpacialNet stream hosting.
* Updated email address for activations.
* Added maximum limits for Wowza stats where supported.

-v3.3.0 (22 June 2011)

* Product renamed to SAM Cast with a total new brand!
* Updated encoder timers to show days of uptime.
* Updated Shoutcast 2 encoder to properly ignore metadata when metadata is disabled.

-v3.2.0 (1 June 2011)

* SHOUTcast v2 encoder support.
* SHOUTcast v2 statistic relay support.
* Icecast2 statistic relay support fixed for certain builds of Icecast. (KH builds)
* Added support for multiple VHosts for Wowza statistic relays.

-v3.1.0 (23 February 2011)

We're very proud with the brand new SimpleCast v3 build, released in February 2011. Because this version has a lot of significant changes, you may need to reconfigure your encoders and other settings, which won't be imported when you upgrade from SimpleCast v2.

Here are some of the improvements we're really proud of:
* Brand new look.
* Better Vista/Win7 UAC compatibility.
* Audio processing support (AGC, EQ, DSP).
* Added aacPlusv2 encoder.
* Lots of Event Adapter example scripts to get you started.
* Improved mono downmix to avoid excessive clipping.
* Added Robust WM9 encoder.
* Soundcard AGC processing.
* Send output to soundcard so you can preview the audio.
* Added Event log.
* TCPSender utility to assist with script development.
* FilePoller utility to allow metadata input from file sources.

Here are more boosts worth mentioning:
* SHOUTcast relay now properly detects AAC in all cases.
* Wowza v2 stats support added.
* Stats relays graph legend maxed out at 9999 - fixed to handle larger numbers.
* MP3 LAME encoder added.
* Fixed deadlock on stopping encoders while streaming is paused due to network issues.
* Added error checking for "ThreadSock" error condition so encoder can automatically recover.
* Added URL Append Template for Shoutcast/Icecast streaming.
* Fixed bug where encoders did not wait full duration before trying to reconnect.
* Improvements to Abacast relay. Fixed AudioRealm touch as well with Abacast relays.
* Winamp DSP plugin support.