Is there a way to increase the number of maximum direct connections to my encoder?
By default, up to five players or servers can connect directly to the encoder to play or host a live stream. By entering a setting in the system registry, you can increase the number to 50; to stream to more than 50 clients, host the stream on a Windows Media server. With Windows Media Services 9 Series, you can easily host hundreds or thousands of connections, depending on the hardware you are using and the bit rates of the content being streamed.If you are streaming audio only at a low bit rate, you may be able to encode and run the encoder and Windows Media Services on the same computer. Upgrade your system to the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating systems; Windows Media Services 9 Series is included as an optional component. Then, load Windows Media Encoder 9 Series on the computer, configure the server to stream from the local encoder, connect the computer to the Internet through a secure firewall, and you are up and running. However, keep in mind that the main reason for the connection limit on the encoder is that maintaining connections with clients uses system resources that the encoder requires for encoding the stream. Run Task Manager on your server to see if CPU and memory usage are comfortably low; if usage is over 70%, lower the bit rate at which you are encoding, limit the number of concurrent user connections to the server, or upgrade to a computer with a higher processor speed and memory. For more information, see the Distribute section of the Windows Media Web site.