VideoLAN HOWTO
Alexis de Lattre
Marc Ariberti
Anil Daoud
Clément Stenac
Copyright © 2002, 2003 the VideoLAN project
v2.0, 2003-09-04
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation ; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. The text of the license can be found in the appendix GNU Free Documentation License.
- Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Install the required software and hardware
- 2.1. Install VLC
- 2.2. Install VLS
- 3. Receive and save a stream
- 4. Stream a file
- 5. Stream a DVD
- 6. Stream a DVB channel (satellite or digital terrestial TV)
- 6.1. Install the DVB drivers
- 6.2. Stream with VLS
- 6.3. Stream with VLC
- 7. Stream from an MPEG encoding card
- 8. Stream from an acquisition card or a webcam
- 9. Advanced use of VLC's stream output (transcoding, multiple streaming, etc...)
- 9.1. The syntax
- 9.2. Examples
- 10. Stream in IPv6
- 10.1. Stream in IPv6
- 10.2. Receive in IPv6
- 11. Video On Demand
- 11.1. Overview
- 11.2. On the server side
- 11.3. On the client side
- 12. Add a channel information service
- A. GNU Free Documentation License
- A.1. PREAMBLE
- A.2. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS
- A.3. VERBATIM COPYING
- A.4. COPYING IN QUANTITY
- A.5. MODIFICATIONS
- A.6. COMBINING DOCUMENTS
- A.7. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
- A.8. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS
- A.9. TRANSLATION
- A.10. TERMINATION
- A.11. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE
- A.12. ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents
- List of Figures
- 1-1. Global VideoLAN solution La solution VideoLAN globale
- 1-2. Windows terminal
- 1-3. Linux X terminal
- 1-4. Mac OS X terminal
- 1-5. BeOS terminal
Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1. What is the VideoLAN project ?
1.1.1. Overview
VideoLAN is a complete software solution for video streaming, developed by students of the Ecole Centrale Paris and developers from all over the world, under the GNU General Public License (GPL). VideoLAN is designed to stream MPEG videos on high bandwidth networks.
The VideoLAN solution includes :
VLS (VideoLAN Server), which can stream MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 files, DVDs, digital satellite channels, digital terrestial television channels and live videos on the network in unicast or multicast,
VLC (initially VideoLAN Client), which can be used as a server to stream MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 files, DVDs and live videos on the network in unicast or multicast ; or used as a client to receive, decode and display MPEG streams under multiple operating systems.
Here is an illustration of the complete VideoLAN solution :
More details about the project can be found on the VideoLAN Web site.
1.1.2. VideoLAN software
1.1.2.1. VLC
VLC works on many platforms : Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, *BSD, Solaris, Familiar Linux, Yopy/Linupy and QNX. It can read :
MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 / DivX files from a hard disk, a CD-ROM drive, ...
DVDs and VCDs,
from a satellite card (DVB-S),
MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 streams from the network sent by VLS or VLC's stream output.
VLC can also be used as a server to stream :
MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 / DivX files,
DVDs,
from an MPEG encoding card,
to :
one machine (i.e. to one IP address) : this is called unicast,
a dynamic group of machines that the clients can join or leave (i.e. to a multicast IP address) : this is called multicast,
in IPv4 or IPv6 .
To get the complete list of VLC's possibilities on each plateform supported, see the VLC features page.
 | VLC doesn't work on Mac OS 9, and will probably never do. |
1.1.2.2. VLS
VLS can stream :
an MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 files stored on a hard drive or on a CD,
a DVD located in a local DVD drive or copied on a hard disk,
a satellite card (DVB-S) or a digital terrestial television card (DVB-T) ,
an MPEG encoding card ;
to:
one machine (i.e. to one IP address) : this is called unicast,
a dynamic group of machines that the clients can join or leave (i.e. to a multicast IP address) : this is called multicast,
in IPv4 or IPv6 .
A Pentium 100 MHz with 32 MB of memory should be enough to send one stream on the network. When streaming a lot of videos stored on a hard drive, the actual limitation is not the processor but the hard drive and the network connection.
VLS works under Linux and Windows. To get the complete list of VLS's possibilities on each plateform supported, see the streaming features page.
1.1.2.3. Mini-SAP-server
You can add a channel information service based on the SAP/SDP standard to the VideoLAN solution. The mini-SAP-server sends announces about the multicast programs on the network in IPv4 or IPv6, and VLCs receive these annouces and automatically add the programs announced to their playlist.
The mini-SAP-server works under Linux and Mac OS X.
1.2. What is a codec ?
To fully understand the VideoLAN solution, you must understand the difference between a codec and a container format
A codec is a compression algorithm, used to reduce the size of a stream. There are audio codecs and video codecs. MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, Vorbis, DivX, ... are codecs
A container format contains one or several streams already encoded by codecs. Very often, there is an audio stream and a video one. AVI, Ogg, MOV, ASF, ... are container formats. The streams contained can be encoded using different codecs. In a perfect world, you could put any codec in any container format. Unfortunately, there are some incompatibilities. You can find a matrix of possible codecs and container formats on the features page
To decode a stream, VLC first demuxes it. This means that it reads the container format and separates audio, video, and subtitles, if any. Then, each of these are passed decoders that do the mathematical processing to decompress the streams .
There is a particular thing about MPEG:
MPEG is a codec. There are several versions of it, called MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, ...
MPEG is also a container format, sometimes refered to as MPEG System. There are several types of MPEG: ES, PS, and TS
When you play an MPEG video from a DVD, for instance, the MPEG stream is actually composed of several streams (called Elementary Streams, ES): there is one stream for video, one for audio, another for subtitles, and so on. These different streams are mixed together into a single Program Stream (PS). So, the .VOB files you can find in a DVD are actually MPEG-PS files. But this PS format is not adapted for streaming video through a network or by satellite, for instance. So, another format called Transport Stream (TS) was designed for streaming MPEG videos through such channels.
1.3. How can I use VideoLAN ?
1.3.1. Documentation
The user documentation of VideoLAN is made up of 4 documents :
the VideoLAN Quickstart. This document will give you a quick overview of of VLC, VLC's stream output, the Video On Demand solution and the channel information service system.
the VideoLAN HOWTO. This document is the complete guide of the VideoLAN streaming solution.
the VLC user guide. This document is the complete guide for VLC.
the VLS user guide. This document is the complete guide for VLS.
the VideoLAN FAQ. This document contains Frequently Asked Questions about VideoLAN.
The latest version of these documents can be found on the documentation page .
You can also have a look at the VideoLAN Wiki. This is a website that everyone can change. We use it to document everything that is not in the "official" documentation: the tips and tricks for each O.S., the graphical interfaces, etc...
1.3.2. User support
If you have problems using VideoLAN, and if you don't find the answer to your problems in the documentation, please look at the online archive of the mailing-lists. There are two English-speaking mailing-lists for the users :
vlc@videolan.org for the questions on VLC ,
streaming@videolan.org for the questions on VLS, mini-SAP-server and the network .
If you want to subscribe or unsubscribe to the mailing-lists, please go to the mailing-list page.
You can also talk with VideoLAN users and developers on IRC : server irc.freenode.net, channel #videolan .
If you find a bug, please follow the instructions on the bug reporting page .
1.4. Command line usage
VLC has many different graphical interfaces, that are organized quite differently in order to be in harmony with the guidelines of each operating system supported. Documenting the use of each graphical interface is too long, and some features are only available via the command line interface. Therefore we decided to document only the command line interface, but in many cases it shoud be easy to guess how to use the graphical interface for the same use !
VLS has a command line and a telnet interface, but no graphical interface !
All the commands that show up in this document should be typed inside a terminal. .
1.4.1. Open a terminal
1.4.1.1. Windows
Click on Start, Run and type :
cmd Enter (Windows 2000 / XP),
command Enter (Windows 95 / 98 / ME).
The terminal appears Le terminal apparait
| Under Windows, you need to be in the directory where the program is installed to run it. |
1.4.1.2. Linux / Unix
Open a terminal :
In the documentation, we adopt the following conventions for the Unix commands :
commands that should be typed as root have a # prompt :
# command_to_be_typed_as_root
commands that should be typed as a regular user have a % prompt :
% command_to_be_typed_as_regular_user
Chapter 2. Install the required software and hardware
2.1. Install VLC
There are VLC binaries available for the many OSes, but not for all supported OSes. If there are no binaries for your OS or if you want to change the default settings, you can compile VLC from sources.
2.1.1. Windows
VLC works under Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP. Download the self-extracting file from the VLC Windows download page. Launch the .exe to install VLC.
2.1.2. BeOS
Download the Zip file from the VLC BeOS download page. Unzip the file in a directory to install VLC.
2.1.3. Mac OS X
Download the Mac OS X package from the VLC MacOS X download page . Double-click on the icon of the package : an icon will appear on your Desktop, right beside your drive(s). Open it and drag the VLC application from the resulting window to the place where you want to install it (it should be /Applications).
2.1.4. Debian GNU/Linux
2.1.4.1. Debian stable (woody)
Add the following lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list:
deb http://www.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian $(ARCH)/ deb-src http://www.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian sources/ |
Then, for a normal install, do:
# apt-get update # apt-get install gnome-vlc libdvdcss2 |
2.1.4.2. Debian unstable (sid)
Add the following lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list:
deb http://www.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian $(ARCH)/ deb-src http://www.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian sources/ |
Then, for a normal install, do:
# apt-get update # apt-get install wxvlc libdvdcss2 |
2.1.4.3. Debian testing (sarge)
You should not be using Debian testing unless you perfectly know what you are doing. It is almost impossible to support Debian testing and there are no plans to do it. For more informations on Debian testing, please look: testing page
2.1.5. Linux Mandrake
There are VLC packages for Mandrake 9.1 and cooker.
To install them, add the following sources for either Mandrake 9.1 or Cooker (you can use Easy urpmi for that): contrib from the core distribution and plf (Penguin Liberation Front) from the external add-ons.
Then install the required packages with urpmi:
# urpmi libdvdcss2 libdvdplay0 wxvlc vlc-plugin-a52 vlc-plugin-ogg vlc-plugin-mad |
2.1.6. Linux Redhat
Download the RPM package vlc and the packages listed in the required libraries and codecs section (the other packages are just optional) from the VLC Red Hat download page and put them all into the same directory.
Then install the RPM packages you have downloaded:
# rpm -U *.rpm |
If you have not installed all the RPM packages included with your distribution, you may be asked to install a few of them first.
2.1.7. Compile the sources by yourself (for every other OS)
The method below is for any Unix system supported by VLC, for which there is no packages available. It explains how to compile and install VLC and the needed libraries from their source code.
You can also compile VLC under Linux this way if you want to modify the default supported modules.
2.1.7.1. Install the libraries
Many libraries are needed :
libdvbpsi (compulsory) ,
mpeg2dec (compulsory) ,
libdvdcss if you want to be able to read encrypted DVDs ,
libdvdplay if you want to have DVD menu navigation ,
a52dec if you want to be able to decode the AC3 (i.e. A52) sound format often used in DVDs ,
ffmpeg, libmad, faad2 if you want to read MPEG 4 / DivX files ,
libogg & libvorbis if you want to read Ogg Vorbis files .
Download the libraries from the VLC sources download page.
For each library :
uncompress :
% tar xvzf library.tar.gz
or
% tar xvjf library.tar.bz2
configure :
% cd library % ./configure
compile and install :
% make # make install
Check that the configuration file /etc/ld.so.conf contains the following line :
/usr/local/lib |
If the line is not present, add-it and then run (as root):
# ldconfig |
2.1.7.2. Install VLC
Download the sources of the lastest release : get the file vlc-version.tar.gz from the VLC sources download page. Uncompress-it :
% tar xvzf vlc-version.tar.gz % cd vlc-version |
To get the list of configuration options, do :
% ./configure --help |
Please note that all the modules are described in the Modules section of the VLC User Guide .
Examples of very simple configurations:
if you want a basic VLC, do :
% ./configure
if you want the Gnome interface instead of the GTK interface (you will need the developement packages of Gnome) :
% ./configure --enable-gnome
Then, compile and install :
% make % su Password: [Root Password] # make install |
Please note that the installation (make install command) is not mandatory. You can execute VLC from where you compiled it.
2.2. Install VLS
2.2.1. Windows
Download the ZIP file from the VLS Windows download page, unzip-it and run setup.exe .
2.2.2. GNULinux & Mac OS X
2.2.2.1. Install the libraries
Many libraries are needed for particular uses
libdvbpsi (always needed)
libdvdcss if you want to be able to access encrypted DVDs ,
libdvdread if you want to be able to stream DVDs ,
libdvb if you want to be able to stream from a DVB card (a satellite card or a digital terrestial TV card) .
Download the libraries from the VLS sources download page .
For each library, uncompress, configure (unless for libdvb which doesn't have a ./configure), compile and install :
% tar xvzf library.tar.gz % cd library % ./configure % make # make install |
Check that the configuration file /etc/ld.so.conf contains the following line :
/usr/local/lib |
If the line is not present, add-it and then run :
# ldconfig |
2.2.2.2. Install VLS
Download the sources of the latest release : get the file vls-version.tar.gz from the VLS sources download page. Uncompress-it and generate ./configure :
% tar xvzf vls-version.tar.gz % cd vls-version |
To get the list of configuration options, do
% ./configure --help |
Then configure vls :
if you want a basic VLS without DVD support, do :
% ./configure --disable-dvd
if you want a VLS with DVD support, do :
% ./configure
if you want a VLS with DVB support, do :
% ./configure --enable-dvb --with-dvb=PATH_TO_DVB_DRIVERS --with-libdvb=PATH_TO_LIBDVB
Then, compile and install :
% make # make install |
You can also do a make uninstall, make clean or make distclean as needed .
Chapter 3. Receive and save a stream
3.1. Receive a stream with VLC
3.1.2. Receive a multicast stream
% vlc -vvv udp:@239.255.12.42 |
where 239.255.12.42 is the multicast IP address you want to join .
3.1.3. Receive an HTTP/FTP/MMS stream
Use one of the following command lines :
% vlc -vvv http://example/stream.xyz
where http://example/stream.xyz is the HTTP address of the stream ;
% vlc -vvv ftp://example/stream.xyz
where ftp://example/stream.xyz is the FTP address of the stream ;
% vlc -vvv mms://viptvr.yacast.fr/encoderfranceinfo
where mms://viptvr.yacast.fr/encoderfranceinfo is the MMS address of the stream .
3.2. Save a stream with VLC
VLC can save the stream to the disk. In order to do this, use the Stream Output of VLC : you can do it via the graphical interface, or you can add to the command line the following argument :
--sout file/muxer:stream.xyz |
where :
muxer is one of the formats supported by VLC's stream output, i.e. :
avi for AVI format ,
ogg for OGG format ,
ps for MPEG2-PS format ,
ts or ts_dvbpsi for MPEG2-PS format (the latter uses libdvbpsi for the task) .
and stream.xyz is the name of the file you want to save the stream to, with the right extension .
3.3. Receive a stream with a set-top-box
Some set-top-boxes with Ethernet cards can receive MPEG2-TS streams over UDP and support multicast. This is the case of the Pace and Aminocom set top boxes. We have tested the AmiNET 100 set-top-box from Aminocom: it is nice and small, and it works very well with VideoLAN .
Chapter 4. Stream a file
4.1. Stream a file with VLC
% vlc -vvv video1.xyz --sout udp:192.168.0.42 --ttl 12 |
where :
video1.xyz is the file you want to stream ,
192.168.0.42 is either :
the IP address of the machine you want to unicast to ;
or the DNS name the machine you want to unicast to ;
or a multicast IP address .
12 is the value of the TTL (Time To Live) of your IP packets (which means that the stream will be able to cross 11 routers) .
If you want to stream the file continuously, add the --loop option .
4.2. Stream a file with VLS
% vls -vv -d udp:192.168.0.42 file:video1.xyz --ttl 12 |
where :
video1.xyz is the file you want to stream ,
192.168.0.42 is either :
the IP address of the machine you want to unicast to ;
or the DNS name the machine you want to unicast to ;
or a multicast IP address .
12 is the value of the TTL (Time To Live) of your IP packets (which means that the stream will be able to cross 11 routers) .
When you want to stop VLS, use the key combination Ctrl-c.
If you want to stream the file continuously, add the --loop option .
| VLS can stream MPEG files that meet two critera :
You can download this streamable MPEG-2 PS file for your tests : presentation_short.vob . |
Chapter 5. Stream a DVD
| Under Unix/Linux, you must have write access to the device corresponding to your DVD drive. For that, you should be in the disk or cdrom group (look at the permissions in /dev). If you're not, add yourself to the group :
and then restart your session . |
5.1. Stream a DVD with VLC
% vlc -vvv dvdold:/dev/dvd --sout udp:192.168.0.12 --ttl 12 |
where :
/dev/dvd is the name of your DVD drive (put D: under Windows if D is the letter of your DVD drive) or the directory where you copied your DVD ,
192.168.0.42 is either :
the IP address of the machine you want to unicast to ;
or the DNS name the machine you want to unicast to ;
or a multicast IP address .
12 is the value of the TTL (Time To Live) of your IP packets (which means that the stream will be able to cross 11 routers) .
If you want to stream the DVD continuously, add the --loop option .
5.2. Stream a DVD with VLS
| This is possible under GNU/Linux only . |
% vls -vv -d udp:192.168.0.42 dvd:/dev/dvd --ttl 12 |
where :
/dev/dvd is the name of your DVD drive or the directory where you copied your DVD ,
192.168.0.42 is either :
the IP address of the machine you want to unicast to ;
or the DNS name the machine you want to unicast to ;
or a multicast IP address .
12 is the value of the TTL (Time To Live) of your IP packets (which means that the stream will be able to cross 11 routers) .
If you want to stream the DVD continuously, add the --loop option .
Chapter 6. Stream a DVB channel (satellite or digital terrestial TV)
| This is possible under GNU/Linux only . |
6.1. Install the DVB drivers
If you want to be able to stream from a DVB card (a satellite card or a digital terrestial TV card), you need to install the DVB drivers:
if you use a Linux 2.6.x kernel, you just need to compile the right modules ;
if you are using a Linux 2.4.x kernel, you must download the latest release of the DVB drivers from the DVB drivers download page of the LinuxTV Project.
Uncompress the tarball and follow the instructions written in the INSTALL file to compile and install the drivers .
6.2. Stream with VLS
Put a .dvbrc file containing the DVB channels (satellite or digital terrestial TV channels) you want to stream in your home directory (some are provided in the libdvb tarball for the satellite channels) .
Run VLS with the following command line :
% vls -vv -d udp:192.168.0.42 dvb:"EUROSPORT" --ttl 12 |
where :
"EUROSPORT" is the channel you want to stream as written in your ~/.dvbrc file ,
192.168.0.42 is either :
the IP address of the machine you want to unicast to ;
or the DNS name the machine you want to unicast to ;
or a multicast IP address .
12 is the value of the TTL (Time To Live) of your IP packets (which means that the stream will be able to cross 11 routers) .
6.3. Stream with VLC
| For this, you must use the CVS version of VLC and compile it with ./configure --enable-dvb This feature should still be considered as experimental. |
% vlc -vvv --program 8211 dvb:12597000:0:3:27500000 --sout udp:192.168.0.12 --ttl 12 |
where :
8211 is the PID of the DVB channel you would like to stream, expressed as a decimal number ;
12597000 is the frequency of the transponder you want to stream from in Hz;
0 is the polarization (0 for vertical, 1 for horizontal) ;
3 is the FEC (3 for 3/4, 9 for auto) ;
27500000 is the transponder symbol rate in Hz ;
192.168.0.12 is either :
the IP address of the machine you want to unicast to ;
or the DNS name the machine you want to unicast to ;
or the multicast IP address.
12 is the value of the TTL (Time To Live) of your IP packets (which means that the stream will be able to cross 11 routers).
Chapter 7. Stream from an MPEG encoding card
| This is possible under GNU/Linux only . |
VideoLAN supports two MPEG-2 encoding cards :
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250,
Visiontech Kfir.
The Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250 gives much better results and is cheaper than the Visiontech Kfir .
7.1. Stream with the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250 card
7.1.1. Install the drivers
First, you will have to patch your kernel to support the v4l2 API (Video 4 Linux version 2). The patch is available on the Video4Linux HQ .
Once your kernel is ready, install the CVS version of the Linux drivers for the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250. They are hosted on ivtv.sourceforge.net. Then, you will have to create the device and load the modules; for this, please refer to the documentation shipped with the drivers .
7.1.2. Stream with VLC
| You must add --enable-pvr to ./configure to use this feature. You may want to change the value of CR_MAX_AVERAGE_COUNTER to 1000 in src/input/input_clock.c to work around a problem with the card . |
% vlc -vvv pvr:/dev/video0:norm=secam:size=720x576:frequency=576250: bitrate=3000000:maxbitrate=4000000 --sout udp:192.168.0.42 --ttl 12 |
where :
/dev/video0 is the device corresponding to the encoding card ,
norm=secam is name of the standard of the analogic signal (possible values are pal, secam, and ntsc) ,
size=720x576 is the size of the video you want to stream ,
frequency=567250 is the frequency in kHz of the channel you want to stream ,
bitrate=3000000 is the average bitrate of the stream ,
maxbitrate=4000000 is the maximum bitrate of the stream ,
192.168.0.42 is either :
the IP address of the machine you want to unicast to ;
or the DNS name the machine you want to unicast to ;
or a multicast IP address .
12 is the value of the TTL (Time To Live) of your IP packets (which means that the stream will be able to cross 11 routers) .
7.1.3. Stream with VLS
There is no command line interface for this input for the moment, so you will have to use the configuration file .
You cannot set-up the parameters of the drivers (norm, size, frequency, bitrate, etc...) with VLS: for that, you will have to use the program ptune.pl that come with the drivers. Please refer to the documentation shipped with the drivers to learn how to use this program .
Here is a typical configuration file vls.cfgto run VLS with a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250 encoding card :
# vls.cfg (VLS configuration file) # Example of the VideoLAN HOWTO for the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250 encoding card BEGIN "Inputs" pvr = "video" END BEGIN "pvr" # Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250 device Device = "/dev/video0" # Stream type Type = "Mpeg2-PS" END BEGIN "Channels" channel1 = "network" END BEGIN "channel1" # Unicast or multicast IP address DstHost = "192.168.0.42" # Destination port DstPort = "1234" # If it's a multicast IP address, uncomment the line below #Type = "multicast" # If it's a multicast IP address, set the "Time To Live" below #TTL = "12" END BEGIN "LaunchOnStartUp" command1 = "start video channel1 pvr" END |
Once you have adapted the configuration file above, run VLS :
% vls -vv -f vls.cfg |
7.2. Stream with the Visiontech Kfir card
7.2.1. Install the drivers
If you want to be able to stream from a Visiontech Kfir card, you need to install its Linux drivers. Download the latest release of the drivers from the drivers download page of the LinuxTV web site .
Uncompress the tarball and follow the instructions written in the INSTALL file to compile and install the drivers .
| If you have a VIA chipset, you need to disable USB in the BIOS . |
7.2.2. Stream with VLC
% vlc -vvv kfir:/dev/video --sout udp:192.168.0.42 --ttl 12 |
where :
/dev/video is the device corresponding to the Kfir card ,
192.168.0.42 is either :
the IP address of the machine you want to unicast to ;
or the DNS name the machine you want to unicast to ;
or a multicast IP address .
12 is the value of the TTL (Time To Live) of your IP packets (which means that the stream will be able to cross 11 routers) .
7.2.3. Stream with VLS
There is no command line interface for this input for the moment, so you will have to use the configuration file .
Here is a typical configuration file vls.cfgto run VLS with a VisionTech Kfir encoding card :
# vls.cfg (VLS configuration file) # Example of the VideoLAN HOWTO for the Visiontech Kfir encoding card BEGIN "Inputs" kfir = "video" END BEGIN "kfir" # Visiontech Kfir device Device = "/dev/video" # Stream type (default is "Mpeg2-PS") Type = "Mpeg2-PS" END BEGIN "Channels" channel1 = "network" END BEGIN "channel1" # Unicast or multicast IP address DstHost = "192.168.0.42" # Destination port DstPort = "1234" # If it's a multicast IP address, uncomment the line below #Type = "multicast" # If it's a multicast IP address, set the "Time To Live" below #TTL = "12" END BEGIN "LaunchOnStartUp" command1 = "start video channel1 kfir" END |
Once you have adapted the configuration file above, run VLS :
% vls -vv -f vls.cfg |
Chapter 8. Stream from an acquisition card or a webcam
| This is possible under GNU/Linux only . |
8.1. Install the Video for Linux drivers
If you want to stream from an acquisition card or a webcam, a video4linux driver must be available for it. You can find more information about video4linux and supported devices here .
Compile the right module for your device, and insert it into your kernel (Some video4linux modules are shipped with the 2.4.x Linux kernels). You can test your device by using any of the listed programs in the Video: TV and PVR/DVR section of this page .
Note that v4l2 modules will also work with VLC .
8.2. Stream with VLC
| You must add --enable-v4l to ./configure to use this feature . |
% vlc -vvv v4l:/dev/video:norm=secam:frequency=543250:size=640x480:channel=0:adev=/dev/dsp:audio=0
--sout '#transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mpga,vb=3000,ab=256,vt=800000,keyint=80,deinterlace}:std{access=udp,mux=ts,url=239.255.12.13}' --ttl 12
|
where :
/dev/video is the device corresponding to your acquisition card or your webcam ,
norm=secam is name of the standard of the analogic signal (possible values are pal, secam, and ntsc) ,
frequency=543250 is the frequency of the channel in khz (Warning : for VLC < 0.6.1, Frequency is channel frequency in MHz multiplied by 16) ,
size=640x480 is the size of the video you want (you can also put the standard size like subqcif (128x96), qsif (160x120), qcif (176x144), sif (320x240), cif (352x288) or vga (640x480)) ,
channel=0 is the number of the channel (usually 0 is for tuner, 1 for composite and 2 for svideo) ,
adev=/dev/dsp is the audio device ,
audio=1 is the number of the audio channel (usually 0 is for mono and 1 for stereo) ,
vcodec=mp4v is the video format you want to encode in (mp4v is MPEG-4, mpgv is MPEG-1, and there is also h263, DIV1, DIV2, DIV3, I420, I422, I444, RV24, YUY2),
acodec=mpga is the audio format you want to encode in (mpga is MPEG audio layer 2, a52 is A52 i.e. AC3 sound) ,
vb=3000 is the video bitrate in Kbit/s ,
ab=256 is the audio bitrate in Kbit/s
vt=800000 is the video bitrate tolerance in bit/s ,
keyint=80 is the maximum interval between two "I" images in number of images ,
deinterlace tells VLC to deinterlace the video on the fly ,
192.168.0.42 is either :
the IP address of the machine you want to unicast to ;
or the DNS name the machine you want to unicast to ;
or a multicast IP address .
12 is the value of the TTL (Time To Live) of your IP packets (which means that the stream will be able to cross 11 routers) .
8.3. Stream with VLS
| You need the CVS version of VLS. When you compile it, you must do a ./bootstrap and ./configure --enable-v4l --with-ffmpeg=PATH (where PATH is the absolute path to the directory where you compiled ffmpeg, and not the relative path !) . |
There is no command line interface for this input for the moment, so you will have to use the configuration file .
Here is a typical configuration file vls.cfgto run VLS with a v4l device :
# vls.cfg (VLS configuration file)
# Example of the VideoLAN HOWTO for the Video for Linux input
BEGIN "Inputs"
webcam = "v4l"
END
BEGIN "webcam"
# V4L device
Device = "/dev/video"
# Channel Source : Webcam is often "0"
# TV Card, may be Tuner(0), Composite(1), Svideo(2)
Channel = "0"
# Norm: PAL=0, NTSC=1, SECAM=2
Norm = "0"
# Frequency of the channel in Mhz, multiplied by 16 (tuner cards only)
Frequency = "7668"
# Size possibilities: can be either:
# - empty string : default size
# - width x height
# - subQCIF(128x96), QSIF(160x120), QCIF(176x144), SIF(320x240),
# CIF(352x288), VGA (640x480)
Size = ""
# DeInterlace: "0" = no ; "1" = yes
DeInterlace = "0"
# Video compression format: "mpeg1" or "mpeg4"
Compression = "mpeg4"
# Video bitrate (approx.) in kbps
Bitrate = "500"
# Quality: "1.0" (good) to "31.0" (bad)
Quality = "1.0"
# Sound device
AudioDevice = "/dev/dsp"
# Audio compression format: "mp2", "mp3" or "ogg"
AudioCompression = "mp2"
# Audio bitrate in kpbs
AudioBitrate = "64"
# Audio frequency ("16000", "22050", "24000", "32000", "44100" or "48000")
AudioFreq = "16000"
# Audio channel: "1" = mono ; "2" = stereo
AudioChannel = "2"
END
BEGIN "Channels"
channel1 = "network"
END
BEGIN "channel1"
# Unicast or multicast IP address
DstHost = "192.168.0.42"
# Destination port
DstPort = "1234"
# If it's a multicast IP address, uncomment the line below
#Type = "multicast"
# If it's a multicast IP address, set the "Time To Live" below
#TTL = "12"
END
BEGIN "LaunchOnStartUp"
command1 = "start video channel1 webcam"
END
|
Once you have adapted the configuration file above, run VLS :
% vls -vv -f vls.cfg |
Chapter 9. Advanced use of VLC's stream output (transcoding, multiple streaming, etc...)
9.1. The syntax
Please refer to the command line interface chapter of the VLC user guide to learn the syntax of VLC's stream output. You can find the VLC user guide on the documentation page .
9.2. Examples
9.2.1. Transcoding
Transcode the input stream and send it to a multicast IP address with the associated SAP announce :
% vlc -vvv input_stream --sout '#transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mpga,vb=800,ab=128,deinterlace}:
standard{access=udp,mux=ts,url=239.255.12.42,sap=TestStream}'
|
Display the input stream, transcode it and send it to a multicast IP address with the associated SAP announce :
% vlc -vvv input_stream --sout '#duplicate{dst=display,dst=
"transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mpga,vb=800,ab=128,deinterlace}:
standard{access=udp,mux=ts,url=239.255.12.42,sap=TestStream}"}'
|
Transcode the input stream, display the transcoded stream and send it to a multicast IP address with the associated SAP announce :
% vlc -vvv input_stream --sout '#transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mpga,vb=800,ab=128,deinterlace}:
duplicate{dst=display,dst=standard{access=udp,mux=ts,url=239.255.12.42,sap=TestStream}}'
|
9.2.2. Multiple streaming
Send a stream to a multicast IP address and a unicast IP address :
% vlc -vvv input_stream --sout '#duplicate{dst=
standard{access=udp,mux=ts,url=239.255.12.42,sap=TestStream},
dst=standard{access=udp,mux=ts,url=192.168.1.2}}'
|
Display the stream and send it to two unicast IP addresses :
% vlc -vvv input_stream --sout '#duplicate{dst=display,dst=
standard{access=udp,mux=ts,url=192.168.1.12},
dst=standard{access=udp,mux=ts,url=192.168.1.42}}'
|
9.2.3. Transcoding and multiple streaming
Transcode the input stream, display the transcoded stream and send it to a multicast IP address with the associated SAP announce and an unicast IP address :
% vlc -vvv input_stream --sout '#transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mpga,vb=800,ab=128,deinterlace}:
duplicate{dst=display,dst=standard{access=udp,mux=ts,url=239.255.12.42,sap=TestStream},
dst=standard{access=udp,mux=ts,url=192.168.1.2}}'
|
Display the input stream, transcode it and send it to two unicast IP addresses :
% vlc -vvv input_stream --sout '#duplicate{dst=display,
dst="transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mpga,vb=800,ab=128}:
duplicate{dst=standard{access=udp,mux=ts,url=192.168.1.2},
dst=standard{access=udp,mux=ts,url=192.168.1.12}"}'
|
Send the input stream to a multicast IP address and the transcoded stream to another multicast IP address with the associated SAP announces :
% vlc -vvv input_stream --sout '#duplicate{dst=
standard{access=udp,mux=ts,url=239.255.1.2,sap=OriginalStream},
dst="transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mpga,vb=800,ab=128}:
standard{access=udp,mux=ts,url=239.255.1.3,sap=TranscodedStream}"}'
|
9.2.4. HTTP streaming
Stream in HTTP :
on the server, run :
% vlc -vvv input_stream --sout '#standard{access=http,mux=ogg,url=server.example.org:8080}'on the client(s), run :
% vlc http://server.example.org:8080
Transcode and stream in HTTP :
% vlc -vvv input_stream --sout '#transcode{vcodec=mp4v,acodec=mpga,vb=800,ab=128}:
standard{access=http,mux=ogg,url=server.example.org:8080}'
|
For example, if you want to stream an audio CD in Ogg/Vorbis over HTTP :
% vlc -vvv cdda:/dev/cdrom --sout '#transcode{acodec=vorb,ab=128}:
standard{access=http,mux=ogg,url=server.example.org:8080}'
|
9.2.5. Use the es module
Separate audio and video in two PS files :
% vlc -vvv input_stream --sout
'#es{access=file,mux=ps,url_audio=audio-%c.%m,url_video=video-%c.%m}'
|
Extract the audio track of the input stream to a TS file :
% vlc -vvv input_stream --sout '#es{access_audio=file,mux_audio=ts,url_audio=audio-%c.%m}'
|
Stream in unicast the audio track on a port and the video track on another port :
on the server side :
% vlc -vvv input_stream --sout '#es{access=rtp,mux=ts,url_audio=192.168.1.2:1212,url_video=192.168.1.2:1213}'on the client side: to receive the audio :
% vlc udp:@:1212
to receive the video :
% vlc udp:@:1213
Stream in multicast the video and dump the audio in a file :
% vlc -vvv input_stream --sout '#es{access_video=udp,mux_video=ts,url_video=239.255.12.42,
access_audio=file,mux_audio=ps,url_audio=audio-%c.%m}'
|
| You can also combine the es module with the other modules to set-up even more complex solution . |
Chapter 10. Stream in IPv6
10.1. Stream in IPv6
| You will need an IPv6-aware operating system, like Linux 2.4.21 with the ipv6 module loaded, Windows XP Service Pack 1 or Mac OS X version 10.2 or higher. Please look at the features pages on the VideoLAN web site to know about the status of IPv6 in VLC and VLS for each O.S . |
 | If you are using VMware under Linux, you will have to stop VMware and unload the VMware kernel modules, because we noticed it prevented IPv6 streaming ! |
10.1.1. Stream with VLC
% vlc -vvv video1.xyz --ipv6 --sout udp:[ff08::1] --ttl 12 |
where :
video1.xyz is the file you want to stream (you can also put dvdold:/dev/dvd to stream a DVD or any other input configuration) ,
ff08::1 is either :
the IPv6 address of the machine you want to unicast to ;
or the multicast IPv6 address .
12 is the value of the TTL (Time To Live) of your IP packets (which means that the stream will be able to cross 11 routers) .
| Under Unix/Linux, you may have to protect the square brackets around the IPv6 address :
|
| You may have to specify the output network interface :
where eth0 is the name of the network interface (under Linux the network interfaces are named ethX, under Mac OS X it's enX and under Windows it's X, where X is the appropriate number) . |
10.1.2. Stream with VLS
You will need to use the configuration file vls.cfg. Please, see the VLS user guide to know how to write one for IPv6 streaming in unicast or multicast .
10.2. Receive in IPv6
10.2.2. Receive a multicast stream
% vlc -vvv --ipv6 udp:@[ff08::1] |
| Under Unix/Linux, you may have to protect the square brackets around the IPv6 address :
|
| You may have to specify the output network interface :
where eth0 is the name of the network interface (under Linux the network interfaces are named ethX, under Mac OS X it's enX and under Windows it's X, where X is the appropriate number) . |
Chapter 11. Video On Demand
11.1. Overview
With Video On Demand (VOD), the user can start the video when he wants, make pauses, go forward and back in the video. It is of course the best in video streaming and the dream for every user.
VOD is a very big consumer of resources for the server and the network. VOD is unicast, not multicast : this means that the network and server resources needed are directly proportional to the number of clients.
The design of VideoLAN's VOD solution is very simple. The idea is to do HTTP streaming, i.e. stream an MPEG video encapsulated in HTTP. The regulation of the bitrate between the client and the server is done automatically by TCP. With HTTP version 1.1, there is the possibility to seek in a file downloaded, that's what we use to seek in the video.
11.2. On the server side
On the VOD server, you need a running Web server. For example, you can use a Linux server running Apache. Other operating systems and other Web servers should work too, but we have never tested.
Make your MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 / DivX files available to the clients on the Web server.
For example, we have a Web server whose DNS name is localserver. On this server, we put an MPEG file video1.mpg which will be available to the clients at the URL http://localserver/video1.mpg.
Chapter 12. Add a channel information service
Typing multicast addresses is not very fun... that's why you need a channel information service ! VideoLAN has implemented a channel information service based on the SAP/SDP standard. The SAP announces about the multicast programs are sent on the network (via the multicast address 224.2.127.254 reserved for this purpose). On the client side, VLCs receive these annouces and automatically add the programs announced to their playlist.
VLC can send the SAP announces associated with the programs it is streaming. VLS can't do that, but an independant program, the mini-SAP-server, can send the announces for the programs sent by VLS.
12.1. Send announces when streaming with VLC
To send announces with VLC, you need to use the complex syntax of VLC's stream output, like this:
% vlc -vvv input_stream --sout '#standard{access=udp,url=239.255.12.42,sap="Test Stream"}' --ttl 12
|
where video1.xyz is the file you want to stream, 239.255.12.42 is the multicast IP address you want to stream on, Test Stream is the name that will be used for this program in the SAP announces and 12 is the value of the TTL (Time To Live) of the stream and of the SAP announces.
To do the SAP announces in IPv6, just add the sap_ipv=6 option:
% vlc -vvv input_stream --sout '#standard{access=udp,url=239.255.12.42,sap="Test Stream",sap_ipv=6}' --ttl 12
|
12.2. Send announces for the programs streamed by VLS with the mini-SAP-server
| The mini-SAP-server is only available for Linux and Mac OSX. |
12.2.1. Install the mini-SAP-server
Download the latest version of the mini-SAP-server from the streaming download page.
Install-it:
% tar xvzf miniSAPserver-version.tar.gz % cd miniSAPserver-version % ./configure (if version >= 0.2.3) % make |
12.2.2. Configure the mini-SAP-server
Edit the configuration file sap.cfg shipped with the tarball. It should contain a global section with the Time To Live (TTL) and the IP version (IPv4 or IPv6) used for the SAP announces and a section per program announced. Use the comments to understand each parameter.
The Time To Live option indicates the maximum number of routers that the SAP announce packets can cross before being dropped.
12.3. Start VLC(s) on the client(s)
If the announces are sent in IPv4 :
% vlc -vvv --extraintf sap
If the announces are sent in IPv6 :
% vlc -vvv --extraintf sap --sap-ipv6
Then open the playlist: you should see the names of the programs announced in SAP. When you double-click on the name of a program, VLC will subscribe to the multicast address and start to play the stream !
Appendix A. GNU Free Documentation License
Version 1.2, November 2002Copyright (C) 2000,2001,2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
A.1. PREAMBLE
The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful document "free" in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others.
This License is a kind of "copyleft", which means that derivative works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense. It complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft license designed for free software.
We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free software, because free software needs free documentation: a free program should come with manuals providing the same freedoms that the software does. But this License is not limited to software manuals; it can be used for any textual work, regardless of subject matter or whether it is published as a printed book. We recommend this License principally for works whose purpose is instruction or reference.
A.2. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS
This License applies to any manual or other work, in any medium, that contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it can be distributed under the terms of this License. Such a notice grants a world-wide, royalty-free license, unlimited in duration, to use that work under the conditions stated herein. The "Document", below, refers to any such manual or work. Any member of the public is a licensee, and is addressed as "you". You accept the license if you copy, modify or distribute the work in a way requiring permission under copyright law.
A "Modified Version" of the Document means any work containing the Document or a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with modifications and/or translated into another language.
A "Secondary Section" is a named appendix or a front-matter section of the Document that deals exclusively with the relationship of the publishers or authors of the Document to the Document's overall subject (or to related matters) and contains nothing that could fall directly within that overall subject. (Thus, if the Document is in part a textbook of mathematics, a Secondary Section may not explain any mathematics.) The relationship could be a matter of historical connection with the subject or with related matters, or of legal, commercial, philosophical, ethical or political position regarding them.
The "Invariant Sections" are certain Secondary Sections whose titles are designated, as being those of Invariant Sections, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this License. If a section does not fit the above definition of Secondary then it is not allowed to be designated as Invariant. The Document may contain zero Invariant Sections. If the Document does not identify any Invariant Sections then there are none.
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A.3. VERBATIM COPYING
You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially or noncommercially, provided that this License, the copyright notices, and the license notice saying this License applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies you make or distribute. However, you may accept compensation in exchange for copies. If you distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follow the conditions in section 3.
You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly display copies.
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If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly have printed covers) of the Document, numbering more than 100, and the Document's license notice requires Cover Texts, you must enclose the copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all these Cover Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover, and Back-Cover Texts on the back cover. Both covers must also clearly and legibly identify you as the publisher of these copies. The front cover must present the full title with all words of the title equally prominent and visible. You may add other material on the covers in addition. Copying with changes limited to the covers, as long as they preserve the title of the Document and satisfy these conditions, can be treated as verbatim copying in other respects.
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For any section Entitled "Acknowledgements" or "Dedications", Preserve the Title of the section, and preserve in the section all the substance and tone of each of the contributor acknowledgements and/or dedications given therein.
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Delete any section Entitled "Endorsements". Such a section may not be included in the Modified Version.
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A.6. COMBINING DOCUMENTS
You may combine the Document with other documents released under this License, under the terms defined in section 4 above for modified versions, provided that you include in the combination all of the Invariant Sections of all of the original documents, unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of your combined work in its license notice, and that you preserve all their Warranty Disclaimers.
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In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled "History" in the various original documents, forming one section Entitled "History"; likewise combine any sections Entitled "Acknowledgements", and any sections Entitled "Dedications". You must delete all sections Entitled "Endorsements".
A.7. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents released under this License, and replace the individual copies of this License in the various documents with a single copy that is included in the collection, provided that you follow the rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of the documents in all other respects.
You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it individually under this License, provided you insert a copy of this License into the extracted document, and follow this License in all other respects regarding verbatim copying of that document.
A.8. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS
A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate and independent documents or works, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an "aggregate" if the copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the legal rights of the compilation's users beyond what the individual works permit. When the Document is included an aggregate, this License does not apply to the other works in the aggregate which are not themselves derivative works of the Document.
If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of the Document, then if the Document is less than one half of the entire aggregate, the Document's Cover Texts may be placed on covers that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic form. Otherwise they must appear on printed covers that bracket the whole aggregate.
A.9. TRANSLATION
Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute translations of the Document under the terms of section 4. Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special permission from their copyright holders, but you may include translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a translation of this License, and all the license notices in the Document, and any Warrany Disclaimers, provided that you also include the original English version of this License and the original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In case of a disagreement between the translation and the original version of this License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will prevail.
If a section in the Document is Entitled "Acknowledgements", "Dedications", or "History", the requirement (section 4) to Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require changing the actual title.
A.10. TERMINATION
You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as expressly provided for under this License. Any other attempt to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Document is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.
A.11. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE
The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/.
Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the Document specifies that a particular numbered version of this License "or any later version" applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that specified version or of any later version that has been published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation.
A.12. ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents
To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of the License in the document and put the following copyright and license notices just after the title page:
Copyright (c) YEAR YOUR NAME. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts, replace the "with...Texts." line with this:
with the Invariant Sections being LIST THEIR TITLES, with the Front-Cover Texts being LIST, and with the Back-Cover Texts being LIST.
If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other combination of the three, merge those two alternatives to suit the situation.
If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of free software license, such as the GNU General Public License, to permit their use in free software.