VideoLAN Wiki - User contributions [en]

Documentation:History

2010-12-02T20:24:18Z

Hawksters:

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc}}
[[Image:Interface_2.PNG|thumb|194x150px|VLC Interface on Windows 7.]]

==Overview of the VideoLAN project==

VideoLAN is a complete software solution for video streaming and playback, developed by students of the [http://www.ecp.fr Ecole Centrale Paris] and developers from all over the world, under the [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU General Public License] (GPL).

VideoLAN was originally designed to stream MPEG videos on high bandwidth networks, but VideoLAN's main software, VLC media player, has evolved to become a full-featured, cross-platform media player.

More details about the project can be found on the [http://www.videolan.org/ VideoLAN Web site].

==VLC media player==

Originally called VideoLAN Client, VLC media player is VideoLAN's main software.

VLC works on many platforms: Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, BSD, Solaris, Familiar Linux, Yopy/Linupy and QNX.

It can play:
*MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 / DivX files from a hard disk, a CD-ROM drive, and so on
* DVDs, VCDs, and Audio CDs
* From satellite cards (DVB-S)
* Several types of network streams: UDP/RTP Unicast, UDP/RTP Multicast, HTTP, RTSP, MMS, etc.
* From acquisition or encoding cards (on GNU/Linux and Windows only)

VLC can also be used as a streaming server. These aspects are detailed in the [[Documentation:Streaming HowTo|Streaming HowTo]].

The present guide describes all the playback (client) aspects of VLC media player.

==Getting help==

===Documentation===

The VideoLAN documentation is made up of four documents:

* The ''Play-Howto'' (for which this article is the introduction): The complete guide to the VLC media player.
* [[Documentation:Streaming HowTo | The ''Streaming Howto'']]: The complete guide to VLC as a streaming server, including practical examples to set up a streaming solution.
* [http://www.videolan.org/doc/vls-user-guide/en/vls-user-guide-en.html The ''VLS user guide'']: The complete guide for VLS (VideoLAN's legacy streaming server)
* [[FAQ]]: Frequently Asked Questions about VideoLAN.

The latest version of these documents, in a variety of languages, can be found on the [[Documentation:Documentation|documentation page]].

===User support===

There are different methods to get support from The VideoLAN team. For more details, please visit our [http://www.videolan.org/support/ Support page].

{{Documentation}}

File:Interface 2.PNG

2010-12-02T20:23:18Z

Hawksters:

VLC Uninstall

2010-12-02T20:21:54Z

Hawksters:

If, at anytime, you decide you do not want {{VLC}} you can easily uninstall them via Windows' "Add/Remove Programs" using the following instructions:

[[Image:Uninstall.PNG|thumb|194x150px|Uninstallation of VLC on Windows 7.]]

'''Windows Vista / Windows 7 '''

From the Start Menu, select Control Panel.

Under Programs click the Uninstall a Program link.

Select {{VLC}}  and right click then select Uninstall/Change.

Follow the prompts to finish the uninstallation of the software.

 

'''Windows XP'''

From the Start Menu, select Control Panel.

Click the Add or Remove Programs icon.

Select {{VLC}} and click on the "Remove" or "Change/Remove" button.

Follow the prompts to finish the uninstallation of the software.

 

'''Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, and XP in Classic View'''

From the Start Menu, select Settings, and then Control Panel

Double-click the "Add/Remove Programs" icon.

Select {{VLC}} and click on the "Remove" or "Change/Remove" button.

Follow the prompts to finish the uninstallation of the software.

{{Documentation}}

File:Uninstall.PNG

2010-12-02T20:20:37Z

Hawksters: Uninstallation of VLC on Windows 7.

Uninstallation of VLC on Windows 7.

Documentation:Installing VLC

2010-12-02T20:19:41Z

Hawksters:

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc}}
[[Image:Installation.PNG|thumb|194x150px|Installation of VLC on Windows 7.]]

There are VLC binaries available for the many OSes, but not for all supported ones. If there are no binaries for your OS or if you want to change the default settings, you can compile VLC from sources.

== Windows ==

{{VLC}} works under Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7.

#Download the self-extracting package from the [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html VLC Windows download page].
#Launch the '''.exe''' to install VLC.
#Follow the steps

Unattended/silent installation: Use "filename" /L="languagecode" /S. Example for english installation: vlc-1.1.0-win32.exe /L=1033 /S

== Mac OS X ==

#Download the Mac OS X package from the [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html VLC MacOS X download page].
#Double-click on the icon of the package: an icon will appear on your Desktop, right beside your drives.
#Open it and drag the VLC application from the resulting window to the place where you want to install it (it should be '''/Applications''').

== BeOS ==

Download the Zip file from the [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-beos.html VLC BeOS download page]. Unzip the file in a directory to install VLC.

== Debian GNU/Linux ==

=== Debian stable (sarge) ===

Add the following lines to your '''/etc/apt/sources.list''':

deb http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian stable main
deb-src http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian stable main

Then, for a normal install, do:

# '''apt-get update'''
# '''apt-get install vlc libdvdcss2'''

=== Debian testing (etch) ===

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: [http://www.debian.org/devel/testing testing page].

=== Debian unstable (sid) ===

Add the following lines to your '''/etc/apt/sources.list''':

deb http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian sid main
deb-src http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian sid main

Then, for a normal install, do:

# '''apt-get update'''
# '''apt-get install vlc libdvdcss2'''

== 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 [http://plf.zarb.org/~nanardon/ 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'''

== Linux CentOS (EL5) ==

1. download and install the latest rpmforge-release rpm (eg rpmforge-release-0.3.6-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm)

2. either;

yum install vlc

or (if you have epel-release installed);

yum --disablerepo='epel' install vlc

 

== Linux Redhat ==

Download the RPM package ''vlc'' and the packages listed in the ''required libraries and codecs'' section (the other packages are optional) from the [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-redhat.html 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.

== Compile the sources by yourself (for every other OS) ==

For more detailed information on compiling VLC by yourself, please have a look at the documentation on our [http://developers.videolan.org developers website].

{{Documentation}}

Documentation:Installing VLC

2010-12-02T20:17:04Z

Hawksters:

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc}}

There are VLC binaries available for the many OSes, but not for all supported ones. If there are no binaries for your OS or if you want to change the default settings, you can compile VLC from sources.

== Windows ==[[Image:Installation.PNG|thumb|194x150px|Installation of VLC on Windows 7.]]

{{VLC}} works under Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7.

#Download the self-extracting package from the [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html VLC Windows download page].
#Launch the '''.exe''' to install VLC.
#Follow the steps

Unattended/silent installation: Use "filename" /L="languagecode" /S. Example for english installation: vlc-1.1.0-win32.exe /L=1033 /S

== Mac OS X ==

#Download the Mac OS X package from the [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html VLC MacOS X download page].
#Double-click on the icon of the package: an icon will appear on your Desktop, right beside your drives.
#Open it and drag the VLC application from the resulting window to the place where you want to install it (it should be '''/Applications''').

== BeOS ==

Download the Zip file from the [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-beos.html VLC BeOS download page]. Unzip the file in a directory to install VLC.

== Debian GNU/Linux ==

=== Debian stable (sarge) ===

Add the following lines to your '''/etc/apt/sources.list''':

deb http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian stable main
deb-src http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian stable main

Then, for a normal install, do:

# '''apt-get update'''
# '''apt-get install vlc libdvdcss2'''

=== Debian testing (etch) ===

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: [http://www.debian.org/devel/testing testing page].

=== Debian unstable (sid) ===

Add the following lines to your '''/etc/apt/sources.list''':

deb http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian sid main
deb-src http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian sid main

Then, for a normal install, do:

# '''apt-get update'''
# '''apt-get install vlc libdvdcss2'''

== 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 [http://plf.zarb.org/~nanardon/ 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'''

== Linux CentOS (EL5) ==

1. download and install the latest rpmforge-release rpm (eg rpmforge-release-0.3.6-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm)

2. either;

yum install vlc

or (if you have epel-release installed);

yum --disablerepo='epel' install vlc

 

== Linux Redhat ==

Download the RPM package ''vlc'' and the packages listed in the ''required libraries and codecs'' section (the other packages are optional) from the [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-redhat.html 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.

== Compile the sources by yourself (for every other OS) ==

For more detailed information on compiling VLC by yourself, please have a look at the documentation on our [http://developers.videolan.org developers website].

{{Documentation}}

Documentation:Installing VLC

2010-12-02T20:14:15Z

Hawksters:

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc}}

There are VLC binaries available for the many OSes, but not for all supported ones. If there are no binaries for your OS or if you want to change the default settings, you can compile VLC from sources.

== Windows ==

{{VLC}} works under Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7.[[Image:Installation.PNG|right|194x150px|Installation of VLC on Windows 7.]]

#Download the self-extracting package from the [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html VLC Windows download page].
#Launch the '''.exe''' to install VLC.
#Follow the steps

Unattended/silent installation: Use "filename" /L="languagecode" /S. Example for english installation: vlc-1.1.0-win32.exe /L=1033 /S

== Mac OS X ==

#Download the Mac OS X package from the [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html VLC MacOS X download page].
#Double-click on the icon of the package: an icon will appear on your Desktop, right beside your drives.
#Open it and drag the VLC application from the resulting window to the place where you want to install it (it should be '''/Applications''').

== BeOS ==

Download the Zip file from the [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-beos.html VLC BeOS download page]. Unzip the file in a directory to install VLC.

== Debian GNU/Linux ==

=== Debian stable (sarge) ===

Add the following lines to your '''/etc/apt/sources.list''':

deb http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian stable main
deb-src http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian stable main

Then, for a normal install, do:

# '''apt-get update'''
# '''apt-get install vlc libdvdcss2'''

=== Debian testing (etch) ===

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: [http://www.debian.org/devel/testing testing page].

=== Debian unstable (sid) ===

Add the following lines to your '''/etc/apt/sources.list''':

deb http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian sid main
deb-src http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian sid main

Then, for a normal install, do:

# '''apt-get update'''
# '''apt-get install vlc libdvdcss2'''

== 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 [http://plf.zarb.org/~nanardon/ 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'''

== Linux CentOS (EL5) ==

1. download and install the latest rpmforge-release rpm (eg rpmforge-release-0.3.6-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm)

2. either;

yum install vlc

or (if you have epel-release installed);

yum --disablerepo='epel' install vlc

 

== Linux Redhat ==

Download the RPM package ''vlc'' and the packages listed in the ''required libraries and codecs'' section (the other packages are optional) from the [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-redhat.html 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.

== Compile the sources by yourself (for every other OS) ==

For more detailed information on compiling VLC by yourself, please have a look at the documentation on our [http://developers.videolan.org developers website].

{{Documentation}}

File:Installation.PNG

2010-12-02T20:10:48Z

Hawksters: Installation of VLC on Windows 7.

Installation of VLC on Windows 7.