VideoLAN Wiki - User contributions [en]

Documentation:Snapshots

2014-01-16T16:06:33Z

Jeremy Butler: formatting

{{RightMenu|Documentation TOC}}
There are two ways to take snapshots (i.e., screenshots or frame grabs) with VLC:
#Open the ''Video'' menu, and select the ''Snapshot'' menu item.
#Press the snapshot hotkey
#*Linux / Unix: Ctrl-Alt-s
#*Windows (Qt interface): Shift-s
#*Mac OS X: Command-Alt-s

When a snapshot is taken, it will briefly preview as a thumbnail with its filename and then fade away.

To change the hotkey, go to Tools -> Preferences. If "Show settings" is set to Simple, click Hotkeys; if "Show settings" is set All, navigate to Interface -> Hotkeys settings. Set the hotkey for Take video snapshot.

==Snapshot location, format and name==

The snapshot location depends upon your operating system:

*Windows XP: My Documents\My Pictures\
*Windows Vista, 7, and 8: C:\Users\''Username''\Pictures\
*Linux / Unix: $(HOME)/.vlc/
*Mac OS X: Desktop/

===Configuring snapshot options under Windows:===
The location, format and name of snapshots may be changed in the ''Preferences'' menu item in the ''Tools'' tab, subsection ''Video''.

[[File:Basic_snapshots_config.png]]

The default format for snapshots is PNG, but this may be changed to JPEG. Also, the default name for snapshots is ''vlcsnap-'' followed by a timestamp that is ''not'' the time of the frame in the video you're viewing, but rather the current date and time--as in 2014-01-16-14h57m19s163.

Also, you may substitute other text for ''vlcsnap-'' in the ''Video snapshot file prefix'' and you may choose to have snapshots numbered sequentially (i.e., 000001, 000002, 000003, and so on) instead of with a timestamp.

As of version 0.9.0, you may even use [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Format String|variables]] in the text used for the filename. For example, ''$T'' (must be upper case) will insert the video's time code into the file name. If you were to change the prefix to ''Friends-$T-'' while watching a DVD of ''Friends'', then the snapshot filenames would look something like this: ''Friends-00_05_21-2014-01-16-14h57m19s163.png''. This indicates a snapshot taken at 5 minutes and 21 seconds into the video; and it was taken on this day at this time: ''2014-01-16-14h57m19s163''.

For a shorter file name, check the "Sequential numbering" option in the configuration box (below). Instead of numbers like ''2014-01-16-14h57m19s163'', VLC will simply insert the count of snapshots for that session--for example, ''00004''. Thus, in the example above, a snapshot with sequential numbering would look like this: ''Friends-00_05_21-000001.png''

For a full list of variables, please see [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Format String]].

{{Documentation}}

Documentation:Snapshots

2014-01-16T15:59:20Z

Jeremy Butler: /* Snapshot location, format and name */ formatting; added clarification

{{RightMenu|Documentation TOC}}
There are two ways to take snapshots (i.e., screenshots or frame grabs) with VLC:
#Open the ''Video'' menu, and select the ''Snapshot'' menu item.
#Press the snapshot hotkey
#*Linux / Unix: Ctrl-Alt-s
#*Windows (Qt interface): Shift-s
#*Mac OS X: Command-Alt-s

When a snapshot is taken, it will briefly preview as a thumbnail with its filename and then fade away.

To change the hotkey, go to Tools -> Preferences. If "Show settings" is set to Simple, click Hotkeys; if "Show settings" is set All, navigate to Interface -> Hotkeys settings. Set the hotkey for Take video snapshot.

==Snapshot location, format and name==

The snapshot location depends upon your operating system:

*Windows XP: My Documents\My Pictures\
*Windows Vista, 7, and 8: C:\Users\''Username''\Pictures\
*Linux / Unix: $(HOME)/.vlc/
*Mac OS X: Desktop/

The default format for snapshots is PNG, but this may be changed to JPEG. Also, the default name for snapshots is ''vlcsnap-'' followed by a timestamp that is ''not'' the time of the frame in the video you're viewing, but rather the current date and time--as in 2014-01-16-14h57m19s163.

The location, format and name of snapshots may be changed in the ''Preferences'' menu item in the ''Tools'' tab. Also, you may substitute other text for ''vlcsnap-'' in the ''Video snapshot file prefix'' and you may choose to have snapshots numbered sequentially (i.e., 000001, 000002, 000003, and so on) instead of with a timestamp.

[[File:Basic_snapshots_config.png]]

As of version 0.9.0, you may even use [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Format String|variables]] in the text used for the filename. For example, ''$T'' (must be upper case) will insert the video's time code into the file name. If you were to change the prefix to ''Friends-$T-'' while watching a DVD of ''Friends'', then the snapshot filenames would look something like this: Friends-00_05_21-2014-01-16-14h57m19s163.png. This indicates a snapshot taken at 5 minutes and 21 seconds into the video; and it was taken on this day at this time: 2014-01-16-14h57m19s163.

For a shorter file name, check the "Sequential numbering" option in the configuration box (below). Instead of numbers like 2014-01-16-14h57m19s163, VLC will simply insert the count of snapshots for that session--for example, 00004.

For a full list of variables, please see [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Format String]].

Configuring snapshot options under Windows

{{Documentation}}

Documentation Talk:Format String

2013-11-22T22:14:27Z

Jeremy Butler: added comment about broken feature

==Broken in VLC 2.1?==
This feature appears to have been broken in VLC version 2.1. [https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/9938 A bug report has been filed.] --[[User:Jeremy Butler|Jeremy Butler]] ([[User talk:Jeremy Butler|talk]]) 23:14, 22 November 2013 (CET)

Documentation:Documentation

2010-11-23T18:50:00Z

Jeremy Butler: Undo revision 17887 by Imansubarkah (Talk) rvv

__NOTOC__


{|style="width:100%;margin-top:0px;background-color:#fcfcfc;border:1px solid #ccc"
|style="width:56%;color:#000"|
{|style="width:280px;border:solid 0px;background:none"
|-
|style="width:280px;text-align:center;white-space:nowrap;color:#000" |
<div style="font-size:162%;border:none;margin: 0;padding:.1em;color:#000">Welcome to [[Documentation:Documentation|VideoLAN's Documentation]],</div>
<div style="top:+0.2em;font-size: 95%">The reference documentation on VideoLAN's projects.</div>
<div id="articlecount" style="width:100%;text-align:center;font-size:85%;">Articles under the [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU General Public License] only.</div>
|}
|style="width:11%;font-size:95%;color:#000" valign="top"|
*[[VideoLAN|VideoLAN]]
*[[VLC|VLC media player]]
*[[Documentation:Documentation|Documentation]]
|style="width:14%;font-size:95%" valign="top"|
*[http://www.videolan.org Main Site]
*[http://forum.videolan.org Forum]
*[http://planet.videolan.org News from developers]
|style="width:18%;font-size:95%" valign="top"|
*[http://www.videolan.org/developers/ Developer's website]
*[http://nightlies.videolan.org Latest builds]
*[http://trac.videolan.org Trac, Bugs, SVN and roadmap]
|}


''Pages in the "Documentation" namespace are part of the official VLC media player documentation.''

''All pages in this namespace are licensed under the [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU General Public License].''

'''Note: many parts of this documentation are currently outdated / obsolete. If you have good knowledge of a particular subject and feel that it could be documented better, please update the appropriate wiki page.'''

== [[Documentation:VLC for dummies| VLC for dummies: an introduction to VLC]] ==
This document will be an introduction to VLC from version 0.9.0 and above. '''UNDER CONSTRUCTION'''

== [[Documentation:Play HowTo|VLC Play HowTo]] ==

User documentation for everyone.

*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Introduction to VLC|Introduction to VideoLAN and VLC]]
**Overview and history of the VideoLAN project.
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Installing VLC|Installation]]
**Installation instructions for a variety of computers.
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Basic Use|VLC Usage]]
**How to play audio/video materials with the VLC media player. (For versions 0.9 and newer)
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Advanced Use of VLC|Advanced Use]]
**Advanced instruction on streams, filters, plug-ins and more.
*[[Documentation:WebPlugin|Using VLC inside a webpage]]
**How to build webpages that use the VLC Web plugin.

== [[Documentation:Streaming HowTo|VLC Streaming HowTo]] ==

This document explains how to stream, transcode and save streams using the VideoLAN solution. '''OUTDATED'''

'''NOTE: See [[Documentation:Streaming HowTo New|Streaming HowTo New]] for more updated information regarding streaming (WIP).'''

== [[Documentation:Hacker's Guide|The Hacker's Guide to VLC]] ==

This document will detail the inner workings of VLC and its source code.

== [[Documentation:Modules|The VLC Modules Index]] ==

This document references most of the VLC modules and their options as well as some example uses.
{{Documentation}}

Documentation:Format String

2010-07-29T13:29:37Z

Jeremy Butler: /* Source code */ spelling; created footnote

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc}}

Starting with [[VLC media player]] 0.9.0, format string variables can be used with the following options:
* --marq-marquee
* --snapshot-path (when specifying a full image path, not a directory)
* --snapshot-prefix
* --image-out-prefix (or --scene-prefix in 1.0.0 and newer)
* --msn-format (windows only)
* file access output dst/url (like in std{access=file,mux=ts,dst='''THIS'''})

There are two kinds of format string variables: time variables and meta variables.

==Time==

Time variables are those defined by the '''strftime''' C function. Those include:
* %Y : year
* %m : month
* %d : day
* %H : hour
* %M : minute
* %S : second
For an extensive list have a look at [http://www.hmug.org/man/3/strftime.php man strftime].

==Meta==

Meta variables are VLC specific. The complete list is:
* $a : artist
* $b : album
* $c : copyright
* $d : description
* $e : encoded by
* $f : frame count
* $g : genre
* $l : language
* $n : track num
* $p : now playing
* $r : rating
* $s : subtitles language
* $t : title
* $u : url
* $A : date
* $B : audio bitrate (in kb/s)
* $C : chapter (as in DVD chapter number)
* $D : duration
* $F : full name with path
* $I : title (as in DVD title number)
* $L : time left
* $N : name (media name as seen in the VLC playlist)
* $O : audio language
* $P : position (in %)
* $R : rate
* $S : audio sample rate (in kHz)
* $T : time code of the video
* $U : publisher
* $V : volume
* $_ : new line
* $<any other char> : <any other char> (for example: $$ transforms to $)

You can insert a space between the $ sign and the character to tell it to not display anything if the meta data isn't available. For example: $ T instead will display "" if no time is available while $T would display something like "01_22_13" (for a snapshot from one hour, 22 minutes and 13 seconds in a video).

==Source code==
If you want to know how this works, check out src\text\strings.c (str_format_meta function)[http://git.videolan.org/?p=vlc.git;a=blob;f=src/text/strings.c]

{{Documentation}}

Documentation:Format String

2009-05-27T11:42:57Z

Jeremy Butler: /* Meta */ clarified $T

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc}}

Starting with [[VLC media player]] 0.9.0, format string variables can be used with the following options:
* --marq-marquee
* --snapshot-path (when specifying a full image path, not a directory)
* --snapshot-prefix
* --image-out-prefix
* --msn-format (windows only)
* file access output dst/url (like in std{access=file,mux=ts,dst='''THIS'''})

There are two kinds of format string variables: time variables and meta variables.

==Time==

Time variables are those defined by the '''strftime''' C function. Those include:
* %Y : year
* %m : month
* %d : day
* %H : hour
* %M : minute
* %S : second
For an extensive list have a look at [http://www.hmug.org/man/3/strftime.php man strftime].

==Meta==

Meta variables are VLC specific. The complete list is:
* $a : artist
* $b : album
* $c : copyright
* $d : description
* $e : encoded by
* $f : frame count
* $g : genre
* $l : language
* $n : track num
* $p : now playing
* $r : rating
* $s : subtitles language
* $t : title
* $u : url
* $A : date
* $B : audio bitrate (in kb/s)
* $C : chapter
* $D : duration
* $F : full name with path
* $I : title
* $L : time left
* $N : name
* $O : audio language
* $P : position (in %)
* $R : rate
* $S : audio sample rate (in kHz)
* $T : time code of the video
* $U : publisher
* $V : volume
* $_ : new line
* $<any other char> : <any other char> (for example: $$ transforms to $)

You can insert a space between the $ sign and the character to tell it to not display anything if the meta data isn't available. For example: $ T instead will display "" if no time is available while $T would display something like "01_22_13" (for a snapshot from one hour, 22 minutes and 13 seconds in a video).

{{Documentation}}

Documentation:Documentation

2009-05-27T11:32:21Z

Jeremy Butler: copyediting

__NOTOC__


{|style="width:100%;margin-top:0px;background-color:#fcfcfc;border:1px solid #ccc"
|style="width:56%;color:#000"|
{|style="width:280px;border:solid 0px;background:none"
|-
|style="width:280px;text-align:center;white-space:nowrap;color:#000" |
<div style="font-size:162%;border:none;margin: 0;padding:.1em;color:#000">Welcome to [[Documentation:Documentation|VideoLAN's Documentation]],</div>
<div style="top:+0.2em;font-size: 95%">The reference documentation on VideoLAN's projects.</div>
<div id="articlecount" style="width:100%;text-align:center;font-size:85%;">Articles under the [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU General Public License] only.</div>
|}
|style="width:11%;font-size:95%;color:#000" valign="top"|
*[[VideoLAN|VideoLAN]]
*[[VLC|VLC media player]]
*[[Documentation:Documentation|Documentation]]
|style="width:14%;font-size:95%" valign="top"|
*[http://www.videolan.org Main Site]
*[http://forum.videolan.org Forum]
*[http://planet.videolan.org News from developers]
|style="width:18%;font-size:95%" valign="top"|
*[http://www.videolan.org/developers/ Developer's website]
*[http://nightlies.videolan.org Latest builds]
*[http://trac.videolan.org Trac, Bugs, SVN and roadmap]
|}


''Pages in the "Documentation" namespace are part of the official VLC media player documentation.''

''All pages in this namespace are licensed under the [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU General Public License].''

'''Note: many parts of this documentation are currently outdated / obsolete. If you have good knowledge of a particular subject and feel that it could be documented better, please update the appropriate wiki page.'''

== [[Documentation:VLC for dummies| VLC for dummies: an introduction to VLC]] ==
This document will be an introduction to VLC from version 0.9.0 and above. '''UNDER CONSTRUCTION'''

== [[Documentation:Play HowTo|VLC Play HowTo]] ==

User documentation for everyone.

*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Introduction to VLC|Introduction to VideoLAN and VLC]]
**Overview and history of the VideoLAN project.
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Installing VLC|Installation]]
**Installation instructions for a variety of computers.
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Basic Use|VLC Usage]]
**How to play audio/video materials with the VLC media player. (For versions 0.9 and newer)
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Advanced Use of VLC|Advanced Use]]
**Advanced instruction on streams, filters, plug-ins and more.
*[[Documentation:WebPlugin|Using VLC inside a webpage]]
**How to build webpages that use the VLC Web plugin.

== [[Documentation:Streaming HowTo|VLC Streaming HowTo]] ==

This document explains how to stream, transcode and save streams using the VideoLAN solution. '''OUTDATED'''

== [[Documentation:Hacker's Guide|The Hacker's Guide to VLC]] ==

This document will detail the inner workings of VLC and its source code. '''UNDER CONTRUCTION'''

== [[Documentation:Modules|The VLC Modules Index]] ==

This document references most of the VLC modules and their options as well as some example uses. '''UNDER CONSTRUCTION (available content is up to date)'''

{{Documentation}}

Knowledge Base

2008-09-27T13:09:15Z

Jeremy Butler: Undo revision 12486 by Carmoney (Talk)

__NOTOC__
__NOEDITSECTION__

{|style="width:100%;margin-top:0px;background-color:#fcfcfc;border:1px solid #ccc"
|style="width:56%;color:#000"|
{|style="width:280px;border:solid 0px;background:none"
|-
|style="width:280px;text-align:center;white-space:nowrap;color:#000" |
<div style="font-size:162%;border:none;margin: 0;padding:.1em;color:#000">Welcome to [[Knowledge_Base|Videolan's Knowledge Base]],</div>
<div style="top:+0.2em;font-size: 95%">The reference documentation and tips on VideoLAN's projects.</div>
<div id="articlecount" style="width:100%;text-align:center;font-size:85%;">[[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}]] articles</div>
|}
|style="width:11%;font-size:95%;color:#000" valign="top"|
*[[VideoLAN|VideoLAN]]
*[[VLC|VLC media player]]
*[[Documentation:Documentation|Documentation]]
|style="width:14%;font-size:95%" valign="top"|
*[http://www.videolan.org Main Site]
*[http://forum.videolan.org Forum]
*[http://planet.videolan.org News from developers]
|style="width:18%;font-size:95%" valign="top"|
*[http://developers.videolan.org Developer's website]
*[http://trac.videolan.org Trac, Bugs, SVN and roadmap]
*[http://wiki.multimedia.cx/ MultimediaWiki]
|}


The [[VideoLAN]] Knowledge Base's goal is to document [[codec]]s, [[fileformat|file format]]s, [[protocol]]s, etc. Although mainly consisting of technical information, it is intended to be easily understandable by all users. The Knowledge Base serves as a glossary on video/audio streaming/playing, helping users understand the rest of this wiki. When contributing to the user documentation please link to these definitions as much as possible.

In addition, Mike Melanson and Diego Biurrun, from the FFmpeg project, have started the [http://wiki.multimedia.cx/ MultimediaWiki] where you can find tons of information about multimedia technology, particularly codecs.

{|
|- width="90%"
|width="50%" align="center"|
* '''[[Codec]]'''
: Audio and video formats, like DivX and AC2
* '''[[File format]]'''
: Different file types, like .avi and .mpg
* '''[[Protocols]]'''
: How data is sent from one place to another
* '''[[Dictionary]]'''
: VideoLAN-related words and concepts
* '''[[Players]]'''
: Other multimedia software
* '''[[Companies]]'''
: Software companies related (or not related) to VideoLAN
* '''[[Links]]'''
: Related web links

|width="50%" align="center"|
* '''[[Servers]]'''
: VLS, VLC and server software and hardware
* '''[[Projects]]'''
: 3rd party projects related to VideoLAN
* '''[[History|A brief history of VideoLAN]]'''
: About VideoLAN
* '''[[Video Output]]'''
: Different ways to display output
* '''[[Interface]]s'''
: Different ways to control VLC
* '''[[Buying Media to Play with VLC]]'''
: How to get [[DRM]]-free music.
* '''[[Hardware Compatibility list]]'''
: Hardware that works with VLC/VLS.
|}

[[Category:Documentation]]

Documentation:History

2007-09-26T14:01:23Z

Jeremy Butler: copyediting

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc}}

==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 Unicast, UDP Multicast (MPEG-TS), HTTP, RTP/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)
* [http://www.videolan.org/doc/faq/en/videolan-faq-en.html The ''VideoLAN FAQ'']: Frequently Asked Questions about VideoLAN.

The latest version of these documents, in a variety of languages, can be found on the [http://www.videolan.org/doc/ 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}}

Documentation:Play HowTo/Basic Use 0.8

2007-08-07T19:51:35Z

Jeremy Butler: /* Snapshot location, format and name */ added variable info

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc}}

==General interface description==

VLC has several interfaces:
*A cross-platform interface, for Windows and GNU/Linux, called wxWidgets,
*A native Mac OS X interface, and
*A skinnable interface for Windows and GNU/Linux.
Screenshots below are drawn from the various interfaces, but VLC's functions work essentially the same on all operating systems.

===Windows and GNU/Linux (wxWidgets)===

This is the default interface on Windows and GNU/Linux (the screenshot is done on GNU/Linux, but it would look quite the same on Windows).

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx.jpg The wxWidgets interface

This interface also features an ''Extended GUI'' which contains many additional features. To display or hide it, go to the ''Settings'' menu and click ''Extended GUI''.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-extended.jpg The wxWidgets interface with extended GUI

===Native Mac OS X (Cocoa)===

This is the default interface on Mac OS X.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx.jpg The Mac OS X interface

This interface features an ''Extended GUI'' as well. It is called "Extended Controls" and can be opened through the Window menu.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-extended.jpg The Mac OSX interface with with the extended controls panel

==Basic playback==

===Play a file===

To play a file, open the ''File'' menu, and select the ''Quick Open File'' menu item. An Open File dialog box will appear. Select the file you want to open, and select Open. VLC will start playing the selected file.

An alternative is to drag 'n' drop your file on the VLC main interface or playlist window from the file explorer (Finder on MacOS X).

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-file-menu.jpg The File menu - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-file-menu.jpg The File menu - MacOS X interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-file.jpg The Open file dialog - wxWidgets interface

http://wwww.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-open-file.jpg The Open file dialog - MacOS X interface

===Play a CD/DVD/VCD===

To Play a CD, VCD or a DVD, open the ''File'' menu, and select the ''Open Disc...'' menu item. In the Open Disk Dialog Box, select the type of media (DVD, VCD or Audio CD). When reading a DVD, you can enable DVD menus by selecting the ''DVD (menus)'' disc type in the wxWidgets Interface. In the MacOS X interface, this can be done by selecting the "Use DVD menus" dialog box.

You can select the drive from which the media should be read by giving the appropriate drive letter or device name in the "Device Name" text input. This should be auto-detected on MacOS X.

If you want to start the DVD or VCD playback from a given title and chapter instead of from the beginning, you can set it using the ''Title'' and ''Chapter'' selectors.

You can start playback by selecting the ''Ok'' button.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-disk.jpg The Open disk dialog - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-open-disk.jpg The Open disk dialog - MacOS X interface

===Play a network stream (WebRadio, WebTV, etc.)===

To open a network stream, open the "File" menu and select the "Open Network Stream" menu item.

*To open a UDP unicast stream, select ''UDP/RTP'', and set the appropriate UDP port in the selector (it is 1234 for streams sent by a VLC or VLS server).
*To open a UDP multicast stream, select ''UDP/RTP multicast''. Give the address of the multicast group in the "Address" text input, and select the appropriate UDP port.
*To open a stream sent over http (Webradios, WebTVs, Shoutcast, Icecast...), ftp, or mms (Microsoft Media Server), select "HTTP/FTP/MMS", and give the corresponding complete URL, (such as http://live.stream.org:8080/live or mms://live.ms.stream.net:8080/live.asf) in the corresponding text input. This also the way to open a RTSP stream with the MacOS X interface.
*To open a RTSP stream (sent by Darwin Streaming Server, VLC, etc), in the wxWidgets interface, select "RTSP" and give the URL in the text input.

You can start playback by selecting the ''Ok'' button.

If you get some stuttering during playback, you can try to increase the size of the read buffer. This can be done in the ''Open Network Stream'' dialog box, by selecting the ''Caching'' box. You can then choose the amount time (in milliseconds) VLC should store data in its buffer before starting playback.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-net.jpg The Open network dialog - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-open-net.jpg The Open network dialog - MacOS X interface

===Play from an acquisition card===

This currently only possible on Linux and Windows. Open the File menu, and select "Open Capture Device..."

On Windows, supported cards include webcams, TV cards, acquisition cards... provided they come with directshow compatible drivers (Almost all acquisition cards do). You can choose the device to use for video and audio capture using the "Video device name" and "Audio device name" selectors. If your device doesn't appear in the list, try to select the "Refresh list" button. You can access the settings of your acquisition device by selecting the ''configure'' button. Options here depend on the driver of the device. You can select the "Device Proprieties" box if you want the configuration dialog box of every device to be displayed after having pressed the ''Ok'' button. Select the ''Tuner properties'' box to be prompted for tuner settings (PAL/NTSC standard, frequency...) for TV cards. The ''Advanced options...'' button allows to select some further settings useful in some rare cases, such as the chroma of the input (the way colors are encoded) and the size of the input buffer.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-capture.jpg The Open Capture device dialog and a device configuration windows- wxWidgets interface

On Linux, supported cards include webcams, TV cards, acquisition cards, provided they are supported by the Video4Linux architecture. Haupaugge PVR 250/350 cards are also supported, using the [http://ivtv.sourceforge.net/ IVTV drivers].

*For Video4Linux devices, you can set the name of the video and audio devices using the "Video device name" and "Audio device name" text inputs. The "Advanced options..." button allows to select some further settings useful in some rare cases, such as the chroma of the input (the way colors are encoded) and the size of the input buffer.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-v4l.jpg The Open Video4Linux dialog- wxWidgets interface

*To use a Hauppauge PVR card, select the PVR tab in the "Open" dialog box. Use the "Device" text input to set the device of the card you want to use. You can set the Norm of the tuner (PAL, SECAM or NTSC) by using the "Norm" Drop Down. The Frequency selector allows you to set the frequency of the tuner (in kHz), the bitrate selector to set the bitrate of the resulting encoded stream (in bit/s). The "Advanced Options button allows to set some more settings, such as the size of the encoded video (in pixels), its framerate (in frame per second), the interval between 2 key frames, etc.

After having set all the required parameters, you can start the capture by selecting the "Ok" button.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-pvr.jpg The Open PVR dialog- wxWidgets interface

==Playlist==

VLC can store a list of several files to play one after the other, using its playlist system. To access the playlist, click on the ''Playlist'' button on the main interface.

Each time you use the Open dialog box, the stream you select is appended at the end of the playlist and started.

The playlist window shows all the available streams. Double-click one to play it.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-playlist.jpg The Playlist - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-playlist.jpg The Playlist - MacOS X interface

===Adding items, saving and loading playlists===

In the wxWidgets interface, the ''Manage'' menu allows you to append an item at the end of the playlist (its playback won't start immediately), to save the playlist as a M3U or PLS file, or to import a playlist file.

In the MacOS X interface, saving a playlist can be done using the ''Save Playlist...'' function in the ''File'' menu. To import a playlist file, open it the same way as any other media file, using the ''Quick Open File...'' menu item.

===Sorting===

In the wxWidgets interface, ''Sort'' allows you to sort the playlist according to several criteria, or to shuffle it. You can also sort by clicking the header of the column.

In the MacOS X interface, sorting can be done by clicking the header of the column matching the criteria you want to use for sorting.

===Playlist modes===

The playlist supports several playback modes.

In the wxWidgets interface, the toolbar contains three playlist mode buttons. They allow to enable random mode, to repeat the whole playlist or to repeat one item.

In the MacOS X interface, random mode can be enabled by selecting the ''Random'' box. A drop down menu allows you to enable playlist and item repeat modes.

===Misc===

====Search====

You also have a search tool. Enter a search string and hit search. The next item to match the string will be highlighted. Keep hitting Search to cycle between all matching items.

====Moving items====

In the wxWidgets interface, the ''Up'' and ''Down'' buttons at the bottom of the playlist window allow you to move an item. Select an item and use these buttons to move it.

In the MacOS X interface, you can easily move an item with the mouse, using drag-and-drop.

====Contextual menu====

By right-clicking or control-clicking an item, a contextual menu will appear, giving access to a number of functions (for example, play the item, disable it, delete it, or get info on it).

If you ask for info, an ''item info'' dialog box will appear. This dialog box also allows you to change the name, the author and the location of the item to play.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-iteminfo.jpg Item Info Dialog - wx Interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-iteminfo.jpg Item Info Dialog - MacOS X interface

==Subtitles==

VLC supports many kinds of subtitles.

===Media with included subtitles===

Many types of media can have embedded subtitles. VLC can read subtitles for the following media:
*DVD
*SVCD
*OGM files
*Matroska (MKV) files

Subtitles are disabled by default. To enable them, go to the ''Video'' menu, and to ''Subtitles track''. All available subtitles tracks will be listed. Select one to get the subtitles. Depending on the media, a description (language, for example) might be available for the track.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-select-sub.jpg Select a subtitles track under Windows or Linux

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-select-sub.jpg Select a subtitles track under MacOS X

DVD and SVCD subtitles are merely images, so you won't be able to change anything for them. OGM and Matroska subtitles are rendered text, so you will be able to change several options.

Text rendering options can be changed in the Preferences. In the ''Modules'' section, ''text renderer'' subsection, open the ''freetype'' page. You can then set the font and its size. For the font, you have to select a font file. Under Windows, they can be found in ''C:\Windows\Fonts''. Under MacOS X, they are in ''/System/Library/Fonts''. Size can be set either relatively or as a number of pixels.

You need to restart your stream for the font modifications to take effect.

===Subtitles files===

While modern file formats like Matroska or OGM can handle subtitles directly, older formats like AVI can't. Therefore, a number of subtitles files formats have been created. You need two files: the
video file and the subtitles files that only contains the text of the subtitles and timestamps.

VLC can handle these types of subtitles files:
*MicroDVD
*SubRIP
*SubViewer
*SSA
*Sami
*Vobsub (this one is quite special: it is not made from text but from images, which means that you can't change the fonts)

To open a subtitles file, use the Advanced Open dialog box (Menu File, Open file). Select your file by clicking on the ''Browse'' button. Then, check the ''Subtitle options'' checkbox and click on the Settings button.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-sub-file.jpg Select a subtitles file under Windows or Linux

You can then select the subtitles file by clicking the ''Browse'' button. You can also set a few options like character encoding, alignment and size. The delay option allows you to delay the subtitles against the video if they are not in sync. If they are not at the same speed, you might also want to adjust the subtitles framerate.

Note: For Vobsub subtitles, you need to select the '''.idx''' file, not the '''.sub''' file.
Encoding, alignment and size won't have any effect for Vobsub subtitles.

Font can be changed as explained in the previous section.

==Video and audio filters==

VLC includes a system of ''filters'' that allow you to modify the audio and video.

===Deinterlacement and Post Processing===

VLC is able to deinterlace a video stream using different deinterlacement methods. Deinterlacement can be enabled in the ''Video'' menu, ''Deinterlacement'' menu item. The ''Blend'' methods gives the best results in most cases. The ''discard''method is a less resource consuming alternative.

On some particular streams (MPEG 4, DIVX, XVID, Sorenson, etc.), some additional image filtering can be applied to the video before display, improving its quality in some cases. This can be enabled in the ''Video'' menu, ''Post processing'' menu item. Different levels of post processing can be chosen here. A higher level means more filtering.

===Video filters===

VLC features several filters able to change the video (distortion, brightness adjustment, motion blurring, etc.).

With the wxWidgets interface, filters can be easily enabled using the Extended GUI. In the Video tab, simply select the filters to enable. Image settings can be easily adjusted.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-vfilters.jpg Video filters selection in the wxWidgets interface

You can enable these filters through the ''Extended Controls panel'' on Mac OS X. Click on the triangle next to ''Video filters'' to select your filters or expand the ''Adjust Image'' section to change the contrast, hue, etc.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-vfilters.jpg Video filters selection in the Mac OS X interface

For better control, you need to go to the preferences. To select the filters to be enabled, go to ''Video'', then to ''Filters''. In the "video filter module" box, enter the names of the filters to enable, separated by semicommas. Filters will be applied in the selected order. Valid names are "clone", "wall", "transform", "adjust", "crop", "deinterlace", "distort", "motionblur" and "logo".

If you want to tune the behavior of these filters, go to ''Video, Filters, [your filter]''. For each filter, you will find a short description and the options.

===Audio filters===

====Equalizer====

VLC features a 10-band graphical equalizer. You can display it by activating the advanced GUI on wxWidgets or by clicking the ''Equalizer'' button on the MacOS X interface.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-equalizer.jpg The equalizer in the wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-equalizer.jpg The equalizer in the MacOS X interface

Presets are available in the Audio menu in wxWidgets, or in the Equalizer window in the MacOS X interface.

====Other audio filters====

At the moment, VLC features two other audio filters: a volume normalizer and a filter providing sound spatialization with a headphone. They can be enabled in the Audio tab of the extended GUI for the wxWidgets interface and in the Audio section of the Extended Controls panel of the Mac OS X interface.

For better control, you need to go to the preferences. To select the filters to be enabled, go to ''Audio'', then to ''Filters''. In the "audio filters" box, enter the names of the filters to enable, separated by commas. Valid names are "equalizer", "normvol" and "headphone".

If you want to tune the behavior of these filters, go to ''Audio, Filters, [your filter]''. The equalizer and headphone filters can be tuned.

==Snapshots (aka, screenshots)==
There are two ways to take snapshots (i.e., screenshots or frame grabs) with VLC:
#Go to Video -> Snapshot, or
#Press the snapshot hotkey
#*Windows / Linux / Unix: Ctrl-Alt-s
#*Mac OS X: Command-Alt-s

When a snapshot is taken, it will briefly preview as a thumbnail with its filename and then fade away.

To change the hotkey, go to Preferences -> Interface -> Hotkeys settings. Check Advanced options, and set Take video snapshot.

===Snapshot location, format and name===
The snapshot location depends upon your operating system:
*Windows: My Documents\My Pictures\
*Linux / Unix: $(HOME)/.vlc/
*Mac OS X: Desktop/

The default format for snapshots is PNG, but this may be changed to JPEG. Also, the default name for snapshots is ''vlcsnap-'' followed by a timestamp that is ''not'' the time of the frame in the video you're viewing.

The location, format and name of snapshots may be changed in the Preferences. Also, you may substitute other text for ''vlcsnap-'' in the ''Video snapshot file prefix'' and you may choose to have snapshots numbered sequentially (i.e., 000001, 000002, 000003, and so on) instead of with a timestamp. As of version 0.9, you may even use [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Format String|variables]] in the text used for the filename. For example, ''$T'' (must be upper case) will insert the video's time code into the file name. If you were to change the prefix to ''Friends-$T-'' while watching a DVD of ''Friends'', then the snapshot filenames would look something like this: Friends-00_05_21-00004.png . This indicates a snapshot taken at 5 minutes and 21 seconds into the video; and it was the number 00004 snapshot of the day.

For a full list of variables, please see [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Format String]].

==Hotkeys==

Most of VLC functions are accessible using hotkeys.

The list of the available hotkeys and their functions can be retrieved and altered in the preferences panel of the player. In the wxWidgets interface, preferences are available in the "Settings" menu, "Preferences" menu item. In the MacOS X interface, open the "VLC" menu, and select "Preferences". Select the "Hot keys" panel in the dialog.

As of version 0.9, a list of hotkeys is presented in a drop-down window. To change one, double-click its name to select it. Then, press the new key that will trigger the specified action. Modifier keys (such as Control/Command and Alt) may also be used.

In earlier versions, several boxes give the list of modifiers for the hotkey. To trigger an action using a hotkey, you need to press simultaneously the keys corresponding to the different selected modifiers as well as the key set in the dropdown.

To change the binding of a hotkey, select or deselect boxes corresponding to the different modifiers, and change the key by using the drop-down menu. Select the ''Save'' button to apply the changes.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-hotkeys.jpg The Hotkeys Panel - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-hotkeys.jpg The Hotkeys Panel - MacOS X interface

==Basic troubleshooting==

===File does not play, only sound or only video===

Maybe the file you are trying to read is not fully supported. VLC does not use the codec packs (the software that decodes video signals) you might have installed. It comes with its own codecs. If there is no open-source decoder for the format you are trying to read, it won't be supported. (There is an exception, under Windows, for codecs that use the DirectShow framework.)

To find out, open the Messages Window (View menu) and restart your stream. Look for error messages (red messages)

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-messages.jpg The wxWidgets messages window

In this example, the file contains a IV41 video stream, a codec that is not supported by VLC.

You may of course have other messages. If you post to a VideoLAN mailing list or in the forum, please include such a log. It is very valuable in troubleshooting.

===Weird VLC behavior and crashes===

A very common thing is a corrupted VLC preferences file. Don't hesitate to delete it if problems appear suddenly. You will find in the FAQ details on [http://www.videolan.org/doc/faq/en/index.html#id2470084 how to delete your preferences file].

===Computer crashes / Video is corrupted===

Another common problem is buggy video drivers. Try upgrading them from the website of your video card's manufacturer.

Also, you can try disabling Overlay (Preferences/General/Video, untick "Overlay video output")

{{Documentation}}

Documentation:Play HowTo/Basic Use 0.8

2007-08-07T19:40:06Z

Jeremy Butler: /* Snapshots (aka, screenshots) */ copyediting

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc}}

==General interface description==

VLC has several interfaces:
*A cross-platform interface, for Windows and GNU/Linux, called wxWidgets,
*A native Mac OS X interface, and
*A skinnable interface for Windows and GNU/Linux.
Screenshots below are drawn from the various interfaces, but VLC's functions work essentially the same on all operating systems.

===Windows and GNU/Linux (wxWidgets)===

This is the default interface on Windows and GNU/Linux (the screenshot is done on GNU/Linux, but it would look quite the same on Windows).

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx.jpg The wxWidgets interface

This interface also features an ''Extended GUI'' which contains many additional features. To display or hide it, go to the ''Settings'' menu and click ''Extended GUI''.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-extended.jpg The wxWidgets interface with extended GUI

===Native Mac OS X (Cocoa)===

This is the default interface on Mac OS X.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx.jpg The Mac OS X interface

This interface features an ''Extended GUI'' as well. It is called "Extended Controls" and can be opened through the Window menu.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-extended.jpg The Mac OSX interface with with the extended controls panel

==Basic playback==

===Play a file===

To play a file, open the ''File'' menu, and select the ''Quick Open File'' menu item. An Open File dialog box will appear. Select the file you want to open, and select Open. VLC will start playing the selected file.

An alternative is to drag 'n' drop your file on the VLC main interface or playlist window from the file explorer (Finder on MacOS X).

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-file-menu.jpg The File menu - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-file-menu.jpg The File menu - MacOS X interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-file.jpg The Open file dialog - wxWidgets interface

http://wwww.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-open-file.jpg The Open file dialog - MacOS X interface

===Play a CD/DVD/VCD===

To Play a CD, VCD or a DVD, open the ''File'' menu, and select the ''Open Disc...'' menu item. In the Open Disk Dialog Box, select the type of media (DVD, VCD or Audio CD). When reading a DVD, you can enable DVD menus by selecting the ''DVD (menus)'' disc type in the wxWidgets Interface. In the MacOS X interface, this can be done by selecting the "Use DVD menus" dialog box.

You can select the drive from which the media should be read by giving the appropriate drive letter or device name in the "Device Name" text input. This should be auto-detected on MacOS X.

If you want to start the DVD or VCD playback from a given title and chapter instead of from the beginning, you can set it using the ''Title'' and ''Chapter'' selectors.

You can start playback by selecting the ''Ok'' button.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-disk.jpg The Open disk dialog - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-open-disk.jpg The Open disk dialog - MacOS X interface

===Play a network stream (WebRadio, WebTV, etc.)===

To open a network stream, open the "File" menu and select the "Open Network Stream" menu item.

*To open a UDP unicast stream, select ''UDP/RTP'', and set the appropriate UDP port in the selector (it is 1234 for streams sent by a VLC or VLS server).
*To open a UDP multicast stream, select ''UDP/RTP multicast''. Give the address of the multicast group in the "Address" text input, and select the appropriate UDP port.
*To open a stream sent over http (Webradios, WebTVs, Shoutcast, Icecast...), ftp, or mms (Microsoft Media Server), select "HTTP/FTP/MMS", and give the corresponding complete URL, (such as http://live.stream.org:8080/live or mms://live.ms.stream.net:8080/live.asf) in the corresponding text input. This also the way to open a RTSP stream with the MacOS X interface.
*To open a RTSP stream (sent by Darwin Streaming Server, VLC, etc), in the wxWidgets interface, select "RTSP" and give the URL in the text input.

You can start playback by selecting the ''Ok'' button.

If you get some stuttering during playback, you can try to increase the size of the read buffer. This can be done in the ''Open Network Stream'' dialog box, by selecting the ''Caching'' box. You can then choose the amount time (in milliseconds) VLC should store data in its buffer before starting playback.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-net.jpg The Open network dialog - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-open-net.jpg The Open network dialog - MacOS X interface

===Play from an acquisition card===

This currently only possible on Linux and Windows. Open the File menu, and select "Open Capture Device..."

On Windows, supported cards include webcams, TV cards, acquisition cards... provided they come with directshow compatible drivers (Almost all acquisition cards do). You can choose the device to use for video and audio capture using the "Video device name" and "Audio device name" selectors. If your device doesn't appear in the list, try to select the "Refresh list" button. You can access the settings of your acquisition device by selecting the ''configure'' button. Options here depend on the driver of the device. You can select the "Device Proprieties" box if you want the configuration dialog box of every device to be displayed after having pressed the ''Ok'' button. Select the ''Tuner properties'' box to be prompted for tuner settings (PAL/NTSC standard, frequency...) for TV cards. The ''Advanced options...'' button allows to select some further settings useful in some rare cases, such as the chroma of the input (the way colors are encoded) and the size of the input buffer.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-capture.jpg The Open Capture device dialog and a device configuration windows- wxWidgets interface

On Linux, supported cards include webcams, TV cards, acquisition cards, provided they are supported by the Video4Linux architecture. Haupaugge PVR 250/350 cards are also supported, using the [http://ivtv.sourceforge.net/ IVTV drivers].

*For Video4Linux devices, you can set the name of the video and audio devices using the "Video device name" and "Audio device name" text inputs. The "Advanced options..." button allows to select some further settings useful in some rare cases, such as the chroma of the input (the way colors are encoded) and the size of the input buffer.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-v4l.jpg The Open Video4Linux dialog- wxWidgets interface

*To use a Hauppauge PVR card, select the PVR tab in the "Open" dialog box. Use the "Device" text input to set the device of the card you want to use. You can set the Norm of the tuner (PAL, SECAM or NTSC) by using the "Norm" Drop Down. The Frequency selector allows you to set the frequency of the tuner (in kHz), the bitrate selector to set the bitrate of the resulting encoded stream (in bit/s). The "Advanced Options button allows to set some more settings, such as the size of the encoded video (in pixels), its framerate (in frame per second), the interval between 2 key frames, etc.

After having set all the required parameters, you can start the capture by selecting the "Ok" button.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-pvr.jpg The Open PVR dialog- wxWidgets interface

==Playlist==

VLC can store a list of several files to play one after the other, using its playlist system. To access the playlist, click on the ''Playlist'' button on the main interface.

Each time you use the Open dialog box, the stream you select is appended at the end of the playlist and started.

The playlist window shows all the available streams. Double-click one to play it.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-playlist.jpg The Playlist - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-playlist.jpg The Playlist - MacOS X interface

===Adding items, saving and loading playlists===

In the wxWidgets interface, the ''Manage'' menu allows you to append an item at the end of the playlist (its playback won't start immediately), to save the playlist as a M3U or PLS file, or to import a playlist file.

In the MacOS X interface, saving a playlist can be done using the ''Save Playlist...'' function in the ''File'' menu. To import a playlist file, open it the same way as any other media file, using the ''Quick Open File...'' menu item.

===Sorting===

In the wxWidgets interface, ''Sort'' allows you to sort the playlist according to several criteria, or to shuffle it. You can also sort by clicking the header of the column.

In the MacOS X interface, sorting can be done by clicking the header of the column matching the criteria you want to use for sorting.

===Playlist modes===

The playlist supports several playback modes.

In the wxWidgets interface, the toolbar contains three playlist mode buttons. They allow to enable random mode, to repeat the whole playlist or to repeat one item.

In the MacOS X interface, random mode can be enabled by selecting the ''Random'' box. A drop down menu allows you to enable playlist and item repeat modes.

===Misc===

====Search====

You also have a search tool. Enter a search string and hit search. The next item to match the string will be highlighted. Keep hitting Search to cycle between all matching items.

====Moving items====

In the wxWidgets interface, the ''Up'' and ''Down'' buttons at the bottom of the playlist window allow you to move an item. Select an item and use these buttons to move it.

In the MacOS X interface, you can easily move an item with the mouse, using drag-and-drop.

====Contextual menu====

By right-clicking or control-clicking an item, a contextual menu will appear, giving access to a number of functions (for example, play the item, disable it, delete it, or get info on it).

If you ask for info, an ''item info'' dialog box will appear. This dialog box also allows you to change the name, the author and the location of the item to play.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-iteminfo.jpg Item Info Dialog - wx Interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-iteminfo.jpg Item Info Dialog - MacOS X interface

==Subtitles==

VLC supports many kinds of subtitles.

===Media with included subtitles===

Many types of media can have embedded subtitles. VLC can read subtitles for the following media:
*DVD
*SVCD
*OGM files
*Matroska (MKV) files

Subtitles are disabled by default. To enable them, go to the ''Video'' menu, and to ''Subtitles track''. All available subtitles tracks will be listed. Select one to get the subtitles. Depending on the media, a description (language, for example) might be available for the track.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-select-sub.jpg Select a subtitles track under Windows or Linux

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-select-sub.jpg Select a subtitles track under MacOS X

DVD and SVCD subtitles are merely images, so you won't be able to change anything for them. OGM and Matroska subtitles are rendered text, so you will be able to change several options.

Text rendering options can be changed in the Preferences. In the ''Modules'' section, ''text renderer'' subsection, open the ''freetype'' page. You can then set the font and its size. For the font, you have to select a font file. Under Windows, they can be found in ''C:\Windows\Fonts''. Under MacOS X, they are in ''/System/Library/Fonts''. Size can be set either relatively or as a number of pixels.

You need to restart your stream for the font modifications to take effect.

===Subtitles files===

While modern file formats like Matroska or OGM can handle subtitles directly, older formats like AVI can't. Therefore, a number of subtitles files formats have been created. You need two files: the
video file and the subtitles files that only contains the text of the subtitles and timestamps.

VLC can handle these types of subtitles files:
*MicroDVD
*SubRIP
*SubViewer
*SSA
*Sami
*Vobsub (this one is quite special: it is not made from text but from images, which means that you can't change the fonts)

To open a subtitles file, use the Advanced Open dialog box (Menu File, Open file). Select your file by clicking on the ''Browse'' button. Then, check the ''Subtitle options'' checkbox and click on the Settings button.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-sub-file.jpg Select a subtitles file under Windows or Linux

You can then select the subtitles file by clicking the ''Browse'' button. You can also set a few options like character encoding, alignment and size. The delay option allows you to delay the subtitles against the video if they are not in sync. If they are not at the same speed, you might also want to adjust the subtitles framerate.

Note: For Vobsub subtitles, you need to select the '''.idx''' file, not the '''.sub''' file.
Encoding, alignment and size won't have any effect for Vobsub subtitles.

Font can be changed as explained in the previous section.

==Video and audio filters==

VLC includes a system of ''filters'' that allow you to modify the audio and video.

===Deinterlacement and Post Processing===

VLC is able to deinterlace a video stream using different deinterlacement methods. Deinterlacement can be enabled in the ''Video'' menu, ''Deinterlacement'' menu item. The ''Blend'' methods gives the best results in most cases. The ''discard''method is a less resource consuming alternative.

On some particular streams (MPEG 4, DIVX, XVID, Sorenson, etc.), some additional image filtering can be applied to the video before display, improving its quality in some cases. This can be enabled in the ''Video'' menu, ''Post processing'' menu item. Different levels of post processing can be chosen here. A higher level means more filtering.

===Video filters===

VLC features several filters able to change the video (distortion, brightness adjustment, motion blurring, etc.).

With the wxWidgets interface, filters can be easily enabled using the Extended GUI. In the Video tab, simply select the filters to enable. Image settings can be easily adjusted.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-vfilters.jpg Video filters selection in the wxWidgets interface

You can enable these filters through the ''Extended Controls panel'' on Mac OS X. Click on the triangle next to ''Video filters'' to select your filters or expand the ''Adjust Image'' section to change the contrast, hue, etc.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-vfilters.jpg Video filters selection in the Mac OS X interface

For better control, you need to go to the preferences. To select the filters to be enabled, go to ''Video'', then to ''Filters''. In the "video filter module" box, enter the names of the filters to enable, separated by semicommas. Filters will be applied in the selected order. Valid names are "clone", "wall", "transform", "adjust", "crop", "deinterlace", "distort", "motionblur" and "logo".

If you want to tune the behavior of these filters, go to ''Video, Filters, [your filter]''. For each filter, you will find a short description and the options.

===Audio filters===

====Equalizer====

VLC features a 10-band graphical equalizer. You can display it by activating the advanced GUI on wxWidgets or by clicking the ''Equalizer'' button on the MacOS X interface.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-equalizer.jpg The equalizer in the wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-equalizer.jpg The equalizer in the MacOS X interface

Presets are available in the Audio menu in wxWidgets, or in the Equalizer window in the MacOS X interface.

====Other audio filters====

At the moment, VLC features two other audio filters: a volume normalizer and a filter providing sound spatialization with a headphone. They can be enabled in the Audio tab of the extended GUI for the wxWidgets interface and in the Audio section of the Extended Controls panel of the Mac OS X interface.

For better control, you need to go to the preferences. To select the filters to be enabled, go to ''Audio'', then to ''Filters''. In the "audio filters" box, enter the names of the filters to enable, separated by commas. Valid names are "equalizer", "normvol" and "headphone".

If you want to tune the behavior of these filters, go to ''Audio, Filters, [your filter]''. The equalizer and headphone filters can be tuned.

==Snapshots (aka, screenshots)==
There are two ways to take snapshots (i.e., screenshots or frame grabs) with VLC:
#Go to Video -> Snapshot, or
#Press the snapshot hotkey
#*Windows / Linux / Unix: Ctrl-Alt-s
#*Mac OS X: Command-Alt-s

When a snapshot is taken, it will briefly preview as a thumbnail with its filename and then fade away.

To change the hotkey, go to Preferences -> Interface -> Hotkeys settings. Check Advanced options, and set Take video snapshot.

===Snapshot location, format and name===
The snapshot location depends upon your operating system:
*Windows: My Documents\My Pictures\
*Linux / Unix: $(HOME)/.vlc/
*Mac OS X: Desktop/

The default format for snapshots is PNG, but this may be changed to JPEG. Also, the default name for snapshots is ''vlcsnap-'' followed by a timestamp that is ''not'' the time of the frame in the video you're viewing.

The location, format and name of snapshots may be changed in the Preferences. Also, you may substitute other text for ''vlcsnap-'' and you may choose to have snapshots numbered sequentially (i.e., 000001, 000002, 000003, and so on) instead of with a timestamp.

==Hotkeys==

Most of VLC functions are accessible using hotkeys.

The list of the available hotkeys and their functions can be retrieved and altered in the preferences panel of the player. In the wxWidgets interface, preferences are available in the "Settings" menu, "Preferences" menu item. In the MacOS X interface, open the "VLC" menu, and select "Preferences". Select the "Hot keys" panel in the dialog.

As of version 0.9, a list of hotkeys is presented in a drop-down window. To change one, double-click its name to select it. Then, press the new key that will trigger the specified action. Modifier keys (such as Control/Command and Alt) may also be used.

In earlier versions, several boxes give the list of modifiers for the hotkey. To trigger an action using a hotkey, you need to press simultaneously the keys corresponding to the different selected modifiers as well as the key set in the dropdown.

To change the binding of a hotkey, select or deselect boxes corresponding to the different modifiers, and change the key by using the drop-down menu. Select the ''Save'' button to apply the changes.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-hotkeys.jpg The Hotkeys Panel - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-hotkeys.jpg The Hotkeys Panel - MacOS X interface

==Basic troubleshooting==

===File does not play, only sound or only video===

Maybe the file you are trying to read is not fully supported. VLC does not use the codec packs (the software that decodes video signals) you might have installed. It comes with its own codecs. If there is no open-source decoder for the format you are trying to read, it won't be supported. (There is an exception, under Windows, for codecs that use the DirectShow framework.)

To find out, open the Messages Window (View menu) and restart your stream. Look for error messages (red messages)

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-messages.jpg The wxWidgets messages window

In this example, the file contains a IV41 video stream, a codec that is not supported by VLC.

You may of course have other messages. If you post to a VideoLAN mailing list or in the forum, please include such a log. It is very valuable in troubleshooting.

===Weird VLC behavior and crashes===

A very common thing is a corrupted VLC preferences file. Don't hesitate to delete it if problems appear suddenly. You will find in the FAQ details on [http://www.videolan.org/doc/faq/en/index.html#id2470084 how to delete your preferences file].

===Computer crashes / Video is corrupted===

Another common problem is buggy video drivers. Try upgrading them from the website of your video card's manufacturer.

Also, you can try disabling Overlay (Preferences/General/Video, untick "Overlay video output")

{{Documentation}}

Documentation Talk:EditingGuidelines

2007-07-11T19:47:47Z

Jeremy Butler: added heading; suggestion about uploading images

==MediaWiki's built-in image-upload functionality ==
The documentation pages could look a lot cleaner and friendlier if we used MediaWiki's built-in image upload functionality. People who don't know HTML and CSS could make use the existing image syntax (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Extended_image_syntax) to add captions, use thumbnails and position the images.

--[[User:Danwinckler|Danwinckler]] 01:43, 14 March 2007 (CET)

:The reason why we disabled that feature was that it has previously been used to hack the server we're hosting the wiki on (I don't remember if we were using MediaWiki at the time or another framework). I guess that we could enable it again and trust MediaWiki to prevent that from happening again ... but we're not too confident :) I might give it a look next week-end. -- [[User:Dionoea|Dionoea]] 13:45, 14 March 2007 (CET)

:If I may chime in here, one of the disadvantages to embedded images (instead of having them uploaded to the wiki itself) that is implicit in Danwinckler's comment is that MediaWiki does not allow embedded images to be resized or have captions added to them. So, you're stuck using them at their original resolution. Would it be possible to upload to the wiki the images from www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images that are currently being embedded? That way, editors could start captioning/positioning/resizing the images in a consistent fashion. --[[User:Jeremy Butler|Jeremy Butler]] 21:47, 11 July 2007 (CEST)

== Suggestion: Put authors' names in the ''discussion'' page ==

I just made this suggestion over on [[Documentation Talk:Play HowTo]], but then I realized it'd be better suited over here.

I'd suggest de-emphasizing the authors of this article. For one, this will change as more authors edit this wiki. In a sense they are credited in the article's ''history'' page, but, of course, the basic principle of a wiki is that the authors are relatively anonymous.

But my suggestion is mostly based on what a reader wants to know. He/she is not so much interested in the authors as in getting information. Hence, I'd suggest the information come first in this, and all other articles, and the authors, if they need to be listed at all, be moved to the ''discussion'' pages.

Just my 2 cents...

--[[User:Jeremy Butler|Jeremy Butler]] 17:26, 9 July 2007 (CEST)

: Answered on [[Documentation Talk:Play HowTo]]. -- [[User:Dionoea|Dionoea]] 17:54, 9 July 2007 (CEST)

Knowledge Base

2007-07-11T19:33:49Z

Jeremy Butler: copyediting

Documentation:Play HowTo/Basic Use 0.8

2007-07-11T19:13:15Z

Jeremy Butler: /* Using the playlist */ clean-up; copyediting

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc}}

==General interface description==

VLC has several interfaces:
*A cross-platform interface, for Windows and GNU/Linux, called wxWidgets,
*A native Mac OS X interface, and
*A skinnable interface for Windows and GNU/Linux.
Screenshots below are drawn from the various interfaces, but VLC's functions work essentially the same on all operating systems.

===Windows and GNU/Linux (wxWidgets)===

This is the default interface on Windows and GNU/Linux (the screenshot is done on GNU/Linux, but it would look quite the same on Windows).

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx.jpg The wxWidgets interface

This interface also features an ''Extended GUI'' which contains many additional features. To display or hide it, go to the ''Settings'' menu and click ''Extended GUI''.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-extended.jpg The wxWidgets interface with extended GUI

===Native Mac OS X (Cocoa)===

This is the default interface on Mac OS X.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx.jpg The Mac OS X interface

This interface features an ''Extended GUI'' as well. It is called "Extended Controls" and can be opened through the Window menu.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-extended.jpg The Mac OSX interface with with the extended controls panel

==Basic playback==

===Play a file===

To play a file, open the ''File'' menu, and select the ''Quick Open File'' menu item. An Open File dialog box will appear. Select the file you want to open, and select Open. VLC will start playing the selected file.

An alternative is to drag 'n' drop your file on the VLC main interface or playlist window from the file explorer (Finder on MacOS X).

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-file-menu.jpg The File menu - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-file-menu.jpg The File menu - MacOS X interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-file.jpg The Open file dialog - wxWidgets interface

http://wwww.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-open-file.jpg The Open file dialog - MacOS X interface

===Play a CD/DVD/VCD===

To Play a CD, VCD or a DVD, open the ''File'' menu, and select the ''Open Disc...'' menu item. In the Open Disk Dialog Box, select the type of media (DVD, VCD or Audio CD). When reading a DVD, you can enable DVD menus by selecting the ''DVD (menus)'' disc type in the wxWidgets Interface. In the MacOS X interface, this can be done by selecting the "Use DVD menus" dialog box.

You can select the drive from which the media should be read by giving the appropriate drive letter or device name in the "Device Name" text input. This should be auto-detected on MacOS X.

If you want to start the DVD or VCD playback from a given title and chapter instead of from the beginning, you can set it using the ''Title'' and ''Chapter'' selectors.

You can start playback by selecting the ''Ok'' button.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-disk.jpg The Open disk dialog - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-open-disk.jpg The Open disk dialog - MacOS X interface

===Play a network stream (WebRadio, WebTV, etc.)===

To open a network stream, open the "File" menu and select the "Open Network Stream" menu item.

*To open a UDP unicast stream, select ''UDP/RTP'', and set the appropriate UDP port in the selector (it is 1234 for streams sent by a VLC or VLS server).
*To open a UDP multicast stream, select ''UDP/RTP multicast''. Give the address of the multicast group in the "Address" text input, and select the appropriate UDP port.
*To open a stream sent over http (Webradios, WebTVs, Shoutcast, Icecast...), ftp, or mms (Microsoft Media Server), select "HTTP/FTP/MMS", and give the corresponding complete URL, (such as http://live.stream.org:8080/live or mms://live.ms.stream.net:8080/live.asf) in the corresponding text input. This also the way to open a RTSP stream with the MacOS X interface.
*To open a RTSP stream (sent by Darwin Streaming Server, VLC, etc), in the wxWidgets interface, select "RTSP" and give the URL in the text input.

You can start playback by selecting the ''Ok'' button.

If you get some stuttering during playback, you can try to increase the size of the read buffer. This can be done in the ''Open Network Stream'' dialog box, by selecting the ''Caching'' box. You can then choose the amount time (in milliseconds) VLC should store data in its buffer before starting playback.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-net.jpg The Open network dialog - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-open-net.jpg The Open network dialog - MacOS X interface

===Play from an acquisition card===

This currently only possible on Linux and Windows. Open the File menu, and select "Open Capture Device..."

On Windows, supported cards include webcams, TV cards, acquisition cards... provided they come with directshow compatible drivers (Almost all acquisition cards do). You can choose the device to use for video and audio capture using the "Video device name" and "Audio device name" selectors. If your device doesn't appear in the list, try to select the "Refresh list" button. You can access the settings of your acquisition device by selecting the ''configure'' button. Options here depend on the driver of the device. You can select the "Device Proprieties" box if you want the configuration dialog box of every device to be displayed after having pressed the ''Ok'' button. Select the ''Tuner properties'' box to be prompted for tuner settings (PAL/NTSC standard, frequency...) for TV cards. The ''Advanced options...'' button allows to select some further settings useful in some rare cases, such as the chroma of the input (the way colors are encoded) and the size of the input buffer.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-capture.jpg The Open Capture device dialog and a device configuration windows- wxWidgets interface

On Linux, supported cards include webcams, TV cards, acquisition cards, provided they are supported by the Video4Linux architecture. Haupaugge PVR 250/350 cards are also supported, using the [http://ivtv.sourceforge.net/ IVTV drivers].

*For Video4Linux devices, you can set the name of the video and audio devices using the "Video device name" and "Audio device name" text inputs. The "Advanced options..." button allows to select some further settings useful in some rare cases, such as the chroma of the input (the way colors are encoded) and the size of the input buffer.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-v4l.jpg The Open Video4Linux dialog- wxWidgets interface

*To use a Hauppauge PVR card, select the PVR tab in the "Open" dialog box. Use the "Device" text input to set the device of the card you want to use. You can set the Norm of the tuner (PAL, SECAM or NTSC) by using the "Norm" Drop Down. The Frequency selector allows you to set the frequency of the tuner (in kHz), the bitrate selector to set the bitrate of the resulting encoded stream (in bit/s). The "Advanced Options button allows to set some more settings, such as the size of the encoded video (in pixels), its framerate (in frame per second), the interval between 2 key frames, etc.

After having set all the required parameters, you can start the capture by selecting the "Ok" button.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-pvr.jpg The Open PVR dialog- wxWidgets interface

==Playlist==

VLC can store a list of several files to play one after the other, using its playlist system. To access the playlist, click on the ''Playlist'' button on the main interface.

Each time you use the Open dialog box, the stream you select is appended at the end of the playlist and started.

The playlist window shows all the available streams. Double-click one to play it.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-playlist.jpg The Playlist - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-playlist.jpg The Playlist - MacOS X interface

===Adding items, saving and loading playlists===

In the wxWidgets interface, the ''Manage'' menu allows you to append an item at the end of the playlist (its playback won't start immediately), to save the playlist as a M3U or PLS file, or to import a playlist file.

In the MacOS X interface, saving a playlist can be done using the ''Save Playlist...'' function in the ''File'' menu. To import a playlist file, open it the same way as any other media file, using the ''Quick Open File...'' menu item.

===Sorting===

In the wxWidgets interface, ''Sort'' allows you to sort the playlist according to several criteria, or to shuffle it. You can also sort by clicking the header of the column.

In the MacOS X interface, sorting can be done by clicking the header of the column matching the criteria you want to use for sorting.

===Playlist modes===

The playlist supports several playback modes.

In the wxWidgets interface, the toolbar contains three playlist mode buttons. They allow to enable random mode, to repeat the whole playlist or to repeat one item.

In the MacOS X interface, random mode can be enabled by selecting the ''Random'' box. A drop down menu allows you to enable playlist and item repeat modes.

===Misc===

====Search====

You also have a search tool. Enter a search string and hit search. The next item to match the string will be highlighted. Keep hitting Search to cycle between all matching items.

====Moving items====

In the wxWidgets interface, the ''Up'' and ''Down'' buttons at the bottom of the playlist window allow you to move an item. Select an item and use these buttons to move it.

In the MacOS X interface, you can easily move an item with the mouse, using drag-and-drop.

====Contextual menu====

By right-clicking or control-clicking an item, a contextual menu will appear, giving access to a number of functions (for example, play the item, disable it, delete it, or get info on it).

If you ask for info, an ''item info'' dialog box will appear. This dialog box also allows you to change the name, the author and the location of the item to play.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-iteminfo.jpg Item Info Dialog - wx Interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-iteminfo.jpg Item Info Dialog - MacOS X interface

==Subtitles==

VLC supports many kinds of subtitles.

===Media with included subtitles===

Many types of media can have embedded subtitles. VLC can read subtitles for the following media:
*DVD
*SVCD
*OGM files
*Matroska (MKV) files

Subtitles are disabled by default. To enable them, go to the ''Video'' menu, and to ''Subtitles track''. All available subtitles tracks will be listed. Select one to get the subtitles. Depending on the media, a description (language, for example) might be available for the track.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-select-sub.jpg Select a subtitles track under Windows or Linux

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-select-sub.jpg Select a subtitles track under MacOS X

DVD and SVCD subtitles are merely images, so you won't be able to change anything for them. OGM and Matroska subtitles are rendered text, so you will be able to change several options.

Text rendering options can be changed in the Preferences. In the ''Modules'' section, ''text renderer'' subsection, open the ''freetype'' page. You can then set the font and its size. For the font, you have to select a font file. Under Windows, they can be found in ''C:\Windows\Fonts''. Under MacOS X, they are in ''/System/Library/Fonts''. Size can be set either relatively or as a number of pixels.

You need to restart your stream for the font modifications to take effect.

===Subtitles files===

While modern file formats like Matroska or OGM can handle subtitles directly, older formats like AVI can't. Therefore, a number of subtitles files formats have been created. You need two files: the
video file and the subtitles files that only contains the text of the subtitles and timestamps.

VLC can handle these types of subtitles files:
*MicroDVD
*SubRIP
*SubViewer
*SSA
*Sami
*Vobsub (this one is quite special: it is not made from text but from images, which means that you can't change the fonts)

To open a subtitles file, use the Advanced Open dialog box (Menu File, Open file). Select your file by clicking on the ''Browse'' button. Then, check the ''Subtitle options'' checkbox and click on the Settings button.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-sub-file.jpg Select a subtitles file under Windows or Linux

You can then select the subtitles file by clicking the ''Browse'' button. You can also set a few options like character encoding, alignment and size. The delay option allows you to delay the subtitles against the video if they are not in sync. If they are not at the same speed, you might also want to adjust the subtitles framerate.

Note: For Vobsub subtitles, you need to select the '''.idx''' file, not the '''.sub''' file.
Encoding, alignment and size won't have any effect for Vobsub subtitles.

Font can be changed as explained in the previous section.

==Video and audio filters==

VLC includes a system of ''filters'' that allow you to modify the audio and video.

===Deinterlacement and Post Processing===

VLC is able to deinterlace a video stream using different deinterlacement methods. Deinterlacement can be enabled in the ''Video'' menu, ''Deinterlacement'' menu item. The ''Blend'' methods gives the best results in most cases. The ''discard''method is a less resource consuming alternative.

On some particular streams (MPEG 4, DIVX, XVID, Sorenson, etc.), some additional image filtering can be applied to the video before display, improving its quality in some cases. This can be enabled in the ''Video'' menu, ''Post processing'' menu item. Different levels of post processing can be chosen here. A higher level means more filtering.

===Video filters===

VLC features several filters able to change the video (distortion, brightness adjustment, motion blurring, etc.).

With the wxWidgets interface, filters can be easily enabled using the Extended GUI. In the Video tab, simply select the filters to enable. Image settings can be easily adjusted.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-vfilters.jpg Video filters selection in the wxWidgets interface

You can enable these filters through the ''Extended Controls panel'' on Mac OS X. Click on the triangle next to ''Video filters'' to select your filters or expand the ''Adjust Image'' section to change the contrast, hue, etc.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-vfilters.jpg Video filters selection in the Mac OS X interface

For better control, you need to go to the preferences. To select the filters to be enabled, go to ''Video'', then to ''Filters''. In the "video filter module" box, enter the names of the filters to enable, separated by semicommas. Filters will be applied in the selected order. Valid names are "clone", "wall", "transform", "adjust", "crop", "deinterlace", "distort", "motionblur" and "logo".

If you want to tune the behavior of these filters, go to ''Video, Filters, [your filter]''. For each filter, you will find a short description and the options.

===Audio filters===

====Equalizer====

VLC features a 10-band graphical equalizer. You can display it by activating the advanced GUI on wxWidgets or by clicking the ''Equalizer'' button on the MacOS X interface.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-equalizer.jpg The equalizer in the wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-equalizer.jpg The equalizer in the MacOS X interface

Presets are available in the Audio menu in wxWidgets, or in the Equalizer window in the MacOS X interface.

====Other audio filters====

At the moment, VLC features two other audio filters: a volume normalizer and a filter providing sound spatialization with a headphone. They can be enabled in the Audio tab of the extended GUI for the wxWidgets interface and in the Audio section of the Extended Controls panel of the Mac OS X interface.

For better control, you need to go to the preferences. To select the filters to be enabled, go to ''Audio'', then to ''Filters''. In the "audio filters" box, enter the names of the filters to enable, separated by commas. Valid names are "equalizer", "normvol" and "headphone".

If you want to tune the behavior of these filters, go to ''Audio, Filters, [your filter]''. The equalizer and headphone filters can be tuned.

==Snapshots (aka, screenshots)==
There are two ways to take snapshots (i.e., screenshots or frame grabs) with VLC:
#Go to Video -> Snapshot
#Press the snapshot hotkey
#*Windows / Linux / Unix: Ctrl-Alt-s
#*Mac OS X: Command-Alt-s
To change the hotkey, go to Preferences -> Interface -> Hotkeys settings. Check Advanced options, and set Take video snapshot.

When a snapshot is taken, it will briefly appear as a thumbnail with its filename and then fade away.

===Snapshot location, format and name===
The snapshot location depends upon your operating system:
*Windows: My Documents\My Pictures\
*Linux / Unix: $(HOME)/.vlc/
*Mac OS X: Desktop/

The default format for snapshots is PNG, but this may be changed to JPEG. Also, the default name for snapshots is ''vlcsnap-'' followed by a timestamp that is ''not'' the time of the frame in the video you're viewing.

The location, format and name of snapshots may be changed in the Preferences. Also, you may substitute other text for ''vlcsnap-'' and you may choose to have snapshots numbered sequentially (i.e., 000001, 000002, 000003, and so on) instead of with a timestamp.

==Hotkeys==

Most of VLC functions are accessible using hotkeys.

The list of the available hotkeys and their functions can be retrieved and altered in the preferences panel of the player. In the wxWidgets interface, preferences are available in the "Settings" menu, "Preferences" menu item. In the MacOS X interface, open the "VLC" menu, and select "Preferences". Select the "Hot keys" panel in the dialog.

As of version 0.9, a list of hotkeys is presented in a drop-down window. To change one, double-click its name to select it. Then, press the new key that will trigger the specified action. Modifier keys (such as Control/Command and Alt) may also be used.

In earlier versions, several boxes give the list of modifiers for the hotkey. To trigger an action using a hotkey, you need to press simultaneously the keys corresponding to the different selected modifiers as well as the key set in the dropdown.

To change the binding of a hotkey, select or deselect boxes corresponding to the different modifiers, and change the key by using the drop-down menu. Select the ''Save'' button to apply the changes.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-hotkeys.jpg The Hotkeys Panel - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-hotkeys.jpg The Hotkeys Panel - MacOS X interface

==Basic troubleshooting==

===File does not play, only sound or only video===

Maybe the file you are trying to read is not fully supported. VLC does not use the codec packs (the software that decodes video signals) you might have installed. It comes with its own codecs. If there is no open-source decoder for the format you are trying to read, it won't be supported. (There is an exception, under Windows, for codecs that use the DirectShow framework.)

To find out, open the Messages Window (View menu) and restart your stream. Look for error messages (red messages)

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-messages.jpg The wxWidgets messages window

In this example, the file contains a IV41 video stream, a codec that is not supported by VLC.

You may of course have other messages. If you post to a VideoLAN mailing list or in the forum, please include such a log. It is very valuable in troubleshooting.

===Weird VLC behavior and crashes===

A very common thing is a corrupted VLC preferences file. Don't hesitate to delete it if problems appear suddenly. You will find in the FAQ details on [http://www.videolan.org/doc/faq/en/index.html#id2470084 how to delete your preferences file].

===Computer crashes / Video is corrupted===

Another common problem is buggy video drivers. Try upgrading them from the website of your video card's manufacturer.

Also, you can try disabling Overlay (Preferences/General/Video, untick "Overlay video output")

{{Documentation}}

Documentation Talk:User Guide

2007-07-11T11:25:49Z

Jeremy Butler: /* Formatting: Put authors' names in the ''discussion'' page */ I'm no expert

Import from the original doxygen documentation is finished. You can start editing it. Enjoy! [[User:Dionoea|Dionoea]] 11:12, 7 November 2006 (CET)

== Formatting: Put authors' names in the ''discussion'' page ==

I'd suggest de-emphasizing the authors of this article. For one, this will change as more authors edit this wiki. In a sense they are credited in the article's ''history'' page, but, of course, the basic principle of a wiki is that the authors are relatively anonymous.

But my suggestion is mostly based on what a reader wants to know. He/she is not so much interested in the authors as in getting information. Hence, I'd suggest the information come first in this, and all other articles, and the authors, if they need to be listed at all, be moved to the ''discussion'' pages.

Just my 2 cents...

--[[User:Jeremy Butler|Jeremy Butler]] 17:14, 9 July 2007 (CEST)
: I agree. This is mainly legacy from the old documentation (I didn't really change the layout when importing the docbook into the wiki). -- [[User:Dionoea|Dionoea]] 17:53, 9 July 2007 (CEST)
::I made the changes. Also, the GPL notice is duplicated in various templates. Perhaps it and the copyright notice should be moved to the footer. I believe that MediaWiki gives you the option of automatically inserting a GPL notice.
:::Where is it duplicated? AFAIK it's only automatically inserted if you use the Documentation template (at least that's how I planed it to work). [[User:Dionoea|Dionoea]] 18:44, 9 July 2007 (CEST)
::::[[Documentation:Play HowTo]] had it both in the template and it was at the top of the page, right after a copyright notice. I moved it to the bottom of the page, beneath the template. Based on what you've said here, I have now deleted it. If you check the history for the page, you'll see what I mean.
::::Also, can the copyright notice be moved into the footer?
::::--[[User:Jeremy Butler|Jeremy Butler]] 20:26, 9 July 2007 (CEST)
:::::I'd rather have the copyright notice right after the title (seems to be the way it's done in most manuals online). And maybe change it from (c) VideoLAN project to (c) VideoLAN project and it's contributors [[User:Dionoea|Dionoea]] 09:48, 10 July 2007 (CEST)
::::::I defer to your judgment, but you might take a look at how Gallery handles its wiki-based documentation: http://codex.gallery2.org/Gallery2:About
::::::It's got a discrete notice of the ''GNU Free Documentation License'' in the footer: "Content is available under GNU FDL." The FDL replaces the copyright notice.
::::::Also, in the US, I don't know that a group like the contributors can legally hold copyright, but I'm no lawyer. --[[User:Jeremy Butler|Jeremy Butler]] 13:15, 10 July 2007 (CEST)
:::::::Well in fact the VideoLAN project doesn't exist as a Legal entity either so theoretically it can't hold copyright either. To be on the safe side we'd need to mention all the authors in the copyright notice, with the appropriate date for each author unless they explicitly mention that they give up their copyright (or relinquish it in favor of some other legal entity). And licensing terms are a different concept from a copyright as far as I understand. (One could argue that an author keeps copyright on what he writes even if it's not stated explicitly anywhere, but I still think that we should mention it to emphasise, as do most open source projects I checked on. This page on the FSF website has some details: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/20050325novalis.html ) -- [[User:Dionoea|Dionoea]] 19:00, 10 July 2007 (CEST)
::::::::Yeah, that makes sense. But I would like to point out that what Gallery is using is the ''documentation'' license that GNU makes available here: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html . Thus, it's specifically designed for manuals to accompany "free software". So, depending on how "free" VideoLAN is, you might want to consider using it.
::::::::The ''GNU Free Documentation License'' does not surrender the authors' copyright. In fact, here's what they suggest you use as a copyright statement on the title page of the manual. --[[User:Jeremy Butler|Jeremy Butler]] 19:53, 10 July 2007 (CEST)
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".
:::::::::Changing the license to something that isn't GPL compliant would require the authorisation of all the current authors (that's far from being impossible ... but is it really worth it?). This is what it used to look like before I began moving the doc on the wiki: http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/play-howto-en.html . Copying what we used there would be fine IMO. [[User:Dionoea|Dionoea]] 10:03, 11 July 2007 (CEST)
::::::::::That sounds cool to me. I was just trying to suggest some possible alternatives, but I'm no expert in software-manual copyright issues. --[[User:Jeremy Butler|Jeremy Butler]] 13:25, 11 July 2007 (CEST)

==Copyright policy==
This discussion reminds me that there's currently a redlink to [[VideoLAN Wiki:Copyrights]] on the editing form. Once the VideoLAN copyright policy is established, I guess it should be stuck in there. Also, I note that these "policy" articles are empty, too: [[VideoLAN Wiki:Privacy policy]] and [[VideoLAN Wiki:General disclaimer]]. So many details when you're putting a wiki together! Regards --[[User:Jeremy Butler|Jeremy Butler]] 19:53, 10 July 2007 (CEST)

== Original authors ==

The original authors of this documentation were:
* Alexis de Lattre
* Anil Daoud
* Benjamin Pracht
* Clément Stenac
* Jean-Paul Saman
* Antoine Cellerier

Documentation Talk:User Guide

2007-07-10T17:53:49Z

Jeremy Butler: /* Formatting: Put authors' names in the ''discussion'' page */ ''documentation'' license

Import from the original doxygen documentation is finished. You can start editing it. Enjoy! [[User:Dionoea|Dionoea]] 11:12, 7 November 2006 (CET)

== Formatting: Put authors' names in the ''discussion'' page ==

I'd suggest de-emphasizing the authors of this article. For one, this will change as more authors edit this wiki. In a sense they are credited in the article's ''history'' page, but, of course, the basic principle of a wiki is that the authors are relatively anonymous.

But my suggestion is mostly based on what a reader wants to know. He/she is not so much interested in the authors as in getting information. Hence, I'd suggest the information come first in this, and all other articles, and the authors, if they need to be listed at all, be moved to the ''discussion'' pages.

Just my 2 cents...

--[[User:Jeremy Butler|Jeremy Butler]] 17:14, 9 July 2007 (CEST)
: I agree. This is mainly legacy from the old documentation (I didn't really change the layout when importing the docbook into the wiki). -- [[User:Dionoea|Dionoea]] 17:53, 9 July 2007 (CEST)
::I made the changes. Also, the GPL notice is duplicated in various templates. Perhaps it and the copyright notice should be moved to the footer. I believe that MediaWiki gives you the option of automatically inserting a GPL notice.
:::Where is it duplicated? AFAIK it's only automatically inserted if you use the Documentation template (at least that's how I planed it to work). [[User:Dionoea|Dionoea]] 18:44, 9 July 2007 (CEST)
::::[[Documentation:Play HowTo]] had it both in the template and it was at the top of the page, right after a copyright notice. I moved it to the bottom of the page, beneath the template. Based on what you've said here, I have now deleted it. If you check the history for the page, you'll see what I mean.
::::Also, can the copyright notice be moved into the footer?
::::--[[User:Jeremy Butler|Jeremy Butler]] 20:26, 9 July 2007 (CEST)
:::::I'd rather have the copyright notice right after the title (seems to be the way it's done in most manuals online). And maybe change it from (c) VideoLAN project to (c) VideoLAN project and it's contributors [[User:Dionoea|Dionoea]] 09:48, 10 July 2007 (CEST)
::::::I defer to your judgment, but you might take a look at how Gallery handles its wiki-based documentation: http://codex.gallery2.org/Gallery2:About
::::::It's got a discrete notice of the ''GNU Free Documentation License'' in the footer: "Content is available under GNU FDL." The FDL replaces the copyright notice.
::::::Also, in the US, I don't know that a group like the contributors can legally hold copyright, but I'm no lawyer. --[[User:Jeremy Butler|Jeremy Butler]] 13:15, 10 July 2007 (CEST)
:::::::Well in fact the VideoLAN project doesn't exist as a Legal entity either so theoretically it can't hold copyright either. To be on the safe side we'd need to mention all the authors in the copyright notice, with the appropriate date for each author unless they explicitly mention that they give up their copyright (or relinquish it in favor of some other legal entity). And licensing terms are a different concept from a copyright as far as I understand. (One could argue that an author keeps copyright on what he writes even if it's not stated explicitly anywhere, but I still think that we should mention it to emphasise, as do most open source projects I checked on. This page on the FSF website has some details: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/20050325novalis.html ) -- [[User:Dionoea|Dionoea]] 19:00, 10 July 2007 (CEST)
::::::::Yeah, that makes sense. But I would like to point out that what Gallery is using is the ''documentation'' license that GNU makes available here: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html . Thus, it's specifically designed for manuals to accompany "free software". So, depending on how "free" VideoLAN is, you might want to consider using it.
::::::::The ''GNU Free Documentation License'' does not surrender the authors' copyright. In fact, here's what they suggest you use as a copyright statement on the title page of the manual. --[[User:Jeremy Butler|Jeremy Butler]] 19:53, 10 July 2007 (CEST)
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".

==Copyright policy==
This discussion reminds me that there's currently a redlink to [[VideoLAN Wiki:Copyrights]] on the editing form. Once the VideoLAN copyright policy is established, I guess it should be stuck in there. Also, I note that these "policy" articles are empty, too: [[VideoLAN Wiki:Privacy policy]] and [[VideoLAN Wiki:General disclaimer]]. So many details when you're putting a wiki together! Regards --[[User:Jeremy Butler|Jeremy Butler]] 19:53, 10 July 2007 (CEST)

== Original authors ==

The original authors of this documentation were:
* Alexis de Lattre
* Anil Daoud
* Benjamin Pracht
* Clément Stenac
* Jean-Paul Saman
* Antoine Cellerier

Documentation Talk:User Guide

2007-07-10T11:15:10Z

Jeremy Butler: /* Formatting: Put authors' names in the ''discussion'' page */ Free Documentation License?

Documentation:User Guide

2007-07-09T18:35:19Z

Jeremy Butler: copyedit for consistency

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc}}

'''This document is the complete user guide for the VLC media player.'''

*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Introduction to VLC|Introduction]]
**Overview and history of the VideoLAN project.
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Installing VLC|Installation]]
**Installation instructions for a variety of computers.
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Basic Use|Basic Use]]
**How to play audio/video materials with the VLC media player.
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Advanced Use of VLC|Advanced Use]]
**Advanced instruction on streams, filters, plug-ins and more.

==See also==

*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Building Pages for the HTTP Interface|Building Pages for the HTTP Interface]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Format String|Format String]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Building Lua Playlist Scripts|Building Lua Playlist Scripts]]

{{Documentation}}

Copyright © 2002-2007 the VideoLAN project.

Documentation:History

2007-07-09T18:30:42Z

Jeremy Butler: /* Documentation */ renamed for consistency

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc}}

==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 is designed to stream MPEG videos on high bandwidth networks.

VideoLAN was originally designed for network streaming 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 the main software of the VideoLAN solution.

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, ...
* DVDs, VCDs, and Audio CDs
* from satellite card (DVB-S),
* Several types of network stream : UDP Unicast, UDP Multicast (MPEG-TS), HTTP, RTP/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 client (playback) aspects of VLC media player.

==Getting some help==

===Documentation===

The user documentation of VideoLAN is made up of 4 documents:
* The ''Play-Howto'': This document is the complete guide of the VLC media player.
* The ''Streaming Howto'': This document is the complete guide of VLC as a streaming server. It will give you practical examples to set up your streaming solution.
* The ''VLS user guide'': This document is the complete guide for VLS (VideoLAN's legacy streaming server)
* The ''VideoLAN FAQ'': This document contains Frequently Asked Questions about VideoLAN.

The latest version of these documents can be found on the [http://www.videolan.org/doc/ 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}}

Documentation:User Guide

2007-07-09T18:27:06Z

Jeremy Butler: removed GPL duplicate

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc}}

'''This document is the complete user guide for the VLC media player.'''

*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Introduction to VLC|Introduction to VLC]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Installing VLC|Installing VLC]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Basic Use|Basic Use]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Advanced Use of VLC|Advanced Use of VLC]]

==See also==

*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Building Pages for the HTTP Interface|Building Pages for the HTTP Interface]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Format String|Format String]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Building Lua Playlist Scripts|Building Lua Playlist Scripts]]

{{Documentation}}

Copyright © 2002-2007 the VideoLAN project.

Documentation Talk:User Guide

2007-07-09T18:26:14Z

Jeremy Butler: /* Formatting: Put authors' names in the ''discussion'' page */ duplicate GPL

Documentation:Documentation

2007-07-09T16:25:50Z

Jeremy Butler: /* VLC Play HowTo */ changed name to reflect current use

__NOTOC__


{|style="width:100%;margin-top:0px;background-color:#fcfcfc;border:1px solid #ccc"
|style="width:56%;color:#000"|
{|style="width:280px;border:solid 0px;background:none"
|-
|style="width:280px;text-align:center;white-space:nowrap;color:#000" |
<div style="font-size:162%;border:none;margin: 0;padding:.1em;color:#000">Welcome to [[Documentation:Documentation|Videolan's Documentation]],</div>
<div style="top:+0.2em;font-size: 95%">The reference documentation on VideoLAN's projects.</div>
<div id="articlecount" style="width:100%;text-align:center;font-size:85%;">Articles under the [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU General Public License] only.</div>
|}
|style="width:11%;font-size:95%;color:#000" valign="top"|
*[[VideoLAN|VideoLAN]]
*[[VLC|VLC media player]]
*[[Documentation:Documentation|Documentation]]
|style="width:14%;font-size:95%" valign="top"|
*[http://www.videolan.org Main Site]
*[http://forum.videolan.org Forum]
*[http://planet.videolan.org News from developers]
|style="width:18%;font-size:95%" valign="top"|
*[http://developers.videolan.org Developer's website]
*[http://nightlies.videolan.org Latest builds]
*[http://trac.videolan.org Trac, Bugs, SVN and roadmap]
|}


''Pages in the "Documentation" namespace are part of the "Official" VLC media player documentation.''

''All pages in this namespace are licensed under the [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU General Public License].''

'''Note: many parts of this documentation are currently outdated / obsolete. If you have good knowledge of a particular subject and feel that it could be documented better, please update the appropriate wiki page.'''

== [[Documentation:VLC for dummies| VLC for dummies: an introduction to VLC]] ==
This document will be an introduction for VLC from version 0.9.0 and over. '''UNDER CONSTRUCTION'''.

== [[Documentation:Play HowTo|VLC Play HowTo]] ==

This document is the complete user guide for the VLC media player.

== [[Documentation:Streaming HowTo|VLC Streaming HowTo]] ==

This document explains how to stream, transcode and save streams using the VideoLAN solution.

== [[Documentation:Hacker's Guide|The Hacker's Guide to VLC]] ==

This document will detail the inner workings of VLC and its source code.

{{Documentation}}

Documentation:User Guide

2007-07-09T16:22:54Z

Jeremy Butler: changed name to reflect current use

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc}}

'''This document is the complete user guide for the VLC media player.'''

*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Introduction to VLC|Introduction to VLC]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Installing VLC|Installing VLC]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Basic Use|Basic Use]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Advanced Use of VLC|Advanced Use of VLC]]

==See also==

*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Building Pages for the HTTP Interface|Building Pages for the HTTP Interface]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Format String|Format String]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Building Lua Playlist Scripts|Building Lua Playlist Scripts]]

Copyright © 2002-2007 the VideoLAN project.

{{Documentation}}
{{GPL}}

Documentation Talk:User Guide

2007-07-09T16:20:23Z

Jeremy Butler: /* Formatting: Put authors' names in the ''discussion'' page */ forgot my sig

Documentation Talk:User Guide

2007-07-09T16:20:06Z

Jeremy Butler: /* Formatting: Put authors' names in the ''discussion'' page */ made the change

Documentation:User Guide

2007-07-09T16:17:51Z

Jeremy Butler: formatting; moved authors to discussion page

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc}}

'''This document is the complete user guide for the client aspects of VLC.'''

*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Introduction to VLC|Introduction to VLC]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Installing VLC|Installing VLC]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Basic Use|Basic Use]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Advanced Use of VLC|Advanced Use of VLC]]

==See also==

*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Building Pages for the HTTP Interface|Building Pages for the HTTP Interface]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Format String|Format String]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Building Lua Playlist Scripts|Building Lua Playlist Scripts]]

Copyright © 2002-2007 the VideoLAN project.

{{Documentation}}
{{GPL}}

Documentation Talk:User Guide

2007-07-09T16:14:36Z

Jeremy Butler: Original authors

User talk:J-b

2007-07-09T16:12:01Z

Jeremy Butler: Thanks for the welcome

==TODO==
.tooney zone
''Please give me some TODOs here''

''Give your name and don't delete anything''
* Qt4 - jb
* Qt4 contribs - Xtophe
* Branch nightlies - Xtophe
* World domination

==Talk Here==

Hi jibbynou, I've just resuscitated the [[Frequently Asked Questions]] (formerly [[FAQ]]). I don't know if/where you want to link it from: up to you :-) -- [[User:Yoann|Yoann]] 19:44, 1 March 2007 (CET)

Plop jibbynou, you can now use <nowiki>{{RightMenu|documentation toc}}</nowiki>. See [[Template:RightMenu]] and [[Template:Documentation_toc]]. -- [[User:Yoann|Yoann]] 18:27, 21 May 2007 (CEST)

== Win32 Contribs 20070220 ==

There is some missing reference to gsm_ms_encoder and gsm_ms_decoder. I have tried to compile the libgsm, but there is no such method. Could you provide this library or give a hint, where to find it?
Besides when using your contrib some libraries need to be put in some directory named /home/videolan/j-b..... (sorry, I don't remember the path exactly (not sitting in front of the machine where I used your contrib - I will look it up on Sunday). Why does the vlc bootstrap/configure/compile reference this path which looks like it is your build path?

Thx in advance for answering my questions and keep up the good work!

:Well, this contrib may be broken because of the support and non-support of GSM in ffmpeg. This should be changed. Use another (older contrib), and I should do a new one in a few days.
::Thanks very much. I have now just added pseudo-methods for these two missing methods and it worked for me. --[[User:Hxp|Hxp]] 14:36, 14 March 2007 (CET)

== ALERT!!! PEOPLE CHARGING FOR VLC PLAYER!!!!! ==

If you download VLC player at this link http://www.vlc-mediaplayer.info/uk/ it will try to charge you £2 (via SMS) to install.
: Fixed.

== Thanks for the welcome ==

Thanks for the welcome message, Jean-Baptiste.

I've already made one suggestion [[Documentation Talk:EditingGuidelines|over here]].

As I get to know VLC, I'll try to make more contributions to the documentation wiki. I've also run a MediaWiki-based wiki for a couple of years:

http://www.screenpedia.org

But I wouldn't call myself a ''professional'' wiki admin!

Regards,

--[[User:Jeremy Butler|Jeremy Butler]] 18:12, 9 July 2007 (CEST)

Documentation Talk:EditingGuidelines

2007-07-09T15:26:03Z

Jeremy Butler: Suggestion: Put authors' names in the ''discussion'' page

The documentation pages could look a lot cleaner and friendlier if we used MediaWiki's built-in image upload functionality. People who don't know HTML and CSS could make use the existing image syntax (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Extended_image_syntax) to add captions, use thumbnails and position the images.

--[[User:Danwinckler|Danwinckler]] 01:43, 14 March 2007 (CET)

:The reason why we disabled that feature was that it has previously been used to hack the server we're hosting the wiki on (I don't remember if we were using MediaWiki at the time or another framework). I guess that we could enable it again and trust MediaWiki to prevent that from happening again ... but we're not too confident :) I might give it a look next week-end. -- [[User:Dionoea|Dionoea]] 13:45, 14 March 2007 (CET)

== Suggestion: Put authors' names in the ''discussion'' page ==

I just made this suggestion over on [[Documentation Talk:Play HowTo]], but then I realized it'd be better suited over here.

I'd suggest de-emphasizing the authors of this article. For one, this will change as more authors edit this wiki. In a sense they are credited in the article's ''history'' page, but, of course, the basic principle of a wiki is that the authors are relatively anonymous.

But my suggestion is mostly based on what a reader wants to know. He/she is not so much interested in the authors as in getting information. Hence, I'd suggest the information come first in this, and all other articles, and the authors, if they need to be listed at all, be moved to the ''discussion'' pages.

Just my 2 cents...

--[[User:Jeremy Butler|Jeremy Butler]] 17:26, 9 July 2007 (CEST)

Documentation:Documentation

2007-07-09T15:19:25Z

Jeremy Butler: /* VLC for dummies: an introduction to VLC */ "under construction"

__NOTOC__


{|style="width:100%;margin-top:0px;background-color:#fcfcfc;border:1px solid #ccc"
|style="width:56%;color:#000"|
{|style="width:280px;border:solid 0px;background:none"
|-
|style="width:280px;text-align:center;white-space:nowrap;color:#000" |
<div style="font-size:162%;border:none;margin: 0;padding:.1em;color:#000">Welcome to [[Documentation:Documentation|Videolan's Documentation]],</div>
<div style="top:+0.2em;font-size: 95%">The reference documentation on VideoLAN's projects.</div>
<div id="articlecount" style="width:100%;text-align:center;font-size:85%;">Articles under the [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU General Public License] only.</div>
|}
|style="width:11%;font-size:95%;color:#000" valign="top"|
*[[VideoLAN|VideoLAN]]
*[[VLC|VLC media player]]
*[[Documentation:Documentation|Documentation]]
|style="width:14%;font-size:95%" valign="top"|
*[http://www.videolan.org Main Site]
*[http://forum.videolan.org Forum]
*[http://planet.videolan.org News from developers]
|style="width:18%;font-size:95%" valign="top"|
*[http://developers.videolan.org Developer's website]
*[http://nightlies.videolan.org Latest builds]
*[http://trac.videolan.org Trac, Bugs, SVN and roadmap]
|}


''Pages in the "Documentation" namespace are part of the "Official" VLC media player documentation.''

''All pages in this namespace are licensed under the [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU General Public License].''

'''Note: many parts of this documentation are currently outdated / obsolete. If you have good knowledge of a particular subject and feel that it could be documented better, please update the appropriate wiki page.'''

== [[Documentation:VLC for dummies| VLC for dummies: an introduction to VLC]] ==
This document will be an introduction for VLC from version 0.9.0 and over. '''UNDER CONSTRUCTION'''.

== [[Documentation:Play HowTo|VLC Play HowTo]] ==

This document is the complete user guide for the client aspects of VLC.

== [[Documentation:Streaming HowTo|VLC Streaming HowTo]] ==

This document explains how to stream, transcode and save streams using the VideoLAN solution.

== [[Documentation:Hacker's Guide|The Hacker's Guide to VLC]] ==

This document will detail the inner workings of VLC and its source code.

{{Documentation}}

User:Jeremy Butler

2007-07-09T15:17:41Z

Jeremy Butler: created page

I'm a relatively newcomer to VideoLAN, but I'm excited about its potential. I'll try to copyedit and clean-up documentation as a small contribution to the project.

Oh, and I'm a regular contributor to Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jeremy_Butler

so I do have some previous wiki experience.

==My Web work==
I run a few Websites related to the study of film and television:

*http://www.ScreenSite.org
*http://www.TVCRit.com

Documentation Talk:User Guide

2007-07-09T15:14:03Z

Jeremy Butler: Formatting: Put authors' names in the ''discussion'' page

Documentation:Play HowTo/Basic Use 0.8

2007-07-09T14:39:10Z

Jeremy Butler: added snapshot information

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc}}

==General interface description==

VLC has several interfaces:
*A cross-platform interface, for Windows and GNU/Linux, called wxWidgets,
*A native Mac OS X interface, and
*A skinnable interface for Windows and GNU/Linux.
Screenshots below are drawn from the various interfaces, but VLC's functions work essentially the same on all operating systems.

===Windows and GNU/Linux (wxWidgets)===

This is the default interface on Windows and GNU/Linux (the screenshot is done on GNU/Linux, but it would look quite the same on Windows).

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx.jpg The wxWidgets interface

This interface also features an ''Extended GUI'' which contains many additional features. To display or hide it, go to the ''Settings'' menu and click ''Extended GUI''.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-extended.jpg The wxWidgets interface with extended GUI

===Native Mac OS X (Cocoa)===

This is the default interface on Mac OS X.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx.jpg The Mac OS X interface

This interface features an ''Extended GUI'' as well. It is called "Extended Controls" and can be opened through the Window menu.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-extended.jpg The Mac OSX interface with with the extended controls panel

==Basic playback==

===Play a file===

To play a file, open the ''File'' menu, and select the ''Quick Open File'' menu item. An Open File dialog box will appear. Select the file you want to open, and select Open. VLC will start playing the selected file.

An alternative is to drag 'n' drop your file on the VLC main interface or playlist window from the file explorer (Finder on MacOS X).

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-file-menu.jpg The File menu - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-file-menu.jpg The File menu - MacOS X interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-file.jpg The Open file dialog - wxWidgets interface

http://wwww.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-open-file.jpg The Open file dialog - MacOS X interface

===Play a CD/DVD/VCD===

To Play a CD, VCD or a DVD, open the ''File'' menu, and select the ''Open Disc...'' menu item. In the Open Disk Dialog Box, select the type of media (DVD, VCD or Audio CD). When reading a DVD, you can enable DVD menus by selecting the ''DVD (menus)'' disc type in the wxWidgets Interface. In the MacOS X interface, this can be done by selecting the "Use DVD menus" dialog box.

You can select the drive from which the media should be read by giving the appropriate drive letter or device name in the "Device Name" text input. This should be auto-detected on MacOS X.

If you want to start the DVD or VCD playback from a given title and chapter instead of from the beginning, you can set it using the ''Title'' and ''Chapter'' selectors.

You can start playback by selecting the ''Ok'' button.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-disk.jpg The Open disk dialog - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-open-disk.jpg The Open disk dialog - MacOS X interface

===Play a network stream (WebRadio, WebTV, etc.)===

To open a network stream, open the "File" menu and select the "Open Network Stream" menu item.

*To open a UDP unicast stream, select ''UDP/RTP'', and set the appropriate UDP port in the selector (it is 1234 for streams sent by a VLC or VLS server).
*To open a UDP multicast stream, select ''UDP/RTP multicast''. Give the address of the multicast group in the "Address" text input, and select the appropriate UDP port.
*To open a stream sent over http (Webradios, WebTVs, Shoutcast, Icecast...), ftp, or mms (Microsoft Media Server), select "HTTP/FTP/MMS", and give the corresponding complete URL, (such as http://live.stream.org:8080/live or mms://live.ms.stream.net:8080/live.asf) in the corresponding text input. This also the way to open a RTSP stream with the MacOS X interface.
*To open a RTSP stream (sent by Darwin Streaming Server, VLC, etc), in the wxWidgets interface, select "RTSP" and give the URL in the text input.

You can start playback by selecting the ''Ok'' button.

If you get some stuttering during playback, you can try to increase the size of the read buffer. This can be done in the ''Open Network Stream'' dialog box, by selecting the ''Caching'' box. You can then choose the amount time (in milliseconds) VLC should store data in its buffer before starting playback.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-net.jpg The Open network dialog - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-open-net.jpg The Open network dialog - MacOS X interface

===Play from an acquisition card===

This currently only possible on Linux and Windows. Open the File menu, and select "Open Capture Device..."

On Windows, supported cards include webcams, TV cards, acquisition cards... provided they come with directshow compatible drivers (Almost all acquisition cards do). You can choose the device to use for video and audio capture using the "Video device name" and "Audio device name" selectors. If your device doesn't appear in the list, try to select the "Refresh list" button. You can access the settings of your acquisition device by selecting the ''configure'' button. Options here depend on the driver of the device. You can select the "Device Proprieties" box if you want the configuration dialog box of every device to be displayed after having pressed the ''Ok'' button. Select the ''Tuner properties'' box to be prompted for tuner settings (PAL/NTSC standard, frequency...) for TV cards. The ''Advanced options...'' button allows to select some further settings useful in some rare cases, such as the chroma of the input (the way colors are encoded) and the size of the input buffer.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-capture.jpg The Open Capture device dialog and a device configuration windows- wxWidgets interface

On Linux, supported cards include webcams, TV cards, acquisition cards, provided they are supported by the Video4Linux architecture. Haupaugge PVR 250/350 cards are also supported, using the [http://ivtv.sourceforge.net/ IVTV drivers].

*For Video4Linux devices, you can set the name of the video and audio devices using the "Video device name" and "Audio device name" text inputs. The "Advanced options..." button allows to select some further settings useful in some rare cases, such as the chroma of the input (the way colors are encoded) and the size of the input buffer.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-v4l.jpg The Open Video4Linux dialog- wxWidgets interface

*To use a Hauppauge PVR card, select the PVR tab in the "Open" dialog box. Use the "Device" text input to set the device of the card you want to use. You can set the Norm of the tuner (PAL, SECAM or NTSC) by using the "Norm" Drop Down. The Frequency selector allows you to set the frequency of the tuner (in kHz), the bitrate selector to set the bitrate of the resulting encoded stream (in bit/s). The "Advanced Options button allows to set some more settings, such as the size of the encoded video (in pixels), its framerate (in frame per second), the interval between 2 key frames, etc.

After having set all the required parameters, you can start the capture by selecting the "Ok" button.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-pvr.jpg The Open PVR dialog- wxWidgets interface

==Using the playlist==

VLC can store a list of several files to play one after the other, using its playlist system. To access the playlist, click on the ''Playlist'' button on the main interface (see <xref linkend="desc" endterm="tdesc"/>).

Each time you use the Open dialog box, the stream you select is appended at the end of the playlist and started.

The playlist window shows all the streams available in the playlist. Double-click one to play it.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-playlist.jpg The Playlist - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-playlist.jpg The Playlist - MacOS X interface

===Adding items, saving and loading playlists===

In the wxWidgets interface, the ''Manage'' menu allows you to append an item at the end of the playlist (its playback won't start immediately), to save the playlist as a M3U or PLS file, or to import a playlist file.

In the MacOS X interface, saving a playlist can be done using the ''Save Playlist...'' function in the ''File'' menu. To import a playlist file, open it the same way as any other media file, using the ''Quick Open File...'' menu item.

===Sorting===

In the wxWidgets interface, ''Sort'' allows you to sort the playlist according to several criteria, or to shuffle it. You can also sort by clicking the header of the column.

In the MacOS X interface, sorting can be done by clicking the header of the column matching the criteria you want to use for sorting.

===Playlist modes===

The playlist supports several playback modes.

In the wxWidgets interface, the toolbar contains three playlist mode buttons. They allow to enable random mode, to repeat the whole playlist or to repeat one item.

In the MacOS X interface, random mode can be enabled by selecting the ''Random'' box. A drop down menu allows you to enable playlist and item repeat modes.

===Misc===

====Search====

You also have a search tool. Enter a search string and hit search. The next item to match the string will be highlighted. Keep hitting Search to cycle between all matching items.

====Moving items====

In the wxWidgets interface, the ''Up'' and ''Down'' buttons at the bottom of the playlist window allow you to move an item. Select an item and use these buttons to move it.

In the MacOS X interface, you can move an item with the mouse, easily using a ''Drag'n'Drop''.

====Contextual menu====

By right-clicking an item, a contextual menu will appear, giving access to a number of functions (play the item, disable it, delete it, or get info on it).

If you ask for info, an ''item info'' dialog box will appear. This dialog box also allows you to change the name, the author and the location of the item to play.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-iteminfo.jpg Item Info Dialog - wx Interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-iteminfo.jpg Item Info Dialog - MacOS X interface

==Subtitles==

VLC supports many kinds of subtitles.

===Media with included subtitles===

Many types of media can have embedded subtitles. VLC can read subtitles for the following media:
*DVD
*SVCD
*OGM files
*Matroska (MKV) files

Subtitles are disabled by default. To enable them, go to the ''Video'' menu, and to ''Subtitles track''. All available subtitles tracks will be listed. Select one to get the subtitles. Depending on the media, a description (language, for example) might be available for the track.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-select-sub.jpg Select a subtitles track under Windows or Linux

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-select-sub.jpg Select a subtitles track under MacOS X

DVD and SVCD subtitles are merely images, so you won't be able to change anything for them. OGM and Matroska subtitles are rendered text, so you will be able to change several options.

Text rendering options can be changed in the Preferences. In the ''Modules'' section, ''text renderer'' subsection, open the ''freetype'' page. You can then set the font and its size. For the font, you have to select a font file. Under Windows, they can be found in ''C:\Windows\Fonts''. Under MacOS X, they are in ''/System/Library/Fonts''. Size can be set either relatively or as a number of pixels.

You need to restart your stream for the font modifications to take effect.

===Subtitles files===

While modern file formats like Matroska or OGM can handle subtitles directly, older formats like AVI can't. Therefore, a number of subtitles files formats have been created. You need two files: the
video file and the subtitles files that only contains the text of the subtitles and timestamps.

VLC can handle these types of subtitles files:
*MicroDVD
*SubRIP
*SubViewer
*SSA
*Sami
*Vobsub (this one is quite special: it is not made from text but from images, which means that you can't change the fonts)

To open a subtitles file, use the Advanced Open dialog box (Menu File, Open file). Select your file by clicking on the ''Browse'' button. Then, check the ''Subtitle options'' checkbox and click on the Settings button.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-sub-file.jpg Select a subtitles file under Windows or Linux

You can then select the subtitles file by clicking the ''Browse'' button. You can also set a few options like character encoding, alignment and size. The delay option allows you to delay the subtitles against the video if they are not in sync. If they are not at the same speed, you might also want to adjust the subtitles framerate.

Note: For Vobsub subtitles, you need to select the '''.idx''' file, not the '''.sub''' file.
Encoding, alignment and size won't have any effect for Vobsub subtitles.

Font can be changed as explained in the previous section.

==Video and audio filters==

VLC includes a system of ''filters'' that allow you to modify the audio and video.

===Deinterlacement and Post Processing===

VLC is able to deinterlace a video stream using different deinterlacement methods. Deinterlacement can be enabled in the ''Video'' menu, ''Deinterlacement'' menu item. The ''Blend'' methods gives the best results in most cases. The ''discard''method is a less resource consuming alternative.

On some particular streams (MPEG 4, DIVX, XVID, Sorenson, etc.), some additional image filtering can be applied to the video before display, improving its quality in some cases. This can be enabled in the ''Video'' menu, ''Post processing'' menu item. Different levels of post processing can be chosen here. A higher level means more filtering.

===Video filters===

VLC features several filters able to change the video (distortion, brightness adjustment, motion blurring, etc.).

With the wxWidgets interface, filters can be easily enabled using the Extended GUI. In the Video tab, simply select the filters to enable. Image settings can be easily adjusted.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-vfilters.jpg Video filters selection in the wxWidgets interface

You can enable these filters through the ''Extended Controls panel'' on Mac OS X. Click on the triangle next to ''Video filters'' to select your filters or expand the ''Adjust Image'' section to change the contrast, hue, etc.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-vfilters.jpg Video filters selection in the Mac OS X interface

For better control, you need to go to the preferences. To select the filters to be enabled, go to ''Video'', then to ''Filters''. In the "video filter module" box, enter the names of the filters to enable, separated by semicommas. Filters will be applied in the selected order. Valid names are "clone", "wall", "transform", "adjust", "crop", "deinterlace", "distort", "motionblur" and "logo".

If you want to tune the behavior of these filters, go to ''Video, Filters, [your filter]''. For each filter, you will find a short description and the options.

===Audio filters===

====Equalizer====

VLC features a 10-band graphical equalizer. You can display it by activating the advanced GUI on wxWidgets or by clicking the ''Equalizer'' button on the MacOS X interface.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-equalizer.jpg The equalizer in the wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-equalizer.jpg The equalizer in the MacOS X interface

Presets are available in the Audio menu in wxWidgets, or in the Equalizer window in the MacOS X interface.

====Other audio filters====

At the moment, VLC features two other audio filters: a volume normalizer and a filter providing sound spatialization with a headphone. They can be enabled in the Audio tab of the extended GUI for the wxWidgets interface and in the Audio section of the Extended Controls panel of the Mac OS X interface.

For better control, you need to go to the preferences. To select the filters to be enabled, go to ''Audio'', then to ''Filters''. In the "audio filters" box, enter the names of the filters to enable, separated by commas. Valid names are "equalizer", "normvol" and "headphone".

If you want to tune the behavior of these filters, go to ''Audio, Filters, [your filter]''. The equalizer and headphone filters can be tuned.

==Snapshots (aka, screenshots)==
There are two ways to take snapshots (i.e., screenshots or frame grabs) with VLC:
#Go to Video -> Snapshot
#Press the snapshot hotkey
#*Windows / Linux / Unix: Ctrl-Alt-s
#*Mac OS X: Command-Alt-s
To change the hotkey, go to Preferences -> Interface -> Hotkeys settings. Check Advanced options, and set Take video snapshot.

When a snapshot is taken, it will briefly appear as a thumbnail with its filename and then fade away.

===Snapshot location, format and name===
The snapshot location depends upon your operating system:
*Windows: My Documents\My Pictures\
*Linux / Unix: $(HOME)/.vlc/
*Mac OS X: Desktop/

The default format for snapshots is PNG, but this may be changed to JPEG. Also, the default name for snapshots is ''vlcsnap-'' followed by a timestamp that is ''not'' the time of the frame in the video you're viewing.

The location, format and name of snapshots may be changed in the Preferences. Also, you may substitute other text for ''vlcsnap-'' and you may choose to have snapshots numbered sequentially (i.e., 000001, 000002, 000003, and so on) instead of with a timestamp.

==Hotkeys==

Most of VLC functions are accessible using hotkeys.

The list of the available hotkeys and their functions can be retrieved and altered in the preferences panel of the player. In the wxWidgets interface, preferences are available in the "Settings" menu, "Preferences" menu item. In the MacOS X interface, open the "VLC" menu, and select "Preferences". Select the "Hot keys" panel in the dialog.

As of version 0.9, a list of hotkeys is presented in a drop-down window. To change one, double-click its name to select it. Then, press the new key that will trigger the specified action. Modifier keys (such as Control/Command and Alt) may also be used.

In earlier versions, several boxes give the list of modifiers for the hotkey. To trigger an action using a hotkey, you need to press simultaneously the keys corresponding to the different selected modifiers as well as the key set in the dropdown.

To change the binding of a hotkey, select or deselect boxes corresponding to the different modifiers, and change the key by using the drop-down menu. Select the ''Save'' button to apply the changes.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-hotkeys.jpg The Hotkeys Panel - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-hotkeys.jpg The Hotkeys Panel - MacOS X interface

==Basic troubleshooting==

===File does not play, only sound or only video===

Maybe the file you are trying to read is not fully supported. VLC does not use the codec packs (the software that decodes video signals) you might have installed. It comes with its own codecs. If there is no open-source decoder for the format you are trying to read, it won't be supported. (There is an exception, under Windows, for codecs that use the DirectShow framework.)

To find out, open the Messages Window (View menu) and restart your stream. Look for error messages (red messages)

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-messages.jpg The wxWidgets messages window

In this example, the file contains a IV41 video stream, a codec that is not supported by VLC.

You may of course have other messages. If you post to a VideoLAN mailing list or in the forum, please include such a log. It is very valuable in troubleshooting.

===Weird VLC behavior and crashes===

A very common thing is a corrupted VLC preferences file. Don't hesitate to delete it if problems appear suddenly. You will find in the FAQ details on [http://www.videolan.org/doc/faq/en/index.html#id2470084 how to delete your preferences file].

===Computer crashes / Video is corrupted===

Another common problem is buggy video drivers. Try upgrading them from the website of your video card's manufacturer.

Also, you can try disabling Overlay (Preferences/General/Video, untick "Overlay video output")

{{Documentation}}

Documentation:Play HowTo/Basic Use 0.8

2007-07-09T13:52:18Z

Jeremy Butler: clean-up; copyediting

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc}}

==General interface description==

VLC has several interfaces:
*A cross-platform interface, for Windows and GNU/Linux, called wxWidgets,
*A native Mac OS X interface, and
*A skinnable interface for Windows and GNU/Linux.
Screenshots below are drawn from the various interfaces, but VLC's functions work essentially the same on all operating systems.

===Windows and GNU/Linux (wxWidgets)===

This is the default interface on Windows and GNU/Linux (the screenshot is done on GNU/Linux, but it would look quite the same on Windows).

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx.jpg The wxWidgets interface

This interface also features an ''Extended GUI'' which contains many additional features. To display or hide it, go to the ''Settings'' menu and click ''Extended GUI''.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-extended.jpg The wxWidgets interface with extended GUI

===Native Mac OS X (Cocoa)===

This is the default interface on Mac OS X.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx.jpg The Mac OS X interface

This interface features an ''Extended GUI'' as well. It is called "Extended Controls" and can be opened through the Window menu.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-extended.jpg The Mac OSX interface with with the extended controls panel

==Basic playback==

===Play a file===

To play a file, open the ''File'' menu, and select the ''Quick Open File'' menu item. An Open File dialog box will appear. Select the file you want to open, and select Open. VLC will start playing the selected file.

An alternative is to drag 'n' drop your file on the VLC main interface or playlist window from the file explorer (Finder on MacOS X).

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-file-menu.jpg The File menu - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-file-menu.jpg The File menu - MacOS X interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-file.jpg The Open file dialog - wxWidgets interface

http://wwww.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-open-file.jpg The Open file dialog - MacOS X interface

===Play a CD/DVD/VCD===

To Play a CD, VCD or a DVD, open the ''File'' menu, and select the ''Open Disc...'' menu item. In the Open Disk Dialog Box, select the type of media (DVD, VCD or Audio CD). When reading a DVD, you can enable DVD menus by selecting the ''DVD (menus)'' disc type in the wxWidgets Interface. In the MacOS X interface, this can be done by selecting the "Use DVD menus" dialog box.

You can select the drive from which the media should be read by giving the appropriate drive letter or device name in the "Device Name" text input. This should be auto-detected on MacOS X.

If you want to start the DVD or VCD playback from a given title and chapter instead of from the beginning, you can set it using the ''Title'' and ''Chapter'' selectors.

You can start playback by selecting the ''Ok'' button.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-disk.jpg The Open disk dialog - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-open-disk.jpg The Open disk dialog - MacOS X interface

===Play a network stream (WebRadio, WebTV, etc.)===

To open a network stream, open the "File" menu and select the "Open Network Stream" menu item.

*To open a UDP unicast stream, select ''UDP/RTP'', and set the appropriate UDP port in the selector (it is 1234 for streams sent by a VLC or VLS server).
*To open a UDP multicast stream, select ''UDP/RTP multicast''. Give the address of the multicast group in the "Address" text input, and select the appropriate UDP port.
*To open a stream sent over http (Webradios, WebTVs, Shoutcast, Icecast...), ftp, or mms (Microsoft Media Server), select "HTTP/FTP/MMS", and give the corresponding complete URL, (such as http://live.stream.org:8080/live or mms://live.ms.stream.net:8080/live.asf) in the corresponding text input. This also the way to open a RTSP stream with the MacOS X interface.
*To open a RTSP stream (sent by Darwin Streaming Server, VLC, etc), in the wxWidgets interface, select "RTSP" and give the URL in the text input.

You can start playback by selecting the ''Ok'' button.

If you get some stuttering during playback, you can try to increase the size of the read buffer. This can be done in the ''Open Network Stream'' dialog box, by selecting the ''Caching'' box. You can then choose the amount time (in milliseconds) VLC should store data in its buffer before starting playback.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-net.jpg The Open network dialog - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-open-net.jpg The Open network dialog - MacOS X interface

===Play from an acquisition card===

This currently only possible on Linux and Windows. Open the File menu, and select "Open Capture Device..."

On Windows, supported cards include webcams, TV cards, acquisition cards... provided they come with directshow compatible drivers (Almost all acquisition cards do). You can choose the device to use for video and audio capture using the "Video device name" and "Audio device name" selectors. If your device doesn't appear in the list, try to select the "Refresh list" button. You can access the settings of your acquisition device by selecting the ''configure'' button. Options here depend on the driver of the device. You can select the "Device Proprieties" box if you want the configuration dialog box of every device to be displayed after having pressed the ''Ok'' button. Select the ''Tuner properties'' box to be prompted for tuner settings (PAL/NTSC standard, frequency...) for TV cards. The ''Advanced options...'' button allows to select some further settings useful in some rare cases, such as the chroma of the input (the way colors are encoded) and the size of the input buffer.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-capture.jpg The Open Capture device dialog and a device configuration windows- wxWidgets interface

On Linux, supported cards include webcams, TV cards, acquisition cards, provided they are supported by the Video4Linux architecture. Haupaugge PVR 250/350 cards are also supported, using the [http://ivtv.sourceforge.net/ IVTV drivers].

*For Video4Linux devices, you can set the name of the video and audio devices using the "Video device name" and "Audio device name" text inputs. The "Advanced options..." button allows to select some further settings useful in some rare cases, such as the chroma of the input (the way colors are encoded) and the size of the input buffer.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-v4l.jpg The Open Video4Linux dialog- wxWidgets interface

*To use a Hauppauge PVR card, select the PVR tab in the "Open" dialog box. Use the "Device" text input to set the device of the card you want to use. You can set the Norm of the tuner (PAL, SECAM or NTSC) by using the "Norm" Drop Down. The Frequency selector allows you to set the frequency of the tuner (in kHz), the bitrate selector to set the bitrate of the resulting encoded stream (in bit/s). The "Advanced Options button allows to set some more settings, such as the size of the encoded video (in pixels), its framerate (in frame per second), the interval between 2 key frames, etc.

After having set all the required parameters, you can start the capture by selecting the "Ok" button.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-open-pvr.jpg The Open PVR dialog- wxWidgets interface

==Using the playlist==

VLC can store a list of several files to play one after the other, using its playlist system. To access the playlist, click on the ''Playlist'' button on the main interface (see <xref linkend="desc" endterm="tdesc"/>).

Each time you use the Open dialog box, the stream you select is appended at the end of the playlist and started.

The playlist window shows all the streams available in the playlist. Double-click one to play it.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-playlist.jpg The Playlist - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-playlist.jpg The Playlist - MacOS X interface

===Adding items, saving and loading playlists===

In the wxWidgets interface, the ''Manage'' menu allows you to append an item at the end of the playlist (its playback won't start immediately), to save the playlist as a M3U or PLS file, or to import a playlist file.

In the MacOS X interface, saving a playlist can be done using the ''Save Playlist...'' function in the ''File'' menu. To import a playlist file, open it the same way as any other media file, using the ''Quick Open File...'' menu item.

===Sorting===

In the wxWidgets interface, ''Sort'' allows you to sort the playlist according to several criteria, or to shuffle it. You can also sort by clicking the header of the column.

In the MacOS X interface, sorting can be done by clicking the header of the column matching the criteria you want to use for sorting.

===Playlist modes===

The playlist supports several playback modes.

In the wxWidgets interface, the toolbar contains three playlist mode buttons. They allow to enable random mode, to repeat the whole playlist or to repeat one item.

In the MacOS X interface, random mode can be enabled by selecting the ''Random'' box. A drop down menu allows you to enable playlist and item repeat modes.

===Misc===

====Search====

You also have a search tool. Enter a search string and hit search. The next item to match the string will be highlighted. Keep hitting Search to cycle between all matching items.

====Moving items====

In the wxWidgets interface, the ''Up'' and ''Down'' buttons at the bottom of the playlist window allow you to move an item. Select an item and use these buttons to move it.

In the MacOS X interface, you can move an item with the mouse, easily using a ''Drag'n'Drop''.

====Contextual menu====

By right-clicking an item, a contextual menu will appear, giving access to a number of functions (play the item, disable it, delete it, or get info on it).

If you ask for info, an ''item info'' dialog box will appear. This dialog box also allows you to change the name, the author and the location of the item to play.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-iteminfo.jpg Item Info Dialog - wx Interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-iteminfo.jpg Item Info Dialog - MacOS X interface

==Hotkeys==

Most of VLC functions are accessible using hotkeys.

The list of the available hotkeys and their functions can be retrieved and altered in the preferences panel of the player. In the wxWidgets interface, preferences are available in the "Settings" menu, "Preferences" menu item. In the MacOS X interface, open the "VLC" menu, and select "Preferences". Select the "Hot keys" panel in the dialog.

As of version 0.9, a list of hotkeys is presented in a drop-down window. To change one, double-click its name to select it. Then, press the new key that will trigger the specified action. Modifier keys (such as Control/Command and Alt) may also be used.

In earlier versions, several boxes give the list of modifiers for the hotkey. To trigger an action using a hotkey, you need to press simultaneously the keys corresponding to the different selected modifiers as well as the key set in the dropdown.

To change the binding of a hotkey, select or deselect boxes corresponding to the different modifiers, and change the key by using the drop-down menu. Select the ''Save'' button to apply the changes.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-hotkeys.jpg The Hotkeys Panel - wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-hotkeys.jpg The Hotkeys Panel - MacOS X interface

==Using subtitles==

VLC supports many kinds of subtitles.

===Media with included subtitles===

Many types of media can have embedded subtitles. VLC can read subtitles for the following media:
*DVD
*SVCD
*OGM files
*Matroska (MKV) files

Subtitles are disabled by default. To enable them, go to the ''Video'' menu, and to ''Subtitles track''. All available subtitles tracks will be listed. Select one to get the subtitles. Depending on the media, a description (language, for example) might be available for the track.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-select-sub.jpg Select a subtitles track under Windows or Linux

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-select-sub.jpg Select a subtitles track under MacOS X

DVD and SVCD subtitles are merely images, so you won't be able to change anything for them. OGM and Matroska subtitles are rendered text, so you will be able to change several options.

Text rendering options can be changed in the Preferences. In the ''Modules'' section, ''text renderer'' subsection, open the ''freetype'' page. You can then set the font and its size. For the font, you have to select a font file. Under Windows, they can be found in ''C:\Windows\Fonts''. Under MacOS X, they are in ''/System/Library/Fonts''. Size can be set either relatively or as a number of pixels.

You need to restart your stream for the font modifications to take effect.

===Subtitles files===

While modern file formats like Matroska or OGM can handle subtitles directly, older formats like AVI can't. Therefore, a number of subtitles files formats have been created. You need two files: the
video file and the subtitles files that only contains the text of the subtitles and timestamps.

VLC can handle these types of subtitles files:
*MicroDVD
*SubRIP
*SubViewer
*SSA
*Sami
*Vobsub (this one is quite special: it is not made from text but from images, which means that you can't change the fonts)

To open a subtitles file, use the Advanced Open dialog box (Menu File, Open file). Select your file by clicking on the ''Browse'' button. Then, check the ''Subtitle options'' checkbox and click on the Settings button.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-sub-file.jpg Select a subtitles file under Windows or Linux

You can then select the subtitles file by clicking the ''Browse'' button. You can also set a few options like character encoding, alignment and size. The delay option allows you to delay the subtitles against the video if they are not in sync. If they are not at the same speed, you might also want to adjust the subtitles framerate.

Note: For Vobsub subtitles, you need to select the '''.idx''' file, not the '''.sub''' file.
Encoding, alignment and size won't have any effect for Vobsub subtitles.

Font can be changed as explained in the previous section.

==Video and audio filters==

VLC includes a system of ''filters'' that allow you to modify the audio and video.

===Deinterlacement and Post Processing===

VLC is able to deinterlace a video stream using different deinterlacement methods. Deinterlacement can be enabled in the ''Video'' menu, ''Deinterlacement'' menu item. The ''Blend'' methods gives the best results in most cases. The ''discard''method is a less resource consuming alternative.

On some particular streams (MPEG 4, DIVX, XVID, Sorenson, etc.), some additional image filtering can be applied to the video before display, improving its quality in some cases. This can be enabled in the ''Video'' menu, ''Post processing'' menu item. Different levels of post processing can be chosen here. A higher level means more filtering.

===Video filters===

VLC features several filters able to change the video (distortion, brightness adjustment, motion blurring, etc.).

With the wxWidgets interface, filters can be easily enabled using the Extended GUI. In the Video tab, simply select the filters to enable. Image settings can be easily adjusted.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-vfilters.jpg Video filters selection in the wxWidgets interface

You can enable these filters through the ''Extended Controls panel'' on Mac OS X. Click on the triangle next to ''Video filters'' to select your filters or expand the ''Adjust Image'' section to change the contrast, hue, etc.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-vfilters.jpg Video filters selection in the Mac OS X interface

For better control, you need to go to the preferences. To select the filters to be enabled, go to ''Video'', then to ''Filters''. In the "video filter module" box, enter the names of the filters to enable, separated by semicommas. Filters will be applied in the selected order. Valid names are "clone", "wall", "transform", "adjust", "crop", "deinterlace", "distort", "motionblur" and "logo".

If you want to tune the behavior of these filters, go to ''Video, Filters, [your filter]''. For each filter, you will find a short description and the options.

===Audio filters===

====Equalizer====

VLC features a 10-band graphical equalizer. You can display it by activating the advanced GUI on wxWidgets or by clicking the ''Equalizer'' button on the MacOS X interface.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-equalizer.jpg The equalizer in the wxWidgets interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-osx-equalizer.jpg The equalizer in the MacOS X interface

Presets are available in the Audio menu in wxWidgets, or in the Equalizer window in the MacOS X interface.

====Other audio filters====

At the moment, VLC features two other audio filters: a volume normalizer and a filter providing sound spatialization with a headphone. They can be enabled in the Audio tab of the extended GUI for the wxWidgets interface and in the Audio section of the Extended Controls panel of the Mac OS X interface.

For better control, you need to go to the preferences. To select the filters to be enabled, go to ''Audio'', then to ''Filters''. In the "audio filters" box, enter the names of the filters to enable, separated by commas. Valid names are "equalizer", "normvol" and "headphone".

If you want to tune the behavior of these filters, go to ''Audio, Filters, [your filter]''. The equalizer and headphone filters can be tuned.

==Basic troubleshooting==

===File does not play, only sound or only video===

Maybe the file you are trying to read is not fully supported. VLC does not use the codec packs (the software that decodes video signals) you might have installed. It comes with its own codecs. If there is no open-source decoder for the format you are trying to read, it won't be supported. (There is an exception, under Windows, for codecs that use the DirectShow framework.)

To find out, open the Messages Window (View menu) and restart your stream. Look for error messages (red messages)

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/images/play-howto/intf-wx-messages.jpg The wxWidgets messages window

In this example, the file contains a IV41 video stream, a codec that is not supported by VLC.

You may of course have other messages. If you post to a VideoLAN mailing list or in the forum, please include such a log. It is very valuable in troubleshooting.

===Weird VLC behavior and crashes===

A very common thing is a corrupted VLC preferences file. Don't hesitate to delete it if problems appear suddenly. You will find in the FAQ details on [http://www.videolan.org/doc/faq/en/index.html#id2470084 how to delete your preferences file].

===Computer crashes / Video is corrupted===

Another common problem is buggy video drivers. Try upgrading them from the website of your video card's manufacturer.

Also, you can try disabling Overlay (Preferences/General/Video, untick "Overlay video output")

{{Documentation}}

Documentation:Documentation

2007-07-09T13:13:55Z

Jeremy Butler: /* The Hacker's Guide to VLC */ punctuation

__NOTOC__


{|style="width:100%;margin-top:0px;background-color:#fcfcfc;border:1px solid #ccc"
|style="width:56%;color:#000"|
{|style="width:280px;border:solid 0px;background:none"
|-
|style="width:280px;text-align:center;white-space:nowrap;color:#000" |
<div style="font-size:162%;border:none;margin: 0;padding:.1em;color:#000">Welcome to [[Documentation:Documentation|Videolan's Documentation]],</div>
<div style="top:+0.2em;font-size: 95%">The reference documentation on VideoLAN's projects.</div>
<div id="articlecount" style="width:100%;text-align:center;font-size:85%;">Articles under the [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU General Public License] only.</div>
|}
|style="width:11%;font-size:95%;color:#000" valign="top"|
*[[VideoLAN|VideoLAN]]
*[[VLC|VLC media player]]
*[[Documentation:Documentation|Documentation]]
|style="width:14%;font-size:95%" valign="top"|
*[http://www.videolan.org Main Site]
*[http://forum.videolan.org Forum]
*[http://planet.videolan.org News from developers]
|style="width:18%;font-size:95%" valign="top"|
*[http://developers.videolan.org Developer's website]
*[http://nightlies.videolan.org Latest builds]
*[http://trac.videolan.org Trac, Bugs, SVN and roadmap]
|}


''Pages in the "Documentation" namespace are part of the "Official" VLC media player documentation.''

''All pages in this namespace are licensed under the [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU General Public License].''

'''Note: many parts of this documentation are currently outdated / obsolete. If you have good knowledge of a particular subject and feel that it could be documented better, please update the appropriate wiki page.'''

== [[Documentation:VLC for dummies| VLC for dummies: an introduction to VLC]] ==
This document will be an introduction for VLC from version 0.9.0 and over. UNDER WRITING.

== [[Documentation:Play HowTo|VLC Play HowTo]] ==

This document is the complete user guide for the client aspects of VLC.

== [[Documentation:Streaming HowTo|VLC Streaming HowTo]] ==

This document explains how to stream, transcode and save streams using the VideoLAN solution.

== [[Documentation:Hacker's Guide|The Hacker's Guide to VLC]] ==

This document will detail the inner workings of VLC and its source code.

{{Documentation}}

Windows

2006-12-09T21:51:26Z

Jeremy Butler: /* Use Windows Explorer's context menu */ formatting

The '''Windows port''' of VLC usually starts up with the [[WxWindows]] interface which is used in the [[Linux]] one as well. The user can decide to use the [[Skins]] interface instead to be able to modify the interface according to his or her mood.

==Keyboard shortcuts in the Windows (directx) video output==

Note: these shortcuts are only default settings and can be customized (along with many others). To tweak hotkeys settings, go to Settings->Preferences->Interface->Hotkeys settings

{| class="wikitable"
| F
| Fullscreen
|-
| Space
| Play/Pause
|-
| T
| Show position (time)
|-
| S
| Stop
|-
| Ctrl+Q
| Quit
|-
| +/-
| Faster/Slower
|-
| N/P
| Next/Previous
|-
| Shift+Left/Shift+Right
| Jump very short
|-
| Alt+Left/Alt+Right
| Jump short
|-
| Ctrl+Left/Ctrl+Right
| Jump medium
|-
| Ctrl+Alt+Left/Ctrl+Alt+Right
| Jump long
|-
| Ctrl+Up/Ctrl+Down
| Volume up/down
|-
| M
| Mute
|-
| Ctrl+M
| Show DVD-menu
|-
| Left/Right<br/>Up/Down<br/>Enter
| DVD-menu navigation keys
|}

==How to associate media files to VLC==

VLC hasn't got a module to associate files so that if you click on a file VLC automatically opens. The developers are working on this, and one should be available in the next full release. But you can do it yourself by choosing one of these three options:

===Use Windows Explorer's context menu===

#In Windows Explorer, ''right''-click a file you wish to open.
#Clicking Open With from the context menu that pops up.
#Clicking the VLC's program name.
#*If VLC is not displayed, click Browse to locate it on your hard drive.

Alternatively, you can:

#In Windows Explorer, ''right''-click the file you want to open with VLC.
#Click Properties in the context menu that pops up.
#On the General tab, click Change.
#Click the name of the program (VLC) which you want to be used to open the file.

Either of these options affects all files that have the same filename extension (the letters after the filename's period) as the file you selected. For example, if you change the program that opens ''goober.avi'', then all ''.avi'' files will be opened with VLC.

===Rerun the installer===
#Reinstall VLC and choose the "associate files" option when it comes up.

===Edit the registry===
'''Warning''': use this technique only if you really know what you are doing! And be sure to back-up your registry first.

#Open a text editor, like Notepad (but not WordPad).
#Copy this text below.
#Modify the strings ''C:\\Program Files\\VideoLAN\\VLC\\vlc.exe'' to match your VLC installation.
#Save as ''vlc.reg''.
#Execute ''vlc.reg'' (adding this data to your registry).
#Enjoy VLC :)

Text to copy:
<pre>
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ASF]
@="VlcFile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ASX]
@="VlcFile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.AVI]
@="VlcFile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.DIVX]
@="VlcFile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.MPEG]
@="VlcFile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.MPG]
@="VlcFile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.VOB]
@="VlcFile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.WMV]
@="VlcFile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VlcFile]
@="VLC File"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VlcFile\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Program Files\\VideoLAN\\VLC\\vlc.exe,0"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VlcFile\shell\Open]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VlcFile\shell\Open\command]
@="C:\\Program Files\\VideoLAN\\VLC\\vlc.exe \"%L\""
</pre>

'''Note''': This associates ''asf'', ''asx'', ''avi'', ''divx'', ''mpeg'', ''mpg'', ''vob'' and ''wmv'' files. If you get the idea, you can associate any file you want.

==How To Start VLC Server with http Interface==
VLC ships with a little HTTP server integrated. It is used both to stream using HTTP, and for the HTTP remote control interface.

===VLC Server Preferences Settings===
1. Set up the http interface details in the VLC server application. Open VLC then select Settings > Preferences. Click on the Advanced Settings button in the lower right hand corner of the dialog box to see all the options that are available.

2. In the left hand window click on the + button next to Interface. This will display three choices. Control interfaces, Hotkeys settings, and Main Interfaces. Click on the plus button next to Main interfaces. This will display four settings HTTP, RC, Skins, wxWidgets. Click on HTTP to dispaly the "HTTP remote control interface settings".

3. Host address: Enter the port number that you want to use. Default is 8080.

4. Source directory: c:\Program Files\VideoLan\VLC\http\ or enter the path where you have elected to install the application.

5. Character set: UTF-8 default

6. If you are NOT using handlers or SSL certificates the setup is complete.

7. Click on the Save button in the lower left hand corner.

===Command Line Startup===

The VLC appplication can be run in a server or client environment. For complicated
video and audio streaming on a LAN, one should consider dedicating a machine to act
as the VLC server.

To start the VLC application in a server mode with the http interface automatically
set, use the following command line in your desktop shortcut. This assumes the default
location for installation was selected.

<nowiki>"C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" --extraintf http --intf wx</nowiki>

===Testing the Interface===

From another computer, connect to the VLC server computer using your browser to the URL

<nowiki>http://server_ip_address:8080, such as http://192.168.0.186:8080</nowiki>

The Main VLC Interface page will be displayed,

See [[Web_Interface]] for additional information

==VLC Plugin for Internet Explorer==

This section will provide guidelines to incorporate the VLC ActiveX plugin to be used to view streaming audio and video from a VLC server.

How to embed the ActiveX Plugin in a Web Page
http://wiki.videolan.org/index.php/ActiveX/HTML

Supported ActiveX Function Calls
http://wiki.videolan.org/index.php/ActiveX

==VLC Plugin for Firefox (Mozilla)==
The Mozilla plugin
(Excerpted from Chapter 4 of the VLC User Guide, found at http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/ch04.html#id293608)

'''Install
'''
There are at least two ways to install the VLC Mozilla Plugin. One way is to to check the "Install Firefox Plugin" when you install VLC. The second way involves several steps:

1. Quit Firefox or Mozilla

2. Copy the two files in VLC_Installation_folder\mozilla (usually C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\mozilla) to your mozilla plugins directory (Usually C:\Program Files\Mozilla\plugins or C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins).

3. Restart Firefox or Mozilla

'''Use the plugin'''

If you open a link to a video file handled by the VLC plugin (To get the list of handled types, browse to about:plugins) or a page with an embedded video, the plugin should open and read the video.

'''Build HTML pages that use the plugin'''

Additionally to viewing video on all pages, you can build custom pages that will use the advanced features of the plugin, using Javascript functions to control playback or extract information from the plugin.

The vlc plugin for Firefox/Mozilla supports the following function calls:

play() : Start playing media in the plugin.
pause() : Pause playback.
stop() : Stop media playback.
fullscreen() : Switch the video to full screen.
set_volume(vol) : Set the volume. vol has to be an int in the 0-200 range.
get_volume() : Get the current volume setting.
mute() : Toggle volume muting.
set_int_variable(var_name, value) :
set_bool_variable(var_name, value) :
set_str_variable(var_name, value) :
get_int_variable(var_name) :
get_bool_variable(var_name) :
get_str_variable(var_name) :
clear_playlist() : Clear the playlist.
add_item(mrl>) : Append an item whose location is given by the Media Resource Locator to the playlist.
next()
previous()
isplaying() : return true if the plugin is playing something.
get_length() : Get the media's length in seconds.
get_position() : Get the current position in the media in percent.
get_time() : Get the current position in the media in seconds.
seek(seconds,is_relative) : If is_relative is true, seek relatively to current time, else seek from beginning of the stream. Seek time is specified in seconds.

Here are a few examples of HTML pages that use the Mozilla plugin.
Example 1

In this example, the plugin will read an HTTP stream inside the web page. If the user goes fullscreen, he will have to press f to go back in normal view.

<pre>
<html>
<head><title>Demo of VLC mozilla plugin</title></head>

<body>

<h1>NexusDigital Multicast Television</h1>

<embed type="application/x-vlc-plugin"
name="video1"
autoplay="no" loop="yes" width="400" height="300"
target="224.252.10.1.5555" />
<br />
<a href="javascript:;" onclick='document.video1.play()'>Play video1</a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick='document.video1.pause()'>Pause video1</a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick='document.video1.stop()'>Stop video1</a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick='document.video1.fullscreen()'>Fullscreen</a>

</body>
</html>
</pre>

<pre>
<html>
<head><title>NexusDigital Multicast Television</title>
</head>

<body>

<h1>Demo of VLC mozilla plugin - Example 2</h1>

<embed type="application/x-vlc-plugin"
name="video2"
autoplay="no" loop="no" hidden="yes"
target="udp:@239.255.12.42" />
<br />
<a href="javascript:;" onclick='document.video2.play()'>Play video2</a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick='document.video2.stop()'>Stop video2</a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick='document.video2.fullscreen()'>Fullscreen</a>

</body>
</html>
</pre>

More example code, as well as a working implementation using Javascript, XHTML, and PHP that auto-detects browsers (the code is good, but the stream doesn't work) can be found at http://altair.videolan.org/~dionoea/vlc-plugin-demo/

== Related article ==
* [[Common Problems]]
* [[VLC command-line help]]
* [[VLCSout]] how to create a DVD

Windows

2006-12-09T21:49:56Z

Jeremy Butler: /* How to associate media files to VLC */ copyedited, rearranged

The '''Windows port''' of VLC usually starts up with the [[WxWindows]] interface which is used in the [[Linux]] one as well. The user can decide to use the [[Skins]] interface instead to be able to modify the interface according to his or her mood.

==Keyboard shortcuts in the Windows (directx) video output==

Note: these shortcuts are only default settings and can be customized (along with many others). To tweak hotkeys settings, go to Settings->Preferences->Interface->Hotkeys settings

{| class="wikitable"
| F
| Fullscreen
|-
| Space
| Play/Pause
|-
| T
| Show position (time)
|-
| S
| Stop
|-
| Ctrl+Q
| Quit
|-
| +/-
| Faster/Slower
|-
| N/P
| Next/Previous
|-
| Shift+Left/Shift+Right
| Jump very short
|-
| Alt+Left/Alt+Right
| Jump short
|-
| Ctrl+Left/Ctrl+Right
| Jump medium
|-
| Ctrl+Alt+Left/Ctrl+Alt+Right
| Jump long
|-
| Ctrl+Up/Ctrl+Down
| Volume up/down
|-
| M
| Mute
|-
| Ctrl+M
| Show DVD-menu
|-
| Left/Right<br/>Up/Down<br/>Enter
| DVD-menu navigation keys
|}

==How to associate media files to VLC==

VLC hasn't got a module to associate files so that if you click on a file VLC automatically opens. The developers are working on this, and one should be available in the next full release. But you can do it yourself by choosing one of these three options:

===Use Windows Explorer's context menu===

#In Windows Explorer, ''right''-click a file you wish to open.
#Clicking Open With from the context menu that pops up.
#Clicking the VLC's program name.
#*If VLC is not displayed, click Browse to locate it on your hard drive.

Alternatively, you can:

#In Windows Explorer, ''right''-click the file you want to open with VLC.
#Click Properties in the context menu that pops up.
#On the General tab, click Change.
#Click the name of the program (VLC) which you want to be used to open the file.

Either of these options affects all files that have the same filename extension (the letters after the filename's period) as the file you selected. For example, if you change the program that opens a goober.jpg, all .jpg files will be opened with VLC.

===Rerun the installer===
#Reinstall VLC and choose the "associate files" option when it comes up.

===Edit the registry===
'''Warning''': use this technique only if you really know what you are doing! And be sure to back-up your registry first.

#Open a text editor, like Notepad (but not WordPad).
#Copy this text below.
#Modify the strings ''C:\\Program Files\\VideoLAN\\VLC\\vlc.exe'' to match your VLC installation.
#Save as ''vlc.reg''.
#Execute ''vlc.reg'' (adding this data to your registry).
#Enjoy VLC :)

Text to copy:
<pre>
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ASF]
@="VlcFile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ASX]
@="VlcFile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.AVI]
@="VlcFile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.DIVX]
@="VlcFile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.MPEG]
@="VlcFile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.MPG]
@="VlcFile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.VOB]
@="VlcFile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.WMV]
@="VlcFile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VlcFile]
@="VLC File"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VlcFile\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Program Files\\VideoLAN\\VLC\\vlc.exe,0"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VlcFile\shell\Open]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VlcFile\shell\Open\command]
@="C:\\Program Files\\VideoLAN\\VLC\\vlc.exe \"%L\""
</pre>

'''Note''': This associates ''asf'', ''asx'', ''avi'', ''divx'', ''mpeg'', ''mpg'', ''vob'' and ''wmv'' files. If you get the idea, you can associate any file you want.

==How To Start VLC Server with http Interface==
VLC ships with a little HTTP server integrated. It is used both to stream using HTTP, and for the HTTP remote control interface.

===VLC Server Preferences Settings===
1. Set up the http interface details in the VLC server application. Open VLC then select Settings > Preferences. Click on the Advanced Settings button in the lower right hand corner of the dialog box to see all the options that are available.

2. In the left hand window click on the + button next to Interface. This will display three choices. Control interfaces, Hotkeys settings, and Main Interfaces. Click on the plus button next to Main interfaces. This will display four settings HTTP, RC, Skins, wxWidgets. Click on HTTP to dispaly the "HTTP remote control interface settings".

3. Host address: Enter the port number that you want to use. Default is 8080.

4. Source directory: c:\Program Files\VideoLan\VLC\http\ or enter the path where you have elected to install the application.

5. Character set: UTF-8 default

6. If you are NOT using handlers or SSL certificates the setup is complete.

7. Click on the Save button in the lower left hand corner.

===Command Line Startup===

The VLC appplication can be run in a server or client environment. For complicated
video and audio streaming on a LAN, one should consider dedicating a machine to act
as the VLC server.

To start the VLC application in a server mode with the http interface automatically
set, use the following command line in your desktop shortcut. This assumes the default
location for installation was selected.

<nowiki>"C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" --extraintf http --intf wx</nowiki>

===Testing the Interface===

From another computer, connect to the VLC server computer using your browser to the URL

<nowiki>http://server_ip_address:8080, such as http://192.168.0.186:8080</nowiki>

The Main VLC Interface page will be displayed,

See [[Web_Interface]] for additional information

==VLC Plugin for Internet Explorer==

This section will provide guidelines to incorporate the VLC ActiveX plugin to be used to view streaming audio and video from a VLC server.

How to embed the ActiveX Plugin in a Web Page
http://wiki.videolan.org/index.php/ActiveX/HTML

Supported ActiveX Function Calls
http://wiki.videolan.org/index.php/ActiveX

==VLC Plugin for Firefox (Mozilla)==
The Mozilla plugin
(Excerpted from Chapter 4 of the VLC User Guide, found at http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/ch04.html#id293608)

'''Install
'''
There are at least two ways to install the VLC Mozilla Plugin. One way is to to check the "Install Firefox Plugin" when you install VLC. The second way involves several steps:

1. Quit Firefox or Mozilla

2. Copy the two files in VLC_Installation_folder\mozilla (usually C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\mozilla) to your mozilla plugins directory (Usually C:\Program Files\Mozilla\plugins or C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins).

3. Restart Firefox or Mozilla

'''Use the plugin'''

If you open a link to a video file handled by the VLC plugin (To get the list of handled types, browse to about:plugins) or a page with an embedded video, the plugin should open and read the video.

'''Build HTML pages that use the plugin'''

Additionally to viewing video on all pages, you can build custom pages that will use the advanced features of the plugin, using Javascript functions to control playback or extract information from the plugin.

The vlc plugin for Firefox/Mozilla supports the following function calls:

play() : Start playing media in the plugin.
pause() : Pause playback.
stop() : Stop media playback.
fullscreen() : Switch the video to full screen.
set_volume(vol) : Set the volume. vol has to be an int in the 0-200 range.
get_volume() : Get the current volume setting.
mute() : Toggle volume muting.
set_int_variable(var_name, value) :
set_bool_variable(var_name, value) :
set_str_variable(var_name, value) :
get_int_variable(var_name) :
get_bool_variable(var_name) :
get_str_variable(var_name) :
clear_playlist() : Clear the playlist.
add_item(mrl>) : Append an item whose location is given by the Media Resource Locator to the playlist.
next()
previous()
isplaying() : return true if the plugin is playing something.
get_length() : Get the media's length in seconds.
get_position() : Get the current position in the media in percent.
get_time() : Get the current position in the media in seconds.
seek(seconds,is_relative) : If is_relative is true, seek relatively to current time, else seek from beginning of the stream. Seek time is specified in seconds.

Here are a few examples of HTML pages that use the Mozilla plugin.
Example 1

In this example, the plugin will read an HTTP stream inside the web page. If the user goes fullscreen, he will have to press f to go back in normal view.

<pre>
<html>
<head><title>Demo of VLC mozilla plugin</title></head>

<body>

<h1>NexusDigital Multicast Television</h1>

<embed type="application/x-vlc-plugin"
name="video1"
autoplay="no" loop="yes" width="400" height="300"
target="224.252.10.1.5555" />
<br />
<a href="javascript:;" onclick='document.video1.play()'>Play video1</a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick='document.video1.pause()'>Pause video1</a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick='document.video1.stop()'>Stop video1</a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick='document.video1.fullscreen()'>Fullscreen</a>

</body>
</html>
</pre>

<pre>
<html>
<head><title>NexusDigital Multicast Television</title>
</head>

<body>

<h1>Demo of VLC mozilla plugin - Example 2</h1>

<embed type="application/x-vlc-plugin"
name="video2"
autoplay="no" loop="no" hidden="yes"
target="udp:@239.255.12.42" />
<br />
<a href="javascript:;" onclick='document.video2.play()'>Play video2</a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick='document.video2.stop()'>Stop video2</a>
<a href="javascript:;" onclick='document.video2.fullscreen()'>Fullscreen</a>

</body>
</html>
</pre>

More example code, as well as a working implementation using Javascript, XHTML, and PHP that auto-detects browsers (the code is good, but the stream doesn't work) can be found at http://altair.videolan.org/~dionoea/vlc-plugin-demo/

== Related article ==
* [[Common Problems]]
* [[VLC command-line help]]
* [[VLCSout]] how to create a DVD