VideoLAN Wiki - User contributions [en]

RIFF

2011-12-10T02:31:51Z

OAlexander: Removed link-spam

{{wikipedia|RIFF}}
'''RIFF''', the '''Resource Interchange File Format''', is a format which stores data as chunks. RIFF files may store audio in one chunk, video in another, and meta information in a third. It uses [[FourCC]]s to distinguish between different chunks and codecs.

RIFF files start with the magic id "RIFF". RIFF is the underlying format for [[WAVE]] and [[AVI]] files.

[[Category:File and protocol types]]

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website (simple version)

2009-10-29T12:45:03Z

OAlexander: /* The method */

The following “How To” describes an easy method of using VLC as a simple video streamer to enable a live video stream (Eg web-cam) via VLC to be streamed from a web server across a local LAN or the Internet. This method does also work for streaming files and other media, CD, DVD Etc
Using this method of streaming from VLC allows the stream to be viewed from many media player clients other than VLC, which is often the case
The content and description is aimed at those who only have an elementary knowledge of VLC, Networking, and Web authoring / HTML.
This method is not the most sophisticated way to utilise VLC, but it does work well and has been tested on both LAN and WAN using VLC 0.9.8a, 9.9 and 1.0.0.

== First checks ==

First, I have to make some assumptions and you will have to do some checks.

* You have a web site? If not see [[#Appendix]] at the bottom of this “HowTo”.
* Your website works OK and is on your own web server on the same machine as VLC?
* If your website is for external viewing (internet), you have a static IP and are not behind a proxy server?
* Your ISP is not blocking any ports
* Your firewall is not blocking any ports that you want to stream through. (Port 1234 for the example below)

I also assume you are using a NAT router with port forwarding for both the website and port to be used by the video stream.
You have sufficient upstream bandwidth to support the size of video stream (See [[#Note 1]])

== Limitations ==

This HowTo was written with previous versions in mind, so the descriptions of the VLC User Interface may differ slightly.

The following technique only works (tested so far) using the Windows encapsulation method asf/wmv (and asf/div3 VLC 1.0.0) selected from the Custom menu in the VLC Streaming Settings window.
(other methods may work, I have not tested them all)

== The method ==

The following method/technique uses a “metafile” or redirector. You might want to check out the terms ”metafile”, “redirector” and “.asx” for further information

Firstly create a text file (Eg in Notepad) and copy and paste the following

<ASX version ="3.0">
<TITLE>Stream1234</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF=<nowiki>"http://192.168.0.42:1234"</nowiki> />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

Where the HREF value is your local LAN IP for a LAN ONLY website.
Or
The HREF value is your external (Internet) IP for a WAN ONLY website
The port number (Eg :1234) is the port you will allocate in VLC Streaming settings window.

The text file should then be saved as a .asx file. I suggest you create two such files. One for LAN and one for WAN (See [[#Note 3]])& (See [[#Note 5]])
* Eg localstream1234.asx for the LAN version using your internal LAN IP
* Eg extstream1234.asx for the WAN version using your external WAN IP

Place these .asx files in your web server dir.

Create a links in a web page that point to the above .asx files. When the link is activated, a pop out player will stream.
Or Eg
Embed the stream on a page by the following in html

<embed src="localstream1234.asx">

Or Eg

<embed src="localstream1234.asx” height=”370” width=”400">

To resize the video on the web page.

=== Now for VLC ===

First check your video source (TV card, Video capture device, webcam etc) is working OK and playing through VLC OK using the Play option
Select Streaming.
Select Source, Capture device for this example (and any necessary additional settings)

Check play locally box
Check or select/add http box LEAVE the ADDRESS FIELD BLANK!! Change the port number to 1234 (for this example)
Select “Windows asf/wmv” in the Custom dropdown selection box
You may need to alter the TTL value to allow more buffering, a value of 0 or 1 should be OK (no more than 12 should be necessary) as this increases delay from live
Then select Next and/or Stream
VLC should open with a local display stream, which should display the stream and an overlay text displaying “streaming” for a few seconds.

''If this does not work… Obviously… Something is wrong! First check the, Main Menu selection, Tools dropdown item “Messages” for suggestions as to the cause of error and also re check all the above instructions/settings.''

If all is well, then.
Now check out your LAN website from another machine on your LAN linking to (localstream1234.asx) The stream may take up to 30 secs to display.
OK? If not then go back and check it all out again.
Now get a friend/other to test out the WAN links from another external location.
(See [[#Note 4]])

== Results ==

I have found this method to work well on LAN and WAN
It does not need VLC to be at the client end. It also does not need or employ any Java on the client or server machine. All it requires is the ability of a browser and its associated media player to be able to display the now universal ”.asf” stream which most can.

LAN tested with browsers:
* MS IE via MS Media Player
* Realplayer pointing at URL/xxxxxx.asx
* Firefox via MPlayer and MS Media Player
* Konquorer via Kaffeine
* Kaffeine pointing at URL/xxxxxxx.asx

WAN Tested with browsers:
* MS IE via MS Media Player
* Mozilla Firefox via MS Media Player and Real Player

And. Of course VLC Player in all cases.

I have successfully used this method of serving from MS Windows XPpro IIS 5.1 and Apache 2.2 and also Linux Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Apache 2.2

== Notes ==

=== Note 1 ===
How much '''bandwidth''' do I need for a given size of video stream?

A very good question with no straight answer. It depends on how good the encoding/compression is and other factors like the amount of dynamic activity there is going on. It can vary quite a bit during the video sequence. “Pixel noise” generated by the camera and capture hardware can have an effect as well.
An empirical method to determine this would be to run a test video across a LAN using the hardware and software and employing a network analyser to measure the bandwidth used.

=== Note 2 ===
Following on from Note 1, The overall '''system capability''' will also determine how effectively the video stream can be encoded, compressed and streamed.

The more system CPU power available the better! As a minimum The method above will just about work with a video size of 384x288 streamed from VLC using a totally dedicated server at 800MHz cpu + 512 MB RAM with good hardware in good light. Employing wmv/asf encoding and an uplink bandwidth sync of 832 (circa real700K) It is more than likely that you will have to adjust the picture size to the bandwidth you have available. Also note that USB video capture devices tend to use a great deal of CPU/system resource, so do check out how much spare capacity you have when everything is running, including your server when it is “Serving” a stream?

=== Note 3 ===
If you are using classical routing (No NAT) then the local and external IP will (probably) be the same unless you have an unusual configuration.

=== Note 4 ===
It is ''not'' usually possible to view the streaming output of a LAN from the WAN side. Also it is not usually possible to view the streaming going out on the WAN from the LAN side.

This makes testing more difficult! (The exception to this being note 3, that is the LAN and WAN having the same IP)
I suggest that this streaming method is first tested and proved on your LAN. Then test out the WAN stream by calling someone to test it from a remote location on the www.

=== Note 5 ===
The choice of '''port you use''' is up to you. Port 1234 is as good as any for LAN (over 1024 is better), but a port at or above 8080 would be more appropriate for WAN (the Internet).

Do check that your chosen not being used by another application. First place to look would be in your firewall and router settings when you open that port for your stream.

== Appendix ==

What!!!? Web servers and streaming from website
Not got a web site? Not got a web server? No clue where to start? Find the whole idea rather daunting? Well it is probably much easier than you thought. First you will need a web server. The following link is to “Apache httpd”. The Apache web server is as simple or as sophisticated as you want it to be. It is well documented on the web and many books are available. And it is free.

http://httpd.apache.org/

I would avoid use of MS IIS 5.1 as supplied with XP Pro on anything other than a LAN as it poses many security issues on the www for a novice.

Next you will need a web page creator/editor and some guidance on how to use it. Take a look here

http://www.thesitewizard.com/gettingsta ... al-1.shtml

Again Kompozer is free and very simple to use. The only html that will need to be added to make this work is the examples given previously.

PLS

2009-10-29T12:38:56Z

OAlexander:

'''.pls''' files are a type of [[playlist]]. This playlist is a text document with the following format:
[playlist]
NumberOfEntries=4
File1=/fs/My Music/Eloy/02 Journey into 1358.mp3
File2=<nowiki>http://some.website.com/music.mp3</nowiki>
File3=//NETWORKCOMPUTER/Videoclips/A12345.mp4
Title3=A Short Videoclip
File4=''any url to file''

The VLC Mediaplayer requires the parameter in dark red. The parameter "Title(n)" is optional, but if presented with it, VLC will display the title in its [[Titlebar]], and in case of video material the title will be briefly displayed on the screen at the beginning. The tile may not be displayed if a non-Latin characterset is used, eg., contains diacritical signs like ñ, é, ö, etc. If such characters are required the file should be saved in UTF-8 format (quality text editors generally offer this option)

===Troubleshooting ===
If an existing playlist does not work, check that it has the "NumberOfEntries" parameter at the beginning (some media players do not require it). Also make sure that the file is saved as an [[ANSI]]-text file and that the last line is finished off with a line break.

[[category:playlist]]

.VLC

2009-10-29T12:34:56Z

OAlexander:

'''.VLC''' is a file extension for [[Playlist|playlists]]. It can be used to open a specific playlist with VLC. The format of a playlist with a .vlc-[[Extension|extension]] is identical with the format of [[M3U]] and [[PLS]] playlists. They can be created by simply renaming .m3u or .pls files to files with a .vlc extension. With files in [[ANSI]]-format problems may arise from the use of special characters like letters with diacritical signs (eg. ñ, é, ö, etc.). If such characters are required the file should be saved in [[UTF-8]] format (quality text editors generally offer this option). It is recommended to finish off the last line of these types of playlist with a line-break.

[[category:playlist]]

PLS

2009-10-29T07:36:48Z

OAlexander:

'''.pls''' files are a type of [[playlist]]. This playlist is a text document with the following format:
[playlist]
NumberOfEntries=4
File1=/fs/My Music/Eloy/02 Journey into 1358.mp3
File2=<nowiki>http://some.website.com/music.mp3</nowiki>
File3=//NETWORKCOMPUTER/Videoclips/A12345.mp4
Title3=A Short Videoclip
File4=''any url to file''

The VLC Mediaplayer requires the parameter in dark red. The parameter "Title(n)" is optional, but if presented with it, VLC will display the title in its [[Titlebar]], and in case of video material the title will be briefly displayed on the screen at the beginning. The tile may not be displayed if a non-Latin characterset is used, eg., contains diacritical signs like ñ, é, ö, etc.

===Troubleshooting ===
If an existing playlist does not work, check that it has the "NumberOfEntries" parameter at the beginning (some media players do not require it). Also make sure that the file is saved as an [[ANSI]]-text file and that the last line is finished off with a line break.

[[category:playlist]]

.VLC

2009-10-29T07:31:33Z

OAlexander: + Cat: Playlist

'''.VLC''' is a file extension for [[Playlist|playlists]]. It can be used to open a specific playlist with VLC. The format of a playlist with a .vlc-[[Extension|extension]] is identical with the format of [[M3U]] and [[PLS]] playlists. They can be created by simply renaming .m3u or .pls files to files with a .vlc extension. With files in [[ANSI]]-format problems may arise from the use of special characters like letters with diacritical signs (eg. ñ, é, ö, etc.). If such characters are required the file should be saved in [[UTF-8]] format. It is recommended to finish off the last line of these types of playlist with a line-break.

[[category:playlist]]

PLS

2009-10-29T06:55:26Z

OAlexander: Colorized for highlight

'''.pls''' files are a type of [[playlist]]. This playlist is a text document with the following format:
[playlist]
NumberOfEntries=3
File1=/fs/My Music/Eloy/02 Journey into 1358.mp3
File2=<nowiki>http://some.website.com/music.mp3</nowiki>
File3=''any url to file''

[[category:playlist]]

.VLC

2009-10-29T06:48:57Z

OAlexander:

'''.VLC''' is a file extension for [[Playlist|playlists]]. It can be used to open a specific playlist with VLC. The format of a playlist with a .vlc-[[Extension|extension]] is identical with the format of [[M3U]] and [[PLS]] playlists. They can be created by simply renaming .m3u or .pls files to files with a .vlc extension. With files in [[ANSI]]-format problems may arise from the use of special characters like letters with diacritical signs (eg. ñ, é, ö, etc.). If such characters are required the file should be saved in [[UTF-8]] format. It is recommended to finish off the last line of these types of playlist with a line-break.

Playlist

2009-10-29T03:17:49Z

OAlexander:

Playlists are files that contain information on which files to play. Usually they are plain text files with paths to the files to play. Here an example in the [[M3U]] format:

rock.mp3
classical.mp3
OTHER\new.mp3
\\COMPUTERNAME\Music\Band\Artistname - Track - Title of the Song.mp3
<nowiki>http://www.webaddress. com/.../movie clip.mp4</nowiki>
<nowiki>http://111.22.333.44:8024</nowiki>

This file would instruct the player to first play the file rock.mp3, then classical.mp3 and then the file new.mp3 which is in the directory OTHER before accessing a song on the local network. Then it plays a movie clip in [[MP4]] format from the web and lastly switches to a web radio station.

* [[M3U]]
* [[PLS]]
* [[ASX]]
* [[XSPF]]
* [[.VLC|VLC]]

== See also ==
* '''See also [[:Category:Playlist]]'''

[[Category:Playlist]]

M3U

2009-10-29T03:06:07Z

OAlexander:

'''M3U''' files are a type of [[playlist]] where the location of each item on the playlist is placed on a new line.

Lines starting with a # are comments.

For example,
# This is a comment
/music/opeth/white cluster.mp3
/music/moonlapse vertigo.mp3
<nowiki>http://ccmixter.org/a/song.mp3</nowiki>
/video/mononoke.avi

The following might be list of web based radio stations. VLC affords the switching between these web-radio stations by selecting next or previous track.

<nowiki>http://111.22.333.44:8024</nowiki>
<nowiki>http://55.666.7.888:8024</nowiki>
<nowiki>http://9.11.222.444:8024</nowiki>

The MIME-type of M#U-files is audio/x-mpegurl

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3U More information about the M3U format. ]

[[category:playlist]]

Playlist

2009-10-29T02:59:46Z

OAlexander:

Playlists are files that contain information on which files to play. Usually they are plain text files with paths to the files to play. Here an example in the [[M3U]] format:

rock.mp3
classical.mp3
OTHER\new.mp3
\\COMPUTERNAME\Music\Band\title.mp3
<nowiki>http://www.webaddress. com/.../title 2.mp3</nowiki>
<nowiki>http://111.22.333.44:8024</nowiki>

This file would instruct the player to first play the file rock.mp3, then classical.mp3 and lastly the file new.mp3 which is in the directory OTHER.

* [[M3U]]
* [[PLS]]
* [[ASX]]
* [[XSPF]]
* [[.VLC|VLC]]

== See also ==
* '''See also [[:Category:Playlist]]'''

[[Category:Playlist]]

Playlist

2009-10-29T02:54:48Z

OAlexander:

Playlists are files that contain information on which files to play. Usually they are plain text files with paths to the files to play. Example:

rock.mp3
classical.mp3
OTHER\new.mp3
\\COMPUTERNAME\Music\Band\title.mp3
http:// webaddress. com/.../title 2.mp3
http:// 111.22.333.44:8024

This file would instruct the player to first play the file rock.mp3, then classical.mp3 and lastly the file new.mp3 which is in the directory OTHER.

* [[M3U]]
* [[PLS]]
* [[ASX]]
* [[XSPF]]
* [[.VLC|VLC]]

== See also ==
* '''See also [[:Category:Playlist]]'''

[[Category:Playlist]]

Playlist

2009-10-29T02:51:10Z

OAlexander:

Playlists are files that contain information on which files to play. Usually they are plain text files with paths to the files to play. Example:

rock.mp3
classical.mp3
OTHER\new.mp3
\\COMPUTERNAME\Music\Band\title.mp3
http://www.foo.com/.../title 2.mp3
http://111.22.333.44:8024

This file would instruct the player to first play the file rock.mp3, then classical.mp3 and lastly the file new.mp3 which is in the directory OTHER.

* [[M3U]]
* [[PLS]]
* [[ASX]]
* [[XSPF]]
* [[.VLC|VLC]]

== See also ==
* '''See also [[:Category:Playlist]]'''

[[Category:Playlist]]

Playlist

2009-10-29T02:44:00Z

OAlexander:

Playlists are files that contain information on which files to play. Usually they are plain text files with paths to the files to play. Example:

rock.mp3
classical.mp3
OTHER\new.mp3
\\COMPUTERNAME\Music\Band\title.mp3

This file would instruct the player to first play the file rock.mp3, then classical.mp3 and lastly the file new.mp3 which is in the directory OTHER.

* [[M3U]]
* [[PLS]]
* [[ASX]]
* [[XSPF]]
* [[.VLC|VLC]]

== See also ==
* '''See also [[:Category:Playlist]]'''

[[Category:Playlist]]

.VLC

2009-10-29T02:31:01Z

OAlexander: Created page with ''''.VLC''' is a file extension for playlists. It can be used to open a specific playlist with VLC. The format of a playlist with a .vlc-extension is id...'

Playlist

2009-10-29T02:08:20Z

OAlexander: Add Playlist extension .vlc

Playlists are files that contain information on which files to play. Usually they are plain text files with paths to the files to play. Example:

rock.mp3
classical.mp3
OTHER\new.mp3

This file would instruct the player to first play the file rock.mp3, then classical.mp3 and lastly the file new.mp3 which is in the directory OTHER.

* [[M3U]]
* [[PLS]]
* [[ASX]]
* [[XSPF]]
* [[.VLC|VLC]]

== See also ==
* '''See also [[:Category:Playlist]]'''

[[Category:Playlist]]