VideoLAN Wiki - User contributions [en]

Documentation:Streaming HowTo/Easy Streaming

2010-01-03T02:08:47Z

Sweet reason: /* Output methods */ small grammar and spelling fixes.

{{RightMenu|documentation streaming howto toc}}

==Intro==

The easier way to start streaming with VLC is by using one of the graphical user interfaces. These are the wxWindows and skinnable interfaces for Windows and GNU/Linux and the Mac OS X native interface.

==Streaming using the Wizard==

The ''Streaming/Transcoding Wizard'' leads you step by step through the process of streaming your media on a network or saving it to your hard drive. This ''Wizard'' offers easy to use menus but provides a restricted set of options.

Note: The wizard is only available on the wxWindows interface.

===Launching the wizard===

To launch the ''Streaming/Transcoding Wizard'' open the "File" menu, and select the Wizard menu item.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/images/streaming-howto/intf-wx-wizard.jpg Launching the Wizard

===Wizard dialog===

First select the type of task:
*''Stream to network'': Choose this option if you want to stream media on network.
*''Transcode/Save to file'': Choose this option if you want to change a file's audio codec and/or video codec, its bitrate, and/or encapsulation method.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/images/streaming-howto/intf-wx-wizard-first.jpg The Wizard Dialog

===Input selection===

Select a stream (such as a file, a network stream, a disk, a capture device ...) by selecting the ''Choose...'' dialog or an existing item in your playlist, using the ''Existing playlist item'' option.

''Partial Extract'': To read only part of the stream, check the "Enable" checkbox and choose a start and end date (in seconds). This option should only be used with streams you can control such as files or discs but not network streams or capture devices.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/images/streaming-howto/intf-wx-wizard-input.jpg Wizard input selection

http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/images/streaming-howto/intf-wx-wizard-input-playlist.jpg Wizard input selection from playlist

===Streaming methods===

If you chose ''Stream to network'' option, you can now specify the streaming method. Available methods are:
*''RTP/UDP Unicast'': Stream to a single computer. Enter the client's IP address (in the 0.0.0.0 - 223.255.255.255 range).
*''RTP/UDP Multicast'': Stream to multiple computers using multicast. Enter the IP address of the multicast group (in the 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255 range).
*''HTTP'': Stream by using the HTTP protocol. If you leave the ''Destination'' text box empty, VLC will listen on all the network interfaces of the server on port 8080. Specify an address, port and path on which to listen using the following syntax [ip][:port][/path]. For instance, ''192.168.0.1:80/stream'' will make VLC listen on the interface carrying the 192.168.0.1 IP address, on the 80 TCP port, in the /stream ''virtual file''.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/images/streaming-howto/intf-wx-wizard-stream.jpg Wizard streaming method

===Transcoding options===

If you chose the ''Transcode/Save to file'' option, you can now specify the new audio and video codecs and bitrates you want you input converted to.

(See <xref linkend="smc" endterm="tsmc" />)

http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/images/streaming-howto/intf-wx-wizard-transcode.jpg Wizard transcode

===Encapsulation method===

Choose the method format. The UDP streaming methods require MPEG TS encapsulation. The HTTP streaming method can be used with the MPEG PS, MPEG TS, MPEG 1, OGG, RAW or ASF encapsulation. Saving to a file can be done using any encapsulation format compatible with the chosen codecs.

(See <xref linkend="smc" endterm="tsmc" />)

http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/images/streaming-howto/intf-wx-wizard-mux.jpg Wizard encapsulation method

===Streaming options===

If you chose to ''Stream to network'' you can now specify several options.

*''Time To Live (TTL)'' This sets the numbers of routers your stream can go through, for UDP unicast and unicast access methods. If you do not know what this means, you should leave the default value. Note: With UDP multicast, the default TTL is set to 1, meaning that your stream won't get accross any router. You may want to increase it if you want to route your multicast stream.
* ''SAP Announce'' To advertise your stream over the network when using the UDP streaming method, using the SAP protocol, enter the name of the stream in the text input and check the checkbox. This is NOT available for the HTTP streaming method.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/images/streaming-howto/intf-wx-wizard-streaming-options.jpg Wizard streaming options

===Save to file destination===

If you chose ''Transcode/Save to file'' you can now specify the file you want to save the stream to.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/images/streaming-howto/intf-wx-wizard-save.jpg Wizard save file - wxWindows interface

You can now select the ''Finish'' button to start streaming/converting the source.

==Streaming using the GUI==

===Introduction===

A second way to set up a streaming instance using VLC is using ''Stream Output'' panel in the ''Open...'' dialog of the wxWindows (Windows / GNU Linux), skinnable (Windows / GNU Linux) and MacOS X interfaces. Streaming methods and options used 99% of time should be available in this panel.

To stream the opened media, check the "Stream output" or "Stream/Save" checkbox in the "Open File/Disc/Network Stream/Capture Device" dialog and click on the "Settings" button.

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

http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/images/streaming-howto/intf-osx-open-file.jpg Open file dialog - Mac OS X interface

Note that "Capture" is not available as an option in Mac OSX because VLC does not support live streaming of audio or video under Mac OSX.

===The Stream Output dialog===

http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/images/streaming-howto/intf-wx-stream-output.jpg Stream output dialog - wxWindows interface

http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/images/streaming-howto/intf-osx-stream-output.jpg Stream output dialog - wxWindows interface

====Stream Output MRL====

On the wxWindows interface, a text box displays the ''Stream Output MRL'' (Media Resource Locator). This is updated as you change options in the Stream output dialog. For more information on how to edit the ''Stream Output MRL'' read <xref linkend="cmdline" endterm="tcmdline" />.

====Output methods====

*''Play localy'': display the stream on your screen. This allows you to display the stream you are actually streaming. Effects of transcoding, rescaling, etc. can be monitored locally using this function.
*''File'': Save the stream to a file. The ''Dump raw input'' option allows you to save the input stream as it is read by VLC, without any processing.
*''HTTP'': Use the HTTP streaming method. Specify the IP address and TCP port number on which to listen.
*''MMSH'': This access method allows you to stream to Microsoft Windows Media Player. Specify the IP address and TCP port number on which to listen. Note: This will only work with the ''ASF'' encapsulation method.
*''UDP'': Stream in unicast by providing an address in the 0.0.0.0 - 223.255.255.255 range or in multicast by providing an address in the 224.0.0.0 - 239.255.255.255 range. It is also possible to stream to IPv6 addresses. Note: This will only work with the ''TS'' encapsulation method.
*''RTP'': Use the Real-Time Transfer Protocol. Like UDP, it can use both unicast and multicast addresses.

Note: UDP, HTTP, MMSH, and RTP methods require you to select the ''Stream'' option on the MacOS X interface.

(See <xref linkend="smc" endterm="tsmc" />)

====Encapsulation method====

Select an encapsulation method that fits the codecs and access method of your stream, among MPEG TS, MPEG PS, MPEG 1, OGG, Raw, ASF, AVI, MP4 and MOV. (See <xref linkend="smc" endterm="tsmc" />)

====Transcoding options====

Enable video transcoding by checking the "Video Codec" checkbox. Choose a codec from the list. You can also specify an average bitrate and scale the input. (See <xref linkend="smc" endterm="tsmc" />)

Enable audio transcoding by checking the "Audio Codec" checkbox. Choose a codec from the list. You can also specify an average bitrate and the number of audio channels to encode. (See <xref linkend="smc" endterm="tsmc" />)

====Miscellaneous options====

Select methods to announce your stream. You can use SAP (Service Announce Protocol) or SLP (Service Location Protocol). You must also specify a channel name. The Mac OS X interface also allows you to export the description (SDP) file of a RTP session using the internal HTTP or RTSP server of VLC, or as a file. This can be done using the according checkboxes. The ''SDP URL'' text box allows to give the url or destination where the SDP file will be available.

{{Documentation}}

Documentation:Streaming HowTo/Streaming, Muxers and Codecs

2010-01-03T01:54:07Z

Sweet reason: /* Playing a video */ grammer and spelling fixes.

{{RightMenu|documentation streaming howto toc}}

==Introduction==

===Overview===

VideoLAN is a complete software solution for video streaming, 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.

The VideoLAN solution includes:
* VLS (VideoLAN Server), which can stream MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 files, DVDs, digital satellite channels, digital terrestial television channels and live videos on the network in unicast or multicast
* VLC (initially VideoLAN Client), which can be used as a server to stream MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 files, DVDs and live videos on the network in unicast or multicast ; or used as a client to receive, decode and display MPEG streams under multiple operating systems

Here is an illustration of the complete VideoLAN solution:

http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/images/global-diagram.jpg Global VideoLAN solution

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

===VideoLAN software===

====VLC Media Player====

VLC works on many platforms: Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, *BSD, Solaris, Familiar Linux, Yopy/Linupy and QNX. It can read:
* MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 / DivX files from a hard disk, a CD-ROM drive, ...
* DVDs and VCDs
* from a satellite card (DVB-S)
* from a camcorder (DV)
* MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 streams from the network sent by VLS or VLC's stream output

VLC can also be used as a server to stream:
* MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 / DivX files,
* DVDs,
* from an MPEG encoding card,
* from a camcorder DV,
to:
* one machine (i.e. to one IP address): this is called ''unicast'',
* a dynamic group of machines that the clients can join or leave (i.e. to a multicast IP address): this is called ''multicast'',
in IPv4 or IPv6.

To get the complete list of VLC's possibilities on each platform supported, see the [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html VLC features page].

Note: VLC doesn't work on Mac OS 9, and probably never will.

====Mini-SAP-server====

You can add a channel information service based on the SAP/SDP standard to the VideoLAN solution. The mini-SAP-server sends announces about the multicast programs on the network in IPv4 or IPv6, and VLCs receive these annouces and automatically add the programs announced to their playlist.

The mini-SAP-server works under Linux and Mac OS X.

==Muxers and codecs==

===What is a codec ?===

To fully understand the VideoLAN solution, you must understand the difference between a ''codec'' and a ''container format''.

A ''codec'' is a compression algorithm, used to reduce the size of a stream. There are audio codecs and video codecs. MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, Vorbis, DivX, ... are codecs.

===What is a container format ?===

To start off, think of a ''container format'' as a standard shipping box. You get a box in the mail and you think, "Cool! What's inside." You don't really care about the box itself, you care about what's in that box. The problem? You can't see into the box. So what do you do? You get a knife and cut it open.

A ''container format'' follows this same basic idea. It contains one or several streams already encoded by codecs. Very often, there is an audio stream and a video one. AVI, Ogg, MOV, ASF, MP4 ... are container formats. The streams contained can be encoded using different codecs. In a perfect world, you could put any codec in any container format. Unfortunately, there are some incompatibilities. You can find a matrix of possible codecs and container formats on the [http://www.videolan.org/streaming/features.html features page].

===Encoding a video===

This is the first step where you are going to create the shipping box.

First you need to encode your file. That means that a file, wheter it is an audio, video file, is compressed to another format that normally takes up less physical drive space than the previous format. Common video encoding methods are DivX, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 ... most common audio encoding method is MP3 or ogg-vorbis.

Then you have to mux (or multiplex). This means basically a process where separate parts of the video (or streams) are joined together into one file.

===Playing a video===

Now that you have your box, you need to open it before you can see the content. That's exactly what VLC will do. To decode a stream, VLC first ''demuxes'' it. This means that it reads the container format and separates audio, video, and subtitles, if any. Demuxing files doesn't weaken the video nor audio quality, it doesn't do anything for these data streams, it just simply saves them into separate files, each containing one element of the original file. Then, each of these is passed to a ''decoder'' that does the mathematical processing to decompress the stream.

There is a particular thing about MPEG:
* MPEG is a codec. There are several versions of it, called MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, ...
* MPEG is also a container format, sometimes referred to as MPEG System. There are several types of MPEG: ES, PS, and TS.
When you play an MPEG video from a DVD, for instance, the MPEG stream is actually composed of several streams (called Elementary Streams, ES): there is one stream for video, one for audio, another for subtitles, and so on. These different streams are mixed together into a single Program Stream (PS). So, the .VOB files you can find in a DVD are actually MPEG-PS files. But this PS format is not adapted for streaming video through a network or by satellite, for instance. So, another format called Transport Stream (TS) was designed for streaming MPEG videos through such channels.

{{Documentation}}