How to Stream Video in VLC

Owned by Former user (Deleted)
Last updated: Jul 17, 2013 by Former user (Deleted)Version comment
3 min read

Issue: User wants to Stream a Video across the Entire School/District for Students/Teachers to view. (Recommended for Advanced Users Only… please speak to your building tech for help if possible.)

Easy Streaming Wizard

Table of Contents
(Updated General Instructions are available at VLC's Knowledge Base at the Following three links)
In tro http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/ch02.html#id343926
Streaming using the Wiza rd http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/ch02.html#id343937
Streaming using th e GUI http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/ch02.html#id344652

Intro

The easier way to start streaming with VLC is by using one of the graphical user interfaces: wxwindows for Windows and GNU/Linux, the skinnable Windows and GNU/Linux interface or the MacOS 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.

Launching the wizard

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

[D]
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.


[D]
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.

[D]
Wizard input selection

[D]
Wizard input selection from playlist

Streaming methods

If you chose Stream to network option, you can now specify the streaming method. Available methods are:

  • UDP Unicast: Stream to a single computer. Enter the client's IP address (in the 10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255 range).
  • UDP Multicast: Stream to multiple computers using multicast. Enter the IP address of the multicast group (in the 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255 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, 10.168.0.1:80/stream will make VLC listen on the interface carrying the 10.168.0.1 IP address, on the 80 TCP port, in the /stream virtual file.

[D]
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 Streaming, Muxers and Codecs)

[D]
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 Streaming, Muxers and Codecs)

[D]
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.


[D]
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.

[D]
Wizard save file - wxWindows interface
You can now select the Finish button to start streaming/converting the source.