Guide Guide to Streaming Video in LAN

Guide to Streaming Video in LAN

Most of the people think that video streaming is a very complicated process
Lets make it easy
This is my first effort in writing a Tutorial.

After reading this Tutorial you also will be able to stream
VCD .dat , AVI [Normal , Divx , Xvid , 3ivx] , WMV , mpg files

Hardware Requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Minimum 2 Computers in LAN with any IP address
Server - PIII 450Mhz , 128/256MB Ram
Client - PIII 450Mhz , 128/256MB Ram

If You dont have a LAN you can also try this on a Single Computer.

Operating System Supported
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Windows , Mac OS X , BeOS , Debian GNU/Linux , Mandrake Linux , Fedora Core , Familiar Linux ,
SuSE Linux , Red Hat Linux , WinCE / PocketPC
Software Requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Video Lan Client - VLC - The Cross - Platform media player and streaming server

VLC (initially VideoLAN Client) is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats
(MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.

Web:- www.videolan.org
Download:- http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Features:- http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html

Installation
~~~~~~~~~
Video LAN Client has to be installed on the Server and every Client Computer.
Usually it comes as a zip package you need to extract it to a folder anywhere on the server and client.

Tutorial
~~~~~~

This Tutorial is demonstrating a VLC Streaming and Stream Playback on Windows Platform
Server IP Address:- 192.168.0.1
Client IP Address:- 192.168.0.2

On Server Side
1.> Double Click on VLC.exe to Launch it.
S1.jpg


2.> Click on "Open File" to Browse the .dat , .avi , .mpg , .wmv file
Here "Test.avi" File

S2.jpg

S3.jpg


3.> Now Click the "Stream output" Checkbox and click on "Settings" button.

S4.jpg


4.> When you click on "Settings" button a new interface is displayed where nothing is clicked

- Now Click on HTTP Check Box
- Enter Server Address and any empty server port number for eg. 1234
- Under Encapsulation Method Select "MPEG TS"
- Dont click anything under Transcoding Options
- Click Ok now

S5.jpg


After Clicking OK
S6.jpg


Note:- The Encapsulation Method is different for different files you stream from the server side
Dat File - MPEG TS
AVI File - MPEG TS
MPG File - MPEG TS
MPEG File - MPEG TS
WMV File - ASF

5.> After Clicking OK the Server "192.168.0.1" will start streaming the select video file on Port Number 1234

It Will be displayed as follows
S7.jpg


Now the File is Streaming from the Server.

On the Client Side
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1.> Double Click on VLC.exe to Launch it.
S1.jpg


2.> Select "Open Network Stream"
C2.jpg


3.> After Clicking there this will be displayed
C3.jpg


4.> Now Click on "HTTP/FTP/MMS" and enter the Server IP address with the port number as "192.168.0.1:1234"

C4.jpg


5.> After Clicking OK , The following streaming video file from the server will be displayed on the client side

C5.jpg


6.> You can also view the Streaming Video on the Client Side in FullScreen Mode Like this

C6.jpg


Done
----------------------------------------------------------------

Note:- For people those who dont have LAN also can try out this tutorial like this
For any Computer 2 instances of VLC can be run and your same Computer as Server and Client.
Only thing you have to do is wherever i have used Server IP as 192.168.0.1 replace that with 127.0.0.1
----------------------------------------------------------------

Hope you enjoyed my First Tutorial

Do try this and give me your feedback as it will help me improve with time.

Also Rate this Tutorial on a Scale of 5 [No Need for those Stars]
Only write it as Score:- X/5 [where X is any number from 1 to 5 and your Score]

If you have any sort of doubts related to this Tutorial feel free to ask me here

Thanks
Quad Master
 
Click to expand...
Hey quad, how can I stream the video to my LAN, as well as watch it on the local player at the same time?
Or in general, how can I stream it to the whole LAN rather than just a single IP? I tried to, but the reciever would not pick up the signal.
 
KingKrool bro the guide which i have written does the same thing.

You can stream it on the entire lan aswell as watch it on ur own pc.

Also VLC is a player which ca nbe used on any OS.
Linux,Windows,Mac etc......... u name it and the software setup is there for that OS.

Hope ur query got answered.

Also the VLC streams are broadcast streams so all u need it tell ur
friend in LAN to fireup there VLC enter the server VLC's IP Address and port
number and there you go.
 
good work....certainly helpful for people who want to have streaming going. But can you elaborate more on How can one stream if the networks are different. I bet its the same process but have 1234 port fwded so that one can access the stream
 
add said:
good work....certainly helpful for people who want to have streaming going. But can you elaborate more on How can one stream if the networks are different. I bet its the same process but have 1234 port fwded so that one can access the stream
Click to expand...

Unless you can ping the Server IP you can access it on any soft of network
be it wired or wireless.

Regarding auto playback on the client side auto playback i have no idea.

WOW didnt knew that my thread had so many link backs
 
Thanks Asky.

I still remember my old days on TE when i used to write a lot of articles.

I almost forgot abt them and now i see them back again here makes me feel

good that i am able to still help someone with there doubts thru my articles.
 
ThunderBolt said:
Allow user level access. Which users can be allowed.
Click to expand...

Well this would be good, except that in some occassions or rather most for me, if you're doing this on a per file basis, setting per user or even the groups of users could be quite a task. Really depends if you want the file itself to be available for users if they want to copy and play it on their pc. Else like the reason why there is streaming on the net, you don't want the file to be generally available.
ThunderBolt said:
Off topic, but can u plz tell me how ? :devil2: Many pc's on my sify lan have the shareing turned on.
Click to expand...

Well I guess you could try the "Search" function of windows. Though I haven't really tried this, so good luck.
ThunderBolt said:
So can a shared video be. A higher load will of course be there on pc.
Click to expand...

Well this is probably the main advantage of shared folders as the file is only being read from the hdisk of the server and being processed solely by the clents pc. For streaming, I think both do some work.
ThunderBolt said:
I'm sure i can rip the cam/tuner output to hardisk and share that. With Zoom player even incoplete files can be played as the download.
Click to expand...

For the issue of ripping and saving to hdisk, the problem is that you can't stream in live mode. Clients need for you to be finished converting the file and saving it before they could start watching.
ThunderBolt said:
Plz let me say that i'm saying this just for the sake of discussion. Otherwise i agree with you. :)
Click to expand...

Also, I'm doing this for the sake of discussion.
 
Hi Quad, i want to stream the video not on my LAN but through Internet. Like if my friend is wathcing a movie on computer somewhere else and wants to stream it on internet, can i watch the movie on my computer. Please advise
 
mnaseem72 said:
Hi Quad, i want to stream the video not on my LAN but through Internet. Like if my friend is wathcing a movie on computer somewhere else and wants to stream it on internet, can i watch the movie on my computer. Please advise
Click to expand...

Yes you can watch using this techinique if ur friend has a global ip and is not behind any firewall or proxy.
 
Arihant.exe said:
NICE GUIDE MATE... saw after so many dayz but still gr8

he he.... see the refbacks ;)
Click to expand...

I am too surprised at the response this tut has got , still feel its amazing.

Thanks to all & mainly TE for providing me the platform to reach thousands world wide :hap2:
 
Cheers! Friend,
That is the excellent Tutorials for starters.

Can you guide us to do the same using scripting as it would enable us to transcode the streams to be played in windows media player as well as to manupulate the bit-rate etc.

Regards,
Gagan
 
I have a related doubt ...
suppose i am downloading a file and i know that the file is being downloaded sequentially
pls dont bother about that ( assume it is sequentially blocks of file are coming in )

how do i stream it on my comp ?
i have heard of this mms://
can that be used for streaming as the file is being downloaded ??
 
A file that is available for download is available via http.

unless there is a streaming server which will handle how the video file is to be streamed how will you be able to recieve the streams and watch it.

I am still not clear about ur doubt.
 
well here is what i mean
there is no streaming
regular downloading of a file and assume that the file blocks are coming in sequentially and as the file is being downloaded i want to view the video instead of waiting for the whole file to download and open it with vlc player ...
so how to do that basically i want to write code for it.
 
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