I so dont get it!

[dave]

Hi,

total nebie to VLC here, i have a few questions obviously and am hoping for some guidance regarding streaming video files and DVDs...hell just streaming plural, lol.

Ok first just some simple details...
I wish to use VLC and its software at home here and I am using VLC 0.7.1a and have an iMac G4 and an iBook G3 800mhz that are both networked via an Airport Extreme Computer to Computer 'network'.

What I wish to do is.....
I have streamed live TV using a program called CyTV and my Elgato USB TV box and was hoping VLC would be as easy? I have many video files stored on my iMac and I wish to send them or stream them wirelessly to my iBook via airport. I have tried to trace down any information about how this is done and many of the details are for past VLC or windows based version and solutions or just too technicaly challenging I guess for someone starting out in the world of networking etc. I think I have grasped some of the jargon such as Multicast and UDP etc, but it hasnt helped, lol...so streaming movie files or DVDs from my iMac to Ibook via airport - how?

Can you help....
I have tried to find a basic newbie users guide to this on here and havent found what I wanted. I would really appreciate if someone could give a almost patronising simplistic step by step guide of how I would stream a video file and maybe a DVD from my iMac to my iBook.

Thanks in advance,
David

[markfm]

Take a look at wiki.videolan.org
Look in Articles (there's a selection for it at the left of the page).
Look at the step-by-step guide to UDP streaming -- it should help get you started.

[dave]

Thanks for the reply,

but.....
I came across this earlier and tried it out. The interface shown is windows and looks totally different to that of the Mac but I navigated and found the appropriate items and fields...it doesnt seem obvious and makes me sound stupid and er, feel it, lol.

I tried.....
I assume that on the client mac (my iMac), I open up VLC, click file and on the drop down menu click open network?, then click file and browse and select the file I want to stream then click on the network button? but on the file button down the bottom theres an 'advanced output option' which has different selections for UDP and adresses (239.20.30.40 ?) etc? or.....I click the 'network' button select UDP and type in 239.20.30.40 there?...

...on my iBook, I open a file? or open a network? and select the 'network' button, select UDP and type in 239.20.30.40 and click ok? I dunno...that little 'guide' doesnt seem to match or really explain too much and the interface and descriptions dont match what Im seeing on my Mac.

Its all not too obvious!

Sorry to ask again.....
Can someone please provide a really basic, simplified explanation to the problem posted above, like a numbered step by step guide (1. open VLC - 2. blah blah - 3 blah blah...etc) with little explanations or something?Probably starting to p** some people off, lol but it would really help me and a few others who are totally new to this and not network administrators or IT bods...or just plain annoyingly stupid, lol.

Thanks again,
David

[markfm]

Apologies, I'm a Windows person. I use VLC's WxWindows interface, which is what the write-up was generated against.

[dave]

Its cool, thanks for the effort

Is there nobody out there willing to help? Nobody know the very basics of how to stream and how to solve my problem?

dave

[Newswatch]

1) Place dvd in server
2) Start vlc on server with "vlc -I dummy --extraintf http"
2.1) if you want to bind vlc to a specific host or port use "--http-host host:port"
3) Open your favorite webbrowser on the iBook client
4) Load vlc http interface from browser with "http://<IP of iMac>:port" (will default to hostname:8080)
5) Add your dvd device to the playlist, like
"dvdold:///dev/dvd@1,1"
5.1) don't use dvd menus, use the old dvd interface
6) Add streaming destination in the sout field. Udp streaming works fine for me:
"udp://<IP of iBook client>:1234"
7) Open vlc on iBook client, with "vlc udp://@:1234"

Don't ask me how to start a Mac-program with command-line options.