rtsp link in safari and vlc 2.1.2 - not working an more

[nobody.loopback]

I am used to click an url starting with rtsp: from Safari.
Now, with VLC 2.1.2 I get the Error message that the file cannot be opened.
When I look into the playlist i see: "file:////rtsp://hostname/sdpname.sdp"
Playback of the rtsp stream however works fine when I choose to open network and enter the url.
OS: MacOSX 10.6.8

Is this expected behaviour or a bug ?