The VideoLAN Forums

Hi, I just downloaded VLC and tried running it with the telnet interface:

"vlc.exe -I telnet --telnet-password pass"

and then accessing it using either putty or the Windows telnet command:

"telnet localhost 4212" (4212 is the default port)

and I get the following output:

"Password:

Connection to host lost."

I don't even get a chance to type a password because the connection is lost immediately.

I've tried this with VLC versions 0.8.6c, 0.8.6b and 0.8.5

I've also tried setting a different port:

"vlc.exe -I telnet --telnet-password pass --telnet-port 4215"

I've read on another post that this is a known issue. But I'm pretty sure this used to work...

I've tried on two computers.. one is running Windows XP and the other is running Windows Server 2003. I've also tried using the following command line:

"vlc.exe --intf telnet --telnet-password pass" (in case the "-I" wasn't working) but this caused the same problem...

I remember this used to work... How come it's not working now?

For some weird reason telnet as primairy interface fails. Try this: vlc -I dummy --dummy-quiet --extraintf telnet

Hi all,
I am facing exactly the same problem. Could someone pls help..

i hav turned off all firewall in my xp machine...


thnk u n keep smilin

I've done some of my own testing, and it appears that the problem is with the telnet interface. It doesn't matter if telnet is the primary interface, if the dummy is the primary interface, or if the GUI is the primary interface... connect via telnet for a while (assuming you get a connection) and soon it fails.

It failed most often when I was playing/converting a file, but it's also failed when I was just trying to set up schedules and broadcasts to see if they worked they way I imagined.

It's frustrating, because I've seen enough people talking about this in a very casual manner, without any indication of the frustrations I've faced trying to get this to work.

So, let's ask a few questions.

Is there anyone out there who can run VLC with a telnet interface on Windows? What version of VLC? What version of Windows? Could you try changing something (anything) and connect via telnet and just camp out for a while, and see if your connection gets dropped? That's what happens to me... and once it gets dropped, I can connect again, but it drops the connection instantly.

If the telnet interface doesn't work, can anyone get the remote console to work? It sounds like telnet is supposed to work for that, too... connect via telnet to the right port, and type in commands. I can't get the remote console to work, either. I sometimes seem to get a connection, but the screen is funny - no real screen control. I guess that's expected... if you want a terminal emulator, you want telnet. But is there an easy way to test the RC connection?

Okay, this is now officially really annoying.

Apparently, adding a --control=telnet seems to help.

That's not the annoying part, of course. The annoying part is, why does just specifying a telnet interface fail? Why do you need the extra tag? I don't mind putting in the extra tag, but what the heck does it *do*?

I'm going to make a fresh post... maybe that'll be more noticeable and more easily searched on.

Many thanks for that tip! I have been pulling my hair for the last couple of days to make a telnet connection to vlc running on a windows box! I totally agree, that it really beggars belief that there is nothing anywhere that descirbes this problem.

In my case i am trying to use vlc to transcode on the fly for a MVP media player using mvpmc, but no one has reported this issue on all the forums and sites that I have read. I assume that everyone is using a linux distro rather than windoze.

But once again I must thank you for your help. Just for anyone else grappling with this, this is the command line I am using to kick off vlc on my PC:
"C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" -I dummy --dummy-quiet --extraintf telnet --control=telnet

There is one fix made for Win32 telnet interface in VLC 1.0.0. When it is released, please test it out and report back.

Isn't it fixed in 0.9.9 too ?

http://mailman.videolan.org/pipermail/v ... 54053.html
should be.

Grate.