The VideoLAN Forums

This is not really an error but a help request. I want to be able to watch video files with another person on a remote computer.

i managed to stream a video from my computer with VLC to another computer on the same network using a local IP. but i'm having trouble doing the same with a global IP.
If you can please explain to me what to do to access a remote computer (that i know it's global and local IP) or for the other computer to access mine that will be very helpful.

note that i don't really understand many stuff like port forwarding and all of that so try to be detailed. i'm sure i can manage to do all of this if i can understand it.

thanks ahed! EnDash.

fyi i use the latest VLC on windows, no special stuff added or changed or anything.

On the server/streaming PC, start streaming to your local ip:port. To find the IP-address of a Windows PC, go to start -> run and write cmd (and hit enter). A window with black background will appear. In there, write ipconfig (and hit enter). Now look at the interface you're using - either wireless or local area connection. There you'll find the ip-address, which is typically something like e.g. 192.168.1.102 or 10.0.0.43. So start the streaming to the streamings-server's IP. Also make a note of what the gateway address is as this is your router.

Windows example:
"c:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" -vvv dshow:// :sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=8000,scale=0.5,acodec=none}:std{access=http,mux=ts,dst=192.168.1.119:8080
The IP should be changed to reflect your streaming PC's IP.

So now the streaming-pc/server is transcoding and streaming to itself. Now the client needs to get that stream and here comes the tricky part - you have to allow the client to access the streaming PC. On your router, you have to forward a port (tcp 8080 in my Windows example) from source any to (destination) your server's IP, 192.168.1.119 in my windows example. To do this, you have to open a browser and connect to your router. The gateway address, you made a mental note of earlier should be entered in as an address for your browser. To do the actual operation, I suggest going to http://portforward.com/ and try finding your router there, or check the manual of your router. Please note that if you set source to any, anyone can access your stream. You can limit this, by entering your client's global IP as the source, when you port forward. This will only allow that IP to access your stream. If your client changes IP, you need to change the port forward source address.

Now, on the streaming-pc/server, open a browser and go to http://whatismyip.com to find its global ip e.g. 1.2.3.4. Then on the client-side, start vlc with (Windows e.g.) "c:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" http://1.2.3.4:8080 and it should start the stream.

Hi EnDash,

I am trying to connect my pc with another pc with vlc and stream videos from mine to client pc. But it is not working. Could you please help in this issue. How to stream video using locla ip?

Thanks...
Parthee