Complete Noob - all have to start somewhere!

[Philphonic]

Look i know this is kinda lazy and stuff, but i want to know the basics of how to get this running to its best ability. What i want is to be able to line up and broadcast Video and Audio, and im not sure of how to do it. So far i have been using the stream wizard to choose a file and i have been broadcasting it through my own connection using my IP.

Do i need to get a compiler so that i can use the servers and plugins and other features?

Is there anyone who has compiled and customised the software already?

please excuse my vast lack of knowledge.

[markfm]

Under Windows, the VLC release version, and the nightly builds, are self-contained -- you get all of the plugins, already compiled.

To be an end user, someone using VLC to transmit a variety of streams, or receive them, you don't need a compiler. Really, everything can be done with basic command lines (batch/cmd files in Windows).

A basic vlc server batch file is of the form:
path_to_vlc thing_to_be_streamed stream_parameters

Just one command line, everything chunked together. You can use the Streaming Wizard to see what needs to go into the second and third parts of the command line -- just cut-and-paste the top parts of the Step2 and Step3 windows in Streaming Wizard.